Review by Booklist Review
Drug-taking, tarot-reading San Francisco detective Claire DeWitt (Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, 2011) is back. The death of guitarist Paul Casablancas, an ex-boyfriend, causes Claire to revisit her murky past and, eventually, to connect Paul's murder to some of her earlier cases, particularly the disappearance of a teenage friend in New York's East Village in the 1980s. Paul's death hits Claire hard, and helping his widow find closure tests her commitment to detective work. Claire continues to rely on her herbalist, her grad-student assistant Claude, and the lama at the Dorje Temple to prop her up (sometimes literally.) Claire is terrific at getting to the bottom of other people's problems but not so good at dealing with her own. But that's the peculiar charm of this punky sleuth and her offbeat entourage.--Keefe, Karen Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Tattooed private investigator Dewitt is at it again in this sequel to Gran's Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead. This time, she's determined to get answers about the death of an ex-boyfriend that police think was the result of a botched home invasion. Dewitt knows otherwise, and puts her quirky methods to the test in solving the mystery. While pursuing hints revealed in dreams, taking cocaine, and connecting clues, Dewitt draws closer to the killer and discovers more about herself in the process. Carol Monda narrates with a classic noir delivery, a syrupy tone, and plenty of attitude. With a slightly raspy voice, Monda is provocative in her emphasis and infuses the story with dramatic flair. Dewitt fans will be delighted. A Houghton Mifflin Harcourt hardcover. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Claire's old love, Paul Casablancas, is murdered in an apparent robbery gone bad, opening a floodgate of emotions for her. She finds a clue ("trust only the clues," says her detective mentor, Jacques Silette) that helps her trace Paul's final steps that ultimately led to his death. Two cases separated by 25 years-the old one in Claire's native Brooklyn and the current in San Francisco-define Gran's second series entry. Through Claire's flashbacks and dreams, readers are transported into her intuitive detecting methods-an exhausting process unique to this fine detective. Claire's increasing reliance on cocaine as the case escalates worries both her friends and the readers, but she never loses track of her cases, leading to a stunning conclusion. VERDICT Gran's (Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead) detective searches for truth, not necessarily justice, and philosophical tidbits scattered throughout give the storyline an otherworldly tone. Remarkably, Gran keeps her tortured detective focused throughout, ensuring a satisfying read. Highly recommended. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
"The very best detective in the world"--just ask her--solves what she dubs the Case of the Kali Yuga, with digressions to, among a hundred other subjects, the Case of the End of the World. Claire DeWitt isn't exactly sorry that guitarist Paul Casablancas split up with her and married her friend Lydia Nunez. But she's not ready for the news that Paul's been shot dead either. Detective Madeline Huong, of the San Francisco PD, is convinced with some reason that Paul, coming home around midnight, interrupted whoever was in the middle of stealing five of his guitars and was killed for his trouble. If it wasn't a robber, conventional wisdom says that the murderer was almost certainly the wife. But Claire, no slave to convention, decides she owes Paul's death a closer look. The trouble is that, both as detective and as narrator, Claire is so unfocused that you'd think she had a bad case of ADHD if it weren't for all the drugs she's taking. It's not just that she keeps interrupting her present-day story for a series of flashbacks to the time 25 years ago when she and her best bud Tracy went looking through darkest Brooklyn for their vanished friend Chloe Roman; almost any encounter with any of the dozens of people she talks to or sleeps with will act on Claire like a shiny object, unleashing dreams and memories and aphorisms from her idol Jacques Silette, the nonpareil detective who couldn't find his own missing daughter. Gran's structure is beyond episodic; there's just one scene after another, some funny, some just snarky, and the plot never thickens. Hip, smart, inventive and thoroughly infuriating. The heroine (Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead, 2011) is someone you'll either love or love to hate.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
