Beck is back, and lovers of the antic, the manic, and the just plain off-the-wall will revel in her return.
Beck (We Interrupt This Broadcast, 1997, etc.) takes another mordant look at the underemployed in this tale of a car jockey who drives everyone crazy.
Lukowski and MacNab, two of Seattle’s finest, are absolutely sure Tyler Benson must be guilty of something. They’re just not sure what. The kid’s fingerprints are all over the trunk of Gary and Caroline Smethurst’s gray Audi—the trunk containing the suitcase containing the dead body. The Smethursts, who rushed home early from their anniversary dinner at Ristorante Alba to provide homework help to their preteen daughter, who had not only a diorama, but a PowerPoint due the next day, have no idea how chop-shop technician Pavel Ivanovich Tarasov got into their trunk. Of course, neither does Tyler, who’s working for Elite Valet to pay off the student loans that his father, Roger Benson, tricked him into signing for before taking the money and plowing it into Ricotteria, his failed make-it-yourself Italian takeout business. Still, the cops find it fishy that Tyler, whose usual gig is Donna’s Casino, was at Alba at all on the night the suitcase was dumped, which was also the night shots were fired at zillionaire Scott Duckworth, who happens to be Roger’s old boss. And that one of Roger’s Ugg slippers was found at the scene. Of course, they show passing interest in cousins Dmytro and Volodya Zelenko, who, despite being Ukrainian, are reputed to be members of the Russian Mafia, along with their Georgian henchman, Sergei Lagunov. And they also eyeball Duckworth’s bodyguard, Red Ott. Still, when they find a .22 in Tyler’s car, and discover Tyler has a felony conviction, possible weapons possession charges seem the least of the valet’s worries.
Beck is back, and lovers of the antic, the manic, and the just plain off-the-wall will revel in her return.Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-56474-563-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Perseverance Press
Review Posted Online: June 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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