The first volume in a trilogy by noir master Lucarelli (Almost Blue, 2001, etc.) is a smart and stylish crime yarn.
Duplicitous women and political cross-currents challenge a seasoned police detective.
Italy, 1945. A volley of grenades disrupts both the funeral of a controversial figure named Tornago and the first case of Commissario De Luca, who has just moved over from the Political Police to the regular Milan force. De Luca’s victim is Rehinard Vittorio, a prominent member of the Fascist Republican Party murdered at home. De Luca learns how futile it is to try to avoid politics when his Chief instructs him to catch the killer, whoever it is. “Even if he’s a German?” De Luca asks. “Of course, a German, no,” the Chief replies. “But that is obvious.” Such irony and duplicity run throughout De Luca’s probe. Tenacious cop Maresciallo Pugliese, inquisitive and thick-skinned, proves an apt foil. Since the murder weapon was a paper knife, De Luca shrewdly theorizes that the killer was a woman and the crime one of passion. Indeed, a handful of fiery woman are the likeliest suspects. Sonia Tedesco, the nymphet daughter of Vittorio’s best friend, flirts with De Luca even as she halfheartedly denies an intimate relationship with the murdered man. And De Luca gets dangerously close to a seductive clairvoyant named Valeria Suvich at the possible expense of his career.
The first volume in a trilogy by noir master Lucarelli (Almost Blue, 2001, etc.) is a smart and stylish crime yarn.Pub Date: July 15, 2006
ISBN: 1-933372-15-X
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2006
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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