Encyclopedia Cools And The Case Of The Missing Molar

We had heard about M.P. Cooley's Ice Shear long before its release only because we know Cooley — not the author, but rather the author's sister. When it came out it was the obvious selection for the month. We hoped the Amazon bump from five or ten people would be significant.

It was also, uh, cool to see the Cooley DNA in the writing; I heard Cooley (meaning Cooley's sister, and not the author) in Cooley's writing (meaning Cooley the author and not Cooley's sister). I forget which line but it had something to do with the protagonist bringing people together, which is something we know Cooley excels at (meaning Cooley's sister and not — necessarily — the author).

We rarely read mysteries for book club and I rarely read them myself so it's hard to talk about the craft of the mystery. One thing I noticed (spoiler) though is that on page 108 in the middle, Cooley writes about a key character's missing molar. Being a mystery about methamphetamine dealing, this jumped out at me, I'm pretty sure because of that horrible Green Day video from the mid 1990s:

Also, a very low point in popular music.

Anyway, I couldn't get that strange tidbit out of my end, and when it got to the — spoiler — end of the novel, it vindicated my odd feeling. So I don't know if that was a breadcrumb or even a remnant from an early draft that inadvertently squeaked through. I definitely wondered about it though.

At the meeting we asked Cooley (the sister, not the author) about next steps — everyone had ideas about who should play who. Who knows? We'll see . . .