As usual in this gently humorous series, Crider pads out the slight mystery with enough anecdotes, updates, and digressions...
A Christmas Carol comes to Blacklin County, Texas, in the form of a production that leaves Sheriff Dan Rhodes (Survivors Will Be Shot Again, 2016, etc.) wondering just who made Jake Marley a ghost.
For some years now, it’s taken quite a bit to coax reclusive oil heir Jake Marley out of his shell. But he’s made an unexpected splash in spearheading the restoration of the Clearview Opera House, which is scheduled to reopen with a production of A Christmas Carol scripted by local community college professor Harry Harris. Unfortunately, Jake’s made a splash in the worst way possible: by dying onstage during the theater's renovation—maybe by falling from the catwalk, maybe by more nefarious means. There’s no shortage of suspects, since Jake’s recently written will specifies that if his money is going to keep paying for the renovation, all the major roles in this production of Dickens' hardy perennial be taken by people with a close connection to Jake's sister, Gwendolyn, who was killed many years ago in a car crash. From beyond the grave, Jake decrees that Gwen’s best friend, insurance agent Glenda Tallent, play the Ghost of Christmas Present and that her high school swains Ed Hopkins, Al Graham, and Ron Gleason fill out the roles of Ebenezer Scrooge and the two remaining ghosts—even though most of the parties concerned scoff at the prospect of treading the boards. It’s up to Sheriff Rhodes to take enough time from Blacklin County’s all-you-can-eat buffet of low crimes and misdemeanors, idle gossip, and dumb behavior that doesn’t rise to a criminal level to figure out who arranged for the ghost of Jacob Marley to be played by the ghost of Jake Marley.
As usual in this gently humorous series, Crider pads out the slight mystery with enough anecdotes, updates, and digressions to make fans feel as if they’ve scarcely been away since Survivors Will Be Shot Again (2016).Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-07853-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Review Posted Online: May 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
More of a western than a mystery, like most of Joe’s adventures, and all the better for the open physical clashes that...
Wyoming Game and Fish Warden Joe Pickett (Free Fire, 2007, etc.), once again at the governor’s behest, stalks the wraithlike figure who’s targeting elk hunters for death.
Frank Urman was taken down by a single rifle shot, field-dressed, beheaded and hung upside-down to bleed out. (You won’t believe where his head eventually turns up.) The poker chip found near his body confirms that he’s the third victim of the Wolverine, a killer whose animus against hunters is evidently being whipped up by anti-hunting activist Klamath Moore. The potential effects on the state’s hunting revenues are so calamitous that Governor Spencer Rulon pulls out all the stops, and Pickett is forced to work directly with Wyoming Game and Fish Director Randy Pope, the boss who fired him from his regular job in Saddlestring District. Three more victims will die in rapid succession before Joe is given a more congenial colleague: Nate Romanowski, the outlaw falconer who pledged to protect Joe’s family before he was taken into federal custody. As usual in this acclaimed series, the mystery is slight and its solution eminently guessable long before it’s confirmed by testimony from an unlikely source. But the people and scenes and enduring conflicts that lead up to that solution will stick with you for a long time.
More of a western than a mystery, like most of Joe’s adventures, and all the better for the open physical clashes that periodically release the tension between the scheming adversaries.Pub Date: May 20, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-15488-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2008
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
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