TV writer and playwright Matt Goldman's first novel, Gone to Dust, begins with an eerie crime scene. A woman in Edina, Minn.--a Minneapolis suburb--has been murdered in her bed, and the killer has shrouded her body and entire house in dust from many emptied vacuum cleaner bags. How will the police collect any useful DNA evidence?
Detective Anders "Ellie" Ellegaard asks private investigator Nils "Shap" Shapiro to help with the case. Besides the usual suspects--the victim's former husband and current lover--Shap uncovers surprising relationships the woman, Maggie Somerville, had with people who might've had reason to kill her. But then the FBI tells Shap to back off: the case has much bigger ramifications than he realizes. The directive makes Shap more determined to unmask the killer, and he discovers the feds were wrong--the situation is even deadlier than they say it is.
Though Shap doesn't differ much from fictional PIs who precede him--smarter than cops, ever ready with a quip, unlucky in love, etc.--he's a likable protagonist. He treats friends and witnesses with compassion, and his longing for his ex-wife shows his romantic side. Sharp-eyed readers will spot not-so-subtle clues, and the ending falls into the trap of having long speeches to explain how and why the murder was committed, but because of its heart and humor, Gone to Dust is a promising start to a new series. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, blogger at Pop Culture Nerd