A fifth excursion to England’s Malminster township, the grungy turf of Chief Inspector John Morrissey and his Detective-Sergeant Neil Barrett (A Portion for Foxes, 1995 etc.). Once again, the two are facing some knotty problems. The desiccated remains of a pregnant woman have been found in a drainage ditch—murder, says the coroner’s report. The corpse is eventually identified by Lucy Walton as street waif Mandy Sheard. Feisty, pregnant, 16-year-old Lucy is off the streets now, doing menial work at The Cedars, a maternity nursing home run by the icy Diane Carpenter and connected to Father Donnelly’s shelter at St. Ursala’s church. Then comes the rape of Kim Fitton—a crime that’s just a blip in the vicious life of drifter/odd-job worker Darren Minter, who lives rough in his old white van with the cowering, feckless Skeeter, half admiring (and half scared-to-death of) his savage companion. More compelling for Morrissey than these and other nefarious doings is the botched police action after the rape, a failure that results in rioting, vandalism, and a personal catastrophe that leaves Barrett by himself to track the rapist and nail Mandy’s killer. Both of which he does, uncovering a scam along the way. The tale is told in short takes that move swiftly from scene to scene, and from character to character, with high-level suspense that eases only when the scene turns to the petty rivalries at Police Headquarters. Another winner from one of the genre’s best.
Pub Date: Aug. 14, 1998
ISBN: 0-312-18656-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1998
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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