An earnest but ultimately flat attempt to update the classic noir detective tale.
A routine murder investigation sets an investigator down a path that will upend the Seattle police force in D’Aquisto’s mystery novel.
When construction worker Leo Johnson goes missing, Seattle homicide cop John Sandes is quickly on the case. He soon discovers Johnson’s body in a bathtub in the victim’s home, shot in the head, but with no witnesses and few clues, Sandes’ investigation goes nowhere. That is, until he remembers the picture of a little girl by Johnson’s bedside. Johnson had no family, and Sandes discovers that the child is K.C. Wingate, who recently disappeared. It takes little time for Sandes to discover K.C.’s hair at the scene of the crime and the fact that Johnson frequented a members-only pornography store. Working on hunches supported by a set of seemingly disparate clues, he unravels a mystery involving missing girls and villainous men. When he gets called to a second murder that looks a lot like Johnson’s, he suspects that the two are linked. Seattle’s chief of police, Larry Wegmueller, is skeptical and urges Sandes to retire for the sake of his mental health, but the detective remains determined—even if it means working outside the law. D’Aquisto skillfully crafts his mystery, assembling clues in a deft manner that always makes logical sense and keeps the narrative flow consistent. His main character, however, is not the kind of hard-boiled detective that readers may expect. D’Aquisto tries to elicit sympathy for Sandes through a series of flashbacks, but the additions make the character seem spineless; in fact, Sandes’ past may leave readers doubtful that he’ll be able to crack the case at all. D’Aquisto seems to be attempting to mimic the style of masters of detective fiction, such as Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, but his prose fails to effectively capture the figure of a righteous detective wading through the muck and mire of the city.
An earnest but ultimately flat attempt to update the classic noir detective tale.Pub Date: April 27, 2021
ISBN: 979-8745203701
Page Count: 145
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.
A 16-year-old savant uses his Groundhog Day gift to solve his grandfather’s murder.
Nishizawa’s compulsively readable puzzle opens with the discovery of the victim, patriarch Reijiro Fuchigami, sprawled on a futon in the attic of his elegant mansion, where his family has gathered for a consequential announcement about his estate. The weapon seems to be a copper vase lying nearby. Given this setup, the novel might have proceeded as a traditional whodunit but for two delightful features. The first is the ebullient narration of Fuchigami’s youngest grandson, Hisataro, thrust into the role of an investigator with more dedication than finesse. The second is Nishizawa’s clever premise: The 16-year-old Hisataro has lived ever since birth with a condition that occasionally has him falling into a time loop that he calls "the Trap," replaying the same 24 hours of his life exactly nine times before moving on. And, of course, the murder takes place on the first day of one of these loops. Can he solve the murder before the cycle is played out? His initial strategies—never leaving his grandfather’s side, focusing on specific suspects, hiding in order to observe them all—fall frustratingly short. Hisataro’s comical anxiety rises with every failed attempt to identify the culprit. It’s only when he steps back and examines all the evidence that he discovers the solution. First published in 1995, this is the first of Nishizawa’s novels to be translated into English. As for Hisataro, he ultimately concludes that his condition is not a burden but a gift: “Time’s spiral never ends.”
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781805335436
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.
Four residents of Coopers Chase, a British retirement village, compete with the police to solve a murder in this debut novel.
The Thursday Murder Club started out with a group of septuagenarians working on old murder cases culled from the files of club founder Elizabeth Best’s friend Penny Gray, a former police officer who's now comatose in the village's nursing home. Elizabeth used to have an unspecified job, possibly as a spy, that has left her with a large network of helpful sources. Joyce Meadowcroft is a former nurse who chronicles their deeds. Psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif and well-known political firebrand Ron Ritchie complete the group. They charm Police Constable Donna De Freitas, who, visiting to give a talk on safety at Coopers Chase, finds the residents sharp as tacks. Built with drug money on the grounds of a convent, Coopers Chase is a high-end development conceived by loathsome Ian Ventham and maintained by dangerous crook Tony Curran, who’s about to be fired and replaced with wary but willing Bogdan Jankowski. Ventham has big plans for the future—as soon as he’s removed the nuns' bodies from the cemetery. When Curran is murdered, DCI Chris Hudson gets the case, but Elizabeth uses her influence to get the ambitious De Freitas included, giving the Thursday Club a police source. What follows is a fascinating primer in detection as British TV personality Osman allows the members to use their diverse skills to solve a series of interconnected crimes.
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-98-488096-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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