The Trouble Up North

Mulhauser (Sweetgirl) combines atmosphere, suspense, and deep-seated empathy in this stellar family crime saga set in northern Michigan during the early 2000s. The Sawbrooks have owned hundreds of acres along the Crow River for nearly two centuries, but the expansion of a nearby resort has led to a spike in property taxes that’s put the family in financial straits. The stress comes at a difficult time for the clan: patriarch Edward is seriously ill, and his wife, Rhoda, is at odds with their addict son, Buckner, who’s been banned from their property, and their older daughter, Lucy, a park ranger who put her chunk of Sawbrook land into a conservation trust against her parents’ wishes. Meanwhile, the Sawbrooks’ other daughter, Jewell, has agreed, for $10,000, to torch a boat so its owner can collect on a lucrative insurance policy. Jewell carries out the arson, but unexpected complications ensue, threatening her family’s legacy. Mulhauser peppers the action with jaw-dropping twists, but his real strength is in constructing three-dimensional characters whose transgressions feel both plausible and shocking. Readers won’t be able to put this down. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Co. (Mar.)