February 1, 2021 | Posted by Village

…Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell! Mystery Guru Pete Mock tells you all about this page turner of a wonderful read that checks the most important boxes for these crazy times we are living in.

After a long stressful year, where at times reading was difficult with the weight of uncertainty keeping all things enjoyable at bay, we finally have a winner for the fourth annual McIntyre’s Books Beltie Award for Best Mystery. Any one of the 8 finalists, winnowed down from a super long list of 47, would have been a worthy choice but for two things that stood out for Invisible Girl.

#1, nobody dies. There are no bodies lying around, no gratuitous violence. Yes, there is a crime, a small series of crimes. They’re incidental to the real story being told but important in that it is upon these crimes that the story pivots, turning what could have been nothing but another blah psycho drama with a blurry face staring out a window into a superb psychological thriller and giving Ms. Jewell the freedom of movement to play with us the way a cat does a mouse, teasing us, and teasing us, until the denouement.

#2, when you finish Invisible Girl you might just smile. After you make your through this taut, tense, maze of a story where plotline segues into plotline and nothing is what it seems until all that is good shines through. Those who deserve punishment receive it, while those who might be considered victims in most other books emerge with a brighter future than before, free of any lasting emotional or physical scars. What a rarity!

And so it is with those two points that Lisa Jewell and Invisible Girl are this year’s Beltie Prize winner. Thank you for helping lighten a dark year.

Pick up a copy of this great read in the shop, or order online.

See the whole list of fabulous runners up and get a stack o’ mysteries that’ll make the time fly in the very best way here.