Gurbutt and Sutton pack enough incidents into their prequel to generate an entire season of A Touch of Frost. Die-hard Frost...
Publisher James Gurbutt and crime reviewer Henry Sutton team up as James Henry to give readers another crack at R.D. Wingfield’s Jack Frost, hero of the long-running British television series A Touch of Frost.
The latest Frost is actually an earlier incarnation, working under Stanley Mullett as the newly minted superintendent tries to manage the “overstretched and under-resourced” Denton Division. His two detective inspectors, Jim Allen and Bert Williams, are out of action. Allen is on a walking tour in the mountains, and Williams is simply missing. That leaves Mullett his two detective constables, aging Arthur Hanlon and young, energetic Sue Clarke, along with DI Jack Frost, to deal with a rash of crimes that would stagger hardier forces. First, teenager Julie Hudson is snatched from a dressing room at Aster’s. Next, Julie’s mother, Wendy, is beaten nearly to death. Then, Vanessa Litchfield, a teacher at Julie’s school, finds a body in Denton Union Canal. Not to be outdone, single mom Liz Fraser reports that her toddler, Becky, has been attacked by a wild animal. Frost responds to these emergencies by turning off his police radio, revving up his Cortina and defying everyone, including his beleaguered boss, to rein him in. He stashes Becky Fraser in the hospital by launching a story of a rabies threat, browbeats the head of St. Mary’s School for Girls into telling more than she’d like about Ms. Litchfield, interviews and re-interviews anyone remotely connected to Julie Hudson. But as the bodies pile up and the threat level goes nuclear, Frost focuses more on Williams’ disappearance as the key to Denton’s crime wave.
Gurbutt and Sutton pack enough incidents into their prequel to generate an entire season of A Touch of Frost. Die-hard Frost fans will be pleased, but neophytes will more likely be sent into shock.Pub Date: July 23, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-250-02553-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2013
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.
In Archie Goodwin's 15th adventure since the death of his creator, Rex Stout, his gossipy Aunt Edna Wainwright lures him from 34th Street to his carefully unnamed hometown in Ohio to investigate the death of a well-hated bank president.
Tom Blankenship, the local police chief, thinks there’s no case since Logan Mulgrew shot himself. But Archie’s mother, Marjorie Goodwin, and Aunt Edna know lots of people with reason to have killed him. Mulgrew drove rival banker Charles Purcell out of business, forcing Purcell to get work as an auto mechanic, and foreclosed on dairy farmer Harold Mapes’ spread. Lester Newman is convinced that Mulgrew murdered his ailing wife, Lester’s sister, so that he could romance her nurse, Carrie Yeager. And Donna Newman, Lester’s granddaughter, might have had an eye on her great-uncle’s substantial estate. Nor is Archie limited to mulling over his relatives’ gossip, for Trumpet reporter Verna Kay Padgett, whose apartment window was shot out the night her column raised questions about the alleged suicide, is perfectly willing to publish a floridly actionable summary of the leading suspects that delights her editor, shocks Archie, and infuriates everyone else. The one person missing is Archie’s boss, Nero Wolfe (Death of an Art Collector, 2019, etc.), and fans will breathe a sigh of relief when he appears at Marjorie’s door, debriefs Archie, notices a telltale clue, prepares dinner for everyone, sleeps on his discovery, and arranges a meeting of all parties in Marjorie’s living room in which he names the killer.
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5040-5988-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
You can’t help but chuckle over all the disasters, but in the end the heroine catches her prey.
An Arizona accountant with a penchant for solving murders lands a fishy case.
Sophie "Phee" Kimball might lead a dull life if it weren’t for her mother, Harriet Plunkett, and Harriet’s neurotic Chiweenie, Streetman. As it is, Harriet lives near her daughter in Sun City West and has a wide circle of zany friends who’ve helped Phee solve several mysteries (Molded 4 Murder, 2019, etc.) while she’s been working for Williams Investigations along with her boyfriend, Marshall, a former police officer. While Phee’s visiting Harriet one day, Streetman dashes over to the neighbors’ barbecue grill and unearths a dead body under a tarp. As usual, the overwhelmed local police ask Williams Investigations to help—er, consult. Harriet’s main concern is getting costumes made for the reluctant Streetman, whom she’s entered in a series of contests starting with Halloween and progressing through Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hannukah, and St. Patrick’s Day. One of her friends is an accomplished seamstress who goes all out making gorgeous costumes that will beat an obnoxious lady who looks down on mutts. The dead man is identified as Cameron Tully, a seafood distributor, who was poisoned by the locally ubiquitous sago pine. At the first dog contest, Elaine Meschow has to be rushed to the hospital after she gets a dose of the same thing. The owner of a gourmet dog food company, Elaine is lucky enough to recover. After Streetman takes second place, Harriet’s team redoubles its efforts for the next contest while Phee and Marshall, who are moving into a new place together, continue to hunt for clues. A restaurant holdup and a scheme to use empty houses for hookups for high school kids add to the confusion.
You can’t help but chuckle over all the disasters, but in the end the heroine catches her prey.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2455-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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