Real Easy by Marie Rutkoski (2022, 320 pages)
In 1990s small town Illinois, a new dancer joins the tight knit group of a strip club; a group of detectives with secrets investigates a murder and a disappearance; and a woman is held captive without apparent reason.
Swapping between multiple perspectives, you follow along with the mystery surrounding the Lovely Lady strip club: the dancers, the owner, the bouncers, the regulars, the detectives. Themes include small town and sex worker culture, mild queer representation, and suspense -- my only complaint is that two women's stories seem to focus entirely around their kids without being their own person.
While it has mystery aspects as you try to discover the killer, it reads more like a thriller. Rutkoski describes the mundane with a Ghibli-esque floral style, but with more adult themes. I love the way she led us down the rabbit hole of whodunnit, and the casual queer representation plus acknowledgement of racial divides.
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