by Rich Curtin ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 19, 2012
A clear boost of maturity from both the series’ star and the author; readers will be on the lookout for much more of the...
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Curtin’s second mystery (Artifacts of Death, 2011) is a case of coverups and stolen identities in the deserts of Moab, Utah.
Deputy Sheriff Rivera returns from a camping trip with a body waiting for him—a no-longer-missing retired journalist, February Flanagan, whom someone beat to death three years ago. Rivera’s investigation reveals a good number of suspects but, more significantly, five files on topics that may indicate a motive: illegal immigrants, insurance fraud, a wedding, the health department and a 50-year-old bus accident. Meanwhile, February’s old associate from New York is investigating on his own, and a computer analyst has ties to the murder case. Author Curtin doesn’t dawdle in starting the mystery; it opens with Sheriff Bradshaw staring at skeletal remains. Rivera’s investigation fuels the momentum. The deputy sheriff often reassesses the clues, but the storyline never feels repetitive or tedious as Rivera crafts new theories and fine-tunes old ones. And mysterious elements continually pop up—the computer analyst’s perspective answers only some of the open questions, and ensuing murders puzzle further. The book paints its setting well. Navigating Moab to revisit a crime scene, for example, necessitates a hand-drawn map, and images of the land are poetic: “The sky became a profusion of dark orange, crimson, and every shade of purple.” Understated subplots enhance the narrative—Sheriff Bradshaw’s thoughts often revolve around his cancer-stricken wife. But the limelight, as in the first outing, is on the protagonist; Rivera is a sincere and affable character, a man who, in the course of a murder investigation, looks forward to a simple date on Friday night and finds solace in the warm oatmeal raisin cookies awaiting him on return trips to see February’s widow. His name is likely to acquire fans.
A clear boost of maturity from both the series’ star and the author; readers will be on the lookout for much more of the deputy sheriff.Pub Date: March 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-1469908694
Page Count: 328
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 19, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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New York Times Bestseller
by Tana French ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
An absorbing crime yarn.
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New York Times Bestseller
A divorced American detective tries to blend into rural Ireland in this sequel to The Searcher (2020).
In fictional Ardnakelty, on Ireland’s west coast, lives retired American cop Cal Hooper, who busies himself repairing furniture with 15-year-old Theresa “Trey” Reddy and fervently wishes to be boring. Then into town pops Trey’s long-gone, good-for-nothing dad, Johnny, all smiles and charm. Much to her distaste, he says he wants to reclaim his fatherly role. In fact, he’s on the run from a criminal for a debt he can’t repay, and he has a cockamamie scheme to persuade local townsfolk that there might be gold in the nearby mountain with a vein that might run through some of their properties. (What, no leprechauns?) “It’s not sheep shite you’ll be smelling in a few months’ time, man,” he tells a farmer. “It’s champagne and caviar.” Some people have fun fantasizing about sudden riches, but they know better. Johnny’s pursuer, Cillian Rushborough, comes to town, and Johnny tries to convince him he could get rich by purchasing people’s land. Alas, someone bashes Rushborough’s brains in, and now there’s a murder mystery. The plot is a bit of a stretch, but the characters and their relationships work well. Trey detests Johnny for not being in her life, and now that he’s back, she neither wants nor needs him. She gets on much better with Cal. Still, she’s a testy teenager when she thinks someone is not treating her like an adult. Cal is aware of this, and he’s careful how he talks to her. Johnny, not so much: “I swear to fuck, women are only put on this earth to wreck our fuckin’ heads,” he whines about Trey’s mother, briefly forgetting he’s talking to Trey. The book abounds in local color and lively dialogue.
An absorbing crime yarn.Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780593493434
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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by C.J. Box ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 27, 2024
A tale that’s hard to believe but easy to swallow in a single gulp.
A bear is hunting prey in Wyoming’s Bighorns. And not just any bear.
It’s bad enough that Clay Hutmacher, who manages the Double Diamond Ranch, has lost his son, Clay Jr., to a vicious attack by a grizzly bear. What’s much worse is that Clay Jr.—who’d been about to pop the question to game warden Joe Pickett’s daughter, Sheridan—is only the first of the victims over an exceptionally broad geographical area. Marshal Marvin Bertignolli is clawed and bitten to death over in Hanna. Sgt. Ryan Winner is found bleeding out north of Rawlins. Former Twelve Sleep County prosecutor Dulcie Schalk, one of two survivors of an ambush, doesn’t survive her final encounter. The four experts chosen to kill the grizzly rope Joe into their expedition, but since their quarry keeps turning up far from the last sighting, the most meaningful confrontation the Predator Attack Team has is with a pair of Mama Bears, animal rights activists who demand due process for Tisiphone, as they’ve dubbed the presumed killer. Box, who’s far too canny to leave Tisiphone alone on center stage, follows Joe’s old antagonist Dallas Cates as the ex–rodeo star is released from prison and embarks on his revenge tour, which takes him to Lee Ogburn-Russell, an inventor whose life Dallas saved, and Axel Soledad, a correspondent who shares so many enemies with Dallas that he suggests they go after them together. Franchise fans will appreciate new details about Joe’s complicated family, the obligatory high-country landscapes, and yet another corrupt law enforcer.
A tale that’s hard to believe but easy to swallow in a single gulp.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780593331347
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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