The Cracked Mirror by Chris Brookmyre

FORGET WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW
THIS IS NOT THAT CRIME NOVEL

You know Penny Coyne. The little old lady who has solved multiple murders in her otherwise sleepy village, despite bumbling local police. A razor-sharp mind in a twinset and tweed.

You know Johnny Hawke. Hard-bitten LAPD homicide detective. Always in trouble with his captain, always losing partners, but always battling for the truth, whatever it takes.

Against all the odds, against the usual story, their worlds are about to collide. It starts with a dead writer and a mysterious wedding invitation. It will end with a rabbit hole that goes so deep, Johnny and Penny might come to question not just whodunnit, but whether they want to know the answer.

A cross-genre hybrid of Agatha Christie and Michael Connelly, The Cracked Mirror is the most imaginative and entertaining crime novel of the year, a genre-splicing rollercoaster with a poignantly emotional heart.

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I love crime fiction in all its forms, and while I was intrigued by the idea of bringing two different types of detective together in the Miss Marple-esque Penny Coyne (yes, I laughed at her name too and no, she would not appreciate it) and LAPD detective, Johnny Hawke, I’ll admit that I wasn’t entirely sure how well it would work.  Reader – it works.  Chris Brookmyre’s The Cracked Mirror may seem like an odd mash up of crime sub-genres, but he’s created something highly original in this novel which I absolutely loved.

It opens in a quaint village in Scotland.  You know the place – picturesque cottages with small and totally independent shops where everyone knows everyone and their business.  Resident librarian, Penelope Coyne, Penny to her friends, has lived here a long time, and while her memory isn’t quite what it used to be, she’s known for her ability to solve a murder – of which this village gets more than its fair share – often aiding the police in identifying whodunnit.  The novel starts with a body found in the confessional booth of the local church, and Penny, as she’s wont to do, starts quietly digging, quickly uncovering some rather shocking details. 

I love Penny Coyne, despite the somewhat unfortunate name.  While she sounds quite similar to Miss Marple, Brookmyre has brought the idea of the little old crime-solving lady up to date.  He avoids the dreaded (for me) s-word in describing her character, and despite being in her early eighties (she refuses to be any more specific than that in sharing her age), she’s just returned from a two-month cruise at the outset of the novel.  She feels altogether more modern, despite the obvious parallels to Christie’s character – more adventurous and with more freedom in the present day than Marple ever experienced.

The novel alternates between the perspectives of Penny Coyne and the second main protagonist, Johnny Hawke.  Hawke is a homicide detective in the LAPD, and just like Coyne, he’s a familiar character although one that contrasts significantly with Ms Coyne.  A good man trying to do the right thing, he’s a very modern cop who sometimes plays fast and loose with the rules to get the job done, not always following his boss’s instructions.  You can tell from the outset that he’s a good man, and one who will do what it takes, irrespective of the consequences. 

Normally, these two characters would never meet, and yet Brookmyre brings their two worlds together.  It’s not immediately a match made in heaven, and yet the two find a mutual respect for each other.  I loved the contrast in their approaches, as Penny charms the people she meets, talking to them and never outright lying to them, although she occasionally omits certain pieces of information, letting those she’s talking to come to their own, sometimes incorrect conclusions.  Johnny, on the other hand, is happy to lie outright and to break the rules, not caring for the consequences.  The two work surprisingly well together, once they’ve got used to each other, at least.

So how and why do their paths cross?  Prior to being suspended from duty, Johnny was looking into an apparent suicide.  While it seems like an open and shut case, he’s not convinced, finding it all a little too clean, and tracks a potential suspect to a wedding in Scotland, a wedding that Penny Coyne is attending as a guest.  Another suicide brings the two together, particularly as strange parallels between the two cases begin to emerge.  The mystery at the heart of the novel is absolutely brilliant – a real puzzle for armchair sleuths to get their teeth into – and it’s one that heads in an unexpected direction.  I was content to just go along for the ride, and while it’s clichéd, it was a book that I didn’t want to put down as I wanted to understand exactly what was going on. 

Absolutely brilliant, and highly recommended for lovers of crime fiction, and particularly those who don’t mind a genre-mashup and a crime novel with something a little different to it.