An engaging and satisfying supernatural tale with Highland charm.
Romance, murder, and ghosts cause mayhem in this mystery.
In this third volume of her Highland Spirits series, MacKinnon hands the starring role to Nesbitt General Hospital nurse Colleen “Fitz” Fitzgerald. When Colleen has her heart broken by the beguiling and duplicitous Dr. John Clayton and her career is unjustly trashed, she knows it is time to leave New Jersey for Inverness, Scotland, where her two best friends now live. Like Aubrey and Kate before her, Colleen takes up residence at Nessie’s boardinghouse. She finds herself in Nessie’s sitting room, under the scrutiny of the four “Owls,” guests who seem always to be around when one of the young women in the house faces turbulent times—Gladys Chesher; her son, Ronald; former dancer Maxine Deyeaux; and Old Harry Campbell. They are an eccentric group that has a sense of what lies ahead. This time, they bring Colleen good news. Harry has found her a job in a nursing home that has had a problem retaining staff. Evidently, Balfinnan House, a former castle, is haunted. But the position is perfect for Colleen. She specializes in geriatric patients and has always had a special rapport with them. Plus, Balfinnan House is owned and managed by the young and very handsome Graham Anderson. Unfortunately, there is also a malevolent entity prowling the halls. Patients are dying before their time. Readers new to the series will likely find themselves initially stumbling over the Scottish terminology that MacKinnon uses liberally in the early chapters. But there is a frontmatter glossary that proves to be most helpful. A healthy supply of secondary characters, including a few who make fine suspects, keeps the imaginative and entertaining narrative flowing at a good clip. And then there are the ever present spirits—the “Grey Lady,” the resident ghost of a World War I nurse, and the recently arrived, sinister “Ghruamachd,” who appears determined to prevent Gordon MacNabb from reaching his 100th birthday. Even after the murderer is revealed, the author holds one final surprise for the end, and it should leave readers chuckling.
An engaging and satisfying supernatural tale with Highland charm.Pub Date: March 30, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-951490-54-6
Page Count: 374
Publisher: DartFrog Books
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
© Copyright 2025 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.
