Cohen’s second procedural believably captures the rhythms and interactions of a busy urban precinct. Everyman Jack,...
A grim child murder, a crooked partner, a skittish fiancée: Detective Jack Leightner (Red Hook, 2001) is getting too old for this.
While two fisherman are pulling a small coffin out of the water in Red Hook, veteran Brooklyn homicide detective Leightner steels himself to propose to his girlfriend Michelle over a romantic dinner. As Michelle inadvertently eats the chocolate mousse that contains her hidden engagement ring, Jack stays mum. The found coffin, meanwhile, contains the body of a young boy, with no identification except the initials G.I. written on his forehead. Jack catches the case and Tommy Balfa, a new partner. Other easily solved murders demand Jack’s attention, but the G.I. case remains a priority. You wouldn’t know it, though, by Balfa’s behavior. He seems secretive and disinterested to the point of laziness. Nevertheless, they find another victim, a security guard, with the same G.I. message. One day Jack tails Balfa and catches him red-handed with a trunk full of money. He also tracks down the married Balfa’s girlfriend, young nurse Maureen Duffy, who may not be as innocent as she seems. When, after more aborted attempts, Jack works up the nerve to propose to Michelle again, she cries, confesses that she’s been seeing somebody else and runs away.
Cohen’s second procedural believably captures the rhythms and interactions of a busy urban precinct. Everyman Jack, struggling to do the right thing, merits devotion.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-312-36266-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Dunne/Minotaur
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2007
The heroine isn’t quite likable enough to support such a lengthy debut with such an extended cast of undistinguished...
The owner of a Massachusetts bookstore investigates the murder of a private-duty nurse.
When British-born Gemma Doyle opened the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, her goal was to pay homage to the Great Detective, not to become a sleuth herself. But when a customer stashes an 1887 edition of Beeton’s Christmas Annual in the shop’s shelves and proceeds to get herself killed, Gemma needs to act. First of all, she learns that Mary Ellen Longton was at the bedside of famed Holmes collector Kurt Kent Jr. when he died, so it’s a good bet the copy of Beeton’s is worth big bucks. Second, Detective Louise Estrada, who’s partnered with Gemma’s old flame Ryan Ashburton, seems to like the Brit very much for the murder. Not that there aren’t a slew of other suspects: Kurt’s son, Colin, who’s hopping mad that his late dad may have given the valuable journal to his nurse; Mary Ellen’s hard-up son, Roy, who’d like a slice of his mom’s action; or Kurt’s daughter-in-law, Elaine, who bears a strong resemblance to a customer who visited the emporium the day before Mary Ellen’s death. Still, as Estrada zeroes in, even her best friend, Jayne Wilson, co-owner of Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room next door to the emporium, advises Gemma to put on her deerstalker and crack the case in a hurry.
The heroine isn’t quite likable enough to support such a lengthy debut with such an extended cast of undistinguished characters. The result is more likely to appeal to small-town-sleuth fans than true Holmes aficionados.Pub Date: March 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68331-096-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Crooked Lane
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Bargain-basement plotting, fewer thrills than a tax audit, and cardboard sleuths poised to return for a sequel. But the...
Four women band together to catch the forgettable fiend who's murdering newlyweds.
Even before she knows she's dealing with a serial killer, Inspector Lindsay Boxer is overcome with emotion at the beautiful young corpses of David and Melanie Brandt. Retreating to the ladies' room moments after tossing upstart reporter Cindy Thomas out of the crime scene, she runs into Cindy, who's sneaked inside to slip Lindsay her card and tell her to call her if she ever wants to talk about the case. There's no earthly reason for an experienced homicide cop to accept this invitation, so Lindsay naturally does, and soon after the killer scores a second double play, Lindsay's best friend Claire Washburn, San Francisco's chief medical examiner, and Jill Bernhardt, from the D.A.'s office, have joined the Women's Murder Club. The conceit here is that the quartet pool their skills to crack the case, but apart from sharing anecdotes about sex in public places and offering sympathetic shoulders to Lindsay, who's been diagnosed with life-threatening aplastic anemia, the others don't do much detection. Neither does Captain Chris Raleigh, Lindsay's new partner, whom Patterson (Roses Are Red, 2000, etc.) has evidently provided his heroine for another purpose entirely. In fact, the crucial break in the case comes from an utterly unexpected source: Cleveland, where a third pair of bride-and-groom victims points a finger at a popular author who swears that although he's lied about the crime, and although the evidence against him is out to here, he's being set up. Is he or isn't he?
Bargain-basement plotting, fewer thrills than a tax audit, and cardboard sleuths poised to return for a sequel. But the relentless velocity is guaranteed to hook fans of the bestselling Patterson, who'll presumably be hearing from the police the next time somebody declares war on young love.Pub Date: April 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-316-66600-9
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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