ARC Review: Midnight in Memphis by Thomas Dann

Midnight in Memphis
Author: Thomas Dann
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (November 18, 2025)

Description: In this Southern noir, two detectives forge an unlikely alliance as they strive to bridge the racial divide and catch a killer hell bent on revenge.

Set against a historical backdrop of mid-century racial inequality and political turmoil, this thriller is perfect for fans of William Kent Krueger and Greg Iles.

1955, Memphis. Homicide detective Burdett Vance is trying to outrun his past, but working in the homicide division always ends up bringing in new waves of horror. Now an unknown killer is reaping retribution for decades of lynching by targeting the daughters of rich white families in Memphis. When Vance is assigned to the case, he’s also put in charge of a new trainee, Officer Eustace Johnson.

Eustace Johnson has been recently "promoted" and as one of the few Black men on the force this is the latest publicity stunt of the police department. Forced to work together, Vance and Johnson must catch the rampaging killer in a city roiling with racial injustice and a fight to control the crumbling local politics.

Then Emmeline Bryce, Vance’s old flame, becomes the killer’s next target. With Emme’s life on the line, Vance and Johnson must confront their deepest fears and darkest desires before the city ignites into chaos and the blissful vision of a better future disappears forever.

Readers of James Lee Burke will delight in this bitingly smart thriller full of intrigue and age-old animosities.

My Thoughts: It's 1955 in Memphis, Tennessee, and homicide detective Burdett Vance is dealing with a case of white women being discovered floating. They have nylons tied around their necks holding a beer bottle and a note which seems to indicate they were killed in tribute to the many lynchings of Black men. The note is signed the Mound Builder.

The death of the local kingpin has resulted in a new scramble for power. Burdett's captain wants his share. To claim the Negro vote, he has advanced Eustace Johnson, one of the few Negro cops on the force, to be Burdett's partner in the investigation. He's pulled Burdett's former partner into his own squad supposedly hunting down Communists but actually looking for the kingpin's cash stache. 

Eustace has his own agenda. He joined the police force after his World War II stint as a Tuskegee airman in order to track down the men who murdered his younger brother Caleb. He has been working on unsolved Negro murders in his free time since he joined the force. He did tip off Burdett about one of the two men who killed his brother resulting in the man's imprisonment. He has his eye on the second man and is hoping to maneuver Burdett into arresting him too.

As Burdett and Eustace hunt for the killer, it soon becomes apparent that Burdett's old girlfriend Emme is in the middle of things. After dumping Burdett, she took up with the kingpin and then was shunned by all her cronies when the kingpin died. Now she's back and hoping to rekindle things with Burdett.

This was an engaging historical mystery. I liked the Memphis setting. Burdett was an interesting character: a lover of the Blues, a man with a strong sense of justice, and a man with secrets and heartaches as a big part of his past. I also liked Eustace who was willing to take all the abuse by White officers in order to get justice for his brother. 

Fans of historical mysteries set in the deep, dark South will enjoy this one. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Rumor Game by Thomas Mullen

The Rumor Game
Author: Thomas Mullen
Publication: Minotaur Books (February 27, 2024)

Description: A determined reporter and a reluctant FBI agent face off against fascist elements in this gripping historical thriller set in World War II-era Boston.

Reporter Anne Lemire writes the Rumor Clinic, a newspaper column that disproves the many harmful rumors floating around town, some of them spread by Axis spies and others just gossip mixed with fear and ignorance. Tired of chasing silly rumors about Rosie Riveters' safety on the job, she wants to write about something bigger.

Special Agent Devon Mulvey, one of the few Catholics at the FBI, spends his weekdays preventing industrial sabotage and his Sundays spying on clerics with suspect loyalties―and he spends his evenings wooing the many lonely women whose husbands are off at war.

When Anne’s story about Nazi propaganda intersects with Devon’s investigation into the death of a factory worker, the two are led down a dangerous trail of espionage, organized crime, and domestic fascism―one that implicates their own tangled pasts and threatens to engulf the city in violence.

With vibrant historical atmosphere and a riveting mystery that illuminates still-timely issues about disinformation and power, Thomas Mullen delivers another powerful thriller.

My Thoughts: THE RUMOR GAME is set in Boston during World War II. Annie Lemire writes The Rumor Clinic which debunks the many harmful rumors floating around town. Most are just gossip mixed with fear and ignorance. Annie is tired of chasing rumors and wants to tackle something bigger. When she begins looking into attacks on Jews by Irish toughs, she doesn't get much support from her editor. 

Special Agent Devon Mulvey is one of the few Irish Catholics with the FBI. He's dealing with internal prejudice which hampers his investigation into the murder of a Jewish man who worked at a munitions plant. His brief is to look into preventing industrial sabotage which means that he can't interest his partner or anyone else in the FBI about the murder.

Devon and Annie grew up in the same Boston neighborhood but lost track of each other over the years. When they meet again over the same murder case, they are coming from wildly different points of view. Annie learned she was half-Jewish when her father died. Ostracism forced her family to move out of the area. Devon's family moved out too when his father made enough money. 

Now they find their investigations uncovering things neither of them want to learn which alter their viewpoints about events. Devon doesn't want to acknowledge that his father and cousins could be part of a plot to force the US not to take the fight to Europe. Nor does he want to acknowledge that the campaign against local Jews is being orchestrated by those same relatives. Annie isn't sure who to trust, but knows that it isn't the Boston Police and maybe it isn't Devon.

This was an engaging thriller about a piece of the activities on the Home Front that I hadn't heard about before. I enjoyed the story and the characters. 

Favorite Quote:

Loose lips didn't just sink ships, they also angered parents and scared teenagers who needed to enlist. They confused, terrified, alarmed. The made us worry we were weaker than we feared, vulnerable in a newly dangerous world. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.