P.S. to the previous post, concerning radical theater in mid-20th century

 I mentioned Dionysus in '60 in y previous post, and if anyone would like to see a film of their performance (and through that get a clue about what Flashout is all about), the film of the Performance Group in action is available at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/dionysus-1970

5 new. novels witth strong female characters

 Two thematically interrelated sets of new novels with impressive female characters feature on the one hand solo women in difficult circumstances and on the other vivid descriptions of female friendships developing in difficult situations.

 The first  set is a pair of works that borrow vividly from the past to give context for the present. Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner is about a freelance American spy who has been tasked with infiltrating a back-to-nature cult in rural France. Flashout by Alexis Soloski is about a college drama teacher who is being threatened by someone from her distant past. Both these novels reflect cultural events from previous decades (Creation Lake is set in the present day but refers frequently to the political and philosophical agitation around May 68 in France, and Flashout, set in the '90s, flashes back to the radical theater, with politically and socially disruptive ideas, of the '60s and '70s. Kushner's spy and the radical circle she enters are constantly referring back to one of the cult's philsophical mentors, a radical thinker with a lot of historical and anthropological concerns. Soloski's acting troupe refers figuratively and literally to troupes like The Performance Group--in particular their groundp-breaking disruptive show/event Dionysus in '69.

 

Kushner's heroine confronts her own past as well, in particular a betrayal concerning a yokung man that she seems to have entrapped into a terrorist plot. For Soloski's heroine, The blackmail in the p;resent day of the novel leads heer heroine to relive the vivid and violent events of her yount which she ran away from college and home with a cult-like theater troupe whose performances disrupt not only theatrical but also social convention, also eventually leading to the heroin's act of betrayal. Both novels are propulsive as well as ensnaring readers in some of the most interesting aspects of the mid-20th century.

 

Three novels that lead female characters into close relationships with other women  include Helpless Women by Rebecca Sharpe (set in rural England for the most part), Eat, Slay, Love by Julie Mae Cohen, set in suburban England, and the Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, set in rural Netherlands. All three take surprising twists, all three put women in difficult and dangerous situations in which they form bonds with each other. In Helpless Women, a con woman and her victim find violence and truth on the run from the law and t heir pasts. In Eat, Pray, Love (which si often quite funny, three victims of a con man make common cause. And in The Safekeep, two women stuck together by family and by the past go through phases of hate, passion, and love (not necessarily in that order), in intense and sometimes highly erotic prose.

All 5 of these books will surprise and reward, each in a different way, and all of them offer vivid portraits of women and women's dilemmas, challenges, and sometimes satisfactions in the present and recent past. 

Eat, Slay, Love by Julie Mae Cohen (pubished y Abrams)

 Eat, Slay, Lovem by Julie Mae Cohen  is as you might guess from the titlem a comic crime novel, featurng three women: a librarian who has just won the lottery, a fitness influencer and a chef who gave up her profession for motherhood. At first, the novel seems to be a story of the misery of abuse and fraud perpetrated by a husband fiance, and lover, but the story veers away from that story of misery and fraud into a farce featuring kidnapping and murder rather than bedrooms and assignations.

    There are sudden shifts in the narrative, surprises and coincidences, plus a heavy dose of revenge--leading to self-realization (hence the reference to the famous book on which Cohen's title is based). I enjoyed this book and recommend it for crime fans as well as readers seeking some dark comedy.

Murder in Pitigliano, by Camilla TrinchieriPro

 Prolific mystery writer Camilla Trinchieri has published four books in her Tuscan Mystery series. The fifth, Murder in Pittigliano, is due out this year. I haven't read the first four, but it's OK to start this series out of order, the author is very good at keeping a reader in the loop, regardless of their prior knowledge of the backstories of the characters. The series falls into the murder-in-a-small-town category, not exactly cozy but full of colorful characters, a cute dog, lots of food and wine, plus romance. 

An interesting comparison occurred to me while reading the book: some parallels woteh TanaFrench's most recent series, based i rural Ireland (particularly with the first book, The Hunter). In both Trinichieri's most recent book (at least) and in French's series there is an emigre American detective on his own (and then partnerec), there is a key young girl who enlists the services of the detective (the girl not quite so young in French's book), and frequent reference to preparing food (more basic in the Irish series, somewhat more Italianm though not totally traditional) in Trnchieri's. There ism of course death in both series, and there is also resisresisstancetence to the interloper detective in both.

But in Trinchieri's book, the American is integrated more smoothly into the community (though not totally welcomed) where as in French's there is always a distance. The dog adopted by the detective in Trinchieri's book helps to ingratiate him, whereas the most prominent animals in French's are a pack of raven's that mock the American despite his attempts to befriend them. And the biggest contrast is that in the Italian-set novel, there is ultimately a comfort in , for the interloper and for the reader, while in French's the American's comfort is much more limited (basically to two other characters), and the community as a whole never ceases to retain a threatening atmosphere. There are in the end cozy qualities to Trinchieri's very readable and enjoyable book, while French (as is typical in her work) goes to a darker place. I can happily recommend both, and would add that we are as readers fortunate to have both to choose from, and to inhabit each according to our taste and mood.

F.H. Batacan, Acidents Happen

Accidents Happen (from Soho Crime) is a story collection by the leading crime writer in the Philipines. Her fiction is darkest noir, dealing with social in a vivid and very noir manner. Accidents Happen brings together police procedurals, a ghost or horror story, a wistful apocalyptic dystopian nightmare, and other stories from other and blended genres. Batacan's Jesuit forensic scientist from her first novel, Smaller and Smaller Circles makes an appearance, leading an investigation into a mysterious death that ultimately leads to layers and layers of violence against women.  IN another story he oversees the investigation of family abuse that leads to horrifying mutilation. The stories are vivid, sometimes darkly comic and always imbued with a humanity that will keep readers involved even in the most difficult of the characters' dark situations.
 

Amy Jordan, The Dark Hours

 

The Dark Hours is the first novel Amy Jordan has published under that name: she previously pubished a crime trilogy in Ireland under the name Amy Cronin. The Dark Hours focuses on a 60-year-old former Garda detective in Ireland long retired from the force and living in seclusion in a rural town. Her reputation as a cop was based on her involvement in a serial kller cases, and after the death in prison of that killer, a murder that echoes his methods happens in Cork, and her former boss persuades her to come back to assist in the investigation (which she does unwillingly). 

     The novel alternates between that 0old case and the new one, with the resentments of more senior officers in the past and the resentment of currently serving detectives in the present case, as well as in both cases the race to catch the killer before more murders occur, and also in both cases, threats to the retired detective. The pace is quick and the stakes are hith, keeping the reader involved in a story that is interesting both for its unusual lead character and for the chase itself.

Sarah Foster, When She Was Gone

 Sara Foster, When She Was Gone

Sara Foster's When She Was Gone is a tense thriller about the abduction of a nanny and two young children in a remote vacation area near Perth,
Australia. We get a terrible hint of what is to come in the first pages, as well as a quick view of the nanny's estranged mother, a former BRitish detective and current activist against domestic violence. The parents of the abducted kids are rich and annoying, and the Aussie cop called back from a leave to take on the case is trying to temper his hyper-dedication to the job in order to save his marriage. kkkkThe complex scenario is handled ably by Foster, and the reader is swept along in the palpable tension of both the plot and the interpersonal relations. Highly recommended.