The criminal conspiracy is menacing, even monstrous, but no more interesting than the authentically tedious interrogations.
The killing of an ex-cop in a drug squat sends DI Anna Travis searching for the most wanted dealer in England.
Frank Brandon had led quite a life since his days on the Job. He was working as a chauffeur for midlevel drug supplier Donny Petrozzo when he caught the eye of wealthy, beautiful Julia Kendal, who’d married him and evidently made him a happy man. So what was he doing in the flat in squalid Warren Estate where he was shot dead? Anna’s preliminary inquiries convince her that his death involves Julia’s shadowy former partner Anthony Collingwood, né Alexander Fitzpatrick, who dropped out of sight years ago after leaving her with two children and a sizable fortune. But DCI Carol Cunningham, head of Anna’s Murder Squad, is far from convinced. So Anna begins to ask questions on her own, with eminently predictable results: enough progress to keep the pot simmering, but not enough to lead to her quarry or mollify her superiors, including her ex-lover DCS James Langton (Clean Cut, 2007, etc.). Behind the series of violent deaths that propel the investigation, Anna sees a disturbing pattern: Fitzpatrick’s scheme to flood the U.K. with Fentanyl, a painkiller as deadly as it is powerful.
The criminal conspiracy is menacing, even monstrous, but no more interesting than the authentically tedious interrogations.Pub Date: July 7, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4165-8831-3
Page Count: 416
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2009
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
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