The 12th case for the irrepressible Laotian coroner (I Shot the Buddha, 2016, etc.) has a rambling plot but crackles with...
Cotterill’s curmudgeonly coroner visits the Moscow Olympics, uncovering diverse dastardly deeds.
Though subversive Dr. Siri has left his post as Laotian national coroner, his interest in politics and the world at large remains acute. Because of the international boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Laos has a rare opportunity to send athletes to the games for the first time. Siri uses deliciously underhanded means to accompany the Laotian athletes as team doctor. A starchy retired bureaucrat named Civilai heads up their delegation. When she hears of the trip, blunt nurse Dtui, Siri’s former sidekick at the coroner’s office, insists on joining this adventure over the objections of her husband, Inspector Phosy, and the needs of their young child. Add Siri’s high-maintenance wife, Madame Daeng, and the adventure is sure to be eventful. Keeping the unsophisticated athletes focused, a job that’s like herding cats, gets even more complicated when Civilai receives a call from home letting him know that an as-yet-unnamed member of the team is actually an assassin. The group decides to keep a watchful eye on their charges, which turns out to be a poor decision, as evidence piles up and disaster seems imminent. While Phosy investigates back in Laos, Siri visits the assassin’s reported target. For their part, Madame Daeng and Dtui seem more interested in ogling the athletes than helping with the probe.
The 12th case for the irrepressible Laotian coroner (I Shot the Buddha, 2016, etc.) has a rambling plot but crackles with humor and overflows with eccentric characters. Droll chapter titles add an extra soupcon of mirth.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-61695-825-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Soho Crime
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.
In Archie Goodwin's 15th adventure since the death of his creator, Rex Stout, his gossipy Aunt Edna Wainwright lures him from 34th Street to his carefully unnamed hometown in Ohio to investigate the death of a well-hated bank president.
Tom Blankenship, the local police chief, thinks there’s no case since Logan Mulgrew shot himself. But Archie’s mother, Marjorie Goodwin, and Aunt Edna know lots of people with reason to have killed him. Mulgrew drove rival banker Charles Purcell out of business, forcing Purcell to get work as an auto mechanic, and foreclosed on dairy farmer Harold Mapes’ spread. Lester Newman is convinced that Mulgrew murdered his ailing wife, Lester’s sister, so that he could romance her nurse, Carrie Yeager. And Donna Newman, Lester’s granddaughter, might have had an eye on her great-uncle’s substantial estate. Nor is Archie limited to mulling over his relatives’ gossip, for Trumpet reporter Verna Kay Padgett, whose apartment window was shot out the night her column raised questions about the alleged suicide, is perfectly willing to publish a floridly actionable summary of the leading suspects that delights her editor, shocks Archie, and infuriates everyone else. The one person missing is Archie’s boss, Nero Wolfe (Death of an Art Collector, 2019, etc.), and fans will breathe a sigh of relief when he appears at Marjorie’s door, debriefs Archie, notices a telltale clue, prepares dinner for everyone, sleeps on his discovery, and arranges a meeting of all parties in Marjorie’s living room in which he names the killer.
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5040-5988-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
You can’t help but chuckle over all the disasters, but in the end the heroine catches her prey.
An Arizona accountant with a penchant for solving murders lands a fishy case.
Sophie "Phee" Kimball might lead a dull life if it weren’t for her mother, Harriet Plunkett, and Harriet’s neurotic Chiweenie, Streetman. As it is, Harriet lives near her daughter in Sun City West and has a wide circle of zany friends who’ve helped Phee solve several mysteries (Molded 4 Murder, 2019, etc.) while she’s been working for Williams Investigations along with her boyfriend, Marshall, a former police officer. While Phee’s visiting Harriet one day, Streetman dashes over to the neighbors’ barbecue grill and unearths a dead body under a tarp. As usual, the overwhelmed local police ask Williams Investigations to help—er, consult. Harriet’s main concern is getting costumes made for the reluctant Streetman, whom she’s entered in a series of contests starting with Halloween and progressing through Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hannukah, and St. Patrick’s Day. One of her friends is an accomplished seamstress who goes all out making gorgeous costumes that will beat an obnoxious lady who looks down on mutts. The dead man is identified as Cameron Tully, a seafood distributor, who was poisoned by the locally ubiquitous sago pine. At the first dog contest, Elaine Meschow has to be rushed to the hospital after she gets a dose of the same thing. The owner of a gourmet dog food company, Elaine is lucky enough to recover. After Streetman takes second place, Harriet’s team redoubles its efforts for the next contest while Phee and Marshall, who are moving into a new place together, continue to hunt for clues. A restaurant holdup and a scheme to use empty houses for hookups for high school kids add to the confusion.
You can’t help but chuckle over all the disasters, but in the end the heroine catches her prey.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2455-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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