Sensitive, meaty, and varied, although, as so often before (At Death’s Window, 2015, etc.), Kelly is more invested in laying...
DI Peter Shaw, of the West Norfolk Constabulary, battles his boss for the privilege of investigating what seems like a particularly gratuitous murder.
The candles, the decorations, and the local press are all waiting for Ruby Bright, but she’s going to miss her 100th birthday because someone’s wheeled her out of the Marsh House care home, past half a dozen CCTV cameras that somehow turned blind eyes to her departure, and smothered her with a plastic bag. It seems incredible that anyone would want to hasten her steady progress to the grave—until dotty old Christian Keyes, another guest at Marsh House, tells Shaw that Ruby had been convinced that her friend Beatrice Hood had also been murdered 18 months ago at the tender age of 87. Shaw is eager to pursue the case wherever it leads—and it will lead places he can scarcely imagine—but newly arrived Chief Constable Kieran Joyce, as officious as he is misguided, is determined to keep him focused on the protests the Walsingham Alternative Pilgrimage has planned to disrupt the devotions that will bring thousands of the more orthodox faithful to town for World Pilgrim Day. In addition, there’s been a rash of trainers tied together by their laces and tossed over power lines. Do they indicate high spirits or presage gang warfare? And one further complication strikes a more somber note: now that he’s been diagnosed with lung cancer, Shaw’s much older partner, DS George Valentine, has to decide whether to schedule aggressive treatments that may do no good or resolve to go gently into that good night.
Sensitive, meaty, and varied, although, as so often before (At Death’s Window, 2015, etc.), Kelly is more invested in laying out multiple intriguing plots than in tying all the loose ends together.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-78029-077-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Creme de la Crime
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
