'Relentless Melt' by Jeremy P. Bushnell
Artie Quick waits nervously at the door before entering the classroom. The course’s subject is criminal investigation, the year is 1909 and Artie is a young woman, enrolling in a night class intended for men only. And so, she’s dressed as a man, convincingly to the untrained eye, but her instructor, whose powers of observation she will seek to emulate, spots her. He keeps Artie’s secret, sensing talent and determination.
So begins Jeremy P. Bushnell’s latest novel, whose young Boston shopgirl protagonist is more than simply plucky (although she is that, too): Artie is discovering new possibilities, embracing new ways of feeling and existing. Readers will have reason to wonder about her as well as her friend Theodore’s orientation. He’s the bachelor son of local aristocracy whose money affords him a life of leisure and underwrites his intense curiosity about the world around him, crime included. And crimes are happening in Boston at night, clues are dropped, and Artie and Theodore are determined to piece the puzzle together.
