Broken Places by Tracy Clark was published in 2018.
Our Sleuth: Cassandra “Cass” Raines, 36, is a former Chicago homicide detective turned private investigator.
The Setting: Modern-day Chicago.
The Premise: Two years after leaving the force because a bad fellow cop forced the shooting of a young suspect, Cass has settled into her modest PI practice. Then Father Ray Heaton, her beloved “Pop” who helped raise her after her mom’s death, hires her to find out who’s been vandalizing his church and following him. The next morning, Cass finds Pop shot to death in his confessional, near the body of a murdered boy.
My Take: I picked up Broken Places because it’s a past winner of the Sue Grafton Memorial Award, honoring books that feature “a strong, independent woman who is a professional investigator.” Grafton’s PI, Kinsey Millhone, is one of my all-time favorite sleuths so my expectations were high; Clark exceeded them. Cass, who’s black, is stubborn, tough and resolutely committed to righting wrongs. She’s assisted by a diverse group of friends, including a nun and a thief, who help her peel back the layers in this deftly plotted story.
As a writer, I’m paying close attention to how Clark reveals a complex protagonist who’s both headstrong and warm-hearted. Cass is still struggling to recover from the traumas of her childhood — her dad walked out a few days after her mom died — but she’s strong enough to take on bad cops and anyone else who gets in her way. She’s an appealing mix of vulnerable and resilient.
Opening Lines:
Chicago cops had to be on the lookout for any number of nefarious mopes eager to take a potshot, but this morning my biggest enemy was turning out to be the scorching rays of the summer sun. I slid into the driver’s seat of the unmarked car and cranked the windows down, balancing a rapidly melting iced tea, extra ice, between my thighs. A few feet away, my partner, Detective Ben Mickerson, stood in front of the Dairy Queen basking in the hellfire. “Vitamin D,” he said, ruddy face pointed skyward. “Soak in that Vitamin D.”
Heads Up: Themes of domestic violence run through the plot and Cass fights off the bad guys on the page.
Of Note: There are three more books in the Cass Raines series, Borrowed Time (2019), What You Don’t See (2020) and Runner (2021). I’ve read, and loved, Broken Places and What You Don’t See and have the other two on hold. The author also has another series featuring Chicago Homicide Detective Harriet Foster in Hide (January 2023) and Fall (December 2023).
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