A rather trivial tale—and probably too British to interest many American readers.
British headmaster’s daughter stumbles upon a murder.
Not quite a mystery and not exactly a coming-of-ager, Yardley’s debut presents an array of mild-mannered eccentrics in an Essex village, circa 1965, seen through the eyes of Annie Cradock, a curious and sensitive ten-year-old. Annie is fascinated to find that Mrs. Clitheroe, her pretty, dithery music teacher, also sees music in color (a precious conceit of this discombobulated plot). Annie adores music, pop tunes in particular—and she’s such a bloody little genius that she creates a sculpture she calls “Ruby Tuesday” before the Rolling Stones make the song famous. Her beloved father, a not-too-strict headmaster with a taste for whimsy, builds a replica of the Empire State Building out of 7,574 matchboxes and flies off to Idlewild to present the silly thing to Mayor Robert Wagner at the World’s Fair. Not long after that, Mrs. Clitheroe is murdered. Did the seemingly harmless rag-and-bone man do it? Or was it one of the gypsy travelers who camped near the village? It’s all very confusing to Annie (and to the reader). Years later, Annie decides to go along when her second husband, Alan, a biotech company CEO, accepts a job offer in New York. Perhaps she can teach singing. But her old childhood friend Babette asks whether Annie can truly be happy with renting a teaching studio in Manhattan and commuting from Westchester, which is where Alan wants to live. It’s a good question. Meanwhile, Annie (in London with Alan to await her visa) has begun an intense affair with Daniel, husband #1 (on their reignited passion: “Perhaps it was always inevitable . . . ”). Can she go to New York and leave Daniel once again? What about Alan? Back to the past: a 40-year-old photo album turns up unexpectedly and provides some intriguing clues to the mystery of Mrs. Clitheroe’s death. A talky denouement wraps it all up.
A rather trivial tale—and probably too British to interest many American readers.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-552-77101-5
Page Count: 380
Publisher: Black Swan
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2004
A steamy, glitzy, and tender tale of college intrigue.
In this opener to Kennedy’s (Hot & Bothered, 2017, etc.) Briar U romance series, two likable students keep getting their signals crossed.
Twenty-one-year-old Summer Heyward-Di Laurentis is expelled from Brown University in the middle of her junior year because she was responsible for a fire at the Kappa Beta Nu sorority house. Fortunately, her father has connections, so she’s now enrolled in Briar University, a prestigious institution about an hour outside Boston. But as she’s about to move into Briar’s Kappa Beta Nu house, she’s asked to leave by the sisters, who don’t want her besmirching their reputation. Her older brother Dean, who’s a former Briar hockey star, comes to her rescue; his buddies, who are still on the hockey team, need a fourth roommate for their townhouse. Three good-looking hockey jocks and a very rich, gorgeous fashion major under the same roof—what could go wrong? Summer becomes quickly infatuated with one of her housemates: Dean’s best friend Colin “Fitzy” Fitzgerald. There’s a definite spark between them, and they exchange smoldering looks, but the tattooed Fitzy, who’s also a video game reviewer and designer, is an introvert who prefers no “drama” in his life. Summer, however, is a charming extrovert, although she has an inferiority complex about her flagging scholastic acumen. As the story goes on, the pair seem to misinterpret each other’s every move. Meanwhile, another roommate and potential suitor, Hunter Davenport, is waiting in the wings. Kennedy’s novel is full of sex, alcohol, and college-level profanity, but it never becomes formulaic. The author adroitly employs snappy dialogue, steady pacing, and humor, as in a scene at a runway fashion show featuring Briar jocks parading in Summer-designed swimwear. The book also manages to touch on some serious subjects, including learning disabilities and abusive behavior by faculty members. Summer and Fitzy’s repeated stumbles propel the plot through engaging twists and turns; the characters trade off narrating the story, which gives each of them a chance to reveal some substance.
A steamy, glitzy, and tender tale of college intrigue.Pub Date: Aug. 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72482-199-7
Page Count: 372
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A presold prefab blockbuster, what with King's Carrie hitting the moviehouses, Salem's Lot being lensed, The Shining itself sold to Warner Bros. and tapped as a Literary Guild full selection, NAL paperback, etc. (enough activity to demand an afterlife to consummate it all).
The setting is The Overlook, a palatial resort on a Colorado mountain top, snowbound and closed down for the long, long winter. Jack Torrance, a booze-fighting English teacher with a history of violence, is hired as caretaker and, hoping to finish a five-act tragedy he's writing, brings his wife Wendy and small son Danny to the howling loneliness of the half-alive and mad palazzo. The Overlook has a gruesome past, scenes from which start popping into the present in various suites and the ballroom. At first only Danny, gifted with second sight (he's a "shiner"), can see them; then the whole family is being zapped by satanic forces. The reader needs no supersight to glimpse where the story's going as King's formula builds to a hotel reeling with horrors during Poesque New Year's Eve revelry and confetti outta nowhere....
Back-prickling indeed despite the reader's unwillingness at being mercilessly manipulated.
Pub Date: Jan. 28, 1976
ISBN: 0385121679
Page Count: 453
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1976
PERSPECTIVES
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
