Months after the storm at sea in which Captain Josiah Markham perished, H.M.S. Adventure returns to England. Aboard her—among 150 rowdy seamen—are Tom Durham, stepson of Bow Street Court Magistrate Sir John Fielding, and acting captain Lt. James Hartsell, bursting with an accusation quite recently lodged: That he saw Lt. William Landon push Capt. Markham overboard. Drawn into the case by his interest in Tom, a former criminal remitted two years ago to the Adventure, and by the entreaties of his old friend Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Redmond, Landon's uncle, for his expertise in examining witnesses, blind Sir John (Murder in Grub Street, 1995, etc.) finds himself outside his jurisdiction and his authority. The harder he works to vindicate dispirited Landon, the more Sir Robert seems to set his face against the accused. The search for witnesses who can refute Hartsell's story takes Jeremy Proctor, Sir John's boy Friday, from ship to shore, through eye-opening conversations with lascars and bawds and Black Jack Bilbo's surprisingly delicate lecture on the facts of life. But the story runs out of steam and surprises long before the end, leaving only those two old lions Sir Robert and Sir John to settle their differences. Period buffs may savor Alexander's 1769 take on A Few Good Men. Even fans of Sir John, however, will probably judge his third outing his weakest.
Pub Date: Sept. 24, 1996
ISBN: 0-399-14155-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1996
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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