Despite an overburdened plot that still leaves one mystery unresolved, readers will welcome this third showcase for a...
An amateur sleuth takes a nostalgic journey straight into danger to solve a Jazz Age murder.
Any Hollywood hopeful would envy Jessie Beckett, an assistant script girl for Douglas Fairbanks. She also doubles for Mary Pickford, “America’s Sweetheart” and Jessie’s longtime idol. But Jessie’s job description changes when Mary introduces her to one of the cameramen for the Pickford–Fairbanks Studios. He was a juror for the murder trial of Ruby Glynn, accused of murdering her rival Lila Walker, and he’s haunted because he gave in to pressure to find her guilty. The evidence against Ruby, now facing the gallows, was so compelling that there was no police investigation; now Mary wants Jessie to do what the cops didn’t. With some success in outwitting gangsters, a previous gig as an impersonator, and the survivor’s instincts of someone who’s been on her own since she was a child, Jessie (Silent Murders, 2014, etc.) is clearly the right one for the job. Pretending to be interested in renting Lila’s newly available boardinghouse suite, she sees the place where Lila was stabbed and Ruby was found in a faint with a bloody knife in her hand. Although Ruby has lost hope, her suitor, a handsome Cuban actor who gets the roles Rudolph Valentino turns down, wants Jessie to clear Ruby’s name. Jessie finds evidence that Lila was blackmailing various Hollywood luminaries. The identity of one of her targets may be on an old program from the small-time vaudeville circuit Jessie traveled as a child. So she rejoins it as a member of a song-and-dance sister act in hopes of finding someone who remembers the people named on the program. The startling answer—and an ageless tale of jealousy and revenge—avails her little when, like a runaway train, her fortunes careen from one peril to another before reaching an only partially satisfying conclusion.
Despite an overburdened plot that still leaves one mystery unresolved, readers will welcome this third showcase for a valiant heroine with a shady past.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7278-8653-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
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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