A dogged reporter takes on a mysterious cabal in ‘The Diary of Lies’

['John Powers', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width', 'Vertical-Align Bottom .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Vertical-Align Middle .Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar Is .Alignleft .Alignright'] TPR: The Public's Radio 2025-08-13 16:27:28

The third and latest installment — The Diary of Lies — is now out from Soho Crime, and it finds Shona investigating a mysterious cabal whose aims are more than a little sinister. Not only is Shona catapulted into a murder plot, but she catches wind of a conspiracy called Grendel — that’s the monster in Beowulf, as you’ll recall. Now, as mysteries go, The Diary of Lies is unsettlingly dark. The darkness of The Diary of Lies is political — closer in spirit to The Handmaid’s Tale than to Twin Peaks. Her sheer doggedness is why, despite all its premonitions of tyranny, The Diary of Lies isn’t a bummer.