Five stars because omgoodness what a Charlie Parker novel this is! Or should I say two novels? Yes, what Mr. Connolly imagined as a novella - Sisters Strange - and wrote during the early part of the pandemic instead became a short novel! It's here! And followed by The Furies. Two novels in one book! Yay!
Just wish I could count it as two books on Goodreads, but what the heck...
Women figure predominantly in both novels, Charlie being caught up in issues/problems/dilemmas involving women. (Not romantically or sexually, though he does have a woman friend who I'd like to see him get it on with more than he does!) Charlie Parker, former police, now PI working mostly out of a bar, takes on some seriously weird and unusual problems in both novels. In the first:
Sisters Strange.
And they are strange! Dolors (spelled correctly) and Ambar (also correct) are or were involved with the same creepy, just-out-of-prison guy up in Maine, where all this happens. However, where Dolors has sort of gotten over the guy; Ambar's still keeping his bed warm. So what's the issue? A friend of Charlie's wants Dolors all to himself but fears she might still have feelings for the creepy guy. Can Charlie check into this, please?
And so he does and gets involved with a coin collecting group of nasties, sickos, strangies and worse. This is not necessarily a supernatural type of read, but Mr. Connolly always leaves that little shred of doubt in the reader's head - as he does with Charlie, too. Charlie talks to the dead, sometimes, and sometimes he gets answers - or does he? That's one thing I LOVE about this series. You never quite know. Another thing about the Sisters Strange - it doesn't necessarily follow a typical 'arc' in that you read and read and then there's a BIG SCENE where everything comes to a head or climax with a slow, explanatory denouement after. Nope. In this one, one of the nasties gets away, and so...
Wonder if he'll come back in another book? Who knows.
The Furies.
Charlie gets involved in two separate issues here, ones he needs help with from his pals Louis, the big guy who's maybe done a lot bad stuff but is square and loyal to Charlie, and Angel, Louis' life partner, who was supposedly dying of cancer but now is in remission. The Fulci brothers are also present and anyone who reads this series KNOWS who they are.
Anyhow, the first woman, a widow, wants to get back some stolen items which belonged to her deceased daughter. She's being blackmailed to get them back, and since her dead husband might have gotten in wrong with 'the mob,' it makes this case very tricky indeed. The second woman simply wants her adult daughter to leave a very abusive boyfriend. The two cases overlap and intertwine, but both could have been a separate book IMO. Putting them together like this, and with the Sisters Strange coming first, this is a long, but tight book. I read nothing else while reading it.
One more thing: there's this hotel in The Furies, which I will remember forever! It's where some of the 'bad guys' hang out. It has this old cellar with a tunnel attached. (These things do exist, go back to Prohibition Days.) I know a few creepy old houses - New Englander here. My in-laws lived in a house built in the 1600's. (Hidden closets, creepy stairs.) And my cousin lives in our grandmother's house, built in 1888. (Hidden staircase, upstairs rooms with no floors.) Anyh0w, when Mr. Connolly describes these places I'm like yep, yep, been there.
But to sum things up: Atmospheric. Loaded with great, unique, individual characters. Lots of introspection on Charlie's part, but he's clever and smart, so it never gets dull. Wonderful Maine settings with the water, marshes, woods, etc. This would make a great Halloween-time read, sorry I saved it for after the holiday, but there's always next year. :D
And apologies for overusing the word 'creepy,' but it fits!
Lastly, I own it, love it. Five stars!