The latest mystery novel from the genre’s new star
Alex Perez
Kat Rosenfield’s latest novel, the Gothic mystery You Must Remember This, hooks the reader from the start. The millionaire matriarch of the Caravasios clan, Miriam, is lured out of the family mansion and led onto the frozen river she crossed countless times as a young woman. It is Christmas Eve 2014, and someone has led Miriam on this precarious march, leaving her on the frozen water, which is not so frozen after all: “The groan becomes a crack. A dark mouth opens up beneath her. Miriam gasps once at the cold as it rushes up to meet her. The dark mouth closes over her head.” Rosenfield’s nifty prologue does its job, as the questions that drive the topsy-turvy — yet efficiently executed — plot of You Must Remember This are made as clear as the frozen water that sucked Miriam away: Who was she? Who would want her dead?
A mystery novel’s hopes to have some literary merit beyond mere entertainment hinge on an author’s ability to subvert expectations while working within the confines of the genre; to write a successful mystery is to walk a tightrope of cliche and contrivance. There are only so many tropes, plot devices, and MacGuffins available to a mystery novelist, and so the great pleasure of the literary reader is to pass judgment on a writer’s ability to make it all work — or not. Which is to say that when I sat down to read Rosenfield’s novel, I had two questions in mind: First, was the mystery’s plot compelling? Second, was the plot delivered in a fashion that did not insult my literary sensibilities? You Must Remember This is not only compelling, but it also passes the literary test.
After Miriam is swallowed by the frozen waters, we backtrack a few days and meet the novel’s other dynamic woman and co-protagonist, Delphine Lockwood. Delphine, Miriam’s granddaughter, fresh off an embarrassing breakup, is staying with her mother, Dora, at the family mansion, which is known as the Whispers. Delphine and Dora are waiting for Miriam, who’s returning to the estate after living in a nursing home due to her advancing dementia. Dora and Delphine will be joined by her uncle, Richard, and aunt, Diana. William, Diana’s bumbling husband, is also along for the ride.
The conceit is simple yet effective: The family will gather for what is presumed to be Miriam’s last Christmas. The family is worth millions of dollars. Put all the major players in a mansion. Dangle a financial incentive in their face. Afflict a main character with ever-so-convenient dementia, which allows Rosenfield to manipulate the plot when needed as Miriam “forgets” or “sees” something that might not be there.
The novel, told in dual timelines — 2014 and the 1940s — tells the story of grandmother and granddaughter and how both women are not only linked by familial secrets and crimes but by a stubbornness that is simultaneously alienating and charming. Miriam’s timeline, which chronicles her childhood and early adolescence at the Whispers, delivers not only the necessary plot points that will advance the narrative in the contemporary sections but also paints a beautiful picture of a free-spirited young woman coming of age.
Miriam’s father, Roland Day, made his money as a bootlegger during Prohibition and was a feared man in the town of Bar Harbor, Maine. Miriam, in the summer of 1942, is the apple of her father’s eye, so when uppity guests visit the Whispers, it doesn’t matter that “she is shoeless and sun-kissed and free to do as she pleases.” Roland Day, after all, “for all his generosity and good manner, is not a man it would be wise to offend.” In the 1940s timeline, we also meet Theo, the poor fisherman from across the river, who will eventually marry Miriam. Love will not be denied, even if Roland Day is unsure of his daughter’s choice. At 19, after Roland Day gives his blessing, Miriam marries Theo. Roland Day, however, makes Miriam promise that if Theo ever wrongs her in any way, she will tell him. Miriam promises. This promise eventually alters the lives of the entire family, past and present. Two children, Richard and Diana, are born in quick succession, followed by Dora several years later. The young family lives at the Whispers and all is seemingly well. But a few years later, Theo tragically dies in a fishing accident, drunkenly falling overboard … or so the story goes. Miriam never remarries and leaves the Whispers.
The past, of course, is never really past, especially not in mystery novels.
What elevates You Must Remember This beyond its genre trappings is the relationship between Miriam and Delphine and how the 26-year-old increasingly comes into her own as she learns more about her grandmother’s past. Every character in the novel is shady, but as Miriam loses her grip on reality and lets slip some of her darkest secrets, Delphine’s understanding of her grandmother crystallizes — she is not as innocent as she’d always assumed. She may not be innocent at all. Her stories of being romanced by Theo and their great love affair always seemed too good to be true, Delphine realizes. As the story unfolds and the past and present come together, it’s clear that someone has been lurking around the Whispers after dark. This is a mystery, yes, but it is also the story of two women, generations apart, who are far more similar than they’d ever imagined, for better and, ultimately, for worse.
Alex Perez is a fiction writer and cultural critic from Miami. Follow him on Twitter @Perez_Writes.