A vet with investigative chops and his loyal coonhound make an appealing duo in this origin story.
In this debut thriller, a fire destroys the research wing of a rural upstate New York cosmetic corporation’s headquarters, casting suspicion on the animal rights activists who recently protested at the company.
Kent Stephenson’s older brother, Merrill, Jefferson’s chief of police, enforces the law, and their misfit half brother, Maylon (nicknamed May-May), has been known to break it. Kent, a small-town veterinarian always in the company of his coonhound, Lucinda, focuses on doing the right thing, especially when it comes to animals. Kent once had romantic feelings toward Stef Copithorn, CEO of the cosmetic company that’s crucial to the local economy. Aubrey Fairbanks, field representative for the Hollywood-based Freedom of Animals Movement, is in town organizing a protest against animal testing conducted by Stef’s company. Kent’s attraction to gorgeous Aubrey is a professional, not personal, concern to the now openly gay Stef. The two women disagree vehemently about the humaneness of animal welfare codes. When a blaze obliterates the cosmetic company’s research wing, suspicion falls on FOAM, and Kent feels duped—at least for a time—by Aubrey, with whom he’s begun a relationship. During Kent’s visit with his wheelchair-bound mother, June Stephenson Mays, the two discuss the fire and also the supposed suicide of a well-known local journalist. June does not believe the man—her dear friend—killed himself; she says it had to be murder, and Kent vows to find out if she’s right. He also questions her about his jailbird half brother’s recent activities and ponders their legitimacy. Kent finds more to investigate when a family member is apparently murdered. In addition, dogs in the town, disappearing occasionally at first, start to vanish in record numbers. Can Lucinda remain unscathed? Martorana produces a compelling story starring an engaging hero. The author also introduces notable characters like June, with her “matchstick legs,” “kittenish white hair,” and no-nonsense attitude. At one point, she tells Kent that May-May’s “got his father’s wickedness.” Descriptions are strong, such as the account of how police cars are clustered at a crime scene: “The lot was jammed with official vehicles parked at all angles, the way cops like to do.” Both sides of the animal rights controversy are well-presented. But the depictions of abused animals could be upsetting to some readers.
A vet with investigative chops and his loyal coonhound make an appealing duo in this origin story.Pub Date: March 22, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9989326-0-6
Page Count: 282
Publisher: VinChaRo Ventures LLC
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.
In Archie Goodwin's 15th adventure since the death of his creator, Rex Stout, his gossipy Aunt Edna Wainwright lures him from 34th Street to his carefully unnamed hometown in Ohio to investigate the death of a well-hated bank president.
Tom Blankenship, the local police chief, thinks there’s no case since Logan Mulgrew shot himself. But Archie’s mother, Marjorie Goodwin, and Aunt Edna know lots of people with reason to have killed him. Mulgrew drove rival banker Charles Purcell out of business, forcing Purcell to get work as an auto mechanic, and foreclosed on dairy farmer Harold Mapes’ spread. Lester Newman is convinced that Mulgrew murdered his ailing wife, Lester’s sister, so that he could romance her nurse, Carrie Yeager. And Donna Newman, Lester’s granddaughter, might have had an eye on her great-uncle’s substantial estate. Nor is Archie limited to mulling over his relatives’ gossip, for Trumpet reporter Verna Kay Padgett, whose apartment window was shot out the night her column raised questions about the alleged suicide, is perfectly willing to publish a floridly actionable summary of the leading suspects that delights her editor, shocks Archie, and infuriates everyone else. The one person missing is Archie’s boss, Nero Wolfe (Death of an Art Collector, 2019, etc.), and fans will breathe a sigh of relief when he appears at Marjorie’s door, debriefs Archie, notices a telltale clue, prepares dinner for everyone, sleeps on his discovery, and arranges a meeting of all parties in Marjorie’s living room in which he names the killer.
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5040-5988-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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