California’s Kate Jasper, owner of Jest Gifts, which makes antic presents, in her ninth frenetic encounter with murder (A Cry for Self-Help, 1997, etc.). This time, the victim is Shayla Greenfree, writer of science-fiction mysteries, and the place is the Fictional Pleasures Bookstore, where proprietor Ivan Nakagawa has arranged a book signing for Shayla’s latest work. Among others present, besides Kate and her lover Wayne, now owner of a restaurant—art gallery, are: Ivan’s ill-tempered assistant Marcia Armeson; nonselling author Ted Brown; Shayla’s husband Scott Green and his lover, Dean Frazier; screechy writer Yvette Cassell with husband Lou; acupuncturist Phyllis Oberman, and artist Zoe Ingersoll. As all wait for Shayla to begin her talk—after she’s clasped on her wrist a bracelet left on the table in front of her—it’s soon apparent that the speaker-to-be is dead, poisoned by curare-tipped needles inside the bracelet. Kate, as usual, feels challenged to find the killer. This time, though, she’s matched in aggressive nosiness by Yvette. The possibly accidental death of Marcia Armeson will provide further excuse for more unproductive meetings of those at the signing; and torrents of inane chatter and a parade of unappetizing vegetarian menus ensue as Kate struggles to rid her house of unwanted guest Ingrid Regnary and a quartet of real-life skunks. Suspense and plot development are sacrificed to perpetual motion, cutesy chitchat, and a plethora of going-nowhere subplots. Busy but ultimately boring.
Pub Date: April 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-425-16148-X
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1998
A good detective in an incendiary procedural.
A Yorkshire detective untangles an old murder and new arsons.
DS Adam Tyler, a cold-case investigator for the South Yorkshire Police, is a bit of a loner, but his boss wants him to network more so he lets Sally-Ann, one of his civilian colleagues, talk him into joining a pub evening with the South Yorkshire Police LGBT Support Network. He doesn't plan to stay long, and when he meets a handsome man at the bar—"Sweetheart, he was everyone's type. Even mine," Sally-Ann says—he abandons the group to go home with him. The next morning, when he gets to work, Sally-Ann tells him there's big news: The body of Gerald Cartwright, a local tycoon and shady character who disappeared years ago, has been found in the basement of his own house during a renovation ordered by his 21-year-old son, who'd just inherited it. Tyler manages to get himself assigned to the investigation though the detective who's been working on it since Cartwright's disappearance doesn't want to hand it over to cold cases; he soon discovers the identity of his one-night stand: Oscar Cartwright, son of the deceased and potential suspect, which further complicates his position. Meanwhile, Edna and Lily, elderly Cartwright retainers of various duties, have begun receiving unsettling anonymous letters, and the whole community is rattled by a series of arsons that seem more and more likely to be related to the discovery of Cartwright's body. As Tyler's investigation slowly uncovers a sordid history of manipulation and abuse, the violence increases and he is assaulted several times. The repetitive nature of these assaults is a weakness in the book, but the richness of Tyler's character and the vividness of his negotiation of his own sexuality and the casual bigotry in his community are effective. The subsidiary characters are lively and believable, the arsons are particularly well described, and though the plot sometimes seems gratuitously complex, this is a rewarding entertainment.
A good detective in an incendiary procedural.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-54202-5
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
Fans of Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins will find this comfortingly familiar despite (or maybe because of?) the shocks and...
In Pinborough’s (Behind Her Eyes, 2018, etc.) twisty, decade-spanning, multivoiced thriller, everyone has secrets: teenager Ava; her mom, Lisa; and Lisa’s best friend, Marilyn.
On the surface, all three women fulfill the roles expected of them, and they support and love one another, but they don’t truly know each other. Ava, a competitive swimmer, is finishing up her exams and sneaking around with her first boyfriend while overly protective mom Lisa is about to clinch a big contract at work—and maybe even go on a date with a handsome millionaire client. Marilyn has been dealing with headaches at home, but she’s still game for a shopping trip to outfit Lisa for that big date. Soon, however, they will discover that someone else in their lives has a secret much darker than any they carry. This person is a murderer who is stalking a childhood friend who, they believe, betrayed their deepest trust. There are a lot of plot twists and reveals within the novel, some of which are surprising, some of which are expected. Pinborough weaves several different time periods and several different narrative voices to create layers of character and conflict, but the characters are types often found in psychological thrillers, and while their problems are often relatable, at least at first, they aren’t particularly engaging. It’s clear which decisions, and which silences, are going to get them into trouble, and yet, as people do, they carry on anyway. The one element that sets Pinborough’s novel apart from the slew of similar thrillers is the emphasis on female empowerment and the power of female relationships. These women need no one to save them, no knights in shining armor or handsome cops. As Marilyn succinctly puts it, “Fuck. That. Shit.”
Fans of Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins will find this comfortingly familiar despite (or maybe because of?) the shocks and turns along the way.Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-06-285679-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
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