Mystery readers are in good hands with this well-crafted, character-driven crime novel.
The killer is watching as a vacationing detective decides to investigate an old, unsolved murder in Ceron’s thriller.
When NYPD detective Miles Jordan rents a cabin in the Catskills, his winter vacation plans include “pancakes, beer, and cross-country skiing,” not a homicide cold case. His arrival in a small mountain town, however, coincides with the 25th anniversary of the unsolved murder of Jesse Anne Kelly, a state trooper’s wife. At the request of the victim’s sister—and against the wishes of the victim’s husband, now the town’s police chief—Miles is reluctantly drawn into the case and the lives of those most affected. Miles isn’t the stereotypical supercop: He’s smart and good looking, but at age 38 he’s packing extra pounds, recovering from recent knee surgery, five years out from a mild heart attack, and driven by fierce empathy for victims of violent crime. (The fact that Miles is Black isn’t an issue in his interactions, although the 1950s vibe of a diner he visits does invite his reflection that he wouldn’t have been welcome to eat there during that era.) As tensions mount and the case builds to its deadly conclusion, the author offers up potential suspects with enough misdirection to keep readers second-guessing. Is the police chief’s refusal of Miles’ help due to grief, guilt, or both? How angry was Jesse’s former work colleague, fired from his job for sexual harassment? Then there’s the gifted artist, whose self-destructive descent into alcoholism began shortly after Jesse’s death. Realistic dialogue and clear, descriptive prose propel the narrative; in a derelict shack, broken drywall exposes “pink insulation like guts in an open wound.” The ever-present winter weather reflects the mood and setting, the frigid bleakness (“The icy wind carried the fragrance of cedar and howled like a pack of wolves”) lending poignant significance to the book’s title. This is the third novel in Ceron’s Miles Jordan Mystery Thriller series, following Death of the Saltwater Blonde (2022) and Death in the City of Bridges (2022).
Mystery readers are in good hands with this well-crafted, character-driven crime novel.Pub Date: March 30, 2024
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Gold Coast Books
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.
Two killers are on the loose. Can they be stopped?
In this ambitious mystery, the prolific and popular King tells the story of a serial murderer who pledges, in a note to Buckeye City police, to kill “13 innocents and 1 guilty,” in order, we eventually learn, to avenge the death of a man who was framed and convicted for possession of child pornography and then killed in prison. At the same time, the author weaves in the efforts of another would-be murderer, a member of a violently abortion-opposing church who has been stalking a popular feminist author and women’s rights activist on a publicity tour. To tell these twin tales of murders done and intended, King summons some familiar characters, including private investigator Holly Gibney, whom readers may recall from previous novels. Gibney is enlisted to help Buckeye City police detective Izzy Jaynes try to identify and stop the serial killer, who has been murdering random unlucky citizens with chilling efficiency. She’s also been hired as a bodyguard for author and activist Kate McKay and her young assistant. The author succeeds in grabbing the reader’s interest and holding it throughout this page-turning tale of terror, which reads like a big-screen thriller. The action is well paced, the settings are vividly drawn, and King’s choice to focus on the real and deadly dangers of extremist thought is admirable. But the book is hamstrung by cliched characters, hackneyed dialogue (both spoken and internal), and motives that feel both convoluted and overly simplistic. King shines brightest when he gets to the heart of our darkest fears and desires, but here the dangers seem a bit cerebral. In his warning letter to the police, the serial killer wonders if his cryptic rationale to murder will make sense to others, concluding, “It does to me, and that is enough.” Is it enough? In another writer’s work, it might not be, but in King’s skilled hands, it probably is.
Even when King is not at his best, he’s still good.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781668089330
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”
Idyllic Catalina Island turns out to be just as crime infested as the rest of Los Angeles County in the latest series launch by the creator of Harry Bosch, Renée Ballard, and the Lincoln Lawyer.
Det. Sgt. Stilwell has been bounced off the county homicide squad and rusticized to Catalina, where the exclusive Black Marlin Club won’t admit even four-term Avalon Mayor Doug Allen to full membership and the most serious infraction seems to be the killing and cutting up of a buffalo, presumably by Henry Gaston, who operates Island Mystery Tours when he’s not threatening endangered species. All that changes with the discovery of a body sunk in the surrounding waters. The corpse, most recognizable by its streak of purple hair, is that of Leigh-Anne Moss, a Black Marlin server recently fired for fraternizing with members and guests she sees as potential sugar daddies. Stilwell is sufficiently invested in her murder to compete vigorously over jurisdiction with Rex Ahearn, the LA County homicide detective who kept his job when Stilwell lost his. Their rivalry, fueled by mutual contempt, is only the first hint that Stilwell will end up fighting his counterparts in law enforcement and local government at least as hard as he fights crooks like hit man Merris Spivak and Oscar “Baby Head” Terranova, Henry’s boss, who comes under sharper scrutiny when Henry disappears and ends up dead himself. Connelly handles his hero’s obligatory romance with assistant harbormaster Tash Dano and his increasingly wary alliance with assistant D.A. Monika Juarez with equal professionalism, and if the wrap-up leaves some loose ends dangling, well, that’s what franchises are for.
As the prosecutor sadly observes: “All this because of a dead buffalo.”Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9780316588485
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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