An engaging family tale with a strong cast.
A life-changing revelation finds an amateur sleuth juggling another mystery and her strained marriage as she embarks on a search for her biological father.
Dietz’s third book, a sequel to her series debut, The Flapper, the Scientist and the Saboteur (2016)—her second work was a prequel featuring the flapper character—picks up at the funeral of Kathleen McPherson. The adopted Beth Armstrong believed this “redoubtable” woman was her aunt only to learn she was actually her mother. “My aunt’s my mom and my mom’s my aunt and they’re both dead,” Armstrong laments, and she becomes consumed with finding out “who in the world is my father.” Other mysteries immediately present themselves: Is she being stalked by the driver of a beat-up old truck? Who was the unannounced woman playing saxophone at Kathleen’s funeral? Armstrong’s husband, Harold, can be forgiven for feeling let down when he discerns her true agenda after she suggests the pair take an impromptu Caribbean vacation on St. Thomas. “I thought we were off to recapture the romance in our marriage,” he tells her. “Instead we’re off on a mystery hunt for some guy who’s probably long dead.” Romance definitely takes a back seat when, in their hotel bar, Armstrong notices a picture of the saxophone player. “There’s a connection,” she insists. “When does this vacation actually start?” Harold responds. The loss of the unflappable Kathleen robs Dietz of her most intriguing character, but she introduces several vividly drawn stand-ins, including Gnat, an “exceptional child,” and Missus Abu, who “knows everyone and everything—quite a good friend to have.” There are tense scenes, such as an early encounter with a street thief, but it is the personal stakes rather than the mystery that will hold readers’ interest. The stage is skillfully set for more “wild stories.”
An engaging family tale with a strong cast.Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-945212-55-0
Page Count: 246
Publisher: Quill Mark Press
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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