Mostly Murders

“Fenway,” Nathaniel Ferris said, putting on his pontificating voice, “with me as your father, people are always going to think you’re in my pocket…”

When Fenway Stevenson loses both her mother and her job, she reluctantly accepts her estranged father’s offer of an apartment and a temporary job as a coroner in Estancia, her old hometown where her father is king thanks to his oil company. Her first job is to investigate the death of her predecessor, while trying to win over people who are convinced that she only got her job through nepotism, and dealing with casual racism, a forbidden attraction to the town’s married sheriff, and her own complicated feelings for the father who left her mother destitute and neglected her for most of her life.

I’ve seen this book described as both a cosy mystery and a thriller, but to me it falls somewhere in between the two. This isn’t a cute, fluffy cosy mystery or a dark, twisted psychological thriller, but a story of crime, seen from the point of view of a young woman trying to figure out who she is, and who she wants to be. Understated humour and funny banter are paired with tough subject matters like racism, homophobia and sexual assault, but they are not the main focus of the novel, simply minor elements of a story set in a realistic universe where everything isn’t nice and friendly and cosy.

I would label this as a crime drama, a novel with an overall theme of solving crime, done by a professional who is not a police officer or private detective, with a strong focus on the personal life and character development of the main character. Fenway is a realistic character, she is flawed and makes mistakes and bad choices under pressure, but ultimately wants to do the right thing when it really matters.

Crime drama – Contemporary