Pumpkin Eater: A Dan Sharp Mystery
Round’s (Lake on the Mountain, 2012) latest Dan Sharp mystery finds the gay investigator locating a missing brother, but too late. Mutilated, Darryl Hillary hangs from a meat hook in a burnt-out slaughterhouse. The philosophic Toronto investigator, haunted by “what if” questions from the past, muses, “There is no such thing as closure. You can dehumanize things on the surface, but not deep down,” setting the mood for this compelling whodunit. Dan’s sensitive observations  range from his client’s “worn face . . . so unexceptional . . . she’d disappear into the crowd”  to the music of the famed rock star he’s guarding: “always a cut above,” Jags has “an innate feel for dramatic phrasing, not unlike an opera singer’s.”  While some readers may find Round’s novel  a bit slow as plot complexities and multiple characters appear, including one with powers of foresight who proclaims forebodingly, “It’s not over yet. . . . . You’re going to get wrapped up in it. You can feel it,” others will enjoy Pumpkin Eater’s wealth of details and measured pace. --Whitney Scott