An undeniably fun tale with a protagonist who can apparently handle anything despite the fact that the mystery is often put...
A bistro owner and amateur sleuth tries solving the murder of a fellow restaurateur in Kingon’s (Chocolate Chocolate Moons, 2012) zany sci-fi mystery.
Molly’s Bistro, owned by Earthling Molly Marbles, is doing well in Mars’ capital of New Chicago. Virtual Vittles, a virtual-reality restaurant, has opened nearby, but when its dining experience leaves customers hungry, they make a beeline for Molly’s place. She and Virtual Vittles owner Rick Frances eventually collaborate on a dining event; unfortunately, it ends with Rick found dead at Molly’s Bistro. Molly, who previously helped detectives solve a different mystery, works the murder case, slyly interrogating her staff and others who attended the event. But she’s already got a lot on her plate, including her pop-star daughter Becky’s upcoming wedding as well as the recent escape of the Cereal Serial Killer, which may have been incited by the bistro’s planned cereal-inspired party. As Molly makes headway in her investigation, someone slips her a threatening note warning her off the case. She later heads to Mercury in search of a poison that may have been the murder weapon and exposes secret affairs and other possible motives. The novel’s setting is indisputably unorthodox for a detective tale. Several descriptions compare Mars and Earth, noting, for example, that one still needs sunglasses on the red planet, even if the sun is further away. Likewise, there are silly but generally amusing plays on familiar names, such as that of Becky’s fiance, Burton Ernie. However, Molly’s personal life often overshadows the mystery plotline, which skimps on details; a bloodless death, for example, is determined to be a murder prior to any autopsy. The overall timeline is also confusing; at one point, for instance, Molly says the murder was “last week” despite the fact that several weeks have passed. Kingon adds some depth to the story, though, when Molly’s best friend Jersey’s android husband, Trenton, encounters discrimination. What exactly a “human android” is, however, remains unclear, as does the process that transforms humans into androids. The main mystery is resolved in the end, but readers may find themselves more invested in seeing whether Molly will be able to pull off the wedding ceremony.
An undeniably fun tale with a protagonist who can apparently handle anything despite the fact that the mystery is often put on the back burner.Pub Date: June 28, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-911486-00-8
Page Count: 266
Publisher: Guardbridge Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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