A gripping mystery set at the intersection of art, money, and power.
An art cop investigates a possible murder attempt in Witham’s crime novel, the second in a series.
Performance artist Magnifica—real name Mary Saville—has forged a reputation by parachuting into dramatic landscapes. The audience that gathers in Sedona, Arizona in June expects to see just that: the artist in her swoop parachute, landing at the base of the Devil’s Finger, one of the region’s dramatic red rock pinnacles. Instead, they witness an explosion that destroys the Devil’s Finger just before Magnifica leaps from the helicopter. Among the audience members is Julian Peale, who happens to be vacationing in Arizona with his wife, Priscilla. The former United States Navy man has made a second career as an “art cop,” employed at a tiny security firm that specializes in solving the myriad crimes of the art world. Peale’s company is hired to figure out who blew up the Finger, and why. Was it a Russian mob trying to send a message to Magnifica? Or is someone hoping to eliminate her as the heir to her mother’s significant estate? To find out, Peale will have to negotiate the hotel casinos of Las Vegas, the avant-garde art scene of Los Angeles, and the sharp-elbowed tech world of San Francisco. The trail leads to the Oracle of Fire, a Burning Man-like counterculture festival in the Nevada desert, where Magnifica plans to emerge from hiding to perform her greatest—and perhaps final—spectacle of all. Witham’s muscular prose reads like a series of raps on a locked door. Here Peale meets with the Russian art gallery owner Mikhail Federov: “Peale hoped the discussion would produce new insights about Magnifica. After all, it seemed like the Russian had been up to his ushanka, the Russian fur hat, in the world around the Saville women.” The characters are a bit too thin to sustain the webs of intrigue surrounding them, but Witham knows how to keep his story rolling through ever more arresting territory.
A gripping mystery set at the intersection of art, money, and power.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781665749183
Page Count: 338
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2024
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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