Dupin’s debut, published first in Germany and then in Britain, holds the promise of more pleasant puzzlers from the scenic...
Commissaire Georges Dupin scratches his head over the death of a 91-year-old Breton hotelier.
It’s been two years and seven months since Dupin was “relocated” to a remote corner of Brittany. Even though locals still consider him a Parisian, he feels at home in Concarneau, where he sits each morning at the bar of the Amiral sipping coffee and gazing at the sea. One morning his peace is shattered by a call from Labat, the more annoying of his two inspectors, who informs him that Pierre-Louis Pennec, owner of the Central Hotel, has been found stabbed to death. Grumbling at the intrusion—he hasn’t even had time to buy his lottery ticket—Dupin hurries to Pont-Aven, an even more idyllic spot than Concarneau because it’s where the wooded river valley joins the rocky Breton coast. There, Dupin becomes more puzzled than put out. Who would kill an elderly man whose chief occupation was sipping the local lambig, an apple brandy even better than calvados, at his own bar at the end of each evening? As he interviews Pennec’s employees—wily Madame Lajoux, steady Madame Mendu, overwhelmed Madame Galez—Dupin’s confusion deepens. Even Pennec’s family, his son, Loic, and his half brother, André, sheds no light on the case. Gradually Dupin becomes convinced that the solution lies in the Central itself, which was home to the impressionist artists who worked at Pont-Aven. Solving this case isn’t paint-by-numbers: it takes ingenuity, determination, and a little help from Marie Morgane Cassel, a comely art historian from Brest.
Dupin’s debut, published first in Germany and then in Britain, holds the promise of more pleasant puzzlers from the scenic north of France.Pub Date: June 30, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-06174-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.
Too much free time leads a New Hampshire bookseller into yet another case of murder.
Now that Tricia Miles has Pixie Poe and Mr. Everett practically running her bookstore, Haven’t Got a Clue, she finds herself at loose ends. Her wealthy sister, Angelica, who in the guise of Nigela Ricita has invested heavily in making Stoneham a bookish tourist attraction, is entering the amateur competition for the Great Booktown Bake-Off. So Tricia, who’s recently taken up baking as a hobby, decides to join her and spends a lot of time looking for the perfect cupcake recipe. A visit to another bookstore leaves Tricia witnessing a nasty argument between owner Joyce Widman and next-door neighbor Vera Olson over the trimming of tree branches that hang over Joyce’s yard—also overheard by new town police officer Cindy Pearson. After Tricia accepts Joyce’s offer of some produce from her garden, they find Vera skewered by a pitchfork, and when Police Chief Grant Baker arrives, Joyce is his obvious suspect. Ever since Tricia moved to Stoneham, the homicide rate has skyrocketed (Poisoned Pages, 2018, etc.), and her history with Baker is fraught. She’s also become suspicious about the activities at Pets-A-Plenty, the animal shelter where Vera was a dedicated volunteer. Tricia’s offered her expertise to the board, but president Toby Kingston has been less than welcoming. With nothing but baking on her calendar, Tricia has plenty of time to investigate both the murder and her vague suspicions about the shelter. Plenty of small-town friendships and rivalries emerge in her quest for the truth.
An anodyne visit with Tricia and her friends and enemies hung on a thin mystery.Pub Date: Aug. 13, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0272-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2019
A murder is committed in a stalled transcontinental train in the Balkans, and every passenger has a watertight alibi. But Hercule Poirot finds a way.
**Note: This classic Agatha Christie mystery was originally published in England as Murder on the Orient Express, but in the United States as Murder in the Calais Coach. Kirkus reviewed the book in 1934 under the original US title, but we changed the title in our database to the now recognizable title Murder on the Orient Express. This is the only name now known for the book. The reason the US publisher, Dodd Mead, did not use the UK title in 1934 was to avoid confusion with the 1932 Graham Greene novel, Orient Express.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1934
ISBN: 978-0062073495
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1934
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