Anglophiles and series fans will forgive the fact that Alan and Dorothy spend a lot more time extolling the beauties of the...
A retired Chief Constable and his American spouse are enjoying the beauties of a holiday in the Cotswolds when they stumble upon a body.
Despite Alan’s Nesbitt’s unofficial status, he and Dorothy Martin are no strangers to sleuthing (A Dark and Stormy Night, 2011, etc.). So it’s no surprise that while they’re staying in a B&B in the picture-perfect English village of Broadway and enjoying hiking the countryside, they find a body in a quarry. The couple becomes concerned about Paul Jones, a young fellow guest who seems to be in fear of something. Hoping that he has nothing to do with the death of the seemingly blameless farmer, Dorothy decides that they must investigate when Paul vanishes. The sleuths meet Jo Carter, who claims to be an old family friend of Paul, and eventually learn that the young man, under a different name, is a budding pop star whose family once had to go into hiding to escape from a particularly nasty and abusive ex-husband and stepfather. Paul recognized him but has no idea what name he may be using or whether he even lives in the Cotswolds. Although Paul is eventually found, Jo disappears. Has she too become a victim? Renting a cottage as a base for exploration, the couple takes in a lost and starving dog, who provides a handy excuse to visit outlying farms looking for Jo. Although the police are searching, Dorothy is the one who faces the greatest danger.
Anglophiles and series fans will forgive the fact that Alan and Dorothy spend a lot more time extolling the beauties of the English countryside than solving the crimes.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7278-8090-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.
In Archie Goodwin's 15th adventure since the death of his creator, Rex Stout, his gossipy Aunt Edna Wainwright lures him from 34th Street to his carefully unnamed hometown in Ohio to investigate the death of a well-hated bank president.
Tom Blankenship, the local police chief, thinks there’s no case since Logan Mulgrew shot himself. But Archie’s mother, Marjorie Goodwin, and Aunt Edna know lots of people with reason to have killed him. Mulgrew drove rival banker Charles Purcell out of business, forcing Purcell to get work as an auto mechanic, and foreclosed on dairy farmer Harold Mapes’ spread. Lester Newman is convinced that Mulgrew murdered his ailing wife, Lester’s sister, so that he could romance her nurse, Carrie Yeager. And Donna Newman, Lester’s granddaughter, might have had an eye on her great-uncle’s substantial estate. Nor is Archie limited to mulling over his relatives’ gossip, for Trumpet reporter Verna Kay Padgett, whose apartment window was shot out the night her column raised questions about the alleged suicide, is perfectly willing to publish a floridly actionable summary of the leading suspects that delights her editor, shocks Archie, and infuriates everyone else. The one person missing is Archie’s boss, Nero Wolfe (Death of an Art Collector, 2019, etc.), and fans will breathe a sigh of relief when he appears at Marjorie’s door, debriefs Archie, notices a telltale clue, prepares dinner for everyone, sleeps on his discovery, and arranges a meeting of all parties in Marjorie’s living room in which he names the killer.
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5040-5988-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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