By turns lyrical and brutal, The Choke is equal parts Greek tragedy and heart-breaking noir. Jo Spain’s Dirty Little Secrets (Quercus, €16.99), which is set in the exclusive gated community of Withered Vale in Co Wicklow, opens with the discovery of the body of Olive Collins. Juicy hints are dropped by Olive herself, who addresses the reader from the grave and confirms that the only suspects are the “seemingly respectable people” who live in Withered Vale. What sounds like an especially cheesy self-help title opens with Rena Ruggiero, widow of Brooklyn mobster “Gentle” Vic, bashing her elderly neighbour Enzio over the head with a glass ashtray to repel Enzio’s unwanted advances. Soon Rena is on the run, aided and abetted by former porn star Lacey Wolfstein and Lucia, Rena’s teenage granddaughter.

Source: The Irish Times March 23, 2019 06:01 UTC