Packed with colorful characters and a strong sense of history, Pliny's second adventure (Roman Games, 2010) takes its time...
Far from Rome, mass murder complicates a provincial governor's fight against local corruption.
In A.D. 108, Gaius Plinius Secundus ventures east with his young wife, Calpurnia, and an entourage to the province of Bithynia-Pontus, on the Black Sea, where resentment against the empire runs high. Newly appointed as governor, Pliny's feted at the home of Marcus Vibius Balbus, the Fiscal Procurator of the province, and senses unrest there. His instinct proves correct when Balbus goes missing, as does his chief accountant, Silvanus. Nearly two weeks later, Balbus' partially decomposed body is found in a deep gully, transforming Silvanus into the prime suspect in his murder. Embezzlement of some kind is suspected of either or both of the men. Although the locals are inclined to blame everything on the infidel Persians, Pliny is neither so gullible nor so bigoted as to adopt this view. Pancrates, a slick, fraudulent fortuneteller who seems to exert a Rasputin-like control over several powerful locals, becomes a key figure in Pliny's investigation. So do the unctuous orator known as Diocles the Golden Mouth, who seems to pop up around every crime scene, and Glaucon, a hotheaded magnate who used to be a wrestler. On the personal front, Pliny struggles to deal with marital incompatibility; Calpurnia, who is prone to spontaneous outbursts, would rather play with her maid Ione than her husband.
Packed with colorful characters and a strong sense of history, Pliny's second adventure (Roman Games, 2010) takes its time developing its whodunit but consistently entertains along the way.Pub Date: March 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4642-0108-0
Page Count: 282
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2013
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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