Switcheroo
Aaron Elkins
Mystery
Aaron Elkins has long been one of my favorite mystery authors. He writes genuinely classical mysteries. They're not cutesy "themed" mysteries, nor I'm-so-dark-I-must-be-terribly-relevant mysteries, nor historical mysteries (with or without an improbable detective). Just ... mysteries, with clues and suspects.
So it was a matter of regret, a few years ago, to learn that Elkins was retiring Gideon "The Skeleton Detective" Oliver. It was equally a matter of pleasure to learn, quite by accident, that the retirement turned out to be temporary. Switcheroo is very much in the tradition, and in consequence I very much enjoyed it. It is, perhaps, a little slight; it seems like an oversized novella rather than a full-blown novel. (Also, I happened to know one of the forensic tidbits.) However, it has likable characters, good dialog, a nice setting, interesting facts--in short, everything I was looking for. Here's to more Gideon Oliver.
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