Madison Square Murders by C.S. Poe

Narrated by Kale Williams

C.S. Poe kicks off her latest series of m/m mysteries in grand style with Madison Square Murders, book one in her New York-set Momento Mori series. It’s a clever, tightly plotted mystery featuring one of the most unusual protagonists I’ve ever come across; I loved the story when I read it a few months back and enjoyed it all over again in audio – where there’s the added goodness of a wonderfully intelligent and switched-on performance from Kale Williams.

Detective Everett Larkin of the Cold Case Squad is called to Madison Square Park, where a storm has uprooted an old tree – beneath which lies a wooden crate containing human remains. These are obviously not new, and initial observations by the CSI on scene suggest the body is that of a male in his twenties; most unusual, however, is what has also been found in the crate – a bronze casting of a face. A death mask. There’s no way of telling, at this stage, if the face the mask was made from belongs to the same set of remains or if it’s completely unrelated – and the CSI suggests Larkin should contact Ira Doyle, a detective with the police department’s small Forensic Artist Unit, for some expert advice.

Doyle proves to be as competent and knowledgeable as Larkin had hoped, but is also not at all what he’d expected. He’s upbeat, witty, flirtatious and always ready with a quip or a heart-stopping smile, quickly shows himself capable of keeping up with Larkin’s sometimes-labyrinthine thought-processes and is unfazed by his very particular quirks. He gets to work right away on making a facial reconstruction that can be used to try to identify the victim, and in less than forty-eight hours, thanks to Doyle’s artistic talent and Larkin’s painstaking research into hundreds of missing persons files, the detectives have given a forgotten man his identity back and concluded that they’re investigating a murder that took place twenty-two years earlier. As they investigate further, it becomes clear that this victim wasn’t the first or only one, and neither was his the only death mask made by the killer. Larkin and Doyle realise they’re looking for a serial killer who has managed to fly under the radar for over two decades.

Just as I had a hard time putting the book down when I read it, so I had a hard time switching off the audio and I raced through it in just a couple of sittings! The mystery is compelling and satisfyingly complex with plenty of twists and turns and I didn’t guess the identity of the murderer until the reveal, which is always a good sign! But the real star-turn in this book is the character of Everett Larkin who, as I said at the beginning, is quite unique. He’s fiercely intelligent, he can be impatient and abrasive and doesn’t suffer fools; he’s an excellent detective, but personally, he’s a mess; damaged, unsure and finding it difficult to function on what most of us would term a ‘normal’ level. His HSAM – Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory – isn’t so much a gift as a curse, despite what many people seem to think. For Larkin, being able to recall, in great detail, every single tragedy or misfortune he learns about, the “rolodex” in his mind flipping relentlessly from association to association, means he finds it incredibly hard to let go and can become completely lost inside his head – but his short-term memory is crap and he can’t function on a day-to-day basis without following a strict routine and making detailed notes of absolutely everything he has to do. The way Ms. Poe describes Larkin’s condition and his inner world is brilliant – a quick google search revealed that there are only sixty people in the world known to have HSAM and it manifests differently in each of them – and she’s clearly put a lot of thought, research and effort into creating the character and situation. The way she articulates Larkin’s thought-processes, his feelings, his insecurities and his deep-seated need to be really seen in a world where “how are you?” is a commonplace statement but people don’t really want to know is insightful and incredibly sympathetic. Adding to his difficulties right now is his growing estrangement from his husband of four years and their disintegrating marriage; Larkin is just beginning to realise that Noah doesn’t really know him at all, and perhaps – despite his protestations to the contrary – never really wanted to. But with that said, the author does a great job here of showing that the fault is not one-sided; Noah isn’t always cast in a flattering light, but his frustrations are as understandable as Larkin’s to the point that I felt sorry for him, too.

Ira Doyle is the perfect foil for Larkin, despite their obvious differences. Doyle is laid-back and charming, but he’s also whip-smart and seems to know instinctively what to do or say to keep Larkin on track and stop him spiralling or becoming overloaded by impressions or associations. But it’s not long before Larkin realises that the reason Doyle sees him so clearly is because he has demons of his own… he’s just better at hiding them. Even though this story takes place over just a few days, the author grounds their burgeoning romance so strongly in a solid foundation of mutual respect and understanding that it doesn’t feel rushed; they have fantastic chemistry and I can’t wait to see where the author takes their relationship next.

When C.S. Poe announced that Kale Williams would be narrating this audiobook, my first thought was “perfect!”. Doyle’s voice is described quite a few times in the text as a “smoky purr”; if you’ve ever listened to Mr. Williams, you’ll know he has a gorgeous voice that sounds just like that (!), and he does a fabulous job conveying the character’s innate warmth, humour and charm. His portrayal of Larkin, too, is marvellous – he completely captures the man’s quirks and idiosyncrasies, realising his ‘otherness’ through a flatness of tone and inflection (described in the text as something Larkin is aware bothers people, but which is hard for him to control) that can sometimes come across as cold and uncaring – but somehow Mr. Williams injects an undercurrent of barely-there repressed emotion which conveys to the listener just how much Larkin cares. The narration is well-paced and the various secondary characters are all expertly and clearly differentiated, from disgruntled, disdainful cops to a grieving mother to a rather cheeky rendition of a department clerk described as sounding like Roz from Monsters Inc.

Madison Square Murders is a captivating combination of mystery and romance featuring two superbly rounded and complex characters who capture both the heart and the imagination from beginning to end. It made my Best of 2021 list for books and audiobooks, and while I eagerly await the next instalment in the series, this one gets my highest recommendation.

Caz