A refreshingly original reinvention of artistic history.
A work of historical fiction reimagines the death of iconic painter Jackson Pollock as a murder mystery.
Juanita Diaz and her husband, Brian Fitzgerald, are both New York City police officers, and after 13 years of marriage, they’re long overdue for a vacation. They decide to take a respite with their son, TJ, to East Hampton, Long Island, a posh area known as a redoubt for successful artists and their dealers. In fact, it’s home to Pollock, notorious in the area for his reckless, alcohol-fueled driving. One evening, Juanita and Brian are driving home from dinner, and another car abruptly darts across their path and crashes. They quickly realize it’s Pollock’s Oldsmobile Rocket 88 turned upside down—he is obviously dead, and a female passenger precariously hangs on to life. Then they notice another female passenger in the back seat, sadly lifeless. At first glance, it all seems like a tragic accident, if predictable given Pollock’s reputation. But the medical examiner reports that the lifeless passenger, Edith Metzger, died before the car crashed from asphyxiation, likely caused by strangulation. The other passenger is Ruth Kligman, Edith’s roommate in New York City. Harrison (An Exquisite Corpse, 2016) expertly unravels Pollock’s sordid love life. He carried on a poorly concealed affair with Kligman, a source of humiliation for Pollock’s wife, the artist Lee Krasner. Juanita and Brian take a special interest in the case, which is complicated by Kligman being uncommunicative and a surfeit of plausible suspects, including Krasner, who not only had reasons to harbor contempt for Pollock, but a financial incentive as well: She is his only heir. The author conjures a dark whodunit out of a delightfully simple revision of history: In 1956, Pollock in fact died in a drunk-driving accident. She also paints an intriguing picture of the art world in the ’50s, filled with brilliantly creative but equally dysfunctional (and morally questionable) lovers of beauty. But the prose, especially the dialogue, suffers from an antiseptic, clichéd quality: “Kligman can confirm that when she comes to. If she comes to, that is.”
A refreshingly original reinvention of artistic history.Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-947936-05-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Dunemere Books
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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