Author: Clyde Phillips
Genre: Mystery, police procedural
Published on: August 13, 2013 by Thomas & Mercer (first edition: April 22, 1998)
Veteran San Francisco homicide detective Jane Candiotti never had a problem drawing the line between her personal and professional lives—until the night she meets David Perry after his socialite wife, Jenna, is brutally murdered. The facts are damning: the Perrys were embroiled in a bitter divorce and now David stands to inherit millions in the wake of Jenna’s death. But Jane’s instincts tell her there’s more to this case than just greed and love gone sour.
To uncover the truth, she must dig into the sordid secrets of the city’s most powerful families, a quest that will draw her inextricably closer to David and his teenage daughter…and to the cold-blooded killer who’s stalking their every move. But when the case takes a shocking turn, it’s not just Jane’s reputation that’s hanging in the balance—it’s her life.
A terrifying noir thriller from the executive producer of Dexter, Fall From Grace was hailed by Dennis Lehane as “a deftly plotted first novel with the pace of a hurricane and the impact of an earthquake.”
As I’m a fan of mysteries/thrillers with law enforcement characters, I picked up this book when it was discounted. By now, it’s 2016 and I’ve read several books with female investigators. In Fall from Grace, the protagonist is Inspector Jane Candiotti of the San Francisco PD. She is said to be one of the best officers in their force. The book starts with a liberal amount of backstory that hardly seemed relevant. After reading chapter one, I thought that it served only to humanize the characters in it. It’s apparent the author didn’t want them to just be faceless victims of a tragic accident. The following chapters introduce supporting characters. Then Jane Candiotti finally showed up.
One of Fall from Grace’s most important characters is David Perry. He’s an attorney who’s going through a divorce. His wife, Jenna, was having an affair with a close friend of hers. She’s not just any woman, though. Jenna comes from one of the richest families in SF. She kicked David out of her house, and he’s now living in a condo. David is still allowed to see his and Jenna’s daughter, Lily. She’s thirteen, smart, and rather endearing. As expected, Lily is deeply affected by her parents’ divorce. This comes a year after her maternal grandfather died in a plane crash.
While all that is going on, Jane and her partner, Kenny Marks, are investigating an oddball murder case. One of the longtime officers at the scene comments that he thought he’d seen everything. Later, David meets a seemingly forgettable man while taking BART, the SF subway. By this point, his struggle with Jenna is getting even worse. Days later, a man who wants to rape Jenna stalks her. She turns up dead the next morning. A devastated David rushes back to the house, wanting to be there for Lily. Jane and Kenny are assigned as the lead investigators.
There’s a character who seemed to have little importance. She’s Clarissa Gethers, Lily’s good friend and ex-babysitter. The Gethers are another wealthy family, and are friends and neighbors of the Perrys. Clarissa is hardly more than another unhappy trust fund heir. She looks like she has it all, even beauty, but inside Clarissa is struggling with depression and anorexia. No one has any idea how bad she is, not even her shrink. It’s not hard to guess how Clarissa’s arc is going to develop. This made me wonder if she had any purpose at all. It turns out…she does, small but significant.
Jane and Kenny get right to work figuring out who killed Jenna Perry. As usual in this type of case, David is the primary suspect. He has a solid alibi, so the police all but remove him from their suspect list. This doesn’t mean David doesn’t face any more trouble. His story arc spans most of the book. Meanwhile, David and Jane start developing feelings for each other. At almost 40, Jane is eager to finally settle down. She hasn’t had much luck in love. Jane also grows to love Lily, who at first isn’t thrilled that she’s getting a new mom so soon. The days pass, with David keeping his big secret from Jane.
When Jenna’s killer threatens Lily, David thinks he’s had enough. He gets Lily to safety and confesses the truth to Jane. She enlists Kenny’s help to catch the killer, who’s turned out to be incredibly smart. However, they don’t know that there’s an even more cunning guy who’s been manipulating events the whole time. When Kenny uncovers this person, it may be too late to save himself or Jane. After I got to this point in the book, I understood everything. The final truth left me utterly shocked, not having seen it coming. I’m very impressed with how the author connected all the plot threads.
For a fan of crime fiction (books or live-action), when you thought you’d seen the most ruthless of men, another one comes and gives you a wake-up call. Fall from Grace greatly exceeded my expectations and delivered a master manipulator of a villain. Have Jane and Kenny met their match? This was an amazing start to a new mystery/police procedural series. I’m certainly going to get the rest of the books in this series. I’m invested now.
My rating: ★★★★ 1/2
4.5 stars - A fantastic page-turner!
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