The laudable protagonist once again guides readers through a robust detective story.
Lansing’s latest thriller (The Devil’s Necktie, 2015, etc.), the third outing for Jack Bertolino, finds the private investigator searching for a killer whose assassination of a known criminal results in a child’s accidental death.
Toby Dirk’s decision to take out drug dealer Tomas Vegas sniper-style isn’t what puts Jack on the case. It’s the stray bullet that kills 6-year-old Maria Sanchez. Former NYPD detective Jack is already in Los Angeles, his prior tussle with kidnappers and sex traffickers providing the basis for the currently in-production film Done Deal. He’s technical adviser to the movie’s star, Susan Blake, but also acting as bodyguard; a stalker followed the actress from New York. Toby, meanwhile, comes from a family of lawbreakers, with him and older brothers Terrence and Sean running a store to launder dirty money. They dabble in various illicit deeds, including stealing drugs and cash from other dealers. But Jack’s suspicion that the Vegas hit was personal may be spot-on: Toby doesn’t tell his brothers that he was the shooter. When Toby executes a second solo murder, Jack may find a way to link the deaths to the Dirk brothers. The other investigation’s complicated enough, with Jack fairly certain Susan is lying about not knowing the stalker’s identity. But if he gets any closer to unraveling the Dirks’ criminal enterprise, Jack could be the next victim. The protagonist’s working two separate cases ultimately proves beneficial to the story. Lansing takes them in vastly different directions, one built on mystery (details on the stalker are largely unknown), the other on suspense (readers are fully aware of how dangerous the Dirks are). There’s likewise perspective from the baddies, who occasionally commit murders together, while Jack and Susan’s physical relationship, coupled with his ex-wife, Jeannine, suddenly showing up at his door, is a delightful soapy turn. Stellar supporting characters range from legal-advising friend/lawyer Tommy Aronsohn to computer genius Cruz Feinberg, who uses his hacking skills to great effect. And though the private eye’s rugged looks attract the ladies, his frankness is most appealing: “I’ll take [someone] down because he’s a scumbag,” he says. “But I won’t kill him. Because I’m not.”
The laudable protagonist once again guides readers through a robust detective story.Pub Date: May 31, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-4756-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 14, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Utter non-scents.
Die-hard Yankee candle maker Stella Wright (Murder’s No Votive Confidence, 2018) gets caught up in a trans-Atlantic murder plot.
Stella thoroughly enjoys her trip to Paris even though her mother, perfume expert Millie Wright, who’s scheduled to speak on a panel entitled “The Art of Scent Extractions” at the World Perfumery Conference, gets preempted by a murder. Sadly, once they’re back home in Nantucket, things get even weirder. Stella receives an anonymous note threatening her mom if Stella doesn’t turn over a secret formula hidden in Millie’s bag. Her mom can’t help because she’s in the hospital courtesy of an overenthusiastic attempt by Stella’s cat, Tinker, to befriend her. While trespassing on a suspicious sailboat, Stella meets U.S. Agent Sarah Hill, who warns her that well-known anarchist Rex Laruam plans to disrupt the upcoming Peace Jubilee using a stolen formula he secreted in Millie’s bag after he stabbed the agent guarding it back in Paris. Ignoring the advice of her friend Andy Southerland, a Nantucket cop, to leave detection to the professionals, Stella tries to unmask the elusive Laruam. As she spies on a bevy of unlikely suspects, the plot spirals further and further out of control: There’s a Canadian couple staying at an Airbnb run by Stella’s cousin Chris who whisper sweet but suspicious nothings in the dark, a shovel-wielding schoolmarm, a gang of old geezers who have a collective crush on Millie, a surprise 30th-birthday party planned by Stella’s beau, Peter Bailey, and an even more surprising impromptu airplane ride.
Utter non-scents.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2141-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
A middling mystery with telling historical details and the usual pleasures provided by the regulars’ interpersonal dynamics.
A plucky group of early-20th-century detectives (Murder on Trinity Place, 2019, etc.) takes on the Black Hand.
The leads include Frank Malloy and Gino Donatelli, former police officers who started a detective agency after an unexpected legacy made Malloy a wealthy man; Malloy’s wife, Sarah, the daughter of a wealthy society family who runs a maternity clinic for the poor; and their nanny, Maeve, a budding sleuth who works in Malloy’s office. All of them leap to attention when Gino’s sister-in-law Teodora reports that Jane Harding, a worker at the settlement house where Teo volunteers, has been kidnapped by the Black Hand, who are notorious for abducting the wives and children of anyone who can afford to pay ransom. The New York Police Department is corrupt, and the local Italian immigrants never report crimes. Mr. McWilliam, who runs the settlement house, had asked Jane to marry him, but she’d asked him to allow her to experience more of the single life before deciding. Seeking clues, Sarah visits Mrs. Cassidi, an earlier kidnapping victim who’s refused to talk to anyone, in hopes that her nursing experience and sympathetic manner will get results. Mrs. Cassidi admits to being raped but knows little about where she was held captive, a quiet place in a house where she could hear children. Soon after Nunzio Esposito, a leader of the Black Hand, tells Malloy that no one’s been taken from the settlement house, Jane suddenly reappears but refuses to discuss where she’s been. Lisa Prince, Jane’s well-to-do cousin, reluctantly agrees to take her in even though Jane’s jealous of her wealth and can be unpleasant to deal with. When Esposito’s found murdered in a flat he rented for his mistress, Gino, who’s just arrived on the scene, is arrested. Now the clever sleuths must solve both the murder and the abductions to clear Gino’s name.
A middling mystery with telling historical details and the usual pleasures provided by the regulars’ interpersonal dynamics.Pub Date: April 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0574-4
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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