A lengthy but smart and diverting whodunit.
In this debut mystery, a construction project in progress is the site of murder, theft, and the occasional betrayal.
Billionaire David Johnsson has been planning a winery at his massive California estate. But as he fired his architect and has been butting heads with the contractor, the project remains incomplete. He turns to architect Neil Thornton for help. It’s a hefty job that Neil willingly takes, though he’s unprepared when an individual knocks him down on David’s estate—possibly the same culprit who ransacks his car and his office and pilfers his project drawings. Meanwhile, local police detective Sean Andrews, working a missing person case, ultimately discovers a body on David’s property. And there’s more: David is an avid art collector, and eight paintings are gone from his unfinished vault. Over in New York, art dealer Jennifer Singh contacts FBI Agent Marcus Little. Evidently, an attorney representing an anonymous collector sold an auction house a painting that’s likely stolen. This opens an investigation that soon intersects with the case on the West Coast and involves numerous people, such as David’s brother, Keith, with criminal pasts. It seems only a matter of time before a killer’s surprising identity comes to light. Rutherford’s extensive novel includes copious architectural details. But as they appear intermittently, they never derail the sound murder mystery unfolding throughout. Neil’s entanglement in the homicide case is believable, especially since someone at one point considers him a suspect. In addition, there’s a double-crossing or two as well as unnerving moments, like Neil’s potential new client Karl Stroughmann’s making the architect wary. Although Neil is meek but likable, the most memorable characters are of the delightfully shady variety, from Keith to David’s ex-wife, Georgia. Rather than one big reveal, answers come gradually in the latter half, and the killer may not be easy for readers to unmask.
A lengthy but smart and diverting whodunit. (author bio, drawings, blueprints)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-578-57662-6
Page Count: 402
Publisher: E&O Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 11, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PROFILES
If you love good crime writing but aren’t familiar with Winslow’s work, read this trilogy in order.
The dramatic conclusion to the trilogy about two New England crime families begun in City on Fire (2022) and City of Dreams (2023).
Near the end of his journey, multimillionaire Danny Ryan watches a casino implode in a mushroom cloud of dust and muses about his life’s implosions: “The cancer that killed his wife, the depression that destroyed his love, the moral rot that took his soul.” Danny is from Providence, Rhode Island, and desperately tried to leave his criminal life behind him. But using a ton of ill-gotten gains, he invests heavily in Las Vegas properties. Congress is conducting an investigation into gambling that could destroy his casino business and even land him in jail. An FBI agent plans to take Danny down for major sins he’d like to repent for. Meanwhile, can he make peace with his enemies? Nope, doesn’t look like it. Even if the parties involved want to put the past behind them, the trouble is that they don’t trust each other. Is Vern Winegard setting Dan up? Is Dan setting Vern up? “Trust? Trust is children waiting for Santa Claus.” So what could have been a “Kumbaya,” nobody-wants-to-read-this story turns into a grisly bloodletting filled with language that would set Sister Mary Margaret’s wimple on fire—figuratively speaking, as she’s not in the book. But the Catholic reference is appropriate: Two of the many colorful characters of ill repute are known as the Altar Boys, serving “Last Communion” to their victims. On the law-abiding side and out of the line of fire is an ex-nun-turned-prosecutor nicknamed Attila the Nun, who’s determined to bring justice for a gory matricide. (Rhode Island really had such a person, by the way.) Finally, the prose is just fun: A friend warns Dan about Allie Licata: “In a world of sick fucks, even the sick fucks think Licata’s a sick fuck.” A couple of things to note: This not only ends the trilogy, but it also closes out the author’s career, as he has said he’ll write no more novels.
If you love good crime writing but aren’t familiar with Winslow’s work, read this trilogy in order.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780063079472
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2024
PROFILES
A tale that’s hard to believe but easy to swallow in a single gulp.
A bear is hunting prey in Wyoming’s Bighorns. And not just any bear.
It’s bad enough that Clay Hutmacher, who manages the Double Diamond Ranch, has lost his son, Clay Jr., to a vicious attack by a grizzly bear. What’s much worse is that Clay Jr.—who’d been about to pop the question to game warden Joe Pickett’s daughter, Sheridan—is only the first of the victims over an exceptionally broad geographical area. Marshal Marvin Bertignolli is clawed and bitten to death over in Hanna. Sgt. Ryan Winner is found bleeding out north of Rawlins. Former Twelve Sleep County prosecutor Dulcie Schalk, one of two survivors of an ambush, doesn’t survive her final encounter. The four experts chosen to kill the grizzly rope Joe into their expedition, but since their quarry keeps turning up far from the last sighting, the most meaningful confrontation the Predator Attack Team has is with a pair of Mama Bears, animal rights activists who demand due process for Tisiphone, as they’ve dubbed the presumed killer. Box, who’s far too canny to leave Tisiphone alone on center stage, follows Joe’s old antagonist Dallas Cates as the ex–rodeo star is released from prison and embarks on his revenge tour, which takes him to Lee Ogburn-Russell, an inventor whose life Dallas saved, and Axel Soledad, a correspondent who shares so many enemies with Dallas that he suggests they go after them together. Franchise fans will appreciate new details about Joe’s complicated family, the obligatory high-country landscapes, and yet another corrupt law enforcer.
A tale that’s hard to believe but easy to swallow in a single gulp.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2024
ISBN: 9780593331347
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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