Nuanced character portraits and slowly building suspense make this both an involving human story and a crackling crime yarn.
The search for a vanished teenager leads a reluctant shamus back to the powerful man who hired him.
Elderly real estate tycoon Carl Valenti makes junior HR executive Chuck Restic (The Silent Second, 2017) an offer he can’t refuse: $100,000 to find his missing granddaughter, Jeanette. Not till after Chuck agrees does Valenti confess that he received a ransom demand that he’s already paid and that part of the deal includes the uninterrupted presence of Hector, his faithful chauffeur. In for a penny, in for a pound, figures Chuck. His investigation proceeds modestly as he gathers information via methodical interviews, beginning with the girl’s parents, who are separated from each other. Valenti’s daughter, Meredith, is evasive about the possibility of a genuine disappearance but mentions dismissively her daughter’s Mexican boyfriend, “Nelson something.” Jeanette’s father, Jeff, is much franker about the dysfunction in their family and the intrusions of his powerful father-in-law in their lives. Valenti’s ex-wife, Sheila Lansing, paints an even darker picture and reveals that she’s afraid of Valenti. Restic has reason to be wary of both Valenti and of Nelson Portillo, who tries to run him down in a parking lot. Through it all, Hector lurks in the background, presenting a constant, simmering threat of violence. All roads seem to lead back to Valenti, but Restic is reluctant to share what he has with the police until tragedy strikes.
Nuanced character portraits and slowly building suspense make this both an involving human story and a crackling crime yarn.Pub Date: Jan. 9, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-945551-12-3
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Prospect Park Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.
Too much free time leads a New Hampshire bookseller into yet another case of murder.
Now that Tricia Miles has Pixie Poe and Mr. Everett practically running her bookstore, Haven’t Got a Clue, she finds herself at loose ends. Her wealthy sister, Angelica, who in the guise of Nigela Ricita has invested heavily in making Stoneham a bookish tourist attraction, is entering the amateur competition for the Great Booktown Bake-Off. So Tricia, who’s recently taken up baking as a hobby, decides to join her and spends a lot of time looking for the perfect cupcake recipe. A visit to another bookstore leaves Tricia witnessing a nasty argument between owner Joyce Widman and next-door neighbor Vera Olson over the trimming of tree branches that hang over Joyce’s yard—also overheard by new town police officer Cindy Pearson. After Tricia accepts Joyce’s offer of some produce from her garden, they find Vera skewered by a pitchfork, and when Police Chief Grant Baker arrives, Joyce is his obvious suspect. Ever since Tricia moved to Stoneham, the homicide rate has skyrocketed (Poisoned Pages, 2018, etc.), and her history with Baker is fraught. She’s also become suspicious about the activities at Pets-A-Plenty, the animal shelter where Vera was a dedicated volunteer. Tricia’s offered her expertise to the board, but president Toby Kingston has been less than welcoming. With nothing but baking on her calendar, Tricia has plenty of time to investigate both the murder and her vague suspicions about the shelter. Plenty of small-town friendships and rivalries emerge in her quest for the truth.
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0272-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
A murder is committed in a stalled transcontinental train in the Balkans, and every passenger has a watertight alibi. But Hercule Poirot finds a way.
**Note: This classic Agatha Christie mystery was originally published in England as Murder on the Orient Express, but in the United States as Murder in the Calais Coach. Kirkus reviewed the book in 1934 under the original US title, but we changed the title in our database to the now recognizable title Murder on the Orient Express. This is the only name now known for the book. The reason the US publisher, Dodd Mead, did not use the UK title in 1934 was to avoid confusion with the 1932 Graham Greene novel, Orient Express.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1934
ISBN: 978-0062073495
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1934
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