Great news for Mario Balzic's many fans: The retired police chief of Rocksburg, Pa. (Good Sons, 1995, etc.), is back in the saddle again—all except for a little piece of one ear (vide the priceless opening scene). As if in answer to his exasperated wife Ruth's prayers, Balzic is offered a temporary job at $35 an hour working for the Attorney General's office. Citing new evidence, jailhouse lawyer Lester Walin, nÇ Walczinsky, has demanded a post-conviction hearing in re the killing of two druggies 17 years before. The evidence: Hubert Scumacci, the witness who swore that he drove pothead Lester to the fatal rendezvous, now says the shooter was somebody else; and Edgar Patter, a convicted perjurer who helped put Lester away back then, has produced a document that he says proves Lester was in Ohio the night of the murders and can't have seen a thing. Heartened by the promise that these no-account felons will now tell the truth, probably for the first time in their lives, Lester insists that he has an alibi: a set of Polaroid shots he never produced before for reasons the subject of the photos makes grotesquely clear. Investigating this serpentine latest round of claims and counterclaims will take Balzic deep into the heart of one of the most monstrous families in mystery annals. ``Sometimes,'' Balzic concludes, ``you learn things, which the minute you learn `em you wish you hadn't.'' All too true for him, though not for his lucky readers.
Pub Date: March 6, 1997
ISBN: 0-89296-545-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1997
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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