Intensely supurb mystery

When you listen to an audiobook, you can't speed up when the action gets intense and you can't skim forward when you realize you're reading the exact same soul-searching angst you read in the previous chapter.  At least I can't--I'm usually driving while I'm listening and can't fiddle around with the controls.  I can, however, with a tap of the thumb, redo the really good parts.  This book has a lot of those.

It's marvelous, intensely psychological and vaguely spooky. I can describe it better by saying what it isn't--it's not action-packed, except in the minds of the characters and the dialogue between them. It's not shocking tales of serial killers who eat the victims. And it's not in the least predictable: you never know what anyone's going to do, least of all the detective.

That's not a bad thing, either. She doesn't know what she's going to do, either. And I don't mean that she's not a great detective. She can search a house, act a role, and manipulate a suspect with the best of them. She's awesome, basically.

Early on she does one thing that seems out of character--I yelled at her, out loud--but as I learned more about her, I began to realize why .  Not only was it an excellent plot enhancer, it also made a bit of sense.

The only--and I mean, only--thing I had to complain about was the length and repetitiveness of the detective's soul-searching in the beginning, when she is trying to decide whether or not to volunteer for the job. (She needed to volunteer for this particular job for reasons I will not reveal)  But it was obvious that she was going to do it, so why drag it out?

That's a pretty small gripe for a pretty great mystery. Many stars!