I can’t remember what book or show it was where they said it’s amazing how detective stories and the police think that they know exactly what happened if they can answer three static questions about basically every crime. Claire is someone who knows that “truth” is merely a byproduct of a confluence that is often come to by means not yet codified. The closest thing to a recipe for achieving it is an esoteric French book she read, and which had such a deep impact on her it subsumed her identity and launched her new career as the greatest detective in the world.

It reminds me of the tv show Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, in that the absurdity deftly swings from profound to laugh-out-loud funny. Her methods also seem completely unprofessional and askew or adjacent to what you think a P.I would get up to when sleuthing. In her meandering there is a duel timeline peppered throughout as well, because from the jump we know her mentor has died and she has returned to New Orleans for this case. Is she a grifter con artist? Does she actually solve anything? Is this some kind of trauma from the loss of her mentor? What’s going on?

Told in deadpan noir, everything unravels. Claire herself, the case, her past, the future. Even excerpts from the esoteric detective novel, which disassociates itself from how one “solves” a mystery. It’s fun, punchy, has an excellent voice, and is completely gripping. Loved every second of it.

Also, the audiobook is a great supplement. Very fun, and a difficult delivery considering the humour, but the narrator absolutely nails it.