While slow at times, this adventure journeys to many unexpected places in the Aloha State.
A young woman investigates a mystery involving the death of a relative in this novel set in Hawaii.
Seiler presents Gina Mori, a fierce young woman whose elderly Aunt Nalani has just died. Nalani’s body was found in a sinkhole, and the circumstances surrounding her death are suspicious. Although Gina is initially sent to simply find Nalani’s missing handbag, she launches her own investigation into the tragedy. It is while Gina is tracking down the bag that she comes across Julius, a stream biologist known as Curly. He and Gina wind up forming quite a pair. Gina also has a friend in the police department, a war veteran named Carla Moreno. Moreno faces a tough time on the force, as both a rookie and a woman, but her tough-as-nails demeanor ultimately makes her well suited for the job. But even when Gina, Curly, and Moreno combine their efforts, the question remains: Who would want to kill an elderly woman? To find the answer, the three must follow a winding path through Hawaii as they gather clues. Elements as nuanced and varied as the necessity of an Environmental Impact Statement, fine dining, and satirical letters to a local newspaper all play a part. Gina, an intrepid heroine, encounters quite a cast of characters along the way. The intrigue is enhanced by the players themselves, who, at times, may not turn out to be who they say they are. While the yarn is indeed kept spinning, there are a few less-than-thrilling tangents. For instance, food often comes into play in ways that are not entirely necessary. Whether the dishes originate from a Greek van or a local cafe, characters tend to make predictable comments about the cuisine. Not much is gained by someone exclaiming “Oh, this is delicious!”—particularly when there is a possible murder to solve. Nevertheless, even with all the disparate parts, everything manages to smoothly come together in the end.
While slow at times, this adventure journeys to many unexpected places in the Aloha State.Pub Date: May 26, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-947003-68-2
Page Count: 250
Publisher: Owl House Books
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A satisfying thriller that will warm the hearts of fans who already take comfort in hating the forces of evil.
Lt. Eve Dallas’ 63rd futuristic case is less a whodunit than a manhunt for an unusually sympathetic killer.
Thirteen years ago, way back in 2048, scientific genius Steve Redman—father of the Banner-Wyst corporation’s Rainmaker Project—narrowly escaped death in a gas explosion that killed his pregnant wife and infant son and 200 other residents of their New York City apartment building the night before he planned to report his suspicions about the company to the FBI. Now the bill is coming due for Banner-Wyst. The first death to be discovered is that of Lawrence Chu, Redman’s colleague and trusted friend, whose tenure as director of bioengineering science ends when he’s beaten to death. For quite a while, Dallas and her partner, Det. Delia Peabody, know less about this mystery than their readers do. But when Ezra Dent, a consultant to Banner-Wyst who worked with Redman and Chu back in the day, is murdered in exactly the same ferocious way, Dallas and Peabody, with help from Roarke, Dallas’ tech-billionaire husband, promptly put the pieces together and determine who they’re looking for. The search for Redman, who went AWOL from his hospital bed without a trace six years ago, has its own challenges. So does Dallas’ attempt to get cooperation from partners Calvin Banner and Jacob Wyst, who are clearly in the crosshairs of a killer who seems a lot less monstrous than they are. If the breaks in the case are suspiciously convenient in arriving, readers can pride themselves on taking sides against a mega-corporation whose self-avowed ecological saintliness is undermined by its leaders’ underhanded dealing.
A satisfying thriller that will warm the hearts of fans who already take comfort in hating the forces of evil.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9781250414564
Page Count: 368
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
The delightful debut of a classic, prolific detective.
It takes a quirky sleuth to solve a baffling closed-door murder.
The author himself or, more accurately, some version of him, walks the reader through a “gruesome murder” that occurred in a rural farming village. At the center of the crime is the wealthy Ichiyanagi family, including the widow Itoko and her five children. The “heinous crime” occurs in the evening after the festive wedding of eldest son Kenzo to schoolteacher Katsuko. Yokomizo, part narrator and part raconteur, liberally shares digressions such as the fact that his favorite British author is A.A. Milne, who wrote The Red House Mystery as well as the books about Winnie-the-Pooh. Written in 1946 but set in 1937 before the devastation of World War II, this is the first novel featuring Kosuke Kindaichi, the legendary detective who appeared in more than 70 stories by Yokomizo. If Yokomizo is the Japanese Agatha Christie, Kindaichi may seem the Japanese Hercule Poirot—although actually, given his unkempt hair and apparently distracted manner, he’s more a cross between Poirot and Columbo. Shrewdly, his entrance is delayed until midway through the novel, after the police have stalled and both the family and the reader are anxious for a solution. The narrator’s garrulous charm, in a mystery long on logistics and forensic clues but short on detailed character portraits or extended interactions, is a key to the novel’s success, leavening the more intricate pieces of the puzzle. Armchair detectives will welcome the helpful character list that precedes the story.
The delightful debut of a classic, prolific detective.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9781805336549
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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