Mystery Girl

Gordon’s second crime novel fails to deliver on the promise of his debut, The Serialist (2010), though he can still grab the reader’s attention, as shown by the opening sentence: “I became an assistant detective, and solved my first murder, right after my wife left me, when I went a little mad.” Sam Kornberg—a former used-bookstore clerk, now unemployed, living in L.A.—is completely lost in the wake of his spouse’s departure, and he rapidly disintegrates into the epitome of the lonely single guy, breakfasting on peanuts and using napkins from MacDonald’s as toilet paper. His feeble attempt to find work leads him to PI Solar Lonsky, a behemoth who makes Nero Wolf look svelte. Lonsky hires Kornberg to follow the title character, Ramona Doon, and report on everything he sees her do. An early reference to a favorite movie telegraphs some of the plot surprises, but even without that spoiler, the storyline becomes less and less interesting. Agent: Madeleine Clark, Sterling Lord Literistic. (July)