Ray Merritt

Mystery surrounds the death of the legendary entrepreneur Ben Baum. Meanwhile mystery lies in the past of one-time lawyer Jonathan Tucker, almost broken by the loss of wife and family. Companies and people fall in the face of tragedy, but what determines how companies and people rise?

Reluctantly, Tuck is drawn back into the city, away from the quiet hideout that assuaged his grief. Black crows of depression and clamour follow him, intriguingly illustrated in chapter headings, dangerously show more present in conversation, and different from ravens, as the narrator pleasingly explains to his dog, Nip.

Author Ray Merrit gives this narrator a quirky, humorous voice, even when deep in self-recriminations. Tuck has a fascinating absorption with collective nouns, so perhaps he’ll collect himself and his clues over time. Meanwhile his honest separation from the world of Big Law makes him simultaneously vulnerable and powerful. Dialog is convincingly brief in the personal, and beautifully filled with a lawyer’s (and writer’s) love of language in the business world. The boardrooms of corporate law come to life just as vividly as countryside of raven and crow. And wonderful literary allusions pepper the page, born of an old man’s obsessions with hobbits, Alice and Oz.

Family feuds and betrayals mirror the lies of corporate law, as revealed in mystery, mysterious runes, and intricate political maneuvering. King Lear peeks from behind the bed of death, and Middle Earth will be blended with Alice’s Looking Glass and the secrets of Oz. The language of Wall Street proves as filled with myth as that of literature, and childhood’s heroes may prove to have feet of clay. But crows and dogs have a devotion all their own, and lessons to teach.

As backstory blends into front, Tuck will either heal or fail, and Nip might save the day. Clamour of Crows is the sort of mystery that draws you in with so many clamoring threads, you have to finish reading to find your way out. Then birds will fly, and a truly surprising ending will satisfy.

Disclosure: I was given a preview edition by the publisher, and I offer my honest review. show less