Colorful characters led by Cleopatra and historical tidbits add entertainment to a middling mystery. Bonus: a ten-page...
An ancient Roman sleuth aided by a teenaged Cleopatra tracks down pirates and solves a murder.
Decius Caecilius Metellus accepts a senatorial appointment with strings attached: he must go to the idyllic but reportedly uncivilized island of Cyprus to investigate recent incidents of piracy that have disrupted the flow of goods to Rome. Cyprus governor Aulus Silvanus and his right-hand man, General Gabinius, offer warm greetings to Metellus (SPQR VIII: The River God’s Vengeance, 2004, etc.), offering lavish hospitality and naval support for his search. An even warmer welcome comes from visiting princess Cleopatra, the daughter of Egyptian King Ptolemy, whom Metellus hasn’t seen in a decade. An adventurous teenage beauty, Cleopatra brushes aside concerns about her safety and lustily joins Metellus’ fleet in its pirate search. Cyprus is enlivened still further by Flavia, a sensual senator’s wife apparently on the prowl for carnal adventure, who seems to pop up everywhere Metellus visits. Thankfully, he gets solid support from his knowledgeable new servant Ion. When Silvanus is poisoned with a surfeit of frankincense, Metellus adds a murder investigation to his to-do list, marking Cleopatra and ambitious Gabinius, a former military rival of Caesar’s, as prime suspects. Arriving unannounced at the 11th hour, Metellus’ shrewd wife Julia helps him solve both mysteries.
Colorful characters led by Cleopatra and historical tidbits add entertainment to a middling mystery. Bonus: a ten-page glossary.Pub Date: June 27, 2005
ISBN: 0-312-33723-X
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Dunne/Minotaur
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
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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