Keeping Secrets

The Price of Silence is the new novel by Camilla Trinchieri. It is an intensely suspenseful story masquerading as a women's literary novel. Emma Perotti teaches ESL in New York and encounters An-ling a young Chinese woman. An-ling is later found dead in her apartment, and Emma is arrested. Secrets are held by everyone in this book--Emma's family included--and in alternating chapters from all the characters' points of view, we eventually find out what happened to An-ling. It's a very smart book, not a typical whodunnit at all. The characters are well developed and three dimensional; no cookie cutters here. By the time you find out who is responsible for An-ling's death, you've seen it coming. But that doesn't make the ending any less emotional or effective.

Closing Cases in L.A.

Harry Bosch is on the job again. Michael Connelly's creation is, in The Closers, back to work for the LAPD, but this time in the Open/Unsolved Unit. His job, along with his old partner Kiz Rider, is to dig into old, cold murder cases and turn over new leads to try to solve the cases. Harry and Kiz are, in a way, "speaking for the dead." Harry, in typical fashion, takes one particular victim to heart, a teenage girl abducted from her bedroom and later found murdered. Connelly is talented at drawing us along in these police procedurals, and the dialog between characters is perfect. After reading a couple of these novels, you will feel as if Harry Bosch is an old friend. And it's good to have him back in action.