An exciting murder mystery replete with humor, romance and intrigue.
A captivating tale of murder, secrets and switched identity.
Statham’s (Flame of New Orleans, 2012) mystery novel centers on a pair of identical twins, Carley and Morgan Burnside, who stand to inherit property from their recently deceased grandmother, Lydia. Ever the jokester, Lydia dictated in her will that her beloved granddaughters would draw cards to determine who would receive which property—her house in Alabama where they each live, and a villa in France. Carley, to her dismay, draws the home in Alabama and assumes her life will remain much the same, as she suffers a divorce from a philandering husband and dismissal from the firm where they both had worked. She’s mistaken, however, when her career in landscaping resumes, landing her in an artist’s colony. But as her success grows, Carley suspects she’s being followed. Unbeknownst to her, her ex-husband’s mistress, Sherrie, isn’t satisfied with having stolen Carley’s husband, so she now seeks to destroy Carley’s new project as well. She unleashes the nefarious Rocky Donovan to trail Carley in the hopes that he’ll find something incriminating. But he’ll stop short of killing her—or will he? Just as Carley’s career hits an upswing, her love life does, too. Handsome, wealthy Evian “Whit” Whitstone comes into her life, but something about him has Carley uneasy. Her concern escalates when a murder occurs at one of her landscape projects, and all signs point to her close friend and trusted foreman, Jake. As Whit becomes more elusive, and Carley’s safety all the more threatened, Morgan resurfaces, thickening an already complex plot as she tries to step in and protect her sister. Well-paced and precise, this dramatic mystery weaves together romance, suspense and high stakes, culminating in an enthralling tale. Carley’s suspicions of those closest to her will keep readers guessing while cheering her on as she dodges various threats. This light but engaging read is likely to absorb readers until the last page.
An exciting murder mystery replete with humor, romance and intrigue.Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2012
ISBN: 978-0967523385
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Bocage Books
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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