Instead of using his mystery as a peg for descriptions of the French countryside or medieval history or gourmet meals or...
Harvard professor Henry Spearman, returning from Stockholm with his Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, accepts a visiting appointment at San Antonio’s Monte Vista University just in time to investigate his fourth murder.
Nobody except the police believes that MVU artist-in-residence Tristan Wheeler hanged himself. No doubt he was saddened by the inexplicable recent death of his two parrots, Canvas and Frame. But why would he willingly end the torrent of sales, interview requests and speaking gigs unleashed by his championing of “free art”—widely available copies that are indistinguishable from their originals? If he’d wanted to get murdered, however, Wheeler couldn’t have picked a better time. His name had already been in the news ever since someone stole five of his paintings from his neighbor Dr. Raul Ramos six weeks ago; his mysterious death sends the cost of his work skyrocketing; and Henry Spearman, who’d rather be teaching than sleuthing (A Deadly Indifference, 1995, etc.), is on hand to sort it all out. But not before the round-robin of obligatory academic social occasions gives him ample opportunity to dispense numberless aperçus on the dismal science and deliver several more extended lessons on Adam Smith and the virtues of the free market. The characters may be cutouts, but the whodunit is logical enough, even if it's something of an afterthought. The closing defense of unfettered capitalism would seem gratuitous if it weren’t the whole point of the exercise.
Instead of using his mystery as a peg for descriptions of the French countryside or medieval history or gourmet meals or second-chance romance, Jevons uses it for an exposition of elementary economics. The results are scarcely less entertaining and a good deal more educational.Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-691-16313-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Princeton Univ.
Review Posted Online: Aug. 25, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2014
More of a western than a mystery, like most of Joe’s adventures, and all the better for the open physical clashes that...
Wyoming Game and Fish Warden Joe Pickett (Free Fire, 2007, etc.), once again at the governor’s behest, stalks the wraithlike figure who’s targeting elk hunters for death.
Frank Urman was taken down by a single rifle shot, field-dressed, beheaded and hung upside-down to bleed out. (You won’t believe where his head eventually turns up.) The poker chip found near his body confirms that he’s the third victim of the Wolverine, a killer whose animus against hunters is evidently being whipped up by anti-hunting activist Klamath Moore. The potential effects on the state’s hunting revenues are so calamitous that Governor Spencer Rulon pulls out all the stops, and Pickett is forced to work directly with Wyoming Game and Fish Director Randy Pope, the boss who fired him from his regular job in Saddlestring District. Three more victims will die in rapid succession before Joe is given a more congenial colleague: Nate Romanowski, the outlaw falconer who pledged to protect Joe’s family before he was taken into federal custody. As usual in this acclaimed series, the mystery is slight and its solution eminently guessable long before it’s confirmed by testimony from an unlikely source. But the people and scenes and enduring conflicts that lead up to that solution will stick with you for a long time.
More of a western than a mystery, like most of Joe’s adventures, and all the better for the open physical clashes that periodically release the tension between the scheming adversaries.Pub Date: May 20, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-399-15488-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2008
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
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