Review: Fields Where They Lay by Timothy Hallinan

A Mysterious Review of Fields Where They Lay by Timothy Hallinan. A Junior Bender Mystery.

Review summary: The storyline is a solid one, and the resolution to the mystery is really quite unexpected … and in a good way. But there are long stretches of narrative that really contribute little to either. On balance, however, this is one of the better books in the Junior Bender series. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Fields Where They Lay
Timothy Hallinan
A Junior Bender Mystery
Soho Crime (October 2016)

Publisher synopsis: It’s three days until Christmas and Junior Bender, Hollywood’s fasttalking fixer for the felonious, is up to his ears in shopping mall Santas, Russian mobsters, desperate holiday shoppers, and (’tis the season) murder.

The halls are decked, the deck is stacked, and here comes that jolly old elf. Junior Bender, divorced father of one and burglar extraordinaire, finds himself stuck inside the Edgerton Mall, and not just as a last-minute shopper (though he is that too). Edgerton isn’t exactly the epicenter of holiday cheer, despite its two Santas, canned Christmas music, chintzy bows, and festive lights. The mall is a fossil of an industry in decline; many of its stores are closed, and to make matters worse, there is a rampant shoplifting problem.

The murderous Russian mobster who owns the place has decided it takes a thief to catch a thief and hires Junior—under threat—to solve the shoplifting problem for him. But Junior’s surveillance operation doesn’t go well: as Christmas Eve approaches, two people are dead and it’s obvious that shoplifting is the least of the mall’s problems. To prevent further deaths, possibly including his own, Junior must confront his dread of Christmas—both present and past.