The Bottom Line: A must-read whodunnit that is fresh, funny and truly innovative.
Gag Me transports readers into the fragile psyche of a small-town waitress whose best friend, Winsey, is murdered. She works at a diner in tiny Friday Harbor, Washington, and had the misfortune of being the last person seen with Winsey. As such, sheās called in for questioning, and soon after, taken to the crime scene, where she spots a spoon, a tourniquet and a syringe with its needle still attached.
Susan Wingateās protagonist spends a lot of time with her 18-pound cat, Lester. She also has plenty she doesnāt like to talk about. For example, Winsey was in love with her. Also, thereās the cocaine and heroin habit she left behind just six months earlier. Finally, thereās the fact that she has Aspergerās Syndrome.
Her private nature isnāt a good look for a murder suspect, and that comes to a head when she finally meets āthe gargoyle,ā a man who she suspects is following her. But the gargoyle has a name: Connor. An undercover detective, Connor is on loan from another police department for reasons that begin mysteriously. Despite the obvious conflict of interest between lawman and suspect, the two have a certain chemistry that – thanks to Wingateās flair for creating interpersonal friction that leads to more – feels authentic and earned.
Wingateās levity cuts through the bleak subject matter in regular doses (In an interrogation room: “Should I drop my pants?ā They say in unison, āNo.ā With more vigor than one might think to). And while thereās little in the way of graphic content, and few F-words to be found, Wingate stretches the limits of the cozy mystery genre in both form and style. Novels written largely entirely in the second person (where the reader is addressed as āyouā) often suffer from disorientation, but that isnāt the case here. Wingateās solution is to address the reader as if theyāre in a scavenger hunt or escape room, with short, informational chapters with headings like āSomeone You Need to Know.ā While these informational dossiers occasionally call attention to form and away from story, Wingate executes it so consistently well that by the halfway point, immersion in this witty, innovative whodunnit is complete.
