As for the solution that follows Queen’s signature “Challenge to the Reader,” it’s one of Ellery’s brainiest, built on a...
Ratiocination king Queen’s third case, originally published in 1931, finds him fortuitously on the scene minutes after strangling makes the scheduled surgery on a high-profile hospital patient unnecessary.
Wealthy philanthropist Abigail Doorn has been such a durable patron saint of the Dutch Memorial Hospital, and in particular of head surgeon Dr. Francis Janney, that when she goes into a diabetic coma, tumbles down a flight of stairs, and ruptures her gall bladder, there’s no question where she’ll go for treatment or who’ll perform the surgery. Ellery Queen, who’s dropped in to ask his old friend Dr. John Minchen a technical question about rigor mortis and then accepted his invitation to stay and watch the procedure, happens to be on hand when Abby is wheeled into the operating theater, unveiled, and found to be dead, a loop of wire embedded in her neck. The initial evidence seems to point the finger at Janney himself, but a brisk round of questioning and a search of the surrounding rooms indicate that the hospital’s leading benefactor was murdered by someone impersonating her favorite doctor, someone who left behind a hastily basted set of white duck trousers and a pair of shoes that become the principal, and virtually the sole, clue to the mystery. The suspects, as usual in the early Queens (The Chinese Orange Mystery, 1934/2018, etc.), are forgettable, and the potential motives straight off the rack. But the consistent emphasis on the hospital’s rigorous routine not only provides important evidence, but makes Ellery seem relatively less stiff than usual, though it’s still hard to forgive the constant drip of quotations presumably meant to indicate his irresistible erudition.
As for the solution that follows Queen’s signature “Challenge to the Reader,” it’s one of Ellery’s brainiest, built on a slender foundation but expounded at such exhaustive length that only the most churlish readers would think of resisting it.Pub Date: March 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-61316-126-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Penzler Publishers
Review Posted Online: Nov. 25, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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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