Duncan’s second Catskills mystery (Untimely Death, 2015, etc.) is a delightful cozy with plenty of interesting characters...
A Shakespeare play, a pre-wedding party, and a murder are all in a day’s work for a clever costume mistress in upstate New York.
Charlotte Fairfax works for the Catskills Shakespeare Theater Company, based at Jacobs Grand Hotel, whose survival depends on the extra business the company brings. Charlotte and her corgi, Rupert, live on a cottage on the grounds. Lately, however, she’s been entertaining thoughts of sharing a new home with her boyfriend, Ray Nicholson, the local chief of police. The company’s most reliable donor is Mrs. Paula Van Dusen, a wealthy, well-connected widow whose daughter, Belinda, is about to marry Adrian Archer, a top Manhattan real estate agent, even though Mrs. Van Dusen would much prefer a match with Hugh Hedley, the Ivy League scion of another old New York family. Mrs. Van Dusen has arranged for the company to perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream at her estate right after the dress rehearsal. She’s also asked Charlotte’s assistant, Aaron, to design and make the bridesmaids’ dresses. All these careful preparations go by the wayside when the body of Hedley, wearing a donkey’s head stolen from the players, is found in the garden of the Van Dusen estate. Both Hedley and Archer may have been involved in some crooked real estate deals with a wealthy but dishonest social climber. And Archer, it turns out, was having a fling with one of the bridesmaids. But the motive may be more obscure and harder to uncover.
Duncan’s second Catskills mystery (Untimely Death, 2015, etc.) is a delightful cozy with plenty of interesting characters and a touch of midlife romance.Pub Date: Dec. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-62953-769-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crooked Lane
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
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
This ran in the S.E.P. and resulted in more demands for the story in book form than ever recorded. Well, here it is and it is a honey. Imagine ten people, not knowing each other, not knowing why they were invited on a certain island house-party, not knowing their hosts. Then imagine them dead, one by one, until none remained alive, nor any clue to the murderer. Grand suspense, a unique trick, expertly handled.
Pub Date: Feb. 21, 1939
ISBN: 0062073478
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1939
SEEN & HEARD
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