A well-plotted mystery involving old coins and older grudges.
A crime reporter accidentally revitalizes a long-dormant criminal in LeValley’s fifth novel in a series.
It all starts with a coin—a silver quarter minted in 1961. Tony Harrington, a crime reporter for Orney, Iowa’s Town Crier, comes across it while embedded with a cop friend on a meth-lab stakeout. Tony realizes he’s seen a couple of these coins lately—more than he’d expect, since they’ve long been out of circulation. Tony smells a story, and his investigation leads him to a 60-year-old cold case involving a bank president killed during a robbery. The things that were stolen on that fateful day decades ago have been showing up all over town, and it’s not just quarters; for instance, Tony finds out a teenager bought a comic book for $1,700 in silver certificates. Tony and the cops go looking for the teen, Travis Finley, but as soon as he realizes the authorities are after him, he disappears. Not long afterward, a new murder occurs that appears to be connected to that bank job from long ago. Tony’s investigation turns out to be a much bigger deal than he bargained for, particularly when he finds himself on the business end of a gun—all because of a shiny quarter. The case at the center of this novel is a fun ride, beginning innocently and building slowly to an unexpected conclusion. LeValley’s prose has an earnestness to it that sometimes comes across as callow, as when he describes a movie-star friend of Tony’s: “She was talented, funny, and well-read, with college degrees in both theater and history. She also was blonde and beautiful, making her a favorite of movie directors and fans, as well as the paparazzi.” Tony isn’t the most electrifying crime solver, but this outing is right in his wheelhouse: slightly goofy, slightly bloody, and very Midwestern. It’s perhaps the strongest installment of LeValley’s series so far.
A well-plotted mystery involving old coins and older grudges.Pub Date: March 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781947305496
Page Count: 328
Publisher: BookPress Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Don’t feel that your current news feed is disturbing enough? Penny has just what you need.
A sequel to The Grey Wolf (2024) that begins with the earlier novel’s last line: “We have a problem.” And what a problem it is.
Now that Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and his allies in and out of the Sûreté du Québec have saved Canada’s water supply from poisoning on a grand scale, you might think they were entitled to some rest and relaxation in Three Pines. No such luck. Don Joseph Moretti, the Sixth Family head who ordered the hit-and-run on biologist Charles Langlois that nearly killed Gamache as well, is plotting still more criminal enterprises, and Gamache can’t be sure that Chief Inspector Evelyn Tardiff, who’s been cozying up to Moretti in order to get the goods on him, hasn’t gone over to the dark side herself. In fact, Gamache’s uncertainty about Evelyn sets the pattern for much of what follows, for another review of one of Langlois’ notebooks reveals a plot so monstrous that it’s impossible to be sure who’s not in on it. Is it really true, as paranoid online rumors have it, that “Canada is about to attack the U.S.”? Or is it really the other way around, as the discovery of War Plan Red would have it? As the threats loom larger and larger, they raise questions as to whether the Black Wolf, the evil power behind them, is Moretti, disgraced former Deputy Prime Minister Marcus Lauzon, whom Gamache has arranged to have released from prison, or someone even more highly placed. A brief introductory note dating Penny’s delivery of the uncannily prophetic manuscript to September 2024 will do little to assuage the anxieties of concerned readers.
Don’t feel that your current news feed is disturbing enough? Penny has just what you need.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781250328175
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.
A woman fears she made a fatal mistake by taking in a blood-soaked tween during a storm.
High winds and torrential rain are forecast for “The Middle of Nowhere, New Hampshire,” making Casey question the structural integrity of her ramshackle rental cabin. Still, she’s loath to seek shelter with her lecherous landlord or her paternalistic neighbor, so instead she just crosses her fingers, gathers some candles, and hopes for the best. Casey is cooking dinner when she notices a light in her shed. She grabs her gun and investigates, only to find a rail-thin girl hiding in the corner under a blanket. She’s clutching a knife with “Eleanor” written on the handle in black marker, and though her clothes are bloody, she appears uninjured. The weather is rapidly worsening, so before she can second-guess herself, former Boston-area teacher Casey invites the girl—whom she judges to be 12 or 13—inside to eat and get warm. A wary but starving Eleanor accepts in exchange for Casey promising not to call the police—a deal Casey comes to regret after the phones go down, the power goes out, and her hostile, sullen guest drops something that’s a big surprise. Meanwhile, in interspersed chapters labeled “Before,” middle-schooler Ella befriends fellow outcast Anton, who helps her endure life in Medford, Massachusetts, with her abusive, neglectful hoarder of a mother. As per her usual, McFadden lulls readers using a seemingly straightforward thriller setup before launching headlong into a series of progressively seismic (and increasingly bonkers) plot twists. The visceral first-person, present-tense narrative alternates perspectives, fostering tension and immediacy while establishing character and engendering empathy. Ella and Anton’s relationship particularly shines, its heartrending authenticity counterbalancing some of the story’s soapier turns.
A grim yet gleefully gratifying tale of lost innocence and found family.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781464260919
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
