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In this US release of a well-received British debut, DC Cat Kinsella is in her mid-twenties, working in the London police, and assigned to Murder. When she was an eight-year-old, she and her family were staying for a few weeks in a small Irish town, Mulderrin, where she develops an enormous crush on seventeen-year old Maryanne Doyle. She never really knows Maryanne, but seen from afar, she appears to be her three favourite Spice Girls rolled into one. She is in the car when her father picks the girl up while hitchhiking. Shortly thereafter, Maryanne goes missing, never to return to Mulderrin. And Cat's dad lies about never having met her. But Cat knows better.
This knowledge, kept to herself, perhaps influenced Cat's subsequent choice of career. It certainly destroyed the easy relationship of complicity she'd had with her father. In any event, she is now twenty-six and the missing Maryanne abruptly resurfaces in her life, this time as a dead body, presumably murdered, in Islington, uncomfortably close to the pub over which her father presides.
The ethical and practical dilemma that the dead Maryanne presents is central to how the book develops. Cat ought to reveal her connection to Maryanne, but doing so might involve her father in serious trouble and worse, would bar Cat from the investigation. If, on the other hand, the connection is revealed, Cat might very well be out of a job she really likes and is good at.
For a first novel, SWEET LITTLE LIES is truly accomplished. It is well-plotted and wholly contemporary. Women characters in their complex variety dominate. The tone is maintained throughout - young, at times assertive, at others filled with self-doubt. Caz Frear has managed the difficult feat of melding the personal struggle of her protagonist with a strong procedural investigation.
Cat is the voice of the narrative and Frear has captured it perfectly. Cat is funny, if sometimes out of control, confused, determined, and always compelling. We like her, but would like to give her a good shake every once in a while. For myself, I would like also to see her back as soon as possible, investigating crime in the mean streets of Islington.
§ Yvonne Klein is a writer, translator, and retired college English professor who lives in Montreal. She's been editing RTE since 2008.
Reviewed by Yvonne Klein, August 2018
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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