Stephen Spotswood

Spotswood delivers another Pentecost and Parker novel with clever, intricate plotting plus smart, sassy humor, featuring two distinctive female characters in the 1940s who outwit the police as well as the criminals but are not without their personal hang-ups and flaws. Lillian Pentecost battles with the physical limitations of multiple sclerosis but her mind is sharp as a tack. Willowjean "Will" Parker is her much younger protégé, eager to learn from an investigative master but no mental slouch herself. And Will has a big, brave heart. Each entry in the series offers multiple mysteries, plotted to perfection. The narrative structure takes the form of Will recording their adventures later in a book written to the reader which allows for a lot of well-placed, funny asides. This device becomes a little problematic when wrapping up of the main mystery because Will cannot reveal her every move, as she does throughout the first 3/4 of the book, or there won't be any surprises in the denouement. It's a small thing to overlook, especially in such a strong series with intriguing ongoing subplots and gradual developments in the complex relationship between Will and Mrs P, two independent and fiercely private women.… (altro)