An entertaining, witty, and well-plotted murder tale.
In this mystery series sequel, an American teenager in London deals with bombings, grudges, die-hard footballers, rock star has-beens, and more.
Izzy Brown, along with her mega-tall, slightly autistic, and less than enthusiastic sidekick, Elton Jones-Davies, is drawn into a cold case. Davy Taylor, an ex-rocker, was killed when his pub, the Red Lion, was blown sky-high back in 1989. In Izzy’s view, suspects are thick on the ground: Irishman Paddy Madigan, who had ties to the Irish Republican Army (Davy was a Protestant and rabid Unionist); Davy’s brother, Brian (the two had very public brawls); Harry Lane, a budding soccer superstar—and a Roman Catholic—in love back then with Davy’s daughter; rich developer Rupert Birdwhistle; and the list, as they say, goes on and on. Suspects are eliminated only to become suspects again. Motives are many; secrets abound. Izzy and Elton get in many tight spots, but she has a gift for the glib lie and the quick distraction. And she does a wicked Philip Marlowe (“I offered him my hand to shake like I’d just sold him a used car”). Along the way, readers find out how most of the suspects are related through blood or old friendships (or enmities). And that not just Davy’s son, but also his daughter work at Izzy and Elton’s posh school, St. Beckham’s, he a teacher and she a counselor. A tangled web indeed, one that Izzy hopes to slash through. Gibbs is a clever and engaging writer, and he has hit gold with gutsy Izzy and her partner, Elton. There is a strong tradition of teen sleuths, but Izzy is no Nancy Drew. Or perhaps she is a Nancy Drew for this less genteel and innocent age. In this well-crafted mystery, Izzy is a fully developed character, more than aware of her many flaws but determined to work on them despite setbacks. The story’s last line clearly promises a third volume in the series, and readers will look forward to it.
An entertaining, witty, and well-plotted murder tale.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2022
ISBN: 979-8-9856757-1-9
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Borne Back Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A satisfying thriller that will warm the hearts of fans who already take comfort in hating the forces of evil.
Lt. Eve Dallas’ 63rd futuristic case is less a whodunit than a manhunt for an unusually sympathetic killer.
Thirteen years ago, way back in 2048, scientific genius Steve Redman—father of the Banner-Wyst corporation’s Rainmaker Project—narrowly escaped death in a gas explosion that killed his pregnant wife and infant son and 200 other residents of their New York City apartment building the night before he planned to report his suspicions about the company to the FBI. Now the bill is coming due for Banner-Wyst. The first death to be discovered is that of Lawrence Chu, Redman’s colleague and trusted friend, whose tenure as director of bioengineering science ends when he’s beaten to death. For quite a while, Dallas and her partner, Det. Delia Peabody, know less about this mystery than their readers do. But when Ezra Dent, a consultant to Banner-Wyst who worked with Redman and Chu back in the day, is murdered in exactly the same ferocious way, Dallas and Peabody, with help from Roarke, Dallas’ tech-billionaire husband, promptly put the pieces together and determine who they’re looking for. The search for Redman, who went AWOL from his hospital bed without a trace six years ago, has its own challenges. So does Dallas’ attempt to get cooperation from partners Calvin Banner and Jacob Wyst, who are clearly in the crosshairs of a killer who seems a lot less monstrous than they are. If the breaks in the case are suspiciously convenient in arriving, readers can pride themselves on taking sides against a mega-corporation whose self-avowed ecological saintliness is undermined by its leaders’ underhanded dealing.
A satisfying thriller that will warm the hearts of fans who already take comfort in hating the forces of evil.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9781250414564
Page Count: 368
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
The delightful debut of a classic, prolific detective.
It takes a quirky sleuth to solve a baffling closed-door murder.
The author himself or, more accurately, some version of him, walks the reader through a “gruesome murder” that occurred in a rural farming village. At the center of the crime is the wealthy Ichiyanagi family, including the widow Itoko and her five children. The “heinous crime” occurs in the evening after the festive wedding of eldest son Kenzo to schoolteacher Katsuko. Yokomizo, part narrator and part raconteur, liberally shares digressions such as the fact that his favorite British author is A.A. Milne, who wrote The Red House Mystery as well as the books about Winnie-the-Pooh. Written in 1946 but set in 1937 before the devastation of World War II, this is the first novel featuring Kosuke Kindaichi, the legendary detective who appeared in more than 70 stories by Yokomizo. If Yokomizo is the Japanese Agatha Christie, Kindaichi may seem the Japanese Hercule Poirot—although actually, given his unkempt hair and apparently distracted manner, he’s more a cross between Poirot and Columbo. Shrewdly, his entrance is delayed until midway through the novel, after the police have stalled and both the family and the reader are anxious for a solution. The narrator’s garrulous charm, in a mystery long on logistics and forensic clues but short on detailed character portraits or extended interactions, is a key to the novel’s success, leavening the more intricate pieces of the puzzle. Armchair detectives will welcome the helpful character list that precedes the story.
The delightful debut of a classic, prolific detective.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9781805336549
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
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