This summer’s crop of mysteries is bountiful and varied. From the 18th and final book in a beloved series to a story of marginalized people to a new take on the serial killer trope, here’s a small sample of thrillers we’ll be reading in the next few months, along with answers to some “dying to know” questions we’ve put to their authors. The Comfort of Ghosts By Jacqueline Winspear Soho Crime: 360 pages, $30 Out now It’s October 1945.
World War II is over and England is grappling with its devastating consequences, including continued food rationing, homelessness and psychological trauma. As private investigator and trailblazing psychologist Maisie Dobbs tries to help a small group of youth and a badly wounded soldier who are sheltering illegally in the Belgravia mansion of a friend, the various secrets the squatters harbor have implications that bring Scotland Yard calling and involve Dobbs’ deceased first husband. In sorting out those mysteries and helping a young man depressed over his role in ending the war, Dobbs draws on friends and colleagues who form what a character calls the “web of life” Dobbs has cultivated over the years.
Facing the deep pain of the past and a future with her second husband that glimmers with possibilities makes Dobbs’ final case a deeply satisfying coda to the series and a fitting tribute to Winspear’s contribution in putting a female lens on the damage wrought by war on individuals, their families and society at large. Wha.
