Tag: The Curator

Finally, we’re at the end of my 2020 wrap-up, it feels like I’ve been at this for a month, not just 11 days. Like I’ve said previously, my intention was to be done three or four days ago, but oh, well.

In a real sense, this was a challenging list to come up with, but the first 7 jumped to mind instantly, even back in December when I started to think about what might show up. It was those last three that I had to labor over—there were so many good candidates (see the list at the end of this post for the six-way tie for 11th place).

Once again, I’ll note that I limit my lists to things I read for the first time (so the nine Robert B. Parker books I re-read last year didn’t make up most of this list). I’d be willing to guarantee anyone reading this page will enjoy at least 6 of these (which six will vary from reader to reader). I’m tempted to say that all the listed books are guaranteed for everyone, but people’s tastes are too varied, so I’ll hedge my bet. Try these, and you’ll be glad you did.

(in alphabetical order by author)

The Revelators

by Ace Atkins
My original post
Here, in book 10, Ace Atkins wraps up storylines he’s been building up for ages, characters move on (some are even still alive when that happens), and what comes next for Quinn Colson and his community is anybody’s guess (although, I’m pretty sure there’ll be a white, corrupt politician behind it, because…well, it’s Tibbehah County). A dynamite novel.

5 Stars

Deep Dark Night

by Steph Broadribb

My original post
Lori and JT are finally pressured to do the shady work for the FBI Agent that’s been looming over her head forever, and it goes horribly, horribly wrong. Which is a treat for the reader. You’ve got the JT, Lori, and a whole bunch of unsavory people trapped on the top floor of a Chicago highrise, and the thrills start from there. Strong character development in the middle of some of the tensest action you can imagine. Great ride.

4 1/2 Stars

The Law of Innocence

by Michael Connelly

My original post
I was slightly afraid of that when I read the blurb for this—did we really need two books from Connelly in 2020 where the protagonist is suspected of a murder that there’s no chance at all that he committed? By the beginning of Chapter Two, any trepidation had vanished. By the end, this may be my favorite Lincoln Lawyer book yet. The courtroom action was fantastic. I absolutely loved it.

4 1/2 Stars

The Curator

by M. W. Craven

My original post
What a great hook. What a fantastic series of twists. What a wonderful concept for a killer and modus operandi. Washington Poe and Tilly Bradshaw are a couple of my favorite characters and they got to shine here. I just want to rave and rave and rave about this book, but I have things to do, so I’d better move on.

5 Stars

King of the Crows

by Russell Day

My original post
There’s no way I can sum up my appreciation for this book in this post. Set in a world recovering from a pandemic, there’s a straightforward crime story at the heart of this novel—it’s just surrounded by so many layers, that you can miss it—there’s the disease, there’s the horrible social and political context (both mid- and post-Outbreak), there’s what the characters are going through otherwise—and the whole thing is drenched in social commentary about 2020 society, e.g., sexism, economics, medical care. Yeah, it was bad timing that this book came out in 2020 when the last thing that many people want to read is a novel about a disease that’s out of control. But this had been in the works for months before anyone had heard of COVID-19. I’ve wondered what I’d think of this book if I’d read it last Fall. I’d still like it, I’d still be impressed by it—but I don’t know if it would resonate with me the same way. There’s almost nothing about Gondii that’s comparable to COVID-19. But the way that people and governments respond—well, that’s pretty different, too. but if you can’t see what’s going on around us reflected in this novel? You’re not paying attention. That Day appears so prescient says something about his skill and observation (and a lot about Western culture, too).

5 Stars

Lost Hills

by Lee Goldberg

My original post
A young detective takes advantage of Social Media stardom to get herself a promotion she’s not quite ready for. But she’s determined to get there. She has to overcome her own lack of experience and a department that resents her. Eve Ronin’s first homicide case starts with a grizzly scene and the apparent murder of a woman, her two children, and a dog. Soon, she’s finding herself racing with an out-of-control wildfire that’s about to wipe out any evidence related to the case and the killer’s last victim. A great start to what promises to be a fun series.

