Another delicious romp through a French menu garnished with politics.
A terrorist is introduced to Dordogne foie gras.
St. Denis Chef de Police Benoît “Bruno” Courrèges (Black Diamond, 2011, etc.) has his hands full. An unidentified corpse shot some 20 years ago has been found at the site of an archaeological dig. Two of the foreign students there, Teddy and Kajte, may be involved in a case of animal-rights vandalism. And a secret summit meeting of Spanish and French ministers may be targeted by Basque terrorists. While Bruno’s English girlfriend Pamela flies home to deal with her mother’s stroke and her ex-husband, Bruno’s former Paris-based girlfriend Isabelle, recovering from a wound inflicted on the job, returns to St. Denis with other governmental bigwigs to supervise the summit. PETA leaflets appear. Dynamite caches are rifled. A Spanish minister’s car blows up. The German archaeology professor responsible for the dig disappears. Teddy and Kajte scamper off. Worse, the farmers raising ducks for foie gras loathe the new magistrate, who thinks eating the stuff is barbaric. Then clues to that old cadaver crop up, indicating ties to the SS, the Baader-Meinhof Group and the Red Army Faktion. Cover stories are uncovered. Good guys turn out to be bad. Bruno’s longtime companion, a basset hound, dies a heroic death. And Bruno manages to deal with everything and still have time to make a mouthwatering lamb stew, savor a Perigord foie gras snack and enjoy a really nice glass or two of wine.
Another delicious romp through a French menu garnished with politics.Pub Date: July 6, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-307-70019-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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