An entertaining blend of murder mystery, romance, and the paranormal.
A young woman with psychic powers must topple a mysterious killer in this supernatural thriller sequel.
InThe Diamond Rose (2020), Amanda Griffith was celebrating graduation from medical school when a solar flare awakened her psychic abilities as a Sentinel 10, by far the most potent kind. Amanda learned that Sentinels all over the world battle evil on behalf of the Committee, a secret society whose members possess great longevity. In the course of her duties, Amanda fell deeply in love with Alain Proctor, “a murderous, manipulative psychopath” who could be normal in her presence. He died a year ago; now, emerging from heartbreak, Amanda is set to marry James Graves, an Air Force pilot, who also lost his soul mate. The two may not be a perfect fit, but they’re realistic: “We’re the next-best thing for each other. Which means it can last.” When an unknown murderer begins slaughtering Sentinels, Amanda is the only one powerful enough to take on the enemy. She develops a daring plan involving an Aztec crystal skull while pondering a white cat that keeps turning up—a sign that Alain may still be alive. In her second Sentinel 10 novel, Valenti challenges her hero to dig deep for answers and confidence. Seeing the determination with which she steps up to the plate gives her appeal and makes her somewhat over-the-top accomplishments (superpowered psychic, anesthesiologist, gorgeous ex-model) less annoying. The book also nicely clarifies its somewhat nebulous concepts, as with a frustratingly dodgy entity that “can glide along the space-time fabric, like a flashlight along a blanket: the light seems to make contact with the area it glides on, but it never really does.”
An entertaining blend of murder mystery, romance, and the paranormal.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2021
ISBN: 9798499893852
Page Count: 252
Publisher: Independently Published
Review Posted Online: Dec. 27, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.
A 16-year-old savant uses his Groundhog Day gift to solve his grandfather’s murder.
Nishizawa’s compulsively readable puzzle opens with the discovery of the victim, patriarch Reijiro Fuchigami, sprawled on a futon in the attic of his elegant mansion, where his family has gathered for a consequential announcement about his estate. The weapon seems to be a copper vase lying nearby. Given this setup, the novel might have proceeded as a traditional whodunit but for two delightful features. The first is the ebullient narration of Fuchigami’s youngest grandson, Hisataro, thrust into the role of an investigator with more dedication than finesse. The second is Nishizawa’s clever premise: The 16-year-old Hisataro has lived ever since birth with a condition that occasionally has him falling into a time loop that he calls "the Trap," replaying the same 24 hours of his life exactly nine times before moving on. And, of course, the murder takes place on the first day of one of these loops. Can he solve the murder before the cycle is played out? His initial strategies—never leaving his grandfather’s side, focusing on specific suspects, hiding in order to observe them all—fall frustratingly short. Hisataro’s comical anxiety rises with every failed attempt to identify the culprit. It’s only when he steps back and examines all the evidence that he discovers the solution. First published in 1995, this is the first of Nishizawa’s novels to be translated into English. As for Hisataro, he ultimately concludes that his condition is not a burden but a gift: “Time’s spiral never ends.”
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781805335436
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.
Four residents of Coopers Chase, a British retirement village, compete with the police to solve a murder in this debut novel.
The Thursday Murder Club started out with a group of septuagenarians working on old murder cases culled from the files of club founder Elizabeth Best’s friend Penny Gray, a former police officer who's now comatose in the village's nursing home. Elizabeth used to have an unspecified job, possibly as a spy, that has left her with a large network of helpful sources. Joyce Meadowcroft is a former nurse who chronicles their deeds. Psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif and well-known political firebrand Ron Ritchie complete the group. They charm Police Constable Donna De Freitas, who, visiting to give a talk on safety at Coopers Chase, finds the residents sharp as tacks. Built with drug money on the grounds of a convent, Coopers Chase is a high-end development conceived by loathsome Ian Ventham and maintained by dangerous crook Tony Curran, who’s about to be fired and replaced with wary but willing Bogdan Jankowski. Ventham has big plans for the future—as soon as he’s removed the nuns' bodies from the cemetery. When Curran is murdered, DCI Chris Hudson gets the case, but Elizabeth uses her influence to get the ambitious De Freitas included, giving the Thursday Club a police source. What follows is a fascinating primer in detection as British TV personality Osman allows the members to use their diverse skills to solve a series of interconnected crimes.
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-98-488096-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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