Dead in the Frame

 Dead in the Frame is the fifth of five books (so far) in the Pentecost and Parker Murder Mystery series. If you’ve been following my reviews of the first four books, you’ll know that I chose to read those four books before I got to this one. I found the NYTimes claim that Dead in the Frame was the best crime novel written in 2025 was a most audacious claim given the competition of great crime writers. I don’t need to review the primary protagonists because this is not meant to be a stand-alone review. Given the blog’s reviews of so many crime novels, I just found it rather startling for a reviewer to claim one was the best book. Also, if there was a great writer that I had not heard of, as is the case for Stephen Spotswood, but I was also excited about the possibility of having a new author to add to my favorite authors. 

Once again, the characters and main plot and subplots were excellent. The continuing evolution of the characters of Pentecost and Parker was most interesting. In this story, Pentecost winds up in jail with a murder charge, and Parker is left to do much more of the detective work, although she is clearly stressed by not having Pentecost in firm control of the investigation that would ultimate free her. Parker was also worried about her detective partner’s failing health due to the progress of her muscular dystrophy. Parker seemed to have too much investigative work to do before the expedited trial that M. Pentecost insisted on.

 

In short, this was a very good book. I thoroughly enjoyed all five books and I hope Spotswood will pursue this series. The end of the story does set him up nicely to do so. Was it the single best crime book that I read this year? I can’t go that far. Writers such as Daniel Silva, Louise Penny, Michael Connelly, C.J. Box, S.A. Cosby, John Grisham, James Lee Burke, Don Winslow, Jonathan Kellerman, Ken Bruin, and others have produced volumes of great work far beyond what Spotswood has done so far. Certainly, his writing deserves mention with the other writers I love, and just maybe, I’m seeing the beginning of what I hoped for, a great writer whose going to keep on writing. I will be following him as I wait for novel #6. This entire series is bound to leave you wanting more from Spotswood.

Murder Crossed Her Mind

 Murder Crossed Her Mind is the fourth of five novels in the Pentecost and Parker Murder Mystery Series by Stephen Spotswood. This book was published in 2023, but the story is set in New York City in 1947. I got to this series as the result of the New York Times annual book review which suggested that the fifth book was the best crime novel written in 2025. At Men Reading Books, we’ve reviewed more than 1,000 authors and now 1,848 books, which were mostly about crime, mystery, espionage, and murder. We’ve identified very talented writers who rarely get mentioned by the Times as being worthy of such awards, so I was compelled to see if I could agree with a critic who made such an audacious claim about Spotswood's fifth book. So, for background, I've read and reviewed the first four books in the series before getting to what the critic claimed was the best one.  

The protagonists in these novels are Lillian Pentecost who is reputed to have the best crime-solving mind in New York City, and her assistant, Will Parker. Both characters do have fascinating and unique personal histories, although through the first four stories, the reader learns much more about Will than Lillian. Lillian’s history is scheduled to be revealed in more detail in the fifth book, Death in the Frame. Over the course of the first four books, many murders are solved and more interesting characters are revealed. In Murder Crossed Her Mind, an elderly woman, Vera Bodine, who is renowned for her photographic memory, turns up missing. Later, her body is found buried in a large trunk in her own apartment, covered in bags of lavender sachet. Meanwhile, the tough Will Parker finds ways to get repeatedly beaten up as the result of her willingness to charge into dangerous situations without any self-regard. Meanwhile, the plots and subplots are involved with federal agents, Nazi spies, and the wealthy Jessup Quincannon who has discovered a secret from Lillian’s past that he has threatened to reveal.

 

I’ve been entertained enough to keep reading this series, and at last I’m ready to take on “the best crime novel of 2025.” I thought this fourth book was probably the weakest of the series, but the exploits of the two main characters have kept me interested. I also found, at times, that the wise-cracking Will is too much over the top.

Fortune Favors the Dead

 Fortune Favors the Dead is the first of a five-book (so far) series regarding the detective team of Lillian Pentecost and Will Parker. I’ve already reviewed books two and three and I wish I had read them in the order that they were published. The books do work as stand-alone novels, but if you don’t read them in order, then you would miss some of the character development that the author, Stephen Spotswood has written so skillfully. This book introduces the primary characters and gives the history of their lives before they teamed up, and there’s a quick review of some of the cases that they solved in the three years since they met and this story occurs in 1945. Pentecost is the wise detective, now 45 years old and suffering from slowly advancing muscular dystrophy. She is widely recognized as the best detective in NYC if not the whole world, and Parker is her talented protégé. 

