An interesting premise that falls flat when the detective fails to impress, though the villain is diabolical.
In McGeorge’s debut thriller, a celebrity detective wakes up handcuffed to a bed in a locked room—and there’s a body in the bathroom.
Ever since there have been fictional detectives, there have been locked-room mysteries, those seemingly impossible puzzles that hinge not only on whodunit, but how. McGeorge begins by presenting just such a problem to both the reader and the main character, Morgan Sheppard, who has grown rich and successful off “solving” the problems of others, mostly involving cheating spouses and other tawdry concerns. He is a drug addict and an alcoholic; in short, his life is a complete mess. So when he awakens in a room at the Great Hotel in London and finds five strangers locked in with him, they all assume at first that it must be a publicity stunt. Then Sheppard discovers the body of his former therapist in the bathtub and is challenged by a man in a mask to solve the murder before the entire hotel explodes. The novel offers some flashbacks to Sheppard’s youth and early career to help us understand how he became the mess that he is, but it mostly focuses on the problem at hand: How will Sheppard get everyone out of the locked room and figure out who killed Dr. Winter? The answer to the mystery lies buried in his past, so he will have to face up to some of his unsavory choices in order to escape with his life. The main problem with the novel is the character of Sheppard himself. Traditionally, the locked room mystery depends on the superior ratiocination of a Hercule Poirot or a Sherlock Holmes—not a self-destructive and bitter attention-seeker. It’s hard to get too worked up about either Sheppard’s fate or his opportunity for redemption.
An interesting premise that falls flat when the detective fails to impress, though the villain is diabolical.Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-488-09868-0
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
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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