by Friedrich Glauser & translated by Mike Mitchell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 2007
First published in 1936, Glauser’s offbeat tale, alternately chilling and droll, offers welcome insight into early European...
Obsessive Police Sergeant Studer investigates a pair of strange murders in a strange land.
A pleasant meal at a Parisian bistro turns positively giddy for the imposing Studer, a German-born former Detective Inspector working his way back up the ranks since being busted after a scandal (In Matto’s Realm, Jan. 2006, etc.). The liberal drinking is interrupted by an exciting telegram telling him that he’s become a grandfather for the first time. When his host, Commissaire Madelin, asks Studer to accompany him to Basel on minor police business, the incurably curious Studer accepts. They’re joined by Father Matthias, a silky-voiced cleric who weaves a baroque tale of a clairvoyant colonel and a pair of women Matthias thinks are in danger. Indeed, two elderly women are found dead in their flats, both gassed, one in Bern and one in Basel. Local police are inclined to rule both deaths accidental, but not Studer, whose iconoclastic and sometimes paranoid probe spans the nation and stretches back a generation. The ensuing plot, like Studer’s life, favors the scenic route over tight logic and methodical analysis. Quirky characters abound. Studer dabbles in early fingerprint and fiber analysis, trades crime theories with his equally eccentric wife and nearly dies after being arrested in a massive misunderstanding.
First published in 1936, Glauser’s offbeat tale, alternately chilling and droll, offers welcome insight into early European crime fiction.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2007
ISBN: 1-904738-14-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
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by Friedrich Glauser & translated by Mike Mitchell
by Lorna Barrett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2019
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
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by Agatha Christie ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 1934
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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