Sometimes the publishing universe provides us with coincidences that add up to a trend. Or in this case a trendlet, consisting of multiple books titled The Last fill-in-the-blank released around the same time. I have no idea what the popularity of this ominous adjective signifies—maybe an attempt to induce FOMO in the prospective reader? (The outlier here is To Catch a Storm, which shouldn’t be punished for its failure to be called The Last Storm.)
Luckily, they happen to be quite good; you would miss out if you skipped them. The first of the Lasts is also the funniest. English writer Mark Billingham, known for his Tom Thorne series, has moved on to a new police detective, Declan Miller, who’s a wiseacre, a joker, a smart aleck—he can’t help himself. He keeps two pet rats, plays guitar, favors garish ties, and is a competitive ballroom dancer. Or was, until his wife and dancing partner Alex, who worked for Blackpool’s organized-crime division, was fatally shot in the head six weeks earlier.
He returns to work sooner than recommended, where he’s met with a blue wall of awkwardness and a new partner, Sara Xiu, a motorcycle-riding heavy-metal head who gives his humor stylings no encouragement, especially when he nicknames her Posh Gravy. Xiu, jus, get it? She doesn’t even bother rolling her eyes.
Miller and Xiu find their groove as soon as they get a case. Two men have been shot dead execution-style in adjoining rooms in a tacky seaside hotel. One of them is a member of the Cutler crime family, the other an unremarkable I.T. specialist. The question is, how are they connected? The Cutlers being gangsters complicates things for Miller, particularly since Alex was killed in exactly the same way as the two men. He should recuse himself, but he’s not a “should” kind of guy.
This blend of crime and quirky humor can be tricky to pull off, but Billingham was an actor and comedian before he turned to writing crime novels, and he has a limitless supply of wisecracks, puns, and pop-culture references in his arsenal. His light touch might remind you a bit of Richard Osman, and his fondness for the faux Vegas-ness of Blackpool and outrageous characters such as the vicious gang boss formerly known as Miss Coco Popz recalls Elmore Leonard. Fortunately, the humor flavors the story without swamping it and defines Miller, who laughs to keep from crying.
The Last Dance is thoroughly likable, unexpectedly moving, and capably plotted to boot. Read it—you’ll have a ball! I don’t think I’ll ever get there with pet rats, however.
The blend of crime and quirky humor can be tricky to pull off, but Mark Billingham was an actor and comedian before he turned to writing crime novels, and he has a limitless supply of wisecracks, puns, and pop-culture references in his arsenal.
If you think the worst thing that could happen on a cruise liner is an outbreak of norovirus or a Captain & Tennille tribute act, English writer Will Dean is here to school you with a real nightmare on the high seas.
To avoid spoilers, I can only describe the premise of The Last One: Caz Ripley, the middle-aged owner of a Yorkshire café, and her boyfriend, Pete, splurge on a luxury cruise aboard the R.M.S. Atlantica, a floating palace headed from Southampton to New York.
After a Krug-fueled first-night dinner with fellow passengers, Caz wakes up the next morning to … nothing—no Pete, no one. The ship is deserted, but still steaming across the Atlantic. Creepy enough for you?
I will add that Caz is not completely alone, and what follows will test her in unimaginable ways. It will also demonstrate that as a society we haven’t come that far from the days when the ancient Romans fed condemned men to wild beasts as a lunchtime divertissement. We’re just more high-tech and legally protected.
While Dean is compelling you to turn the page, he is also imparting a lot of interesting stuff about ocean liners, maritime disasters, and other matters I shouldn’t mention. His technical explanations don’t make the trials Caz endures entirely plausible, but they do create a realistic context for them. The impact of the final twist, straight out of The Twilight Zone, shows how well he’s done his job.
If you think the worst thing that could happen on a cruise liner is an outbreak of norovirus or a Captain & Tennille tribute act, Will Dean is here to school you with a real nightmare on the high seas.
Iowa City, where To Catch a Storm takes place, is certainly safer than the Atlantic Ocean, but not without its dangers. It’s located in Tornado Alley, perfect for atmospheric physicist Dr. Eve Roth to teach and carry out research into the effects of climate change on weather at the University of Iowa.
On a miserable December day, Eve returns from piloting the plane she calls her mobile air lab to learn that the Tesla owned by her husband, Matthew, has burned to a crisp. In the pouring rain, paradoxically. He’s nowhere to be found, and, at first, the police suspect Eve, since Matthew was recently suspended from his teaching position at the university for inappropriate conduct with a female student, which seems like a decent motive.
After Eve provides her alibi, a strange encounter sets up the relationship that makes this book special. A pale man in a black trench coat, looking like “a malnourished Jon Snow,” shows up on Eve’s doorstep and says, “You’re looking for someone. I can help.”
He claims he’s a psychic detective and says he’s dreamed about her husband suffering in a place that’s connected to an unresolved case deeply important to him. Data-driven scientist that she is, Eve tells him he’s full of shit and pokes him to the ground with a baseball bat.
But Jonah Kendrick doesn’t give up easily and knows things that defy explanation. Eve warily begins to trust him, and they set off on a journey to find Matthew in the aftermath of one of the worst ice storms in Iowa City’s history.
Their partnership shouldn’t work. Because his “gift” has been hard on his mental health, Jonah is always one vision away from a breakdown, while Eve processes information like a computer. But they have a personal loss in common and somehow achieve a fervid meeting of the minds.
In a series of ingenious action sequences, Mindy Mejia puts this unlikely couple through their paces as they hurtle over the icy landscape and into an incongruously sinister situation in the cornfields of Iowa. Like her heroine, who is always scanning the sky, Mejia aims high with this ambitious thriller and succeeds on every level.
Iowa City, where Mindy Mejia’s To Catch a Storm takes place, is certainly safer than the Atlantic Ocean, but not without its dangers.
The last Last is Peter Heller’s The Last Ranger, which is both a warning about man’s encroachment on the Western wilderness and another variation on the solitary-man theme he does so well.
Focused on a Yellowstone Park ranger who discovers a secret militia that wants to claim public-park land for its own purposes, it contains some wonderful writing about endangered wolves and the obsessive behaviorist who studies them. It never resolves into much of a narrative, but for some, the wolves will be enough.
Lisa Henricksson reviews mystery books at AIR MAIL. She lives in New York City
