The Cracked Mirror
ISBN: 9780349145792
Description
You know Penny Coyne. The little old lady who has solved multiple murders in her otherwise sleepy village, despite bumbling local police. A razor-sharp mind in a twinset and tweed. You know Johnny Hawke. Hard-bitten LAPD homicide detective. Always in trouble with his captain, always losing partners, but always battling for the truth, whatever it takes. Against all the odds, against the usual story, their worlds are about to collide. It starts with a dead writer and a mysterious wedding invitation. It will end with a rabbit hole that goes so deep, Johnny and Penny might come to question not just whodunnit, but whether they want to know the answer.
Reviewed on 21st July 2024
Chris Brookmyre subverts the genre with a bewildering opening to this complex novel, where we open in a Scottish village, following a cosy crime story about an elderly Marplesque detective. But after three chapters suddenly another novel starts - now we’re in LA, the present tense, and a gritty thriller about a reckless cop.
As the plots develop in parallel, the novel becomes more and more complex, gradually peeling back layers for the reader so we can learn more and more about this bizarre world, until finally…
It’s a totally original approach to storytelling while also feeling so very Brookmyre. I absolutely raced through it, totally hooked on the mystery within the mystery within the mystery.
Another really good adventure that I thoroughly enjoyed all the way through.
