A juicy, jazzy period whodunit that charms and occasionally swings.
A Jazz Age baby can’t quit her favorite speakeasy, even (or especially) when murder’s involved.
Irish immigrant Vivian Kelly is still drawn to the lively Nightingale club after having been entangled in murderous mayhem there in two previous mysteries. The speakeasy’s like a second home to her, especially since her sister Florence, a demure seamstress, married Danny Chin and they moved into their own place. Vivian’s daytime employment delivering dresses is a lot less fun than her time at the Nightingale. When Vivian visits the Fifth Avenue apartment of the wealthy Buchanans with several boxes, the Mrs. isn’t home, but Mr. Buchanan ingratiates himself with Vivian, offering her a drink. The next thing she knows, Vivian drowsily awakens to find Mr. Buchanan dead, a knife in his neck. With a murder charge pending against Vivian, her boyfriend, bootlegger Leo Green, comes to the rescue, getting top-notch lawyer Jacob Dubinski to defend her. Remembering her past successful sleuthing, the police commissioner offers her a week to clear her name. When it’s revealed that Honor “Hux” Huxley, the owner of the Nightingale, is Buchanan’s daughter and heir, Vivian’s path leads right back to her beloved night spot, where Danny works as head bartender and Vivian’s best friend, Beatrice Henry, entertains patrons with her vocal stylings. More intimidating are thuggish Bruiser George and icy matron Hattie Wilson. The plot of this buoyant mystery is a bit of a ramble, but Schellman provides a vivid portrait of Prohibition-era New York and keeps the colorful characters coming.
A juicy, jazzy period whodunit that charms and occasionally swings.Pub Date: June 4, 2024
ISBN: 9781250325792
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
