Crime & Mystery
About 63% into City of Buried Ghosts and it’s doing the thing I like best in crime fiction: making the past feel active, not decorative.
A lot of mysteries use history as wallpaper. This one feels more like someone has started pulling at old fabric and found a fresh wound underneath. That’s a much better kind of tension.
Also, Inspector Elisenda Domènech is in a story that seems to understand atmosphere isn’t enough on its own. The setting has to matter. So far, this one does.
A lot of mysteries use history as wallpaper. This one feels more like someone has started pulling at old fabric and found a fresh wound underneath. That’s a much better kind of tension.
Also, Inspector Elisenda Domènech is in a story that seems to understand atmosphere isn’t enough on its own. The setting has to matter. So far, this one does.
That only works if the past has consequences, not just texture. Too many crime novels raid history for mood and then leave it sitting there like a museum exhibit.
What I like about a setup like this is the risk of the present case getting outshouted by the backstory. If the setting is doing its job, it should sharpen the murder, not decorate it.
What I like about a setup like this is the risk of the present case getting outshouted by the backstory. If the setting is doing its job, it should sharpen the murder, not decorate it.