Gray Tones: The Case of the Elevator Slaying (2017) by R.L. Akers

R.L. Akers is a self-styled, self-published storyteller who authored several science-fiction novels and short story collections blending science-fiction with thriller elements, but, more importantly, Akers wrote a short series of detective novellas – published between 2017 and 2018. A series covering half a dozen novellas blending classically-styled plots with the contemporary police procedural and cop dramas.

Gray Tones: The Case of the Elevator Slaying (2017) is the first title introducing the series protagonist, Grayson "Gray" Gaynes, who's a NYPD detective third grade and typical, troubled cop of today's crime fiction. More on that in a moment. The Case of the Elevator Slaying is one of 571 works to come out of the first round of nominations for the "New Locked Room Library" organized by The Detection Collection blog. However, The Case of the Elevator Slaying is not a locked room mystery or impossible crime story. No idea why or who nominated it. Even more surprising, I ended up being more intrigued by Gaynes and his backstory than the plot itself.

The setting of the story is the Harkley Building, "an aging low-rise apartment building," which becomes the scene of a gruesome, double murder when the elderly couple of Ellis and Kathryn Howell get beaten to death inside the elevator – now painted red with their blood. Fortunately, the murderer is easily identified as their next door neighbor, Barton Chan, who was seen exiting the elevator covered in blood. What's more, the murders were caught on the elevator's security camera. So an uncomplicated, clear cut case and exactly what Gray needed on his first day back on the job ("combination medical leave and bereavement"). Gray wanted "to get some sense of motive" to understand why Chan snapped and sticks around the apartment building to continue digging. That... and another reason.

This is where the story splits in two. For me, anyway. On the one hand, the setup is fascinating and assumed the impossibility wasn't a double murder in closed and locked elevator, but proving Chan's innocence, which didn't turn out to be the case. The solution to the murders and why, or rather how, Chan snapped is pulpy at best and incredibly hokey at worst (SPOILER/ROT13: V pna'g oryvrir vg'f abg ulcabgvfz!). And the culprit is not difficult to spot. On the other hand, Aker planted his clues fairly and the underpinning motive is original. By the end, I was more intrigued how Gray was going to tackle his next case. I'm normally not too keen on the troubled cop trope, but if you're going to do and stack the odds against him, you might as well make a thorough job of it. So that's enough to warrant a return to the series, but have two even better reasons.

Firstly, The Case of the Elevator Slaying pleasantly reminded me of the detective fiction of Dutch mystery writer M.P.O. Books (a.k.a. "Anne van Doorn"), e.g. "Het lijk dat aan de wandel ging" ("The Corpse That Went For a Walk," 2019) and Het Delfts blauw mysterie (The Delft Blue Mystery, 2023). Second, the reviews of the next three, or so, novellas sound positively intriguing with a potential modern-day impossible crime/how-was-it-done classic. Stephen Pierce praised Gray Matter: The Case of the Autonomous Assassination (2018) as rivaling "some Golden Age novels in how it forces you to accept an unbelievable narrative—just trade the local ghost for a homicidal AI" and the To Solve a Mystery blog called it "a good reminder that mysteries utilizing technology aren't impossible." So, at the very least, this series is going to contribute to that future addendum to "The Locked Room Mystery & Impossible Crime Story in the 21st Century."