Following his appearances in several of prolific Allyn’s short stories (All Creatures Dark and Dangerous, 1999, etc.),...
A small-town vet investigates a century-old crime while coping with his messy personal life.
Northern Michigan, 1871: Farm wife Rachel is caught in a late-night fire with Ginger, her terrified collie. Jump to the present, where David Westbrook is trying to build a veterinary practice after a broken marriage and a stint in jail. Answering the screams of camper Brenda Jozwiak, David rescues her son Bobby, who’s fallen down an old well. Inside the well he finds the tangled skeleton of Rachel holding Ginger. Local police, headed by Sheriff Wolinski, are immediately suspicious of David and begin to hassle him. After Carter Tipton, a prickly University of Michigan anthropologist, identifies the bones, he’s run off the road and killed. Wolinski finds this latest fatality a mere nuisance; only Dave and a local newspaper reporter named Meg are interested in investigating. The sheriff doesn’t change his opinion even when somebody tries to burn down Dave’s digs with the tenant inside. Dave’s adoption of a pack of dogs and bumpy love relationships for both Dave and Meg add texture to the tale.
Following his appearances in several of prolific Allyn’s short stories (All Creatures Dark and Dangerous, 1999, etc.), Dave’s debut novel is written with flair and abundant warmth.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2004
ISBN: 1-4104-0202-9
Page Count: 339
Publisher: Five Star/Gale Cengage
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2004
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
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