BUSHNELL ON BOOKS: ‘Kate Meader’ and ‘Good Dog, Bad Cop’ (2024)

KATE MEADER

In 1900 it was common for cities and towns in New England to operate an almshouse, a charitable place to house the poor, invalid, sick and other unfortunate souls labeled as “morons” and “idiots.” Gardiner, Maine had its own almshouse called the City Farm where “inmates” were placed out of sight and out of mind, and Kate Meader was the cook.

This is a captivating story by Mount Vernon writer Deborah Gould, an award-winning author of short fiction and three other novels. This is historical fiction at its best — a sobering portrayal of society’s dismissive treatment of its poor and sick, as well as a powerful indictment of society’s unequal treatment of women.

Gould clearly gave this story great thought, for her narrative is sharp, insightful and vivid, blended with a carefully sculpted plot and wholly believable and endearing characters. Kate Meader is a widow with no family, in her 60s, working to support herself in a world offering few opportunities. She accepts a job as the cook at the City Farm, where she first thinks the inmates are “the rabble — poor, old, defective.” The pay is $2 per week plus room and board.

Kate quickly realizes the inmates are good people with difficulties they cannot control, abandoned by family and society yet deserving of courtesy and respect, and she tries her best to be kind, patient and considerate. A new arrival is Nicholas Dale, 72 years old, a polite, well-mannered man down on his luck but not down in spirit.

Gould offers sad moments, tender and sensitive, some excellent humor and drama, as Kate interacts with the inmates, staff and Nicholas. They become good friends, but a false accusation costs both of them. However, a new and welcome change in circ*mstance provides a most satisfying conclusion.

GOOD DOG, BAD COP: A K TEAM NOVEL

The private investigation firm, the K Team, tackles the nasty cold cases the Paterson, New Jersey Police Department doesn’t want to handle. And this time it involves two cop killings and is personal.

“Good Dog, Bad Cop” is the fourth cop crime mystery in the K-Team series by Damariscotta Lake’s award-winning author David Rosenfelt. He’s already penned more than 20 mystery novels, and the K Team series is a brilliant spin-off from the Andy Carpenter lawyer/courtroom series.

The K Team has five partners: a retired cop, an ex-cop, a deceptively nice police dog named Simon Garfunkel, a deadly bodyguard, and a genius computer hacker. The two cold cases are masterfully woven by Rosenfelt, creating a complex yet well-drawn plot that is believably scary and full of unexpected surprises.

The two cases are only a year and a half old, but involve two different cop killings — one detective murdered on a curious stakeout, the other killed as part of a murder-suicide (or was it?). The killings are personal for the team and they vow to solve both, wondering initially if one cop was dirty and if both cases are somehow related.

Relentless police investigative work and the computer hacker’s uncanny expertise reveal that there are connections, tenuous and weird at first, but then some people get nervous with fatal consequences which only energizes the team. Leads point in different directions, but motives are elusive. Murders, disappearances, embezzlement of large amounts of cash, and the odd interest of the Department of Homeland Security confuse the team at first.

Best of all, and Rosenfelt is a master at this, nobody is who they say they are, leaving the K Team to puzzle: Who is real and who is not? This is the best K Team yet, we can only hope for more.

Bill Bushnell lives and writes in Harpswell.

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