4 1/2 Stars

Luck and Judgement

Peter Grainger, Gildart Jackson (Narrator)

My original post
DC Smith and his trainee are brought along with some other government investigators to look into a missing person/death on an oil rig. Smith’s the only one who doesn’t think it’s an accident. He begins to investigate the death as a murder and uncovers a lot more than he bargained for. Humor, heart, and humanity are the bedrock of this series and all of them shine forth in this procedural.

4 Stars

A Bad Day for Sunshine

by Darynda Jones

My original post
This is pure, escapist fun. Think Gilmore Girls mixed with Veronica Mars. A single mom is a new sheriff of a quirky little New Mexico town, with a spunky daughter. There’s a kidnapping, an escaped convict, a missing deputy, and cursed cupcakes. Great dialogue, witty repartee, a mother-daughter relationship that will earn Jones many fans. This is as much fun as you can pack into a police procedural without making it a comedy, but still full of grim, grisly, depravity and darkness. It’s a nice serving of literary comfort food. There’s a freshness to this voice that I just loved, but my appreciation for this book (and the series it launches) goes deeper.

4 1/2 Stars

How the Wired Weep

by Ian Patrick

My original post
There are two protagonists here—one is a small-time criminal, the other is a London Detective Sergeant who recruits and handles informants—excuse me, Covert Human Intelligence Sources. The criminal is fresh out of prison and is being used to get information on an up-and-coming local gang leader. There’s plenty of moral ambiguity to go around here, which is probably pretty realistic for this line of work (on both sides of the law). Patrick gives a more intimate, more powerful novel than he has with his Sam Batford series with this fascinating look into a side of policing most novels don’t.

4 1/2 Stars

Of Mutts and Men

by Spencer Quinn

My original post
I’ve been a fan of this series since chapter 3 or so of the first book. Here in the tenth novel, Quinn is better than ever. There are some really strong emotional moments in the novel, some character growth (not in Chet, our animal narrator, never fear), and a mystery even more complex readers are used to from Chet and Bernie. Still, this is a series about a down-on-his-luck PI and his canine partner—a mix of goofy fun and solid PI fiction, fun, fun, stuff.

4 1/2 Stars

Books that almost made the list—and did in various drafts (links to my original posts): The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes; The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton; The Ninja Daughter by Tori Eldridge; Rattlesnake Rodeo by Nick Kowalski; Far from the Tree by Rob Parker, Warren Brown (Narrator); and Light it Up by Nick Petrie

The Curator by M. W. Craven: I do not have enough superlatives in my repertoire to do justice to this novel

By HCNewton

On July 6, 2020

In Authors, Fiction, M. W. Craven, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, S-Z, Washington Poe

The Curator

by M. W. Craven
Series: Washington Poe, #2

Hardcover, 372 pg.
Constable, 2020

Read: June 30-July 2, 2020

‘Sean Carroll’s a kite enthusiast,’ Bradshaw said after Nightingale had ended the call. ‘He’s not a dork.’

Poe grunted. He had a problem with ‘enthusiasts’. As far as he was concerned, on the ladder of weird interests that eventually escalated to criminal behaviour, enthusiasts were only a rung below Obsessives, and he’d seen first-hand what obsessed people were capable of…

Yup, this case is strange enough that Poe is driven to consult a kite dork—sorry, enthusiast—that’s just how desperate he is for a clue. Not only has Poe seen first-hand what obsessed people can do, he’s frequently the obsessed person in question–he can make Harry Bosh look laid-back.

What’s The Curator about?

It all starts around Christmas—two severed fingers are found in a public location with no indication how they got there. Tests show that one finger was removed from the victim while they were alive, the other after they were dead. Two more sets of fingers show up in equally public, yet hard to access places. Clearly, there is a creative, disturbed and clever killer at work. The local police waste no time in calling in Washington Poe—this is up his alley, near his home, and the replacement for Detective Superintendent Gamble knows they need his assistance. With Poe comes his DI, a very pregnant Stephanie Flynn, and Tilly, everyone’s favorite analyst.

