Lies and Dolls

I try not to collect too much stuff, choosing to live in the now. If I kept every book that I ever read, every toy that I ever played with, or birthday card I received, I would have no room in my house. I certainly do not keep things “mint in box.” You could have an attic full of collectables worth nothing, on the off chance you happen to buy that Star Wars: The Clone Wars character that is actually worth something. No thanks, I will live my life and not worry about that. However, to some these collectables are their way of life. The things they would do to get a complete collection; beg, borrow, steal, kill? In Nev Fountain’s Lies and Dolls, it is a case of all the above. 

After the murderous events of The Fan Who Knew Too Much, amateur sleuth Kit Pelham is looking for more work, with less murder. She has time on her hands working as a freelance journalist specalising in TV show Vixens of the Void, so when she is asked to accompany her pal Binfire to the opening of a new Vixens memorabilia museum she says yes. When five rare dolls are targeted, she is hired once more to investigate. At least these dolls won’t be missing real human parts, no one wants to see that happen, do they? 

The follow up to the entertaining Fan, Lies is a tighter story that takes Fountain’s usual sideways glance at the geek community. Kit and her pals are an assorted bunch full of quirks, but they do not apologise for this. Kit herself is a flawed character, with undiagnosed issues that suggest OCD and an eating disorder, but she manages to cope and uses these as a superpower to investigate what seems at first to be a light crime. 

Large parts of the book are steeped in the Cozy Crime genre and pay homage to the great Agatha Christie; the Manor House crime, locked room mystery, room full of suspects. Fountain has no issue comparing Lies to a Christie book; it reads as a geeky love letter to one of the greatest crime authors we have known. However, to say this is a Christie homage would be wrong, especially as the book becomes more gruesome in the final acts. 

The mayhem of the earlier book returns in Lies as we reach the conclusion, but even here it follows the beat of a classic feeling 1950s crime novel. Suspicion is thrown one way and then another. Red herrings are dotted around the place and there are a few surprises. We even have friends that the protagonist cannot trust 100%.  

With all this you have a very entertaining crime novel, that is also funny. Fountain pokes gentle fun at the geek community. I am a geek, and I was not insulted. In fact, you feel seen as there are references peppered throughout the book that you will understand, that others may not. By deliberately using a classic structure, Lies is a tightly written crime story and feels even more impressive than book one. The series is heading in a good direction.