Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Fifth Son by Barbara Fradkin

Barbara Fradkin is an award-winning crime fiction author based in Ottawa. Originally a child psychologist, she now writes full time. She is juggling three series: the newest is about Amanda Doucette, a traumatized international aid worker who has returned to Canada to rebuild her life. The others are the Cedric O’Toole books, in which an organic farmer becomes an unexpected detective, and the Ottawa Inspector Michael Green series, police procedurals with strong psychological themes. The most recent one, The Devil to Pay, was published in 2021.

Her work has been nominated repeatedly for awards and both Fifth Son and Honour Among Men in the Inspector Green series were named Arthur Ellis Best Novel for their respective years.

Fifth Son (Napoleon and Co., 2004) is the fourth title about Green. The body of a man is found at the base of an abandoned church in the small town of Ashford Landing, an apparent suicide. The biggest mystery appeared to be the dead man’s name. After exhaustive interviews, Green learned he was perhaps one of the Pettigrews, a family of five brothers who all looked alike. The father was in a long-term care facility, the mother dead. The only son still living in the area was the youngest who hadn’t seen any of his brothers in years. One brother died young, another was in a mental institution, the third living on the streets, and the fourth in the United States somewhere. Follow-up yielded the information that the brother who had been institutionalized was released and that he had missed his most recent follow-up appointments. So Green began to search for three of the brothers, assuming the dead man was one of them. In the back of his mind he kept reviewing the scene where the body was found because he felt something was off.

This is a surprisingly complex story. What appears to be a simple investigation of an unattended death effortlessly segues into the study of the disintegration of a close family. Motivations for actions taken long ago are thoroughly explored as is their impact on the present day. The sadness of the family narrative is alleviated with amusing scenes about Green’s frustrating home renovation, something any homeowner can understand, and his attempts to establish a relationship with his teenage daughter.

The mechanics are well executed. The plot has no extraneous elements, although that’s not always clear; all of the story threads unfold in separate directions until near the end when they coalesce. Even the minor characters, such as the chatty retired priest, are sketched thoroughly. Excellent misdirection from the beginning when a case is made for one possible culprit after another until the very end when the true one is revealed.

A thoughtful, nuanced piece of crime fiction with unusual depth.

  

·         Publisher: ‎Napoleon and Co; 1st Edition (September 1, 2004)

·         Language: ‎English

·         Paperback: ‎304 pages

·         ISBN-10: 1894917138

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1894917131 

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2022

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.