Another earnest homage to Doyle (with 25-plus pages of notes) that should appeal to hardcore fans but few others.
A coded message sets off alarm bells in the steel-trap mind of Sherlock Holmes and prompts the sleuth to give chase, despite his strong suspicion that he and faithful Dr. Watson are being manipulated. Beautiful Elsie Cubitt, whom Holmes helped and fell in love with on a previous case, has disappeared after withdrawing £5,000 from her bank, implicating Chicago gangster Abe Slaney, a former Holmes adversary believed to have drowned after a daring prison escape. The trail begins with colorful spiritualist Madame DuBois, an enormous painted lady with masses of dyed black hair and a fake French accent. Despite her obvious inauthenticity, she’s been Elsie’s recent, frequent confidante, and she likewise disappears soon after Holmes interviews her. Complicating the search is a skillful Holmes impersonator who leaves false clues and petty-crime victims just two steps ahead of the heroes. Their odyssey takes them from London to Liverpool to New York City, where the titled plot development occurs in the middle of a fog in Greenwich Village, and ultimately to Chicago, Slaney’s bailiwick. Abetted by Irish barkeep and burgeoning detective Shadwell Rafferty (Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Alliance, 2001, etc.), Watson is left to find both Elsie and Holmes, himself a captive. Millett opts for texture over tension, with Watson’s traditional first-person entries counterpointed by the third-person narratives of the captive Elsie and sleuthing Holmes and the various villains ranged against them.
Another earnest homage to Doyle (with 25-plus pages of notes) that should appeal to hardcore fans but few others.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2002
ISBN: 0-670-03140-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2002
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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