Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka

We Know Who Did it, but We Don’t Know Why

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Edgar Allan Poe Awards are presented annually by the Mystery Writers of America. The “Edgar” honors the best in mystery fiction and nonfiction. Notes on an Execution won the award for best novel in 2023. Here’s what it’s about…

Ansel Packer is a man in prison counting down the hours until his execution. He starts at twelve hours, then ten, then eight. There is a woman named Shawna. To be more precise, she is Officer Shawna Billings. Upon first meeting her, Ansel “recognized the look in Shawna’s eyes from other girls in different lives. A startle. She reminded [him] of Jenny – it was something in her wanting, so vulnerable and unruly.”

It’s going to take a while to find out who Jenny is, but in that early countdown chapter we learn a little bit more about Shawna. Evidently, there is the possibility of a jail break and Shawna will play a part in it if it occurs. So, will the countdown stop? Will the so called “Girly Killer” get free?

Either way, he’s making plans for the five notebooks that contain his “Theory.” And he’s worrying about a letter and a photo he owns. Both have to do with a female named Blue Harrison. Somehow all of that will be taken care of if his plan with Shawna falls into place.

Interspersed with the countdown chapters are chapters about three women. First, we meet Lavender, Ansel’s birth mother. We learn within the first thirty-five pages of the book that she gave birth to him at age seventeen and that by the age of twenty-one, she also had an infant son. What she does to them is horrible, but there really wasn’t another choice.

The next woman is Saffron Singh – or Saffy as she is called. We meet her at age nine. Her father had abandoned the family and then her mother died in a car wreck. She and Ansel both live in foster care at Miss Gemma’s house. At Miss Gemma’s we also meet Kristen and Lila, Saffy’s roommates. In those childhood years Saffy has a crush on Ansel that goes horrifically astray. But it leads her to suspect him all those years later when she is a policewoman and when Lila is murdered.

And the third woman is Hazel, Jenny’s twin sister. Enough said.

I was very aware as I read this book that the author knew exactly how all these characters and elements would intersect and that she was only giving me one crumb at a time to string me along. But I guess that is the way with all mysteries and I must say I was very eager to get all the crumbs she was passing out.

And speaking of mysteries, clearly this book is not a typical whodunit. We know Ansel did it. But who did he do it to and why? I could not put the book down until I had those answers!

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Click here to learn more about Notes on an Execution on Amazon. 

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