Fraser showcases a delightful heroine whose own life, along with the lives of her friends and family, is consistently more...
A biographer inherits an interesting challenge that may have led to murder.
Though she’s best known as a biographer, Rona Parish also writes human interest stories for the local magazine, Chiltern Life, and she wants to make the magazine's cookery specialist, Nicole Summers, the final entry in a series on successful single mothers. During their first interview, she finds Nicole very organized and rather cold; on arriving for their second interview, she finds her dead. Rona’s artist husband, Max, and her twin sister, Lindsey, a lawyer with a string of broken romances, aren’t surprised, since Rona’s already walked into way too many murder cases (A Question of Identity, 2012, etc.). Meanwhile, Rona’s agreed to write the biography of TV presenter Gideon Ward, whose hard-charging interviews made him famous. Established biographer Russell Page was well into the project when he was killed in a car crash, and his publisher’s asked Rona to complete the job. As she sorts through the masses of papers, DVDs, and memory sticks provided by Page’s widow, she comes upon some connections that give her pause. Separate from the other material is a tape of an apparently innocuous interview with Australian Bruce Sedgwick, who inherited a chain of hotels from an uncle with the proviso that he live in England. Bruce is the employer of Patrick Summers, Nicole’s ex-husband and the prime suspect in her murder. After talking to more people who knew Page, Rona realizes that he had a more than ordinary interest in Sedgwick and wonders whether his car accident was really an accident. As she deals with her sister’s new romance, her best friend’s pregnancy, and her parents’ divorce and remarriages, Rona becomes ever more fascinated with the potentially dangerous connections between Sedgwick and other people in her life.
Fraser showcases a delightful heroine whose own life, along with the lives of her friends and family, is consistently more interesting than the circuitous murder cases she is asked to solve.Pub Date: March 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7278-8670-5
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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
© Copyright 2024 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.
bookshelf