Racing against the clock—the last thing anyone wants is another pair of fingers showing up—Poe and Tilly do all they can to figure out what the victims have in common, or what would make them a target. And what “#BSC6” could mean—it was left at each scene, and even Tilly is stumped by it.

They catch a break or two, and Poe makes the most of it. Before long, they’re able to make an arrest, Tilly is able to do things with that evidence that even Poe didn’t know she could do—solidifying the case they have against their suspect—who begins confessing to crimes no one knew about. But he won’t confess to the killing.

And then there’s a phone call from a crusading FBI Agent to Poe. And suddenly, everything that Poe thought they’d established about the killer is thrown out the window.

From that point on, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. It was surprise after surprise after surprise. The twists didn’t stop coming—I’m pretty much at a loss for words. Is there a word that means “more than intricate”? If so, I need to learn it so I can describe this novel. Craven doesn’t cheat when it comes to his twists and reveals—it’s all there in the book for you to find. But you probably won’t, because Craven’s smarter than almost all of his readers.

What about the characters?

The real draw to these books are Poe and Tilly. Everything readers liked about the before is back. Their camaraderie is as strong as ever and the reader can feel it radiating off the page, who needs a friendship of your own if you can live vicariously through theirs?

In The Puppet Show, Poe was trying to find his footing again after being reactivated. In Black Summer, he’s fighting to protect his reputation and career. Here? Poe’s just a man on a mission, with no distractions or hindrances in his way. Poe unleashed is a great thing to behold.

As much as Poe’s a local legend among Law Enforcement, it won’t be long until Tilly’s as much of a star (if not more). Watching her win over a bunch of jaded, cynical cops by being her brilliant, socially awkward self was so much fun. (her interaction with a representative from the Ministry of Defense might have been more entertaining, but not by much)

I don’t want to take away anything from DI Flynn—her role in this is pivotal, but her role in the investigation isn’t as large as it has been before, making her more of a supportive character than usual. Her condition, and Poe’s protective instincts (despite Flynn’s objections), won’t allow for anything else.

Detective Superintendent Nightengale is a no-nonsense woman. She’s clearly a good officer, a good manager. She wants to do things by the book, but she’s clever enough to give Poe and Tilly all the latitude she can for them to do a more effective job than the by-the-book route, just in case. I’m sure that eventually,, she’ll run out of the patience required to deal with this team—but that’s a plot complication for another day (and one I look forward to).

Estelle Doyle, the pathologist we met in Black Summer is back and just as wonderful. I know it’d be pushing things to have her play a larger role in these books than she does, but the few scenes we have with her are just not enough to satisfy.

Neither space or time permit me to discuss the other standout characters—on both sides of the law. I would like to talk a bit about the eponymous Curator, because the Curator is the kind of character that you want to sit around discussing for a couple of hours. Obviously, I can’t do that here.

So what did I think about The Curator?

In addition to the plot and characters, there’s real pathos, real tension, real heart—and even some real laughs. I’m not sure I breathed enough in the last seventy-five pages, it’s probably good that I wasn’t hooked up to an oximeter, the alarms that it would have sounded would’ve been really distracting. As usual, this is given to us via Craven’s crisp and compelling prose. Combine those characteristics with a top-notch mystery? And you’ve got a book that deserves all the accolades the first two books in this series has received, and then some. As good as The Puppet Show and Black Summer were (two of the best books I’ve read in the last two years), The Curator is better.

It was two days after I finished this before I could start another book—three before I could start another novel. That is rare for me. But I needed some time to recover/come down from this one. Pick an element—plot, atmosphere, character, pacing, complexity, twists—Craven nails it all. This is an exceptional work. It’s pointless for me to say anything else, why try to gild the lily?

5 Stars