LITTLE MYSTERIES

A collection of nine mini-mysteries loosely inspired by the childhood gateway stories about Encyclopedia Brown and Nancy Drew—but with existential depths.

Some of the stories are fashioned like traditional “5 Minute Mysteries,” in which the reader is asked to find the solution (which is conveniently included), but the solutions here have more to do with the weary weight of the world than a reader’s ability to decipher physical clues. The longest entry, “The Mystery of Killington Manor or the Feeling of Seeing Clear Blue Sky After Being Lost in the Woods,” offers a take on Agatha Christie and other writers of country house mysteries but, as with most of the pieces, is truly about the mystery of maturity, more about the challenge of remaining a good person when the world is spitting in your face than a true whodunit. Gran offers a feminist reading of female detectives, from the spun-sugar sweetness of Nancy Drew to seemingly fluffy old ladies like Miss Marple. The biggest standouts in the collection are the cases featuring Claire DeWitt, a character in Gran’s previous novels, and Cynthia Silverton, “the best teen detective in the world” (who may or may not be two sides of the same person). At the end of “One-Minute Mystery: The Case of the Razor’s Edge Between Life and Death,” Claire saves someone’s life, at which point the narrator breaks the fourth wall, commenting: “I trust that if you ever need to save my life, you’ll know what to say, and the right words will drip from your lips like a flower’s nectar to a hummingbird’s tongue.…Maybe the only reason we’re here is because we’ve already saved each other. Thank you.” In these mysteries, the stakes are existential: knowing one’s self, knowing how to save the people you can save, and knowing that life is worth living even in the midst of pain. Gran is both blowing up the mystery genre and tying herself to its mast—what an incredible light show.

Charming, gritty explorations of the greatest mysteries of all: Who are we, and what is this life?