by Eve Chase ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2020
A delicious mystery full of dark labyrinthine curves.
Working as a nanny for the wealthy Harrington family, Rita Murphy is anxious about being secluded in England's beautiful yet ominous Forest of Dean for the summer. She should be.
Toggling back and forth between the events of 1971 and present-day London, Chase deftly constructs a shadowy puzzle born of multiple daughters with tangled connections to the titular Foxcote Manor, lurking in the dense forest. Recently separated Sylvie Broom frets over her mother, who has been hospitalized after a fall, as well as her daughter, Annie, whose troubled relationship with a man named Elliot has his posh mother, Helen Latham, harassing both Annie and Sylvie. As Sylvie deals with Helen and her own mother, Chase begins to untwist threads connecting her back to 1971 Foxcote Manor, where a gangly 20-year-old Rita is recovering from a broken engagement. Her employer, Walter Harrington, has sent her and his family (perhaps banished would be more accurate) to his broken-down ancestral home in the aftermath of his wife Jeannie's postpartum breakdown and the subsequent fire that ruined their posh London residence. While the glamorous Jeannie recovers from the stillbirth, Rita tends to rambunctious 5-year-old Teddy and his 13-year-old sister, Hera. Once in the forest, however, characters and events obstruct any healing. First, Marge shows up, a brash housekeeper who offers obscure advice—watch out for weird Fingers Jonson in the woods—and strange gifts, such as the woodsman's boots for Rita’s big feet. Then, Don Armstrong, Walter’s best friend and Jeannie’s ill-concealed lover, descends on Foxcote, trailing testosterone fumes and asserting his dominion over everyone. The situation is already precarious when Hera and Rita discover a foundling baby in the woods. Suddenly, Jeannie’s maternal instincts kick in, but then a dead body is also found in the woods, and everyone's world upends.
A delicious mystery full of dark labyrinthine curves.Pub Date: July 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-54238-4
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
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by Eve Chase
BOOK REVIEW
by Eve Chase
by Janet Evanovich ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 5, 2024
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.
Stephanie Plum’s 31st adventure shows that Trenton’s preeminent fugitive-apprehension agent still has plenty of tricks up her sleeve, and needs every one of them.
The current caseload for Stephanie and Lula—the ex-prostitute file clerk at her cousin Vincent Plum’s bail bonds company, who serves as her unflappable sidekick—begins with two “failures to appear.” Eugene Fleck is suspected of being Robin Hoodie, who robs from the rich and, yes, distributes the proceeds to the poor. Racketeer Bruno Jug, who’s missed his court date on charges of tax evasion, is also suspected of drugging and raping a 14-year-old. But neither of these fugitives can hold a candle to Zoran Djordjevic, aka Fang, a self-proclaimed vampire wanted in connection with the gruesome fate of his late wife and three other missing women. As usual, Stephanie’s personal life is just as helter-skelter as her professional life as a bounty hunter. She’s managed to get herself engaged both to Det. Joe Morelli, of the Trenton PD, and Ranger, a former Special Forces agent who runs a private security firm; she thinks she may be pregnant; and she’s willing to marry the father, whichever of her fiances that turns out to be. On top of it all, her nothingburger schoolmate Herbert Slovinski suddenly pops up at one of the funerals she ferries her Grandma Mazur to, hitting on her relentlessly and gilding his importunities by cleaning and painting her shabby apartment and laying new carpet. Luckily, Lula’s on hand to offer cupcakes that stave off the worst disasters, and whenever this hodgepodge threatens to slow down, another FTA appears, or fails to appear.
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781668003138
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
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by David Baldacci ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 12, 2024
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.
The feds must protect an accused criminal and an orphaned girl.
Maybe you’ve met him before as protagonist of The 6:20 Man (2022): Ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine, who’d had the dubious fortune to tangle with “the girl on the train,” is now assigned by his homeland security boss to protect Danny Glass, who's awaiting trial on multiple RICO charges in Washington state. Devine has what it takes: He “was a closer, snooper, fixer, investigator,” and, when necessary, a killer. These skills are on full display as the deaths of three key witnesses grind justice to a temporary halt. Glass has a 12-year-old niece, Betsy Odom, and each is the other’s only living relative—her parents recently died of an apparent drug overdose. The FBI has temporary guardianship of Betsy, who's a handful. She tells Travis that though she’s not yet 13, she's 28 in “life-shit years.” The financially well-heeled Glass wants to be her legal guardian with an eye to eventual adoption, but what are his real motives? And what happens to her if he's convicted? Meanwhile, Betsy insists that her parents never touched drugs, and she begs Travis to find out how they really died. This becomes part of a mission that oozes danger. The small town of Ricketts has a woman mayor who’s full of charm on the surface, but deeply corrupt and deadly when crossed. She may be linked to a subversive group called "12/24/65," as in 1865, when the Ku Klux Klan beast was born. Blood flows, bombs explode, and people perish, both good guys and not-so-good guys. Readers might ponder why in fiction as well as in life, it sometimes seems necessary for many to die so one may live. And what about the girl on the train? She's not necessary to the plot, but she's a fun addition as she pops in and out of the pages, occasionally leaving notes for Travis. Maybe she still wants him dead.
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781538757901
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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