Two crime writers find themselves caught up in an old case, one that may not be truly closed, in the dark, witty, and twisty mystery-thriller The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett (The Appeal).
True-crime author Amanda Bailey wants to reinvigorate her career with a project unlike the same old "[d]ead blonde, media frenzy, police fumblings, lucky psychopath" murders of her previous books. The perfect opportunity arises when a new true crime imprint approaches her with an idea for a retrospective on the early 2000s case of the Alperton Angels, a "chilling story ripe with possibility." It involves a psychopathic cult leader and delusional followers who believed they were angels. There was murder, ritual suicide, occult symbols, and the thwarted sacrifice of an infant.
That infant is now turning 18 and can finally give their story in their words to whomever secures the first exclusive interview, and Amanda aims to be that interviewer. She's just got one tiny obstacle to surmount. No one knows the teen's name, sex, where they are, or if they even know they were the Alperton Angels baby. Her task gets harder when she learns former colleague turned rival author Oliver Menzies is also trying to get to the teen first. Amanda rounds up information from first responders, surviving victims, investigators, and other writers who have explored the case, but her attempts at reconstruction bring up only old inconsistencies. She and Oliver fall into an uneasy collaboration, but when people connected with the case begin dying suspiciously, Amanda starts to realize she may have walked into a story that hasn't ended yet.
This unsettling and challenging mystery has at its center a protagonist who can be as much of a dark riddle as the central case. Amanda is brilliant, witty, and often conniving. The push-pull of her frenemyship with Oliver drives her harder toward piecing the Angels' story together and adds a more personal dose of propellant to the plot. Amanda keeps her life purposely devoid of emotional connections, and darkness in her past gives readers a second mystery to solve. As in her previous works, Hallett uses multiple formats to unspool the mystery, including e-mails, chat apps, newspaper articles, and interviews transcribed with commentary by Amanda's sharp-minded assistant Ellie. Fans of true-crime podcasts will find this complex and eerie novel just as satisfying, surprising and rapidly consumable as their favorite episodes. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads
Shelf Talker: Two rival true-crime authors alternately spar and collaborate to investigate a morbid murder case in this dark, witty mystery.