Since I listen to audio versions of books nominated for various crime-writing awards (and there’s a lot of them!), they are almost always excellent listens. Clicking the title gets you to my Amazon affiliate link.
Steph Cha has created a timely and unforgettable story about crime, injustice, and the collision of two Los Angeles cultures, not written in abstract terms, but in the painful impact the conflict has on multiple generations of two families—one Black, one Korean. Listening to this will give you more insight and compassion about American social conflict than in a hundred presidential debates!
Although most of Cha’s story takes place in 2019, it’s rooted in the real-life conflicts that ravaged the City of Angels in the early 1990s. Alternate chapters are told by Grace Park, a young Korean American woman whose parents harbor a terrible secret, and Shawn Matthews, a Black man a decade or so older than Grace. Greta Jung and Glenn Davis narrate. They nailed the multi-ethnic intonations and cadences, even to Grace’s stiffness and Shawn’s barely masked pain. My full review here.
Fans of Golden Age mysteries will recognize the heritage of Anthony Horowitz’s story-within-a-story. Popular mystery author Alan Conway has written a new book. His editor, Susan Ryeland, is reading it, anxious that it be a best-seller and keep the publishing house she works for afloat. You hear Conway read the entire novel, which involves some grisly manor-house deaths and plenty of suspects, and as his story’s climax approaches, the manuscript abruptly stops, three chapters short of an ending. What happens next? Where are those essential chapters? Susan can’t ask Conway; he’s committed suicide. And there seems to be a larger plot afoot. Expertly narrated by Samatha Bond and Allan Corduner.
Jane Harper’s award-winning family story delves into what binds and separates three brothers working on remote cattle ranges in the Australian outback. It’s a powerful read. The story begins with the discovery of the most successful brother’s body in the broiling sun. The outback almost becomes a character itself, with it’s implacable demands and brutal dangers. As the eldest brother sorts out what happened, secrets and missed opportunities are exposed. They may be brothers, but there’s a lot they don’t know about each other. Loved this, and the narration by Australian Stephen Shanahan, whose accent will carry you all the way across the Pacific.
A good selection Vicky, two of which I’ve read. Must add Your House Will Pay to my TBR stack.