The Best Book I Read This Month: The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova

The best book I read this month was a delightful, magical story by Zoraida Córdova called The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina. I was bewitched by the book’s prose in the first five pages, and the story held my attention from there.

The book tells two parallel stories that ultimately unite at the end: the story of Orquídea Divina’s life, which she has kept secret from her family, and the story of her grandchildren’s pursuit of information about Orquídea’s past.

Both storylines are imbued with magic, yet the characters remain grounded. These characters were not creatures of fantasy, but very real-seeming people who use and experience magic as an expression of their emotions. In this way, the book felt very reminiscent of the works of Gabriel García Márquez and Isabel Allende.

I wouldn’t call this a happy read—there’s violence and abuse and death—but it is a satisfying one and one I plan to read again someday.

The Best Book I Read This Month: The Decent Inn of Death by Rennie Airth

The best book I read this month was the latest installment in one of my favorite series. The Decent Inn of Death is the sixth entry in Rennie Airth’s John Madden series, which follows Scotland Yard inspector Madden from the aftermath of World War I in Book 1 (River of Darkness) to the mid-twentieth century in this one.

I love this book for the reasons I love this whole series: the police work and the cast of characters. At the center of this story is John Madden’s former boss and current neighbor, Angus Sinclair. Sinclair is long retired but in doing a favor for a new acquaintance, finds himself drawn into a mystery that threatens the life of another new friend. The situation is complicated by a snowstorm that isolates Sinclair not only with the intended victim but the murdered as well. Meanwhile, Madden, two Scotland Yard officers, and a visiting consultant race to find Sinclair and save both him and the woman whose life is in danger.

It’s a solid closed-room (closed-estate, in this case) mystery. If you are fan of English mysteries and you’re not reading this series, you are missing out.

The Best Book I Read This Month: Midnight Atlanta by Thomas Mullen

The best book I read this month is the third in a series that focuses on Atlanta’s first Black police officers. The events in Midnight Atlanta occur in 1956, the same year as the Montgomery (AL) bus boycott, which does play a role in the story. There are even references to Martin Luther King, Jr. , and his father. The focus, though, is on the murder of a prominent Black journalist in Atlanta soon after his return from a visit to Montgomery. Was his death related to the bus boycott? Or was it the result of a conflict closer to home?

The mystery in Midnight Atlanta is suitably complex with well executed twists and turns, but it’s the characters who keep me coming back to this series. I admit, I wonder and worry about a white author writing Black protagonists. I can’t help but think that there are nuances missing in Mullen’s portrayal of his Black lead characters, Smith and Boggs, because he is a white man writing Black men. I like both characters very much (though I might like Smith a tad more than Boggs), but I wonder how different they would be written by a Black author.

Midnight Atlanta gave more “screen time” to Sgt. MacInnis, the white leader of the Black police squad, than in previous books. MacInnis is caught between two worlds, and I thought his struggle was handled well. I’m curious to see where his character goes from here, given the choice he made at the end of the book. (No spoilers!)

It’s possible to enjoy Midnight Atlanta without having read the previous two books, but I think you’re doing yourself a disservice if you do. I highly recommend starting with Darktown (Book 1 in the series) and working your way up this one.

The Best Books I Read This Month: Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara and Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia

I could not pick just one best book this month, because I read two stellar mysteries on the heels of last month’s Winter Counts—Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara and Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia. I devoured both, and nothing I’ve read since has quite measured up.

Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara

Clark and Division tells the story of a Japanese family during World War II, through the eyes of the younger sister as she tries to make sense of the death of her older sister. We see the family’s life in Los Angeles before Pearl Harbor, their internment at Manzanar after, and their struggle to adjust to new lives in Chicago after they are released from Manzanar.

This was a quiet mystery but an intense one. And I learned something about Chicago’s history in the process.

I enjoyed this one so much that I’m now searching out Hirahara’s previous series, about a Los Angeles gardener and Hiroshima survivor named Mas Arai, who solves mysteries on the side.

Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia

Dead Dead Girls focuses on a different time and place—and a different family dynamic. Set in Harlem in the 1920s, the story follows a young woman at odds with her strict pious family as she tries to help police solve a string of murders in her community.

This was a much faster paced story than Clark and Division, and the story a more violent one. But it was just as gripping and just as engaging and it gave me a peek into a community that I wouldn’t otherwise get to experience.

I’ve already put the sequel on my To Read list.