Entering the fray for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best Novel is M.J. Carter’s The Strangler Vine. I admit that I was less than enthusiastic when I started this book – historical! (groan) – India! (double groan). But Carter has won me over.
The book starts with a prologue- rarely a good beginning, in my opinion – of a man returning to his lodgings. It’s June, 1837, and he watches from the shadows as intruders ransack his home, then ring the neck of his monkey. Who is this guy? What’s going on? And why am I sad about the darn monkey? I don’t even know him.
Jump forward to September and we’re in first person. William Avery is a none-too-lucky young officer, stuck in India, and volunteered by his pal Frank McPherson to pay a call upon Jeremiah Blake, carrying a message from the Company. Blake’s a former special agent gone native following the death of his Indian bride and their son in childbirth. As Avery is all spit and polish, he is appalled by the filthy and scabrous Blake.
Little does he know that within 50 pages or so he will be developing a great admiration for Blake’s abilities, as they set off together cross country on a quest to locate author Xavier Mountstuart. Mountstuart is conducting research for a book on the Indian band called the Thugs, a religious sect who murdered in the name of Kali, the Hindu goddess of death and destruction. Blake and Avery are accompanied by three native men, one of whom, Mir Aziz, becomes a mentor to Avery.
The book is, without a doubt, a great adventure story. How will they overcome all the obstacles in their way? Will they find Mountstuart, and if so, alive or dead? But it is also a spy novel, where all is not as it is appears. In fact, there are secrets layered upon secrets. And indeed, the Thuggee are not to blame for all the unrest in India, for as with any good political thriller writer knows, nothing allows fascism to grow more quickly than a fearsome, common enemy. And there is nothing more heart-rending than betrayal by a double agent counted a friend. The Strangler Vine in question is the authoritarian British company, squeezing the life out of the Indian culture.
As I mentioned, Carter made a believer out of me, drawing me in to the story and keeping the pages turning. Lt. Avery grows up, from callow youth to mature man, over the course of his adventure, showing remarkable fortitude and skill when tested. He does not triumph so much as eke the good out of a bad situation.
How does The Strangler Vine compare to Robotham’s Life or Death? It’s like comparing cake and pie – totally a matter of taste, as both are at the top of their game. As a cake woman, I have to give the edge to Life or Death, but I admire the pie and would totally eat more of it.
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Literary Lunchbox Edgar Ranking: Best Novel
- Life or Death by Michael Robotham
- The Strangler Vine by M.J. Carter
I am an eager 
Literary Lunchbox Edgar Ranking: Best Novel
Night Life Penultimate Best Novel Nom
It’s 1954, and the cold war is in the deep freeze. Michael Cassidy’s a New York City detective, smart, sometimes violent but only with a good reason, who has odd dreams that sometimes come true. Cassidy and his partner Tony Orso are called to investigate the torture and murder of Alex Ingram, who coincidentally was a dancer in a show that Tom Cassidy, his father, is producing. Cassidy discovers a half-dollar coin in a buff envelope taped inside Ingram’s locker at the theater.
Things spiral from there, with an ever-widening scope of investigation, a growing body count, and plenty of interest from the FBI, CIA, and even Senator Joseph McCarthy, who finds a communist everywhere he looks. He may be an obsessive nut job, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t real communist spies hard at work right here in NYC. It turns out that Ingram was a KGB sleeper agent with a sideline in blackmail.
On the personal front, Cassidy’s expecting retaliation from Franklin, a vice cop-slash-pimp. Cassidy not only interrupted Franklin mid-assault on a hooker, but threw him out a window. And he’s distracted by a new resident of his apartment building, a comely young woman who’s a welder working for an artist, bringing his metal sculptures to life. (She wields a pretty mean baseball bat, too, rescuing Cassidy when Franklin’s buddies give him a beating in the apartment hallway.) He’s close to his brother, Brian and sister, Leah, but not so close to his father, Tom. His mother killed herself, more or less accidentally, taking an overdose of pills when she thought Tom would be coming home and would rescue her, thus bringing them closer together. Unfortunately, Tom is essentially selfish, decided not to keep his promise, and teenage Michael discovered his mother’s cold body.
More about Cassidy’s father. More problems there. He was born in Russia – Tomas Kasnavietski – emigrating to the US at age 15. A staunch believer in the American dream, he’s surprised and dismayed to find that in 1954 America, Tom Cassidy’s about to be deported back to Russia. His faith in his son and his friends to rescue him is unshaken. Unfortunately, the friend is “Uncle Frank,” a mobster who wants a favor from Cassidy.
Fortunately, Cassidy’s a good detective, a smart negotiator and a good bluffer, with a stalwart partner and chutzpah to spare. Still, it could have all gone sideways if it were not for his prophetic dreams… at the moment when the bad guys are about to ambush him, Cassidy recognizes the location and the sinking sense of dread from a recurrent dream. It gives him the warning he needs to be the one left standing.
I’m very impressed with author David Taylor. Night Life is tightly plotted, the coincidences not all that unlikely, the motivations for all clear and character-driven, and the integration of historical figures critical to the story, not distracting add-ons. I understand that this is the first in a series featuring Det. Michael Cassidy, and I’ll be right there to read more in the future. (In fact, book #2, Night Work, launched earlier this month.)
How does Night Life stack up to the other nominees? Very, very well. It’s eminently readable, like The Strangler Vine. It’s got excellent pacing and similar switches in POV to keep up the suspense, as with Life or Death. It’s got that paranormal aspect to it, as does Let Me Die in His Footsteps. And it incorporates real-life historical figures, as does The Lady From Zagreb. In fact, considering the whole package, I’m going to give Taylor’s debut mystery the top spot. I may have reviewer’s regret when I review and rank the final nominee, Canary, and make some changes. But time is running out, as the Edgars will be awarded Thursday!
Literary Lunchbox Edgar Ranking: Best Novel
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Posted in Commentary, Edgar, Review
Tagged Best Novel, David C. Taylor, Edgar Mystery writers of America, Lori Roy, Michael Robotham, MJ Carter, Night Life, Philip Kerr, Review