Bone Dust White--A Novel

January 27, 2014
In Salvalaggio’s haunting debut, Det. Macy Greeley, a special investigator for the state of Montana, returns to Collier, where 11 years earlier the bodies of four Eastern European women were found in a roadside picnic area and the prime suspect’s sister-in-law, Leanne Adams, disappeared. The normally dedicated detective, who’s looking into a fresh murder related to the earlier killings, is less than enthusiastic about the assignment, in part because she’s heavily pregnant with her first child. Collier doesn’t disappoint: it’s a small-minded small town with an environment as toxic as the meth labs that seem to be its only surviving industry. Still, single-mom-to-be Macy finds herself drawn to the fragile teen at the center of the investigation, Grace Adams—the daughter Leanne left behind—who might just be the next victim. Though astute readers will suss out some of the underlying mystery before they should, the author creates a hardscrabble community of characters that readers won’t soon forget. Agent: Felicity Blunt, Curtis Brown.

February 15, 2014
A fragile child-woman witnesses her long-lost mother's murder in the Montana woods behind her isolated house. Grace Adams, not quite 18, is living with her recently widowed aunt in the remote town of Collier and convalescing from a heart transplant when she calls 911 to report that her mother, Leanne, is being attacked by a strange man. When Jared Peterson and his fellow paramedic arrive, however, they find Grace, dressed in a babydoll nightgown, in the snow next to a bloodstained kimono and Leanne's body. Grace was only 7 when Leanne abandoned her in a trailer, and since then, the two hadn't seen each other until the day of Leanne's death. The murder brings Detective Macy Greeley from Helena to investigate the killing and its connection to the trucking company of Arnold Lamm, Leanne's brother-in-law. In addition to still being frustrated by four murders she couldn't pin on Arnold and Leanne in the past, Macy is heavily pregnant, unmarried and uncertain about how she'll deal with the baby. As if she didn't have enough trouble, she has to work with former flame Jared--and he's romantically caught between a nurse and a woman married to an abusive husband. He also takes Grace under his wing, especially when more sad facts about her childhood emerge. As Grace recovers her health and grows in confidence, however, she's determined to follow up on Leanne's last words to her, even though they may send her into the clutches of her mother's murderer. Despite a style that's much flatter than its setting, Salvalaggio's debut deftly intertwines a town without a future and citizens without hope, people in need and people who need to be needed, and a new murder that brings closure to four unsolved cases.

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Starred review from April 1, 2014

Seventeen-year-old Grace Adams goes into shock when she witnesses her mother's murder just outside her home in remote northern Montana. Eleven years earlier Grace's mom had skipped town during the tumultuous aftermath of a still-unsolved grisly sex trafficking murder case. No one understands why she came back, or what Grace knows. Grace struggles to recover, aided by an honest state detective named Macy Greeley, who's been dispatched to run the investigation. Macy, eight months pregnant, worked the earlier case and believes the death of Grace's mother is tied to that unsolved cold case. An increasingly desperate killer strikes again, attempting to get to Grace. With readers privy to Grace's secrets, the suspense meter spikes dramatically. If only clever Macy can connect the dots before she goes into labor. VERDICT This complicated, peel-away-layers debut procedural intoxicates from the opening page and has word-of-mouth selling power. To the fine roster of pregnant protagonists (Elly Griffiths's Ruth Galloway and Tess Gerritsen's Jane Rizzoli), add Macy Greeley. Recommend for fans of Archer Mayor, Gwen Florio, and Craig Johnson. C.J. Box's The Highway comes to mind, too.

Two of the authors I hit up for reading resolutions (see LJ 1/14, p. 76, for the full report) mentioned Patricia Highsmith, which seems timely with the new Highsmith-based movie, The Two Faces of January, coming out this spring. (Grove Atlantic is reissuing Highsmith titles in paperback this year, too.)

Meg Gardiner vowed to read Strangers on a Train. She declared in an email that it's "shameful that I haven't yet read the book" since the Hitchcock movie is one of her favorites. When I caught up with her in February, Gardiner attested that she had found the book "taut and insidious!"

A best-selling thriller writer who writes both series and stand-alones (The Shadow Tracer), Gardiner was the guest of honor for 2013's Crime Bake conference, and is a strong library advocate. She's recently moved back to the United States after several years in London. Her next title, Phantom Instinct, comes out in June.

Gardiner wants readers to try Zoe Sharp in 2014, noting, "Her Charlie Fox novels are fast-paced, gritty, and authentic." With that endorsement, better check your catalog. A quick check of Sharp's website (zoesharp.com) indicates ten Zoe Sharp thrillers are out there--just the ticket for your binge-readers.

Author Wayne Arthurson (A Killing Winter) has vowed to read Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley. Playing it close to the vest, the Canadian wasn't divulging whether he's cracked the book yet. He is emphatic in his endorsement of fellow Edmontonian Janice MacDonald's mysteries. In his correspondence with me, he said, "They're traditional amateur sleuth mysteries set in academic backdrops or on the fringes of academia because MacDonald's protagonist, Miranda 'Randy' Craig, can't get a tenure-track job. The books are quirky, funny but very smart." See janicemacdonald.net for more. Give them a whirl.

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