Sharp, fast, and deft, a gripping story that with the skill of a Wallenda walks the tightrope between the real and the...
The first in a series featuring an intrepid ghostbuster who uncovers the mystery behind a haunted house, by the thriller author of, most recently, The Babel Effect, 2001).
If there’s one place where a ghostbuster shouldn’t have to scrounge for work, it’s New Orleans. Old, atmospheric, irremediably corrupt, it’s the sort of town where the closets have so many skeletons that grave-robbers can work without spades. In the 150-year-old Beauforte House, Lila Beauforte Warren claims that a ghost with the head of a pig is regularly attacking her in her sleep. The Beaufortes think Lila is just crazy, but Paul Fitzpatrick (the psychiatrist they brought in to examine her) suggests that they retain a parapsychologist. Enter Lucretia (“Cree”) Black, a Seattle ghostbuster. Cree believes that powerful emotions set off electromagnetic “broadcasts” that can appear as ghosts, and she researches the history of the house to find out what outrages from the past could be responsible for such present disturbances. Working with Paul, she digs up the usual New Orleans stuff (masters who abused slaves, etc.) but can’t detect any of the typical broadcasts she finds in true hauntings. There had been an unsolved murder in the Beauforte House some years earlier, but the victim (a local newscaster) didn’t in any way resemble the apparition now tormenting Lila. Is it possible Lila is seeing something real? Or can we be dealing with a case of suppressed memory, something that happened, not in the house, but in Lila’s past? One clue comes to Cree on Mardi Gras, when she notices costumed marchers wearing pig heads similar to the one described by Lila. New Orleans is a city of masks, after all, and they can cover up some very ugly realities.
Sharp, fast, and deft, a gripping story that with the skill of a Wallenda walks the tightrope between the real and the supernatural.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2003
ISBN: 1-58234-341-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2002
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 2025 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.
