The avian details in Bob’s adventures (Swift Justice, 2014, etc.) make them a treat for birdwatchers or, in this case,...
Even when he leaves his native Minnesota, a die-hard birdwatcher keeps finding bodies along with the birds he seeks.
High school counselor Bob White and his wife, Luce, have taken the opportunity of weather cold enough to close schools to flee south for a short break. They head for the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, an area filled with parks perfect for birders, all located near the confluence of two major flyways. Their stop at Estero Llano Grande State Park rewards them with plenty of new bird sightings for their lifetime list. In addition, Bob’s keen eye also picks out a foot sticking out from under a canoe. The dead man is Birdy Johnson, whose involvement with a spacecraft smack in the middle of the flyway has made him plenty of enemies in the birding community. Among those visiting the park that morning were Buzz Davis, a close friend of Birdy’s from the days when they worked in NASA’s astronaut program; park volunteer Rosalie, another good friend; and members of a local birding club for senior citizen known as the MOB. The only clue found on the scene is a flask of Aquavit belonging to a friend of Bob’s who’s in the area working on improving drone border surveillance. Although a furious birder may have killed Birdy, the borderland location makes Bob wonder whether drug smugglers or illegals might be involved. Although he and Luce continue their birding, Bob can’t help but get involved in yet another murder case.
The avian details in Bob’s adventures (Swift Justice, 2014, etc.) make them a treat for birdwatchers or, in this case, anyone interested in South Texas. This one provides enough credible suspects for a mystery that keeps you guessing.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-87839-799-0
Page Count: 214
Publisher: North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc.
Review Posted Online: June 16, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
Fluke lavishes so much attention on the mechanics of location shooting that there’s scant time for the murder, much less its...
Even the murder of its cranky director can’t stop the filming of Crisis in Cherrywood or halt the snooping of Lake Eden’s premier baker.
Just when Hannah Swenson’s decided to accept neither of the marriage proposals tendered at the end of Peach Cobbler Murder (2005)—turning down both sweet-tempered dentist Norman Rhoades and hot-blooded lawman Mike Kingston—another suitor turns up. Her old college classmate Ross Barton, now a Hollywood producer who thinks Lake Eden is just the spot to shoot his new movie, recruits Hannah’s mom Delores as set designer, her younger sister Michelle as production assistant and her middle sister Andrea as an extra. He even casts Andrea’s five-year-old, Tracey, to play heroine Lynne Larchmont as a child and presses Hannah’s cat Moishe into service as her childhood pet. For Hannah he reserves the role of constant companion, escorting her to dinner, inviting her to view the dailies and letting her watch the filming—which gives her a front-row seat as Dean Lawrence, instructing leading man Anson Burke on how to use a prop pistol, shoots himself fatally instead. Since Mike has made it clear to Hannah that she must leave investigating to the professionals, she can’t investigate, she can only snoop—much to the delight of Andrea, Norman and Lake Edenites everywhere.
Fluke lavishes so much attention on the mechanics of location shooting that there’s scant time for the murder, much less its solution.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7582-0294-6
Page Count: 356
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Familiar thrills lashed to a razor’s edge.
A Spanish cop, incurring a crime lord’s vengeful and wholly unearned wrath, is saddled with a new partner she’s not crazy about herself.
Agreeing to take a late-night call to cover for a colleague who wants to go home to his wife and baby, Officer Cristina Sánchez Pradell, of Marviña’s Policía Local, finds herself face to face with a man she takes to be an armed intruder. Before he can identify himself as Ian Templeton, who broke into his own house after he forgot his keys, he’s startled by a dark figure behind him and fires three shots, killing Angela Fry, the pregnant girlfriend who’d returned with him. Templeton, who’s actually Jack Cleland, a British fugitive widely sought for drug trafficking and killing a cop, blames Cristina’s presence for Angela’s death and swears revenge against her whole family. That includes her husband, Antonio; their 10-year-old son, Lucas; her cancer-stricken sister, Nuri; Nuri’s husband, fellow police officer Paco; and Ana, Cristina’s deaf, blind aunt, whose role will be pivotal. Cleland’s threats ring hollow as long as he’s in custody, but on the journey to transfer him to the custody of John Mackenzie, a disgraced ex-cop on his first day as an investigator for Britain's National Crime Agency, Cleland’s underlings break him out, killing one cop and shooting Paco nonfatally so that he can relay the news to Cristina. Mackenzie, a Scot who has long-standing issues with authority figures of all kinds, is ready to take the next flight home, but Sub-Inspector Miguel López, the chief of Marviña Station, insists that he stay and help Cristina, who clearly needs all the help she can get, however antipathetic its source. As the unwilling partners track down leads to Cleland’s present whereabouts, Cleland, effortlessly outmaneuvering them, zeroes in on one soft target after another. May (I’ll Keep You Safe, 2018, etc.) keeps a few surprises in reserve but not enough to prevent you from thinking you’ve seen this all before.
Familiar thrills lashed to a razor’s edge.Pub Date: March 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-78429-498-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Mobius
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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