Who can resist such charming pets and a mystery stuffed with so many suspects, even if it runs a mite too long?
Cats may have nine lives, but an animal rescuer has only one, and that one’s hanging by a thread.
Arriving at the home of Joe Hitchcock, who’s adopting Maine coon cat Sheamus, Liz Denton finds that he’s not only been murdered, but has been revealed as someone else. The police inform her that he’s really Joseph Danvers, still a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife, Christine, 30 years ago. Although no body was ever found, racist bigot Harry Davis claimed to have seen Danvers with a body and a shovel. Liz is disturbed that her customary vetting of prospective adopters didn’t turn up the truth about Joe and nervous when someone in a brown sedan follows her home. She consults with her daughter, Amelia, who’s interning for Chester Chudzinski, a private eye who’d been trying to prove Joseph Danvers innocent of any crime before Joseph was driven from town by prejudice and finger-pointing. The case takes a major turn when Liz’s stalker turns out to be Joseph’s son, Erik Deavers, whose mother, Christine, changed her name when she skipped town already pregnant. Though she’d tried to find Joe after he changed his own name, she died without seeing him and always told Erik it was better if he didn’t know what had happened years before. On top of her fears about these investigations, Liz is frazzled when her nemesis, Courtney Shaw, another pet rescuer, dumps what she claims is a lost Chihuahua on her and stands by idly when the owner accuses Liz of stealing it. With her husband busy at his veterinary clinic and her son involved with the latest in a string of unsuitable girls, Liz works with Amelia to solve the case a killer doesn’t want solved.
Who can resist such charming pets and a mystery stuffed with so many suspects, even if it runs a mite too long?Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-3171-5
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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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