THE STOLEN COAST

A cache of diamonds is the MacGuffin of Murphy's second novel, in which two former lovers plan a heist in the faded Massachusetts beach town of Onset.

Jack Betancourt, whose job is stashing all manner of fugitives in safe housing and moving them across state lines with new identities, is lured into a supposedly can't-miss scheme by his ex-girlfriend Elena, a rising New York attorney whom he hasn't seen in seven years. The plan is to break into the home safe of a colleague of Elena's and substitute fake stones for gems that are worth millions. “You only have to conceive of a thing as yours,” says Elena, a born hustler. “That’s what a good theft is.” A low-key operator living in the shadow of his ex-spy father, who started the relocation business, Jack does his job according to the rules, however cruel they may be. Boasting a law degree himself—from Harvard—he is most in his element playing basketball. When he and Elena and the crew they put together for the heist run into a patch of bad luck, they respond with uncommon cool. “It has nothing to do with money,” says Elena. Jack says he believes her but only because “it was a nice night and I didn't want to spoil anything.” A kind of flip noir, Murphy’s follow-up to An Honest Living (2022) has a subtle off-center quality that niftily evades crime-fiction formulas. Only when Jack knowingly transports an innocent teenage boy to a grisly end does the underlying darkness break through—and the once-monied Onset, “kind of a Big Rock Candy Mountain for lowlifes and runners,” reveals itself as a toxic setting for locals and temporary visitors alike.

A shrewd, offbeat original.