A prime character-driven procedural with the added allure of Iceland.
A Buffalo cop adds yet another bizarre case to her string of bad-luck investigations.
Police detective Lauren Riley’s badly injured partner, Shane Reese (The Murder Book, 2019, etc.), is recovering in Lauren’s home while she’s transferred from working cold cases to Homicide till he returns. Lauren’s stuck working with a detective soon to retire in what looks to become the tricky case of Gunnar Jonsson, from Reykjavik, found beaten to death with a brick near his upscale hotel. Although Buffalo has its share of murders, few of the victims are foreign citizens, so the FBI quickly becomes involved. A search of Jonsson’s room reveals DNA test results that explain his reason for visiting Buffalo: his discovery of the father he never knew. The product of a one-night stand, Gunnar has a half brother in Iceland and two newly discovered American half siblings, Brooklyn and Ryan, whose seriously ill father, John Hudson, had recently won a multimillion-dollar settlement that gives all his relatives a very good motive for murder. Lauren’s FBI partner, Special Agent Matthew Lawton, a computer expert with no real crime-solving experience, pitches in, and they turn up a new lead when the hotel’s daytime desk manager reveals that Gunnar was sharing a room with a Mr. Steinarsson, whom she assumed was his husband and who checked out the day of Gunnar’s murder. Pressed by the Icelandic government and the wealthy Mr. Hudson, the police and FBI send Lauren and Matt to Iceland looking for more clues while their colleagues keep after Brooklyn, a drug addict, and Ryan and his wife, who still seem like the best bet. In Iceland they partner with Berg Arnason as they seek out Steinarsson, a wealthy, well-connected businessman so determined to evade them that they begin to wonder what he’s hiding.
A prime character-driven procedural with the added allure of Iceland.Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-0727889874
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
bookshelf
