Title: Sleepless Morris
Author: Audrey Walker
Date: 2020
Quote: "I cough as another car passes by, blowing dust and fumes onto me."
Detective Morris is on the trail of some very clever, sneaky, and vicious criminals. He's taking all the dust and fumes and grime and garbage into his aging self, moving his longsuffering family from one "safe house" to another, trying to keep his junior partner, Shelby Griffin, safe in the office where the Fictional Los Angeles police department need her.
Er. Um. This short novel, though complete in itself, is a prequel to an ongoing series of adventures of Shelby Griffin.
It violates one of the rules of detective stories that you probably need to be Arthur Conan Doyle to mess with: Detective stories end with a safe, satisfied detective and a criminal behind bars. Detective stories are supposed to be cozy and reassuring in the end, because criminals are caught and justice is served. Detective stories are not supposed to feature detectives who get beaten up in the pursuit of Mr. Bad Man only to confront the immediate retribution of his heir--say a daughter, Miss Bad Girl, all inflamed by having been exposed to feminism without having developed a conscience, out to prove that she can be an even more brutal gang leader than her father was.
It will take a woman detective to defeat Baddie Collins' horrible daughter, in this series. Shelby Griffin can't be kept out of the conflict. The question is whether Morris, or his family, can survive. Morris suffers, in this book. Lots of pain. Will he really die by torture to protect Griffin? Not entirely. He has a wife, whose name he mentions but whom he doesn't speak to in this story, to protect as well.
This is not a cozy, cheering mystery nor does it end with a detective promoted, admired, and purring by his (daily cleaned and checked) fireplace. It's a good choice if you want to build your sense of sympathy for the good police officers Out There, as it might be after having had to deal with a not so good one.
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