The only dog in this tale is Max’s pug, a legacy from his first plunge into detective work (The Dog Park Club, 2010). This...
An unlikely and unwilling amateur sleuth is forced to dig into the past to save his future.
Max Bravo is your typical bisexual, half-Gypsy opera singer who drinks too much and occasionally drops some acid. His surprise when an old friend jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge turns to rage when he gets stuck settling his affairs. Frank Kelly was more hotheaded than most failed poets, but Max discovers an even more dangerous side of him when he finds Frank’s diary while he’s cleaning out his apartment. The diary is partly written in another hand which a bookseller and graphologist identifies as belonging to Duffield Fallon, a vicious thug who died in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Having haunted Frank to his death, he now directs his attention on Max, who’s already accustomed to, if not exactly pleased by, visits from his late Gypsy grandmother. Another writer from Max’s past takes a dive off the bridge; he runs into a woman he once coveted, her striking beauty now marred by a ruinous scar; and the imperious Fallon continues to drive him crazy. Max realizes that he’ll never get his life back until he meets Fallon’s demands to find the woman he loved. His search for answers takes him and his friends on a wild ride through the dark and dangerous underbelly of the old Barbary Coast.
The only dog in this tale is Max’s pug, a legacy from his first plunge into detective work (The Dog Park Club, 2010). This esoteric tale, peopled with dozens of quirky characters, draws you in and spits you out dazed and delighted with the journey.Pub Date: Nov. 8, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-55974-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2011
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
