Broken Ice

Matt Goldman writes a solid mystery. The inciting incident is confusing at the beginning, and by the end, you understand how everything went down, even if the ‘why' of human nature doesn't necessarily jibe with how you roll. The detective, Nils Shapiro, is sharp, but he's not Sherlockian. Nor is he Mike Hammer. He doesn't walk into a room and instantly know everything like Holmes would, and he would never beat an answer out of someone. He gets it done by being smart, asking good questions, and paying attention. He dogs out the answers with relentless pursuit and the occasional epiphany. The characters in Goldman's books are real. The mystery and the solution are believable. And the prose is as crisp as a late fall evening in Minnesota.

This being the second go-round of the aforementioned Mr. Shapiro, as a reader, you're always on the lookout for the proverbial Sophomore Slump. I'm glad to say that if Goldman's first book, ‘Gone to Dust,' was a solid base hit, then ‘Broken Ice' is a stand-up double. I'm using baseball analogies, but given the subject of the book, I think hockey analogies would be a little bit more productive, but it's a little tougher to think of one.

Let me think for a second...

In this book, Goldman five-holes the goalie from just inside the blue line. I found the prose even better than it was in ‘Gone to Dust,' and the mystery was even more interesting. Nils Shapiro, being a private detective, only gets called into things that the police can't figure out on their own, so by that notion, the mystery is never going to be cut-and-dried, and Nils will have to do his own legwork.

The story clips along at a good pace, but it's never hurried. The writing is readable and adult. Goldman doesn't pull punches, but he can gloss the prose with a little Minnesota Nice when necessary. Goldman's background in TV writing is evident as the book is also quickly recognizable as being worthy of a film adaptation. You can see the television beats and the scenes flow with visual appeal. I'd love to see the BBC get ahold of this series for a run on ‘Masterpiece: Mystery.'

I'm looking forward to starting the third Nils Shapiro book, ‘The Shallows,' because of how much I enjoyed the first two of Goldman's books. If the publishing gods are willing, Shapiro will have a long and healthy run at the presses.