Relentless Melt
In October 1909, 17-year-old Artie Quick is nervously endeavoring to sneak into a YMCA class on criminal investigation in Boston. Wearing her brother’s suit, she is trying to pass as a young boy, since it is considered inappropriate for women to be involved in such studies. She has a fascination for detective work and is taking her one chance to learn more. In the meantime, she works at the “Tunnel Bargain Basement,” part of the new but already well-known Filene’s Department store.
While working, the hard-scrabble, working-class Artie takes up a friendship with an unlikely partner: upper-class Theodore, who is 6’5”, socially awkward, and as interested in magic as Artie is in criminal investigation. When weird things start happening in the city, the pair swing into action, trying to leverage their respective investigation and magic teachers to help solve the mystery of strange screams and disappearances of young women amidst a mysterious supernatural and malevolent presence.
As a native Bostonian, I loved the period information the author provides about familiar landmarks back then: Filene’s, the Boston Common, and Long Wharf, all of which I was well acquainted with from youthful jobs. Delivered in the present tense, the first two-thirds of the plot is cute, fun, interesting and enjoyable. As the book states, the curious duo of Theodore and Artie “always look a bit odd even under the best of circumstances.” Their attempts at crime-solving are initially innocently naïve. In the final third, however, the novel turns abruptly dark, sadistic, murderous, and, for me, ultimately confusing. This dichotomy might appeal to some readers, especially fans of the macabre.
