A convoluted tale of love and murder set in a turbulent period when death and betrayal lurk around every corner.
Those who meddle in the affairs of kings live to regret it.
But sometimes they have little choice. Mistress Kate Clifford has already faced danger (A Twisted Vengeance, 2017, etc.) in Henry IV’s victory over his cousin Richard II, who's been imprisoned. She finds it difficult to refuse when Lady Margery Kirkby begs her to hide her in her guesthouse in York, if only for a night. Lady Margery’s husband, who’d been trying to broker a peaceful settlement between the cousins, was killed by a mob in Cirencester, and she barely escaped with her life. Kate’s overcome a difficult marriage and the deaths of most of her family to thrive financially in York, where she’s raising a niece and her late husband’s two bastard children. Her mother’s also living in York, where she keeps a house for women who are devoted but not pledged as nuns. But Kate's confidant and servant, Berend, has left without a word, and she’s not sure that she can trust Sir Elric, a knight who keeps watch over York for his lord, the Earl of Westmoreland. The king has ordered a search for Lady Margery. Kate’s still keeping secrets from Elric, who swears he’ll defend her and Berend, who has reappeared. Protected by her wolfhounds and her considerable skill with ax and knife, Kate travels the town, using her many sources to learn more, especially after a man is murdered and Berend is suspected. In a world filled with deceit, Kate must tread a cautious path as she seeks the killer in order to clear Berend, who plans to escort Lady Margery to safety. Although Kate and Elric have both been burned by Kate’s lack of trust, they still love each other, and she must depend on him and the men he commands to help her.
A convoluted tale of love and murder set in a turbulent period when death and betrayal lurk around every corner.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68177-862-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Pegasus Crime
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
A twisty slow burner by an author at the top of her game.
A timely novel set in the furthest reaches of Australia by the author of The Dry (2017) and Force of Nature (2018).
The three Bright brothers are the overseers of 3,500 square kilometers of land in Queensland, with hours between each of their homes. It’s a vast, unforgiving environment, and no one ever goes far without a full complement of supplies. When 40-year-old Cameron sets out on his own, ostensibly to fix a repeater mast, he never comes home. His body is eventually spotted, via helicopter, curled up by the stockman’s grave, the source of plentiful, and persistent, local ghost stories. Cam’s older brother, Nathan, and their baby brother, Bub, are as perplexed as the cop who’s come all the way from Brisbane to investigate. What was Cam doing by the grave, and what was his Land Cruiser doing nine kilometers away, still fully stocked with supplies, with the keys left neatly on the front seat? The Brights' mother, Liz, is devastated, and Cam has also left behind his wife, Ilse, and two young daughters, Sophie and Lo. They’re pragmatic folks, though, and there’s a funeral to be planned, plus Christmas is just around the corner. Everyone seems to assume that Cam took his own life, but Nathan isn’t so sure, and there’s a strange dynamic in Cam's home that he can’t put his finger on. Cam had been acting strangely in the weeks before his death, too. But Nathan’s got his own problems. He’s eager to reconnect with his teenage son, Xander, who's visiting from Brisbane, and he has a complicated history with Ilse. In the days leading up to the funeral, family secrets begin to surface, and Nathan realizes he never really knew his brother at all. Harper’s masterful narrative places readers right in the middle of a desolate landscape that’s almost as alien as the moon’s surface, where the effects of long-term isolation are always a concern. The mystery of Cam’s death is at the dark heart of an unfolding family drama that will leave readers reeling, and the final reveal is a heartbreaker.
A twisty slow burner by an author at the top of her game.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-10568-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
Let’s hope Rowling’s next book is sharper and shorter.
J.K. Rowling returns with her fourth pseudonymous mystery, putting Cormoran Strike and his now–partner in detecting, Robin Ellacott, in the middle of a scheme involving blackmail, murder, and the House of Commons.
Fans have had to wait three years for the latest Galbraith (Career of Evil, 2015, etc.) novel, but the book picks up exactly where the last installment left off, with Strike arriving late to Robin’s wedding, just after she says “I do” to her odious fiance, Matthew. Strike had recently fired Robin from her job at his private detective agency, worried about her safety after a serial killer tried to make her his next victim, and Robin is more concerned with whether he’s going to hire her back than about making sure the wedding guests are enjoying themselves. Not-really-spoiler-alert: He is. Flash-forward a year, and the agency is prospering when a mentally ill man named Billy shows up with a half-coherent story about having witnessed something terrible when he was a child: “I seen a kid killed…strangled.” Soon after, Jasper Chiswell (pronounced “Chizzle,” in the obscure way of the English upper class), the Minister for Culture, hires Strike to find dirt on two people he says are blackmailing him: Geraint Winn, whose wife is another government minister, and Jimmy Knight, who, not coincidentally, is the brother of Billy, whose story Strike had been looking into. Robin goes undercover in Chiswell’s office, where we meet a variety of the minister’s colleagues, friends, and family members. Rowling keeps many balls up in the air—perhaps too many considering the dead body that gets the book off the ground doesn’t show up until Page 281. There are still another 366 pages to go, and much of that length is a slog. Robin, who can be a great character, spends way too much time wondering what to do about her personal life—for the fourth book in a row. The mystery itself is complex, which is good, verging on convoluted, which is not. There are pleasures to be had, as in Rowling’s jokes on her uber-posh characters: “ ‘Steady on, old chap,’ said [Chiswell’s son-in-law], something that Robin had never thought to hear outside a book.” But there’s way too much filler in between.
Let’s hope Rowling’s next book is sharper and shorter.Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-316-42273-4
Page Count: 650
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 16, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2018
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