In Masks of Murder, by C. C. Canby, police detective Zeke Mallard is stabbed to death in his garage while unloading groceries from his car. As a result, rookie detective Richard Lanslow takes on the case every police detective loathes, that of investigating the murder of another officer, in this case his own partner. Richard learns that Zeke wasn’t the happily married man he appeared to be. He’s been having an affair with a young woman whose former boyfriend immediately becomes the primary suspect. Andrew White is a streetwise young black man, distrustful of white cops. He is a criminal, but he didn’t kill Zeke Mallard. The reader knows that in fact someone called Dorian stabbed Zeke to death. But we know little else about the mysterious killer. Jack Matthews is a professor at a local college who’s an expert in gang behavior. In spite of having personal problems of his own, his acquaintance with Richard and his past consulting efforts for the police lead him to offer his aid with this case. Richard Lanslow remains determined to bring his partner’s killer to justice, even after the department’s focus moves on to more immediate crimes, and even though his fiancée ceases to excuse the amount of personal time he spends pursuing the truth.
Where the investigation eventually leads, and the layers and underlying twists in this mystery, are the elements I found most intriguing and satisfying. It’s a combination of police procedural and psychological suspense with a slow build to some intense final scenes and a startling outcome.
Masks of Murder is a powerful story, with a great plot, though it moves along somewhat slowly. This story is presented with sensitivity, respect, and a certain amount of grace. The book has its weaknesses, but they have little to do with the quality of storytelling.
If there’s anything I would change, it would be for the author to have infused a bit more drama on the page, a little less telling and more showing. There were a lot of emotions going on, under the surface, but I didn’t connect to those depths of the story as much as I would’ve liked. I don’t want to be unfair to the book with that statement, since this was clearly a challenging novel to write. It’s flaws aren’t likely to keep readers from enjoying the book or to detract from their satisfaction with the dramatic and neatly tied-up conclusion. This is a mystery that will surprise you.
