The Kindness of Strangers

Garman debuts with an addictive mystery centered on the residents of a rambling Chelsea boarding house in 1953 London. Bohemian publisher Honor Wilson rents her rooms to creative Londoners living on the fringes of respectable society. One day, a man named Jimmy Sullivan shows up and asks for lodging, igniting a panic in Honor that she tries to hide from her other tenants. The ensuing vignettes—in which Jimmy tends to pregnant model Georgina, who needs money for an abortion, and a visit from the elderly friend of Holocaust refugee Saul reveals details about Honor’s past—gradually hint at how Jimmy and Honor are entwined. Everyone in the house has secrets, including writer Robbie and 17-year-old aspiring gumshoe Mina, and they come to a head with the arrival on the scene of Det. Insp. Hilary Comyns. Readers know from the opening pages that Jimmy winds up dead, but revealing more would do a disservice to Garman’s serpentine plot. En route to the finale, she skillfully captures the decimated mood of postwar London, with its overflowing pubs and lingering food shortages, and maximizes suspense with perfectly timed reveals. Readers will hope for more from the author soon. Agent: Cara Lee Simpson, Susanna Lea Assoc. (May)