Her forays into medical issues lead McKevett to crowd the best pieces of her puzzle into the last chapters, but she still...
A medical examiner fears she may be shielding a murderer when she conceals her best friend’s suicide.
Jennifer Liu risks her medical license when she reports her best friend’s death as an accident rather than suicide. But she’d promised Brianne Marston that she’d protect her secret if Brianne took her own life rather than face the slow and painful deterioration of Halstead’s disease. Now Jennifer’s having second thoughts. Another young victim appears in the morgue with the same cocktail of deadly drugs found in Brianne’s body. Did Nels Farrow, afflicted with the same genetic disease as Brianne, conspire with her in a suicide pact? Did they independently discover the same recipe for ending their lives prematurely? Or were they killed by a third party to save them from suffering or for some darker reason? Before she turns herself in to the authorities, Jennifer has to know the truth. So she asks another close friend, private detective Savannah Reid (Hide and Sneak, 2018, etc.), to examine the connection between Brianne and Nels. Savannah doesn’t mind; her husband Dirk Coulter’s refusal to let her in on his latest case for the San Carmelita Police Department has left her with time on her hands. But discovering the real Brianne Marston proves a challenge. No sooner has her boyfriend, Paul Oxley, described Brianne in her last days as paranoid and delusional than Brianne’s goat-keeper, Dee, reports that Brianne was highly centered and focused but abused and exploited by her good-for-nothing boyfriend. Struggling to untangle the riddle that was Brianne helps Savannah appreciate the complexities of living with a fatal illness, bring a killer to justice, and release Jennifer from the pain of self-doubt.
Her forays into medical issues lead McKevett to crowd the best pieces of her puzzle into the last chapters, but she still offers enough detection to satisfy fans of the Moonlight Magnolia franchise.Pub Date: April 30, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2010-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
This ran in the S.E.P. and resulted in more demands for the story in book form than ever recorded. Well, here it is and it is a honey. Imagine ten people, not knowing each other, not knowing why they were invited on a certain island house-party, not knowing their hosts. Then imagine them dead, one by one, until none remained alive, nor any clue to the murderer. Grand suspense, a unique trick, expertly handled.
Pub Date: Feb. 21, 1939
ISBN: 0062073478
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1939
SEEN & HEARD
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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