by Cori Lynn Arnold ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 18, 2013
Covers the bases of a murder mystery, but the characters and relationships are what stand out.
Poisonings rock Rochester, N.Y., and bungled evidence threatens to set a killer free in Arnold’s (Frigid Deceit, 2012) second thriller featuring detectives Louis Baker and Robert Hicks.
Louis and her partner, Hicks, are investigating a case of bodies found with “high fevers,” and drugs as a potential murderous weapon has them paying special attention to an apparent survivor: Charles Mahoney, a pharmaceutical manufacturer whose wife has died. Louis’ friend Assistant District Attorney Kristine Rocha, meanwhile, tries to keep a rapist/murderer behind bars while coming to terms with her sister Kelly’s car accident and the possibility that she may have to care for Kelly’s 10-year-old son, Bryan. Arnold’s novel is two distinct stories in one: the detectives’ investigation and Kristine’s re-examination of a case in her new role, at least temporarily, as mother to her nephew. The stories sometimes coalesce, though most connections are superficial, as when Bryan is looked after by Louis’ and Kristine’s friend Cece and Louis’ co-worker Aria. But the author scores on both counts: the murder plot deepens as the story progresses, adding adultery and art forgery to the mix; and though Kristine’s searching for solid evidence to cover some botched DNA results is less intriguing, her family life is dramatically engaging, particularly her strained relationship with her overbearing mother. Louis and Hicks are resounding lead characters who complement one another; neither is noticeably smarter or more observant than the other, and their frequent lighthearted banter never seems insensitive, even when they both mock an insurance adjuster while standing in proximity to a dead body. References to earlier cases or incidents, such as Hicks’ joking about Louis’ alleged infatuation with an accountant from a prior collaboration, fortunately don’t saddle the plot with unnecessary back story for unrelated events, although exposition might have helped on occasion. For instance, Louis’ shoulder constantly aches, and she even “screams in pain” at a nightclub before it’s explained much later that she was injured in the line of duty. Though the investigation boasts plenty of suspense, Kristine also endures some intense moments—as when her GPS directs her the wrong way—and, not to be outdone, Louis shares in the drama with her troubled marriage.
Covers the bases of a murder mystery, but the characters and relationships are what stand out.Pub Date: May 18, 2013
ISBN: 978-1484978917
Page Count: 316
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kathy Reichs ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 17, 2020
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.
Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.
A week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice (The Bone Collection, 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. government project to research biological agents that could control human behavior, the hinky spiritual retreat Sparkling Waters, the dark web site DeepUnder, and the disappearances of at least four schoolchildren, two of whom have also turned up dead. And why on earth was Vodyanov carrying Tempe’s own contact information? The mounting evidence of ever more and ever worse skulduggery will pull Tempe deeper and deeper down what even she sees as a rabbit hole before she confronts a ringleader implicated in “Drugs. Fraud. Breaking and entering. Arson. Kidnapping. How does attempted murder sound?”
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-3888-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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by C.J. Box ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 28, 2015
A suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be...
Box takes another break from his highly successful Joe Pickett series (Stone Cold, 2014, etc.) for a stand-alone about a police detective, a developmentally delayed boy, and a package everyone in North Dakota wants to grab.
Cassandra Dewell can’t leave Montana’s Lewis and Clark County fast enough for her new job as chief investigator for Jon Kirkbride, sheriff of Bakken County. She leaves behind no memories worth keeping: her husband is dead, her boss has made no bones about disliking her, and she’s looking forward to new responsibilities and the higher salary underwritten by North Dakota’s sudden oil boom. But Bakken County has its own issues. For one thing, it’s cold—a whole lot colder than the coldest weather Cassie’s ever imagined. For another, the job she turns out to have been hired for—leading an investigation her new boss doesn’t feel he can entrust to his own force—makes her queasy. The biggest problem, though, is one she doesn’t know about until it slaps her in the face. A fatal car accident that was anything but accidental has jarred loose a stash of methamphetamines and cash that’s become the center of a battle between the Sons of Freedom, Bakken County’s traditional drug sellers, and MS-13, the Salvadorian upstarts who are muscling in on their territory. It’s a setup that leaves scant room for law enforcement officers or for Kyle Westergaard, the 12-year-old paperboy damaged since birth by fetal alcohol syndrome, who’s walked away from the wreck with a prize all too many people would kill for.
A suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be welcome to return and tie up the gaping loose end Box leaves. The unrelenting cold makes this the perfect beach read.Pub Date: July 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-312-58321-7
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: April 21, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2015
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