Murder Crossed Her Mind

Murder Crossed Her Mind (2023) Stephen Spotswood (Pentecost and Parker #4)

Set in NYC in 1947

Defense attorney (and ower of apologies to Lillian Pentecost) Forest Whitsun has come asking for help. His friend–the retired secretary for the law firm he used to work for–is missing, and he is certain something bad has happened to her.

“It wasn’t because she didn’t have the money. It was that she didn’t like to go outside anymore. It was all changing too fast, she said. She felt safer in her apartment.”

In the meantime, Parker got herself into trouble on the boardwalk, and is worried about the consequences of that trouble. And since Holly is at a secluded cabin trying to finish her novel, Will doesn’t have anyone to confide in, so she makes poor choices.

I actually put the book down for a bit because I was not happy with Will’s choices in the face of the possible consequences she could be facing, but I discovered Will did have a plan. Her stupidity was solely in not trusting her boss.

We also see some of the characters making appearances, such as Maeve, the fortune-teller from the (now defunct) circus. Who isn’t quite as bad as you might think.

“With Mildred, there is a dead husband. She lost him in the war. But I don’t chat with him. Kind of the opposite. Mildred needs to get over it, get on with living. I do this whole thing about me seeing this dark specter of grief with these tendrils that tie her down, keep her trapped and unhappy.”

The story has a lot to say about society, from the way the old are treated.

She was still an old woman who died alone in her apartment, but now she was an interesting old woman.

To the past queer culture in NYC:

There was a time, the elders have told me, when there were joints all over the five boroughs where two men could cuddle in a corner or a couple of ladies could take a turn around the dance floor without fear of being booted or billy-clubbed.

and the foreshadowing of things to come.

A couple years prior, my friend Hollis Graham said something to me that I never forgot: Nails that stick out get hammered down. At the time, I waved him off. Now I could see it. The start of it anyway, and maybe worse to come.

I did dislike the stupid choice Will made in hiding her trouble from everyone, but that was dealt with in the story. The mystery was good, and I absolutely had the wrong person pegged as the murderer. But I really really hate cliffhanger endings, so points lost for that.

Characters: Willowjean “Will” Parker, Lillian Pentecost, Perseverance Bodine, Forest Whitsun, Agent T. S. Faraday, John Boekbinder, Clark Gimbal, Ken Devine, Leonard Teetering, Donny Russo, Lieutenant Nathan Lazenby, Eleanor Campbell, Hiram Levy, Maeve Bailey, Miss Holly Quick, Julia Fennel, Nicholas Ramirez, Sergeant Erasmus Grady, Mrs. Diane Murphy, Rosa Rivera, Silas Culliver, Mr. Jessup Quincannon, Rodney Camper, Andnej Wocjik, Daniel Snejbjerg, Delbert Johnson, Barbara Johnson, Donny Russo, Manny Casper, Detective Donald Staples, Pearl Jennings, Hollis Graham, Tom Cappachi, Sofia Bellucci, Sally Madder

Cover by Michael J. Windsor

Published by Doubleday

Rating: 8/10
Points lost for unnecessary cliffhanger ending

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