kestrell

This is the third in a series of mysteries featuring Claire DeWitt, which manage to combine the grittiness of contemporary noir with the uncanniness of the occult detectives of the early twentieth century . For example, the mythic detective who wrote the book that Claire, literally, lives by, is Jacques Silette, whose name faintly echoes that of John Silence, one of weird fiction's most famous metaphysical detectives. From the Nancy Drew-style girl detective comics which originally sparked Claire's interest in detection to the evocative names she gives the cases she has worked on (naming is given almost ritualistic significance in Claire's life), Claire's world is full of dark detail and ominous connections and yet, like an even more poetic Philip Marlow, it's Claire's own brokenness which allows her to sense and interpret the most arcane of clues, leading a physically and emotionally battered Claire through the labyrinthine cityscapes through which she pursues her leads.
Gran's prose is alternately gritty and lyrical and, like Claire herself, can turn on a dime from being hard as nails to heartbreakingly tender, highlighting how many mysteries are contained within everyday life.