by Lilian Jackson Braun ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 6, 2003
The smidgen of mystery will be just enough for the faithful already queued up for this mild silver anniversary for Braun.
Is the world of Prokofiev’s opera The Gambler full of “scandal, intrigue, falsity, and greed,” really, as millionaire columnist Jim Qwilleran observes, “just like Pickax”? Well, yes and no. Ancient Moose County native Thelma Thackeray’s return from Hollywood to her hometown to have some unspecified fun before she dies has tongues wagging, though the issues are whether she was really a movie star and whether she’s going to turn the old opera house into a film club. Intrigue? Maybe the death of Thelma’s twin brother, beloved veterinarian Thurston Thackeray, in a hiking accident last year wasn’t so accidental. As for falsity and greed, somebody clearly kidnapped Thelma’s five prize Amazon parrots the very night she arrived in town, and since her nephew Richard got them back only by making a ransom payment, somebody’s obviously sitting on a heavy purse. But these readily solved crimes against humanity and the animal kingdom are matters of less urgent concern than the rambling reminiscences Qwill is collecting for his volume Short and Tall Tales, the lovingly detailed meals he shares with librarian Polly Duncan and other series regulars, the sleuthing shenanigans of his Siamese Koko and Yum Yum, and the columns that prove repeatedly that he can write a thousand words about nothing—a gift his veteran author displays on a larger scale herself.
The smidgen of mystery will be just enough for the faithful already queued up for this mild silver anniversary for Braun.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2003
ISBN: 0-399-14942-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2002
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by Lorna Barrett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2019
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
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by Agatha Christie ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 1934
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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