I didn’t read the first in John Copenhaver’s Nightingale Trilogy, The Savage Kind, and it isn’t necessary to have that background before reading Hall of Mirrors. However, it wouldn’t hurt to meet Judy Nightingale and Philippa Watson in the previous book when they become obsessed with each other and a serial killer. That obsession with the serial killer drives this latest book.
In 1954, Lionel Kane watches as his entire life goes up in flames with his apartment on fire. His writing partner and lover, Roger Raymond, was in that apartment, and the police claim Roger committed suicide. Roger was the public face of the popular Ray Kane novels, because his was the accepted face, white and masculine-appearing. Lionel, a black man, never would have been accepted. But, it’s the height of McCarthyism in Washington, D.C., and Roger just lost his job with the State Department, fired as a gay man following a failed polygraph test.
Judy and Philippa fear it’s their obsession with Adrian Bogdan, a spy and serial killer that led to Roger’s death. They sent copies of their murder book to the media, the police, and their favorite author, Ray Kane. That book has newspaper clippings and accounts of the murders of young girls. Judy and Philippa believe Bogdan is responsible, and still out there killing because he’s an asset for the government. When Roger agreed to look at their murder book, he may have started a ball rolling that couldn’t be stopped, beginning with his polygraph test and subsequent firing.
While Lionel clings desperately to the hope that it wasn’t Roger who died in the fire, the two young women keep secrets from him. Roger hadn’t wanted to get Lionel involved in the search for a killer. And, the two women are desperate to find Bogdan, no matter what the cost.
Hall of Mirrors is a mystery. However, as Copenhaver explains in this Author’s Note, it’s a historical one that delves into the awful decade of the 1950s when it was a crime to be gay, and Blacks were oppressed. This is a novel that explores the issues of trying to pass, trying to pass as white, and trying to pass as straight and not gay. It was important to conceal identities at a time when families were ashamed, and the police and government oppressed members of the LGBTQ+ community. People experienced violence at the hands of the police, and humiliation at the hands of the government during McCarthyism. This is a historical written in several voices, voices that hear “faggots, homos, perverts, Niggers”. It’s uncomfortable to read that in 2024, but it’s appropriate to the time period.
I’m not sure I’ll read the third in the Nightingale Trilogy. My favorite parts of Hall of Mirrors focused on the two men. I’m not sure I care enough about the relationship and ongoing obsessions of Judy Nightingale and Philippa Watson.
John Copenhaver’s website is https://johncopenhaver.com/
Hall of Mirrors by John Copenhaver. Pegasus Books, 2024. ISBN 9781639366507 (hardcover), 360p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I received a PDF so I could review this for a journal.
