The Kind Worth Saving

January 2, 2023
Bestseller Swanson (Nine Lives) cleverly plays with genre conventions in this twist-filled mystery. Boston PI Henry Kimball’s two previous jobs had bad endings. He’d been a Massachusetts high school English teacher but left after a student pulled a gun and killed a classmate before turning the weapon on himself, leaving Kimball tormented by thoughts he could have prevented those deaths. His time with the Boston PD ended after he formed an unhealthy obsession with a homicide suspect, penning “multiple unsavory limericks about her.” Kimball’s past resurfaces when he’s retained by former student Joan Whalen, who wants him to prove that her real estate broker husband, Richard, is unfaithful. The detective isn’t convinced that his client is being completely truthful. Flashbacks to the couple’s first interactions when they were teenagers and their families were both vacationing in Maine up the ante, as does Kimball’s discovery of two bodies in an uninhabited house with a for sale sign outside. Swanson’s especially good at capturing the complexity of Kimball’s inner life. Readers will be hard-pressed not to devour this in one sitting to ascertain whether, and how, past and present connect. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Assoc.