‘Whereabouts Unknown’ is worth tracking down | Book Talk
“Whereabouts Unknown” is a gritty, cinematic, detective novel by Meredith Doench.
Dayton police detective Theodora Madsen, working with a rookie instead of her usual partner, is investigating the case of a teenage girl who has been missing for three months, leaving behind only her cellphone, ID and a handprint in blood on a park sidewalk. A call on the tip line gives the name of a suspect, so she and her partner head to the man’s employer to check his alibi.
The visit should be a routine interview but it ends in a shootout, with the suspect and his boss both dead and Theo in the hospital with a broken pelvis and femur. She spends the rest of the book trying to recuperate while tracking down leads using a walker and cane.
Meanwhile, another teenage girl, Annabelle, has vanished with circumstances similar to the first. She’s almost 200 miles away in Brecksville, and Theo’s chief wants to stay out of the case, but the two girls are so alike in appearance that it cannot be discounted.
Annabelle has been lured into a horrifying trap. Her story unfolds, partly in flashbacks, into a too-real nightmare of current Middle America social problems. The girls are exploited for their naivete and willingness. The immediacy of the crisis — will she be found in time? — is not unusual for a police procedural, but Doench finds ways to maintain the tension.
A side plot about Theo’s life partner Bree’s pregnancy weighs down the story a little, but a series with Theo and her rookie partner would be welcome.
“Whereabouts Unknown” (288 pages, softcover) costs $18.95 from Bold Strokes Books. Doench is a lecturer of creative writing at the University of Dayton and also is the author of the three-book Luce Hansen thriller series about an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent who returns to her rural Ohio town and chases a serial killer.
‘Mistletoe Magic’
“Mistletoe Magic and Other Holiday Tales” by Austintown author Nancy Christie is a feel-good collection of eight stories about people who are weary, grieving, lonely or exasperated.
The endearing “Lucinda and the Christmas List” is a strange interaction between a lonely woman and a newbie telemarketer whose boss might wear a red coat and a beard. In “The Snow Globe,” a recent widow gets a final gift from her husband.
The limited Noel-noir detective genre has a new entry in “Charley Catches the Christmas Spirit”: An insolvent private investigator and his assistant take the job of tailing a home care aide suspected of embezzling from her employer, who is more interested in the motive than the crime. The choice and comical “Holiday Reunion” finds a woman savoring her upcoming vacation, but her home is overrun with unexpected relatives.
Mixing sentimentality without mawkishness, Christie treats her less fortunate characters with dignity and doesn’t pretend everything will all be all right; just better.
“Mistletoe Magic and Other Holiday Tales” (168 pages, softcover) costs $16.95 from Unsolicited Press. Three stories were previously published.
Christie will sign “Mistletoe Magic and Other Holiday Tales” from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday at Leana’s Books & More, 4317 Kirk Road, Youngstown. Her other books include “Traveling Left of Center and Other Stories” and “Reinventing Rita,” inaugural book of her Midlife Moxie series.
‘I Cried ... But I Didn’t Give Up’
“I Cried … But I Didn’t Give Up” is D.M. Cummings’ story of generational poverty and the domino effect of bad decisions.
Damion is the son of teen mother Mary and her boyfriend Swav, who seems well intentioned and provides for her and the baby. When he is imprisoned, Mary starts clubbing and neglecting Damion. Her new man, B, wants Damion to “become a man,” learning the ways of the streets. Damion resists, turning to his grandparents for support.
In an italic aside in each chapter, Cummings addresses the problems and offers advice for overcoming them.
“I Cried … But I Didn’t Give Up” (94 pages, softcover) costs $10.95 from online retailers.
Event
Wadsworth Public Library (132 Broad St.): Dave Agard talks about his story collection “Lost & Found,” 7 to 8:30 p.m. Monday.
Announcement
Brandi Larsen (“Uncultured: A Memoir”), president emerita of Literary Cleveland, will be the William N. Skirball Writers’ Center 2024 Writer in Residence. Her term will begin in March.
Email information about books of local interest, and event notices at least two weeks in advance to BeaconBookTalk@gmail.com and bjnews@thebeaconjournal.com. Barbara McIntyre tweets at @BarbaraMcI.
Book Talk: What’s the deal with Dead Man’s Curve? | Book Talk
Book Talk: ‘The Bagger’ is an Akron novel set in 1980s
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: ‘Whereabouts Unknown’ by Meredith Doench is worth tracking down