 

Spotswood has developed fascinating characters including the unlikely pairing of Pentecost and Parker. It’s a great plot which I choose not to give away, and I certainly did not see the very late twist that changed the perspectives that these two females sleuths had uncovered over the course of the book. This novel gets my highest recommendation.

Secrets Typed in Blood

 Secrets Typed in Blood by Stephen Spotswood is the third book of his five-book series, The Pentecost and Parker Mystery Series. This story takes place in 1947 in New York City where the world’s greatest detective, Lillian Pentecost, lives and maintains her office. Will Parker is her young protégé and the two of them have formed a formidable detective team. They continue to be hired by people who either don’t want to go to the police with their problems, or the police had simply been unable to solve their problems, usually murders. A successful crime writer, Holly Quick discovered that someone was acting out her murder mysteries in real life. She felt violated to have to her ideas stolen.

 The cases are complex, but never too complicated for the remarkable Ms. Pentecost. Pentecost has muscular dystrophy which is slowly getting worse, and she is very dependent on Will for all of the leg work required of such an occupation. There are multiple copycat murders, and then one occurs when it is fresh off Ms. Quick’s typewriter, before it had even been published.

 

Spotswood has filled out his story with interesting characters surrounding both Ms. Quick and the detectives. The plot is well designed and I certainly did not see the end coming before I got there. The writing of Spotswood is starting to grow on me. Now, I’ve acquired the first book in the series, Fortune Favors The Dead. While these books do work as stand-alone novels, I think it makes more sense to read them in the order in which they’ve been published.

Murder Under Her Skin

 I read about the Pentecost and Parker Mystery Series by Stephen Spotswood in the New York Book Review, and the 5^th book Dead in the Frame was ranked as the best crime novel of 2025. The author raved about the whole series, so rather than jump into the fifth book, I found the second and third books on Libby and began to listen during my early morning dog walks. I’ve finished the second book, Murder Under Her Skin, and now I’ve started the third, Secrets Typed in Blood, and I’ve just gotten the first one, Fortune Favors the Dead. Meanwhile, the best crime novel of the year is sitting in my Audible account just waiting for me. I’ll review these in the order that I’m reading them. 

In Murder Under Her Skin, the reader meets the world-famous detective Lillian Pentecost and her protégé, Willojean Parker, as they learn of a murder that has occurred in a travelling circus. This just happens to be the traveling circus to which Willojean, Will, escaped from her very dysfunctional family as a young teen. The victim was Ruby Donner, the tattooed circus woman, a fascinating character who had been so loved by nearly the entire circus family, including Will. The main suspect had been Will’s circus mentor, a knife throwing expert. After being a part of the tight circus family for several years, as the circus was dying, Will had left for a better opportunity as an assistant to Ms. Pentecost. But, the circus people had always been loving and supportive of Will, effectively her surrogate parents. She expected to be as much a the part of that circus family as when she had lived with them, but Will soon learned that there were lots of secrets that were being kept from her. During her five years with Pentecost, Will had proven herself to be a hard worker and a very gifted detective herself.

 

The story took place on the East Coast during the 1940s. All of the characters in the circus were fascinating, and there was clearly competition among them for being the most desirable performer. I thought it was a fun read or I would not have acquired more of the books in the series. Still, I’m intrigued by the notion of getting to the “best crime novel” of the year. At Men Reading Books, we’ve reviewed more than 1800 books, most of them crime/mystery/thriller novels, more than 100 of those this year alone, and we’ve written about our favorite authors including Daniel Silva, Louise Penny, C.J. Box, Michael Connelly, Brad Thor, Charlie Stella, Greg Iles, James Lee Burke, John Grisham, Lee Child, Jonathan Kellerman, Robert Crais, and about 1,000 more. Are these stories by Spotswood better than those authors, or even as good as them? I’ll need to see more of his work before I rate him as the equal of than those others. However, I am titillated to have a new body of work to learn about, and at least my initial impression is favorable. I have been duly entertained.