The Cracked Mirror, by Chris Brookmyer.
Penny Coyne (yes, really!) is a very elderly librarian
from a small Scottish village: what
makes her notable is that she has highly reputable skills as an amateur
detective, solving numerous cases that have foiled many police, and forcing
them to call on her services more than they would wish to. Eat your heart out, Miss Marple!
She is about to meet Johnny Hawke, typical burnt-out LA
detective, with a reputation not only for putting away the bad guys (some of
them in a very permanent fashion) but also for inadvertently causing the demise
of every partner he has had so far: in
light of that fact, are Ms Coyne’s days numbered?
And why would they ever
meet except for both receiving invitations to an impossibly High Society
wedding at a very grand Scottish Mansion now being run as a hotel – neither of
them know either bride nor groom. Which
is enough to prick anyone’s curiosity, so here they are, Penny in tweed skirt
and twinset, and Johnny, trying not to look like an LA cop in a very cheap
suit.
The stage is set for one of the cleverest Whodunnits I
have read for years, and the Big Reveal doesn’t happen to the very last page –
and even then presents more questions than answers. Johnny has ended up in Scotland because he’s
on suspension for being the cause of death yet again of his latest hapless partner
and has been told by his boss to ‘get out of town and stay out’.
The wedding invitation
arrives at a very welcome time though he is worried as to how the bank account
will survive the experience, especially in light of the Great and the Good
arriving for the wedding; they have no
such financial worries. The bride and
groom, too, seem madly in love – until the bride reveals to Penny last-minute
cold feet, then she disappears just before the ceremony is to begin – and is
found dead, a presumed suicide, in a similar fashion to the circumstances of
the crime Johnny was investigating in which his new partner died, and further
investigation reveals that this is the third similar death in similar
circumstances.
It is not long before the brawny brainy gumshoe
recognises a kindred spirit in the woollen-clad, keen observer of human
behaviour - ‘there are always consequences when you break
any rule, Johnny’ – and they combine to make a formidable team. Until , further into this dazzling story, the
reader is aghast to realise that Johnny and Penny are not bona fide
protagonists, (spoiler alert) but characters in a brilliant video game: no-one is what they seem and Chris Brookmyre
has tricked us all with his marvellously inventive characterisations and
plotting: what a booki! What a writer! What a game!
SIX STARS
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