The Fall
Fulmer, known for his historical mysteries, now offers a contemporary stand-alone. It all starts with a newspaper story noting that a Beatles song has been sold for a TV spot. That bit of dispiriting news prompts Richie Zaleski, a New York actor, to call his high-school buddy and fellow Beatles fan Joey Sesco to commiserate. In turn, that call—and the news that Joey recently died in a suspicious accident—prompts Richie to return to the small Pennsylvania town where he grew up and pay his last respects to his friend. Once there, though, Richie begins asking questions and quickly decides that his friend’s accident may have been murder. The convention of the amateur sleuth returning home to solve a murder and settle a few scores is nearly as old as the genre, and while this thematic overfamiliarity gets in the way at times, Fulmer manages to inject some spirit into the proceedings through his engaging use of setting. His small Pennsylvania town possesses a Twin Peaks–like sense of menace that drives the narrative and keeps us rooting for Richie to return to the relative safety of Manhattan. --Bill Ott