by Charles Finch ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 19, 2019
The second prequel to Finch’s Victorian series (The Woman in the Water, 2018, etc.), rich in period minutiae, unveils the...
An aspiring private detective takes a case that could make or break his reputation.
London, 1853. Upper-class sleuth Charles Lenox is called to Dorset House by the duke’s private secretary, who reminds Lenox that absolute discretion will be required. The 15th Duke of Dorset, one of the most powerful noblemen in Great Britain, wants to know who stole a painting of his ancestor from his study, though he cares little about the actual painting. Lenox notices that one of the paintings still left on the wall is totally unlike all the other portraits: It’s much smaller, with a more humble subject. Only three people—one of them being Queen Victoria—know it’s the only existing oil portrait painted from life of William Shakespeare. The duke says this unbelievably valuable painting was the thief’s real target. To help him locate the missing painting, Lenox enlists the services of Thaddeus Bonden, a man who has a reputation for being able to find anything. When the duke is apparently kidnapped, Lenox deduces that Dorset faked the kidnapping to set a trap for the thief. Dorset, whose arrogance knows no bounds, is furious to be found out and insults Lenox in front of their peers at their exclusive club, White’s, badly damaging the younger man's reputation. Soon thereafter Lenox forces Dorset, who still needs his services, to call upon him and tell him the truth. Dorset agrees to show Lenox papers about a mysterious treasure that can supposedly be located by following clues hidden in the Shakespeare portrait. Before they can succeed, however, the duke is arrested and taken to the Tower of London for killing his longtime manservant, Craig, who was attempting to steal the Shakespeare portrait. Fortunately, his imprisonment does nothing to slow their plans down, for the duke is treated more as an honored guest than a felon. When Bonden discovers the whereabouts of the missing painting of Dorset’s ancestor, its surprising location helps Lenox puzzle out the shocking truth.
The second prequel to Finch’s Victorian series (The Woman in the Water, 2018, etc.), rich in period minutiae, unveils the frightening power of the uppermost classes.Pub Date: Feb. 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-31136-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
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by J.A. Jance ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 2, 2019
Proficient but eminently predictable. Amid all the time shifts and embedded backstories, the most surprising feature is how...
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A convicted killer’s list of five people he wants dead runs the gamut from the wife he’s already had murdered to franchise heroine Ali Reynolds.
Back in the day, women came from all over to consult Santa Clarita fertility specialist Dr. Edward Gilchrist. Many of them left his care happily pregnant, never dreaming that the father of the babies they carried was none other than the physician himself, who donated his own sperm rather than that of the handsome, athletic, disease-free men pictured in his scrapbook. When Alexandra Munsey’s son, Evan, is laid low by the kidney disease he’s inherited from his biological father and she returns to Gilchrist in search of the donor’s medical records, the roof begins to fall in on him. By the time it’s done falling, he’s serving a life sentence in Folsom Prison for commissioning the death of his wife, Dawn, the former nurse and sometime egg donor who’d turned on him. With nothing left to lose, Gilchrist tattoos himself with the initials of five people he blames for his fall: Dawn; Leo Manuel Aurelio, the hit man he’d hired to dispose of her; Kaitlyn Todd, the nurse/receptionist who took Dawn’s place; Alex Munsey, whose search for records upset his apple cart; and Ali Reynolds, the TV reporter who’d helped put Alex in touch with the dozen other women who formed the Progeny Project because their children looked just like hers. No matter that Ali’s been out of both California and the news business for years; Gilchrist and his enablers know that revenge can’t possibly be served too cold. Wonder how far down that list they’ll get before Ali, aided once more by Frigg, the methodical but loose-cannon AI first introduced in Duel to the Death (2018), turns on them?
Proficient but eminently predictable. Amid all the time shifts and embedded backstories, the most surprising feature is how little the boundary-challenged AI, who gets into the case more or less inadvertently, differs from your standard human sidekick with issues.Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5011-5101-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Feb. 18, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
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by J.A. Jance
by Lorna Barrett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2019
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
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