A layered and fast-paced mystery that also takes time to explore the importance of Darwin’s work.
Three detectives investigate the disappearance of Charles Darwin’s daughter-in-law in Squire’s historical mystery.
Archibald Line, London’s former chief of detectives, is already investigating the sender of a mysterious, threatening letter sent to scientist Charles Darwin’s home when he is called back to assist with a more pressing matter: the disappearance of Darwin’s daughter-in-law Henrietta. Line soon learns that Henrietta has been missing for four days and that the current chief of detectives, Jeremiah Fickett, is already on the case. Line also sends a personal note to Dunston Burnett, a retired bookkeeper who initially seems positioned as a Watson-like figure to Line’s Holmes, though Burnett soon launches his own investigation. Interspersed between these three strands of investigation is the initially curious story of Lucy Kinsley, a woman fallen on hard times who has just had her baby taken from her when Lucy is officially pronounced dead (though she’s still alive). Traversing these eventually converging narrative paths, Squire presents different views of Victorian London. The Lucy sections are particularly grimy: “The nurse on duty was asleep in a chair, totally oblivious to the ugly sounds issuing from the forty or so beds crammed into the ward. If the moaning, sobbing, and occasional scream were not enough to wake her, then quiet-as-a-mouse Lucy was not likely to disturb her.” The author also skillfully creates tension by cross-cutting between the investigative threads. By the time another letter appears at the Darwins’ doorstep, and a body that might be Henrietta’s is discovered along the Thames, readers will be racing through the chapters. Lucy’s section slows the momentum in the first third of the novel, but her role in the mystery becomes clearer as the story unfolds. Alongside the sleuthing runs a discussion of the transformational impact of Darwin’s work and the fiery response it received from religious leaders and believers.
A layered and fast-paced mystery that also takes time to explore the importance of Darwin’s work.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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