Worst feature: too many similar plot twists. Best: the sharply characteristic voices that emerge from all these tales.
An anthology celebrating 21 years of writing by Northern England’s Murder Squad with 21 stories, eight of them new.
The celebration is largely a private affair, with long-standing members Ann Cleeves, Kate Ellis, Margaret Murphy, Chris Simms, Cath Staincliffe, and editor Edwards contributing three entries apiece. Of the remaining stories by former Squad members, John Baker’s “An Old-Fashioned Poisoning” shows a Victorian woman celebrating the passing of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, by arranging another death; the police officer in Chaz Brenchley’s “For Kicks” uncovers a lifelong pattern of abuse in the case of a teenager kicked into a coma; and the thrill killer in the late Stuart Pawson’s “Ultra Violent” is brought to justice by a highly predictable mistake. None of these outliers can match the best stories by the current Squad members. In Staincliffe’s “Scorpion,” another abused teenager strikes back at a shockingly unexpected target. “A Winter’s Tale” is Cleeves’ routine but expert probe into the murder of a rural woman with a reputation. The gangster’s widow in Edwards’ “The Other Life” comes home from a séance arranged by her cleaning lady to find that two of her late husband’s colleagues have targeted her home for robbery. The officer who solves the locked-room poisoning in Ellis’ “My Oleander” wastes no time in applying the lessons he’s learned on the homefront. Simms’ “Gaffed” follows a high-stakes meeting between an informant whose wife’s death freed him from a gang’s blackmail and the officer who’s promised him protection to its logical conclusion. And a pair of hospital patients battling formidable handicaps in Murphy’s “Still Life” turn to battle each other till they work toward a resolution as welcome as it is unlikely.
Worst feature: too many similar plot twists. Best: the sharply characteristic voices that emerge from all these tales.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7278-9093-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
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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