Derek B. Miller (1)

"American by Day," Derek Miller's follow-up to "Norwegian by Night," takes place in 2008. Forty-year-old Chief Inspector Sigrid Ødegård is trying to come to terms with a shooting that, she believes, might have been avoidable. When her father, Morten, asks Sigrid to travel from Oslo to America to find her missing brother, Marcus, she takes a leave of absence from her job and goes to upstate New York, where her brother had a house, teaching job, and a woman he loved, Lydia Jones. Sadly, Lydia died under mysterious circumstances, and the police are looking for Marcus to question him about his role in her death. Sigrid has an idea where Marcus might be, but if she wants to do things her way, she will have to keep local law enforcement off her back, which is no easy task.

Miller has an eccentric writing style laced with sardonic humor, irony, a slowly unfolding plot, and idiosyncratic characters. The author tantalizes us with puzzling questions, but the answers are not immediately forthcoming. While we wait for clarification, Sigrid, who usually says exactly what she thinks, keeps us entertained. She meets her match in Sheriff Irving Wiley, who has a Master of Divinity degree from Loyola, and is no fool. The attractive, intelligent, and determined Sigrid fascinates him, but he is determined to prevent her from manipulating him. Irv wants Sigrid's cooperation; he tries to convince her to work together with his team if she wants to protect Marcus from harm.

This "fish out of water" story is amusing and intriguing; Sigrid finds America's customs, culture, cuisine, and attitudes more than a little strange. However, the narrative is a bit slow-moving and sometimes heavy-handed in its exploration of feminist issues, gun violence, and race relations. Lydia, an African American, was a tenured professor who believed that the United States is nowhere near achieving racial and economic equality. Sigrid pontificates and spars verbally with Irv, whose training by Jesuits comes in handy when dealing with this highly opinionated and stubborn individual. "American by Day" is too talky, but the final chapters have some much-needed action scenes and a satisfactory, albeit predictable, conclusion. One of the central themes of Miller's unusual story is that open communication, generosity of spirit, and empathy are sorely needed to foster peaceful coexistence among family members, communities, and nations.… (more)

The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek B. Miller is one of those books that asks readers to wade through long lectures about art, history, literature, and philosophy to get to the plot. Pietro Houdini, a mysterious figure who rescues the main character after the death of their parents, delivers these soliloquies in the guise of stories to teach life lessons. The Curse is a WWII story, but an unusual one taking place in Italy and dealing with atypical characters doing what they need to survive. Readers willing to put in the work will be rewarded with a good book.… (more)