While many of the reviews for “Double Down” seem to focus exclusively on one of the novel’s murder suspects, twenty-something Washington Stater Maddie Larsen, the real star of this backwater-based whodunit is the realistic plotting and almost quiet determination of Detective JC Dimitrak’s by-the-book investigation.
Maddie Larsen hasn’t been dealt the best hand in life. She’s a single mother who works 2 jobs, most notably as a local casino dealer. But she’s trying to better the odds, by going to college, and raising her young son. But when a favorite card player turns up brutally murdered, his family suspects it was the work of Maddie.
Most mystery buffs will figure out early-on that pretty, young blonde Maddie isn’t likely the murderer, which might put a damper on figuring out who is (among the obviously seedier set of remaining suspects). In fact, author Cathy Perkins’s complete title of the book “Double Down: A Whodunit Focused on Family, Money and Murder” may be an outright spoiler. But what will probably keep true detective fans reading “Double Down” is seeing how the Franklin County Washington Sheriff’s Detective JC Dimitrak handles the case. And he does it justice, pun intended.
Dimitrak stands out because he’s not your typical fiction cop. Yes, he may work a little too hard (making 100 phone calls only 36 hours into the case). But he stops just long enough to allow himself a fleeting daydream about calling up “Holly” (an nondescript woman he once took on a “dinner date”). Otherwise, unlike many pulp fiction detectives, Dimitrak isn’t a functioning alcoholic who’s also a chain smoker, world-weary, and misogynistic. The only reason he “loved fair complexions [in women]” is because “the pale skin made it so much easier to see the guilt painted across a blonde’s face.” And Dimitrak isn’t a Sherlock Holmes: He must press a Pasco PD detective and another Sheriff’s deputy into helping him interview suspects. In fact, Dimitrak spends most of the story interviewing suspects, victim’s family, and conducting searches of property and spending time reviewing lab analyses. In fact, there’s an almost “Law & Order” quality to the character: You get a peek at his personal life, but the focus is on how he does his job.
Another nice touch to “Double Down” is its unusual setting: The Tri-Cities region of Washington State, specifically the town of Pasco, Washington. Though it’s set on a coast – like it seems many of the memorable detective novels are (to those of us in the Midwest)— it doesn’t have darkened allies, freeways for high-speed chases, or other stereotypical big city crime settings. The Pasco of “Double Down” comes off as “windy and dry…”, with "beige siding, white [trimmed] houses," and some areas still having “houses built in the 50’s…” Rather unspectacular. But it does help many of the characters’ personalities and motives resonate better than if the story was set in scenic L.A., San Francisco, or Seattle.
When you come down to it, “Double Down” really should have been titled “Dimitrak: Double Down.” It is a mystery that doesn’t offer a lot of twists and turns and protagonist Maddie Larsen isn’t believable as a suspect because the author made her a bit too heroic to seriously consider as capable of being a cold-blooded killer. However, Cathy Perkins does [unintentionally perhaps?] a great job of painting the portrait of a dedicated small-town cop who pursues every clue and lead, no matter how small and how insignificant the setting.
Detective JC Dimitrak may not be as flamboyant as his coastal crime stopper counterparts Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, or even Spenser. But like them, he doubles down on due diligence and is the true ace in the hole that saves “Double Down” from being a dull whodunit.