An engaging crime tale with a captivating cast of characters.
In this novel, a man finds a friend’s corpse in the trunk of his car.
One day in 1990s Brooklyn, Ti Zoot returns from Haiti and decides to pick up his car at his friend Ernse’s home. When Ti Zoot opens the trunk, he discovers Ernse’s body. Readers learn that this may be the vengeful result of Ernse’s impregnating the girlfriend of a gangster named Quico. Flash-forward, and Ti Zoot is missing his pal, while Ernse’s wife, Nancy, is trying to move on and raise her daughter. Nancy begins to date Max, a Miami gangster who recently moved to New York City and has his own crew. Max is making a name for himself on the street, but his friends—namely Pik and Fredo—think they are tough, too, and go after Ti Zoot after he starts a petty beef. (The protagonist puts them in their place.) Ti Zoot and his friends become enemies of Max and his crew, and the two groups face off in a few confrontations. Afterward, Ti Zoot prioritizes protecting his friends—including Jimmy, who is falling for Nancy—and trying to figure out what events led to Ernse’s murder. Meanwhile, Max seriously considers the possibility that the war started because of Pik’s and Fredo’s ineptitude. Duval’s characters are mostly grounded and feel like a real-life community. Similarly, rich details, such as references to the Haitian cuisine the players devour, amplify the story, making it feel as if readers could visit Brooklyn and see these characters. The prologue and epilogue are both strong. The latter deftly delivers a sweet, tender flashback, adding a final note of hopefulness to the tale. Unfortunately, the story’s middle section tends to drag a bit. In addition, the exchanges at times read like dialogue in a play. When Jimmy talks to Nancy about Ernse’s death, it will be easy for readers to picture her standing on a stage as she reveals: “After losing my husband? You can say it….I remember after it happened for weeks…months. I refused to let myself smile, enjoy a moment with my daughter, share my thoughts. I refused to live.” While this scene brings to mind August Wilson, the technique does not work that well in a novel.
An engaging crime tale with a captivating cast of characters. (Glossary)Pub Date: June 25, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-955062-07-7
Page Count: 284
Publisher: Running Wild Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2022
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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