murder mystery – The Critical Librarian

Megan Goldin brings a modern twist to the murder mystery novel with her 2020 novel The Night Swim. After uncovering the truth and setting an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is feeling an immense amount of pressure to perform in her true crime podcast’s new season. Rachel finds herself in a small coastal town reporting on a rape trail that has divided its population. After arriving, she finds herself receiving cryptic notes from one of the town’s previous residents begging her to investigate their sister’s death 25 years prior. After a little investigation, Rachel finds that not everyone in town wants this mystery solved.

Goldin’s addition of a True Crime podcaster adds and interesting twist to the traditional mystery novel. As podcasts and true crime become more popular, it seems obvious to adapt the genre to fit this growing trend. Goldin does this perfectly in Night Swim. Her alternation of perspectives and her addition of podcast transcripts create a addicting narrative that no reader will be able to put down.

Fiction can be used as a tool to shine a light on real world problems. The crimes committed against K and Jenny are interesting in their own way. Why is it that K had been seen as more of a legitimate victim, whereas Jenny was ridiculed and demonized in her own murder? Goldin’s novel, she does raises a tragic but important question: Who deserves justice?

Mystery and tragedy find themselves in A Flicker in the Dark, a thrilling novel by Stacy Willingham. We meet Chole Davis a young psychiatrist who happens to be in the final stages of planning her upcoming wedding to the man of her dreams. All her worst night mares come true when a local girl goes missing…Then another girl goes missing. Nearing the anniversary of her fathers crimes, she finds herself fearing that a copycat killer has begun to terrorize her hometown. With no one to trust, she fears the worst in everyone around her and begins her own investigation. Eventually she finds that the real monsters can be hiding silently behind any corner.

I frequently found my self “on the fence,” with the character of Chole, she is a character who often has very questionable or unethical judgment. In all, she is far from the typical, “perfect heroine,” which made her much more interesting character. However, all her faults and previous mistakes made her much more thrilling to follow in the story. However, Some of her character flaws were a bit too much and not always believable. She was stupid at times and it wasn’t always endearing. She made some poor and illegal choices that sometimes took the story to unnecessary and some times irrelevant plot lines.

A Flicker in the Dark is a very thrilling read. Each twist and turn of the story was completely unpredictable. Even with all of the main characters flaws I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a thrilling mystery. I wont give away any spoilers but if you give Willingham’s work a try you will find yourself completely engulfed in her story, unable to put it down.