When I started this column, six years ago, I looked for authors who were new to me. By that, I meant authors who had published their debut novels after 2010, and whose work I had not previously read. Some of the works that I read were self-published; some authors already had publishers. Of course, during the year, I also read my favorite authors whenever their new novels became available.
At the end of the year, I looked only at the “new authors,” trying to decide which I liked best. There were many good authors from which to choose, but — honestly — there was no contest. The winner was Steve Cavanagh, an Irish lawyer. His first novel was “The Defence” (British spelling), published in 2015. His protagonist was Eddie Flynn, a con man who got his law degree but never forgot his grifting origins.
Although The Defence (2015) was set in New York, there were many British expressions in the text; words, like “boot” for a car’s trunk; and British spellings, like “kerb” for curb. A new novel followed almost annually, and each featured Eddie Flynn. Also, fewer Britishisms were used as the author’s work became more “Americanized.” “Two Kinds of Stranger” (2026, 390 pages in hardback format) is the tenth book in the Eddie Flynn series, and Cavanagh has also written a few stand-alones.
This episode in Eddie’s life centers on Ellie Parker, who is an Internet influencer and advocate of people performing RAKs, Random Acts of Kindness. Ellie’s fans love her and probably envy her perfect life. She has a reputation for doing a RAK every day. And she has a beautiful home and a wonderful husband. Until….
During one of her programs, she’s in her kitchen, unloading her groceries, some of which, she tells viewers, will be used to make brownies for her husband James. She also reveals that she and her “bestie,” Harriet, are set for a “girly” night on Thursday. Then, she hears a “bumping” noise in her house. The camera follows her as she investigates. She opens the door to her bedroom to discover a man and a woman. They are on her bed, and they’re naked. The camera, on a live feed, catches Ellie as she turns pale and shouts, “OH MY GOD! How could you? How could you?”
In a flashback, Ellie encounters a stranger on the subway. He’s performing a RAK, saving a sleeping woman’s bag of noodles from falling out of her grocery bag. One of his legs is in a cast, he’s on crutches, and he has a yellow suitcase. He can’t manage the suitcase and the crutches to get up the stairs to the street level, so Ellie helps him. This random encounter leads to circumstances that lead to her being charged with murder, and the cards are stacked against her.
There is no possible defense theory either to prove that she is innocent or to establish reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury. However, this is just the kind of case that Eddie and his team take on. But Eddie’s ex-wife and her husband are on trial at the same time. Maybe that’s a complication that even Eddie Flynn can’t handle.
• • •
Jim Glynn may be contacted at j_glynn@att.net.