Soft as Water

Conklin (An End to Etcetera) delivers a riveting thriller about a guilt-stricken man who investigates the suspicious death of a young jazz musician. After causing a car accident that killed a woman and her child, Will Archer moved to the tiny town of East Orange, W.Va., to begin a new life. When the action kicks off, Will has just taken a job curating a museum dedicated to late saxophonist Jamaal Waxman, which was established by Jamaal’s mother, Sybil. Though his death more than 20 years earlier was ruled an overdose, Sybil maintains that Jamaal was murdered, and she wants Will to investigate. Meanwhile, Will strikes up a romance with Essence Warner, the daughter of a woman who died of an apparent suicide just before Jamaal’s death. Conklin shifts seamlessly between Will and Essence’s budding relationship, the murder investigation, and Will’s past, doling out cliff-hangers as Will and Essence uncover frightening truths about Jamaal’s death. With evocative prose (“New Bloomfield was the kind of small town even a dog might run away from if it had the chance”) and palpable empathy for his wounded characters, Conklin hits all the right notes. A sequel would be welcome. (Self-published)