Ellis, best known for her Amish series (A Widow’s Hope, 2009, etc.), starts her new Secrets of the South mystery series with...
A newly minted private eye bids to enter the big time in the Big Easy.
Nicolette Price, a small-town girl from straitened circumstances, has worked her way through college and acquired her private investigator’s license. Arriving in New Orleans, she hopes to work with her cousin Nate Price, who has his own agency. Shrugging off his suggestion that she go back home, she follows him to a meeting with Hunter Galen, a wealthy socialite with big problems. Hunter and his college roommate, James Nowak, have been running an investment firm whose tactics are not for the faint of heart or poor of purse. In the wake of his old pal’s murder, Hunter discovers that James was running a scheme, complete with double sets of books, to defraud some investors. The detective in charge of the case, who dislikes the rich on principle, is too convinced of Hunter’s guilt to look for other suspects. When Nate gets into trouble, Nicki talks her way into the job of helping Hunter find the truth. Meanwhile, lovely mean girl Ashley Menard, Hunter’s longtime girlfriend, arranges a surprise party at which Hunter feels forced to ask for her hand in marriage. A peacemaker eager to see the best in people, Hunter, who’s fallen for Nicki, finds the courage to break off the engagement before it’s publicly announced. An attempt on Nicki’s life makes her wonder whether it’s the killer or Ashley trying to get Hunter back.
Ellis, best known for her Amish series (A Widow’s Hope, 2009, etc.), starts her new Secrets of the South mystery series with a pleasant love story but not much mystery.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-7369-6169-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harvest House
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2015
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Hoffman (The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. Later, her daughter was murdered. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. In part four, Shirah tells of her Alexandrian youth, the cherished daughter of a consort of the high priests. Shirah is a keshaphim, a woman of amulets, spells and medicine, and a woman connected to Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God. The women are irretrievably bound to Eleazar ben Ya'ir, Masada's charismatic leader; Amram, Yael's brother; and Yoav, Aziza's companion and protector in battle. The plot is intriguingly complex, with only a single element unresolved. An enthralling tale rendered with consummate literary skill.
Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1747-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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