Plenty of interesting characters add zest to a tale of murder and romantic pitfalls.
A professional writer has an unfortunate propensity to get involved in murder.
Veronica Blackstone has just finished her second detective novel following the modest success of her first, but she can’t live on the proceeds. To supplement her income, she runs a weekly writers group and also hires herself out to write everything from love notes to descriptions of ice cream flavors. She hopes that an upcoming interview with Maeve Winslow, who’s looking for help writing her memoir, may lead to a rewarding partnership. When she shows up at Maeve’s house for her first appointment, though, the door is opened by a rude woman who tells her Maeve isn’t home. Meanwhile, Veronica continues her low-key romance with Ben, her downstairs neighbor’s police officer brother and a member of the writers group. But when Ben leaves a meeting without having read his work and then tells Veronica he “can't do this anymore,” with no explanation, she’s crushed. When she finally meets Maeve, she learns that her client is an art teacher who’s married to a painter whose pictures of his childhood Scottie have become wildly popular, having been touted by an influencer who’s selling T-shirts and posters of the artworks. Maeve eventually hands Veronica a pile of papers and a diary and explains that she’s been secretive so far in order to keep the book a surprise from her nosy neighbors. By now, Veronica has everything she needs to complete the memoir except the ending, which Maeve tells her she may figure out for herself. When she finds Maeve dead after a supposedly accidental fall, she suspects that Maeve may have been marked for murder.
Plenty of interesting characters add zest to a tale of murder and romantic pitfalls.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-7278-5093-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.
A 16-year-old savant uses his Groundhog Day gift to solve his grandfather’s murder.
Nishizawa’s compulsively readable puzzle opens with the discovery of the victim, patriarch Reijiro Fuchigami, sprawled on a futon in the attic of his elegant mansion, where his family has gathered for a consequential announcement about his estate. The weapon seems to be a copper vase lying nearby. Given this setup, the novel might have proceeded as a traditional whodunit but for two delightful features. The first is the ebullient narration of Fuchigami’s youngest grandson, Hisataro, thrust into the role of an investigator with more dedication than finesse. The second is Nishizawa’s clever premise: The 16-year-old Hisataro has lived ever since birth with a condition that occasionally has him falling into a time loop that he calls "the Trap," replaying the same 24 hours of his life exactly nine times before moving on. And, of course, the murder takes place on the first day of one of these loops. Can he solve the murder before the cycle is played out? His initial strategies—never leaving his grandfather’s side, focusing on specific suspects, hiding in order to observe them all—fall frustratingly short. Hisataro’s comical anxiety rises with every failed attempt to identify the culprit. It’s only when he steps back and examines all the evidence that he discovers the solution. First published in 1995, this is the first of Nishizawa’s novels to be translated into English. As for Hisataro, he ultimately concludes that his condition is not a burden but a gift: “Time’s spiral never ends.”
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781805335436
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.
Four residents of Coopers Chase, a British retirement village, compete with the police to solve a murder in this debut novel.
The Thursday Murder Club started out with a group of septuagenarians working on old murder cases culled from the files of club founder Elizabeth Best’s friend Penny Gray, a former police officer who's now comatose in the village's nursing home. Elizabeth used to have an unspecified job, possibly as a spy, that has left her with a large network of helpful sources. Joyce Meadowcroft is a former nurse who chronicles their deeds. Psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif and well-known political firebrand Ron Ritchie complete the group. They charm Police Constable Donna De Freitas, who, visiting to give a talk on safety at Coopers Chase, finds the residents sharp as tacks. Built with drug money on the grounds of a convent, Coopers Chase is a high-end development conceived by loathsome Ian Ventham and maintained by dangerous crook Tony Curran, who’s about to be fired and replaced with wary but willing Bogdan Jankowski. Ventham has big plans for the future—as soon as he’s removed the nuns' bodies from the cemetery. When Curran is murdered, DCI Chris Hudson gets the case, but Elizabeth uses her influence to get the ambitious De Freitas included, giving the Thursday Club a police source. What follows is a fascinating primer in detection as British TV personality Osman allows the members to use their diverse skills to solve a series of interconnected crimes.
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-98-488096-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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