Romance all but obliterates mystery here, with Michaels’s lens trained so tightly on the leads that she misses every chance...
Viscount Saint Just continues to play havoc with the life of his creator, Maggie Kelly (Maggie by the Book, 2003, etc.).
Now that he finally has a life—and an income—of his own, modeling for Fragrances by Pierre under the name Alex Blakely, Maggie’s Regency hero could take Sterling Balder, his valet, and slip off into the whirlwind of New York. Instead, he takes an apartment across the hall from the romance writer and tries to run her life, casting himself in the role of her protector, mentor and maybe even . . . He books passage for Maggie, Sterling and himself back to England, where he’s been only in Maggie’s books, to watch the filming of a St. Just telemovie in the creepy country manor Sir Rudolph Medwine has loaned the parsimonious production company. But just as a flood halts production, Maggie finds the body of obnoxious screenwriter Sam Undercuffler dangling outside her window. Was Sam killed by sluttish star Nikki Campion, dim leading man Troy Barlow, ex–porn director Arnaud Peppin, Medwine’s sneaky nephew, Byrd Stockwell or Uncle Willard, the manor’s ghost-in-residence? Maggie won’t rest until she knows, and St. Just can’t rest while Maggie’s sleuthing.
Romance all but obliterates mystery here, with Michaels’s lens trained so tightly on the leads that she misses every chance for fun with her bit players.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2005
ISBN: 0-7582-0880-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Middling for this standout series but guaranteed to please anyone who thinks the cops sometimes get it wrong.
A cold case pulls Harry Bosch back from retirement and into another eventful partnership with Detective Renée Ballard of the LAPD.
The widow of Bosch’s retired mentor, Detective John Jack Thompson, has a present for Bosch, and it’s a doozy: the murder book for the unsolved killing of ex-con John Hilton, shot to death in his car one night nearly 20 years ago, which Thompson swiped from the archives without authorization or explanation. Bosch, who wonders why Thompson lifted the murder book if he didn’t intend to work the case, is eager to take a crack at it himself, but he needs the resources that only an active partner can provide. But Ballard, settled into the routine of the midnight shift after her exile from Robbery-Homicide (Dark Sacred Night, 2018), has just started working her own case, the arson that killed Eddie, a homeless man, inside his tent. As if that’s not enough criminal activity, Bosch’s half brother, Lincoln lawyer Mickey Haller, faces the apparently hopeless defense of Jeffrey Herstadt, who not only left his DNA under the fingernail of Walter Montgomery, the Superior Court judge he’s accused of killing, but also obligingly confessed to the murder. Working sometimes in tandem, more often separately, and sometimes actively against the cops who naturally bridle at the suggestion that any of their own theories or arrests might be flawed, Ballard and Bosch slog through the usual dead ends and fruitless rounds of questioning to link two murders separated by many years to a single hired killer. The most mysterious question of all—why did John Jack Thompson steal that murder book in the first place?—is answered suddenly, casually, and surprisingly.
Middling for this standout series but guaranteed to please anyone who thinks the cops sometimes get it wrong.Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-316-48561-6
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
An amusingly complex con combines with little-known historical details to provide an enchanting read.
A determined woman seeks justice.
Elizabeth Miles had a disreputable past as a grifter, but a chance friendship with Mrs. Bates, a suffragette, introduced her into New York society, and now she’s engaged to her friend's son, Gideon Bates, a straight-arrow lawyer. While Gideon is waiting to be called up to serve in the Great War, Cpl. Thomas Preston asks him to draft a new will leaving Thomas’ money and his one-third share in Preston Shoe Manufacturing to his pregnant new wife, Rose O’Dell, instead of his older brother, Fred, who currently shares ownership of the company with Thomas and Delia, their young, widowed stepmother. Since Rose is not the sort the Preston family would approve of, Gideon writes the will in secret, naming himself executor, and Thomas leaves it with Rose. All too soon thereafter, an angry Fred Preston barges into Gideon’s office saying that his brother is dead and his brother's widow claims to be the heir. Refusing to reveal his client’s business, Gideon visits Rose’s apartment, where he runs into the bruiser who attempted to strangle her and stole the only signed copy of the will. It’s clear that neither Fred nor his stepmother will help Rose, whom Elizabeth moves to her aunt’s house, where she and several other progressive women live, knowing that she’ll be safe. When neither threats of court cases nor attempts to shame Fred work, Elizabeth turns to her brother and father, the Old Man, and their talented group of con men (City of Secrets, 2018, etc.) to find a way to raise money for Rose and the coming child. Disapproving of war profiteers and men who hurt women, the group comes up with a clever plan that will make Rose rich and pay them something for their efforts. They stumble into the American Protective League, a nest of German spies, and a still more dangerous enemy in the Spanish flu, which will kill vast numbers all over the globe.
An amusingly complex con combines with little-known historical details to provide an enchanting read.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0565-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
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