‘Fall’ by Tracy Clark. Thomas & Mercer, 347 pages, $16.99
Chicago politics — and the corruption of power — wrapped in an intense police procedural play heavily in Tracy Clark’s outstanding “Fall,” the second in her series about police detective Harriet “Harri” Foster.
Harri and her new partner, Detective Vera Li, are baffled by the murders of two prominent aldermen, whose deaths at first seem unrelated except that 30 dimes have been left with each person. The religious overtures immediately leap out. “Thirty pieces of silver. A traitor’s payment,” Harri says.
The deaths coincide with the release from prison of former alderman Marin Shaw, who served three years for accepting bribes. Marin had been one of the city council’s most respected aldermen until her downfall. She could have helped herself had she implicated other corrupt aldermen, but she refused.
The detectives wonder if Marin is now exacting her own form of revenge. She didn’t just lose her position on the council or her career as a lawyer — she lost her family. Her husband refused to visit her in prison and forbade their daughter Zoe, now 13 years old, from having any contact with her mother.
Clark explores the Windy City’s various neighborhoods, including a middle-class Black area, to the seats of Chicago’s power. Harri, who is Black, and Vera, who is Asian, also deal with overt and more subtle racism during their investigation as the two detectives adjust to their new partnership. Marin’s attempts to reconnect with Zoe lend an emotional push to “Fall.”
Clark, whose four award-winning Cass Raines novels established her as a novelist to watch, again shows her talent in the gripping “Fall.”
Debut mystery
‘Glory Be’ by Danielle Arceneaux. Pegasus Crime, 272 pages, $26.99
Glory Broussard is a regular church-goer, a loyal member of the Arcadia Red Hat Society, “a group of pious, black Catholic women.” Every Sunday following Mass she’s at her regular table at CC’s Coffee House where she works — as a small-time bookie with a good following. Danielle Arceneaux quickly establishes Glory as a woman in charge of her life, with a thriving business in her highly entertaining debut “Glory Be.”
Overall, Arceneaux keeps the tone light, fitting “Glory Be” squarely in the cozy/amateur sleuth mystery category. But Arceneaux also adds more serious themes of racism, grief, growing older, parenting issues and how to support oneself with little income.
To her friends and neighbors in Lafayette, La., Glory exudes self-confidence. In private, she is a borderline hoarder whose home may be condemned, still reeling from the death of her mother that some days she can barely get out of bed, barely scraping by.
Then Glory’s best friend, activist nun Amity Gay, dies. The police are quick to rule the death a suicide, but Glory refuses to believe that. Amity was a devout Catholic so suicide would never be an option. Amity also was involved in numerous causes that needed her. Her activism was once the reason she chose to join the Sisters of the Holy Family, an order founded by freed slaves.
Glory also is angry that police seem to ignore that many Black women in the area have died under mysterious circumstances. Glory begins her own investigation into Amity’s death with the help of her daughter, Delphine, a successful New York City lawyer with her own problems.
Arceneaux straddles the line between light storytelling and the more serious issues the author explores. Glory is a troubled woman, a former beauty queen coping with being older and “invisible” to many people — a situation she uses to her advantage. Glory also is immensely likable, the kind of character readers will root for and look forward to more of her adventures.
The briskly plotted “Glory Be” should be the beginning of a long-running series.
