An exceedingly intelligent private-eye tale that offers a peek into the darker corners of art-world commerce.
In Witham’s latest mystery in a series, private investigator Julian Peale looks into the mysterious death of a rising young artist and discovers a web of criminal conspiracy.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology student Colleen Mason is shocked when she discovers that her estranged older brother, Sam, a 28-year-old painter, had died suddenly due to an overdose,according to authorities. She’s also astonished to learn that he is widely considered to have been a creative genius, and that many art dealers are eager to locate his work, which seems to have simply vanished. Colleen refuses to believe that Sam died by accident, or by suicide; in fact, she’s sure that he was murdered, and she hires Julian, a PI with a specialty in art crimes, to dig deeper. He soon learns that Sam was promoted by Curator Services, a dubious outfit that runs “vanity operations” for artists, manufacturing public impressions that their works are in great demand—a “borderline criminal” scheme of Victor Kamin and Max Dunnaway, who have ties to Albanian organized crime. Monica Smithton, a Boston-based art dealer looking for Sam’s work, has similar ties, although she labors to keep them concealed. In this enthralling whodunit, Witham takes the reader on a gripping tour of the “shifty parts of the art world.” As Trisha Donnally, the talent scout who originally found Sam, puts it: “I guess I knew there were two sides, or many sides, to the art world, one dark and one light.” The novel adeptly creates an atmosphere of violent menace in which a young, idealist painter with openminded beliefs—Sam was fascinated by the occult and “a mysterious beyond that influences creativity”—falls prey to cynical jackals. The plot is complex but never convoluted, and for all its intelligence and nuance, it moves at an entertainingly brisk pace. Overall, it’s a delightful, thoughtful, and quietly powerful read for anyone who loves art and crime dramas.
An exceedingly intelligent private-eye tale that offers a peek into the darker corners of art-world commerce.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2025
ISBN: 9781665772600
Page Count: 218
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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