Lacks the suspense expected in a murder mystery.
Upon discovery of a flower that makes men fall madly in love, the U.S. government attempts to use its essence for interrogation purposes. But nature fights back.
According to Cherokee legend, a flower exists whose perfume causes men to fall passionately in love with whichever woman is in closest proximity. Its actual smell, however, is undetectable to the male olfactory senses. Only Native American princesses can sniff out the so-called mating flower’s scent. Due to the plant’s manipulative effects on human behavior, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency launches an investigation into using its chemical properties as an interrogation tool. John Howell from the Office of Naval Research contracts plant epigeneticist Victoria Banks, cryptologist Sharon McDougall and perfumer Flynn Calhoun to research, extract and synthesize a product the government can use during wartime. But harnessing smell is a tricky business and an accidental emission in the lab complicates working relationships. Meanwhile, the flower is also used to solve a local crime and, later, bust a drug ring. The notion of using nature to manipulate nature is intriguing, especially in the mystery genre, where the idea has the potential to generate complex plots and sub-plots. But the book fails to construct a true mystery. There is a decided lack of suspense and Callaway’s characters spend a lot of time regurgitating clinical, pedantic facts; this heavy-handed clue dropping leaves little to the imagination. Instead of doling out hints to maintain tension, interest and pacing, evidence is delivered in quick, clunky paragraphs full of scientific jargon better suited to a medical journal. What gives this book potential also poses a problem to character development: the flower’s immediate potency prevents relationships from building. Instead, love matches burst into unsatisfying, unromantic existence. A single moment of passion would be a more realistic result than the long-term coupling Callaway affects. The book would also benefit from copyediting to catch redundancies, smooth unnatural dialogue and flesh out meager side stories.
Lacks the suspense expected in a murder mystery.Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2012
ISBN: 978-1453864609
Page Count: 238
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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