The Boy Detective Fails

Marinated in mood, richly crafted and devoid of irony, Meno’s newest novel introduces Billy Argo, former boy detective (à la Encyclopedia Brown).

Overwhelmed by grief after his sister and crime-solving partner, Caroline, kills herself, Billy checks into a hospital for the mentally ill and stays there for a decade. Now 30, Billy is out in the world again.

In Billy’s Gotham, New Jersey, most of his old enemies, like Killer Kowalski and Professor Von Golum, are aged, toothless and broken. They ride the bus to their evil assignations but, halfway there, forget where they are going. Buildings vaporize, children’s pets mysteriously lose their heads, strange masked women in black appear and disappear menacingly, and it rains constantly. Billy lives in a halfway house full of bizarre and creepy characters and works nights as a telemarketer. He befriends two outcast children from across the street, Effie and Gus Mumford, and ends up falling in love with a profoundly wounded pickpocket named Penny Maple.

Meno turns a neat trick here by addressing everything in his world at face value. He takes Billy completely seriously, refusing to caricature him or any of the other characters, while building the story on the archetypes of young-adult mystery fiction and cartoon crime-solving gangs. The book includes such childhood accoutrements as a decoder ring, puzzles and games, as well as a truckload of existential angst that dogs Billy’s every step. He is compelled to tie untied shoes, right wrongs and close things that are open. Caroline’s suicide haunts him because it’s a mystery he can’t solve.

While parts of the book are amusing—like the Convocation of Evil that Billy stumbles upon, with panel discussions like “Kidnapping: More Hassle Than It’s Worth?”—much of it is heartbreakingly sad. Billy is adrift, Effie and Gus are the children we felt like during the worst parts of childhood, and Penny Maple is sweet and heartrending. Ultimately, Billy’s journey is imbued with both the hopeful and the romantic.—Beth Dugan