An engrossing comic murder mystery set in a California spa town.
A New Ager must solve the death of his flawed guru in Heath’s latest murder mystery, the second in a series.
Alan Wright runs a spiritual center in the California mountain town of Eden Ridge. The House of the Universal Message is the culmination of three decades of Alan’s study of the teachings of the charismatic British guru Branden Frank, who has accepted Alan’s invitation to visit the center. At first, it seems a dream come true—even if Frank turns out to be a bit more of a womanizer and child support–dodger than Alan had anticipated. After all, as Frank himself says, “If we think of someone else as the Buddha, as a saint, we are deluded.” The dream quickly devolves into nightmare when Frank is found dead on the side of the road beneath the House. Police suspect foul play, but who could be responsible? The grandfather of one of the children Frank refuses to acknowledge or the man who offers a noncredible confession to the murder? Alan, who has solved a murder in the past, takes up the mystery with the help of The Little Red Hens, a five-woman fledgling detective agency that meets at the House. But not only is the local police chief out to get him and close the center, Alan must also tangle with an online conspiracy group called NotAGod that claims he’s a Satanist who abuses children. Heath’s polyphonic prose captures the many comic misunderstandings between the New Agers and reactionary squares who populate Eden Ridge. “For almost two hundred years, Eden Ridge has been a decent place to live,” the chief rails against Alan and his friend, spa owner Hank Tate. “Hard-working, God-fearing, tax-paying people live here. Then that goddamn crazy nudist, Tate, turned the hotel and springs into a refuge for drug-addled sex freaks.” It’s clear that Heath loves Eden Ridge, and the care with which he builds out the citizens and their intersecting arcs adds depth to this mystery.
An engrossing comic murder mystery set in a California spa town.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2024
ISBN: 9798986620466
Page Count: 390
Publisher: Nine Pines Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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