Like his Owen Allison series (Stonewall Jackson’s Elbow, 2006, etc.), Billheimer’s new franchise emphasizes local color in...
A sportswriter with a gambling problem tries to help a trainer escape indictment for steroid abuse.
Dale Loren used to be a major league pitcher. After he blew out his arm, he found work as a trainer for the Meckenburg Mammoths, Cleveland’s AAA team. Accustomed to free access to performance enhancement drugs that are now illegal, the minor leaguers pester Dale for steroids until finally, he mixes a concoction of cold cream, sunblock and lemon juice for hot prospect Sammy Tancredi. Whether it’s the weight training Dale insists on to explain Sammy’s bigger muscles or just a placebo effect, the young player’s hitting explodes, catapulting him into the majors. Once there, he tests positive for steroids and names Dale as his supplier, landing the trainer in the middle of a congressional probe of steroid use in baseball, with a grand jury indictment the next stop. Lloyd Keaton, who’s slammed U.S. Representative Bloodworth in his sports column for his fixation with steroids, sets out to find evidence to exonerate Loren. But after losing a huge bet to Little Bill Ellison’s West Virginia syndicate, Keaton finds himself in the crosshairs. And when Dave Bowers, a bookie who lost even bigger to Little Bill, is pushed down an elevator shaft in his wheelchair, Keaton knows that it’s just a matter of time before the West Virginia boys catch up to him, too. Can he find evidence to clear his pal before the syndicate cleans his clock?
Like his Owen Allison series (Stonewall Jackson’s Elbow, 2006, etc.), Billheimer’s new franchise emphasizes local color in small-town America as its heroes prove to be their own worst enemies.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4328-2617-8
Page Count: 380
Publisher: Five Star/Gale Cengage
Review Posted Online: Aug. 14, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
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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