Subtle, sardonic, and molto simpatico: Montalbano is the Latin re-creation of Philip Marlowe, working in a place that...
An elegant translation of the first in a popular Italian series, in which world-weary, empathetic Sicilian Inspector Salvo Montalbano is handed a hot potato when the body of Silvio Luparello, a local politico, is found in the Pasture, the little town of Vigata’s red-light district. The death seems to have occurred in flagrante of natural causes, but Montalbano’s instincts tell him something is wrong. After years of patiently working behind the scenes, Luparello was about to take center stage. Why would he risk scandal by grazing in a place like the Pasture? Montalbano keeps the case open in spite of pressure from his supervisor, a judge, and a bishop to close it. Luparello’s closest political ally, the lawyer Pietro Rizzo, then proposes an astonishing new alliance with Dr. Cardamone, an enemy of both Luparello and Rizzo. Is this maneuver related to several clues that place Cardamone’s promiscuous daughter-in-law at the scene of Luparello’s death? A lucrative reward is being offered through dubious channels for one such clue, a distinctive necklace taken from the scene by a poor garbage collector. When Luparello’s dry-eyed widow insists that she knows what her husband’s peccadilloes were and were not, Montalbano explores another network of crimes and desires, as tangled as the tentacles of that Sicilian specialty, the octopus.
Subtle, sardonic, and molto simpatico: Montalbano is the Latin re-creation of Philip Marlowe, working in a place that manages to be both more and less civilized than Chandler’s Los Angeles.Pub Date: May 20, 2002
ISBN: 0-670-03092-9
Page Count: 202
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2002
All the emotional intensity Slaughter’s readers expect, now focused on a diabolical domestic terrorist. Don’t say you...
Pediatrician/medical examiner Sara Linton’s path to marrying Will Trent, of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, runs into apocalyptic obstacles only Slaughter could devise.
To begin with, Sara’s mother objects so strenuously to Will that she won’t even utter his name. But her opposition can’t compete with the carnage that erupts when Sara and Will (The Kept Woman, 2016, etc.), hearing the sounds of a bomb near Emory University, rush to the scene and encounter along the way the aftermath of a three-car collision. Stopping to help, they soon smell something amiss, but not soon enough to prevent them from being overpowered and separated by the supposed victims. Will is beaten to the ground; Sara is whisked off in a car whose occupants include Michelle Spivey, a scientist with the Centers for Disease Control who was abducted from under her young daughter’s nose a month ago. Arriving at the mountain encampment of the Invisible Patriot Army, a paramilitary cadre determined to make America white again, Sara is first forced to treat the wounds of the men who kidnapped her and then asked by IPA leader Dash to remain so that she can treat an outbreak of measles that’s swept through the children in the camp, including Dash’s daughter, whose mother is Gwen Novak, the daughter of Martin Novak, whose history of anti-government bank robberies has made him a high-value federal prisoner. As Will schemes to infiltrate the camp disguised as a new recruit, Sara is dismayed to find that no matter what she does, the children she’s tending keep getting sicker and sicker. Even the most ardent fans of Slaughter’s white-hot thrillers (Pieces of Her, 2018, etc.) will be shocked and horror-stricken by the outrage Dash has planned.
All the emotional intensity Slaughter’s readers expect, now focused on a diabolical domestic terrorist. Don’t say you weren’t warned.Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-285808-5
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Kelly’s cats are magical, but not magical enough to distinguish them from a clowder of kitty cozies.
Determined to clear a friend in a businessman’s murder, a Minnesota librarian gets invaluable help from her two magical cats, who are there for her as long as the sardines don’t run out.
Kathleen Paulson is psyched when her brother, Ethan, and his band, the Flaming Gerbils, come to stay with her in Mayville Heights, her adopted hometown. Ethan’s excited not only to spend some quality time with his sister, but also to get to know her closest friend, Maggie, who seems as if she could be more than a friend to him. Good vibes abound until Ethan’s newest band mate, temporary lead guitarist Derek Hanson, gets into a tussle with a man at a bar the whole crew is visiting. Though Kathleen doesn’t condone violence, the man in question, businessman Lewis Wallace, seems to have had it coming to him after kicking a veteran’s service dog. Kathleen doesn’t know much about Wallace, and what she hears isn’t good, but rumors that follow the skirmish suggest he’s come to town to turn over a new leaf. After the incident with Derek, Kathleen, a born animal lover, doesn’t find Wallace sympathetic until she stumbles on his dead body. Kathleen’s boyfriend, town detective Marcus Gordon, is fairly certain that Wallace has been murdered, but it’s hard to know who had a motive besides Derek. In an effort to clear the guitarist, Kathleen tries to figure out who else had reason to do Wallace harm. Variously supported by her two magical cats, Owen and Hercules (The Cats Came Back, 2018, etc.), Kathleen uses her research skills and social networks to suss out the truth.
Kelly’s cats are magical, but not magical enough to distinguish them from a clowder of kitty cozies.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-440-00113-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2019
© 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.
