HOWARD NORMAN

[An] ingeniously plotted novel . . . Norman knows how to weave an enticing and satisfying mystery, one tantalizing thread at a time. New York Times Book Review A witty, engrossing homage to noir, from National Book Award finalist Howard Norman Jacob Rigolet, soon-to-be former assistant to a wealthy art collector, looks up from his seat at an auctionhis mother, former head librarian at the Halifax Free Library, is walking almost casually up the aisle. Before a stunned audience, she flings an open jar of ink at master photographer Robert Capas Death on a Leipzig Balcony. Jacobs police detective fiancee is assigned to the ensuing interrogation. My Darling Detective delivers a fond nod to classic noir, as Jacobs understanding of the man he has always assumed to be his father unravels against the darker truth of Robert Emil, a police officer suspected of murdering two Jewish residents during an upswing of anti-Semitism in 1945. The denouement, involving a dire shootout and an emergency deliveryits the second Rigolet to be born in the Halifax library in a three decadesis Howard Norman at his uncannily moving best. Norman works with an offhand ease and grace . . . Whimsy is balanced by moments of powerfully evoked realism. Washington Post An unconventional, lively literary mystery. Kirkus Reviews