Mystery Annotation

The Twenty Year Death by Ariel S. Winter

Paperback: 605 pages

Publisher: Hard Case Crime (August 6, 2013)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0857689185

ISBN-13: 978-0857689184

Synopsis

Three separate books, spanning two decades comprise this debut novel by Ariel S. Winters. Each of the books is written in the style of a master of the noir mystery, and the three books are linked by a couple who seems followed by trouble. The novel builds slowly in the first book and snowballs to a frantic climax in the third. Atmospheric and stylistically intriguing, this book will appeal to readers of noir and hard-boiled detective stories. 

Characteristics consistent with Mystery (with help from Saricks Reader’s Advisory text)

1. The first two books center around murders being solved and have mostly tidy resolutions. 
2. The first two stories are focused on the investigator and told from his point of view.
3. The backgrounds and settings of the book are interesting and hold the readers attention.
4. The book is at once dark and gritty, yet also humorous and witty at points.
5. In the first two books, the action leads very directly to the conclusion of the mystery.

Suggested Read-a-likes

The Sleeping Beauty Killer  by Mary Higgins-Clark

The Train by Georges Simenon

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller 

Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

The Killer Inside Me by Jim Thompson