Murder mars a Maryland holiday festival.
The townsfolk in Bayport, where caterer Val Deniston lives with her Granddad, are putting on a Victorian holiday festival with the emphasis on Dickens. Granddad is bent out of shape because his usual job as Santa has been given to newcomer Jake Smith, who not only has a nasty cold, but is also a bit drunk. Jake's wife, Jewel, plays Mrs. Claus in a short red dress and thigh-high boots. A tea Val caters for the volunteers at a bookstore has only six takers plus a mysterious black-robed figure who drops off gift bags. Jake opens his to discover a gingerdead cookie that’s usually reserved for Halloween, eats it, keels over, and later dies, apparently poisoned. Both Val and her Granddad have done detective work in the past, and when Jake’s death sparks rumors, Val realizes that her catering business will be in trouble unless she catches the killer. Jake has a history of leaving real estate investors holding the bag while he skips out with the money. He was working on a similar scheme in Bayport and had already made enemies. When an elderly man dies, possibly from poisoned chocolates, the morning after his birthday dinner, which Val catered, the pressure increases to find the motive and means in two seemingly unrelated deaths.
Plenty of red herrings, mixed motives, and recipes for foodies make for a spirited holiday cozy.Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2244-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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In December 1926, mystery writer Agatha Christie really did disappear for 11 days. Was it a hoax? Or did her husband resort to foul play?
When Agatha meets Archie on a dance floor in 1912, the obscure yet handsome pilot quickly sweeps her off her feet with his daring. Archie seems smitten with her. Defying her family’s expectations, Agatha consents to marry Archie rather than her intended, the reliable yet boring Reggie Lucy. Although the war keeps them apart, straining their early marriage, Agatha finds meaningful work as a nurse and dispensary assistant, jobs that teach her a lot about poisons, knowledge that helps shape her early short stories and novels. While Agatha’s career flourishes after the war, Archie suffers setback after setback. Determined to keep her man happy, Agatha finds herself cooking elaborate meals, squelching her natural affections for their daughter (after all, Archie must always feel like the most important person in her life), and downplaying her own troubles, including her grief over her mother's death. Nonetheless, Archie grows increasingly morose. In fact, he is away from home the day Agatha disappears. By the time Detective Chief Constable Kenward arrives, Agatha has already been missing for a day. After discovering—and burning—a mysterious letter from Agatha, Archie is less than eager to help the police. His reluctance and arrogance work against him, and soon the police, the newspapers, the Christies’ staff, and even his daughter’s classmates suspect him of harming his wife. Benedict concocts a worthy mystery of her own, as chapters alternate between Archie’s negotiation of the investigation and Agatha’s recounting of their relationship. She keeps the reader guessing: Which narrator is reliable? Who is the real villain?
A compelling portrait of a marriage gone desperately sour.Pub Date: Dec. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4926-8272-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2020
Categories: HISTORICAL FICTION | LITERARY FICTION | MYSTERY & DETECTIVE | GENERAL MYSTERY & DETECTIVE
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Crave chills and thrills but don’t have time for a King epic? This will do the job before bedtime. Not that you’ll sleep.
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Horrormeister King follows a boy’s journey from childhood to adolescence among the dead—and their even creepier living counterparts.
Jamie Conklin sees dead people. Not for very long—they fade away after a week or so—but during that time he can talk to them, ask them questions, and compel them to answer truthfully. His uncanny gift at first seems utterly unrelated to his mother Tia’s work as a literary agent, but the links become disturbingly clear when her star client, Regis Thomas, dies shortly after starting work on the newest entry in his bestselling Roanoke Saga, and Tia and her lover, NYPD Detective Liz Dutton, drive Jamie out to Cobblestone Cottage to encourage the late author to dictate an outline of his latest page-turner so that Tia, who’s fallen on hard times, can write it in his name instead of returning his advance and her cut. Now that she’s seen what Jamie can do, Liz takes it on herself to arrange an interview in which Jamie will ask Kenneth Therriault, a serial bomber who’s just killed himself, where he’s stowed his latest explosive device before it can explode posthumously. His post-mortem encounter with Therriault exacts a high price on Jamie, who now finds himself more haunted than ever, though he never gives up on the everyday experiences in which King roots all his nightmares.
Crave chills and thrills but don’t have time for a King epic? This will do the job before bedtime. Not that you’ll sleep.Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-7890-9649-1
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Hard Case Crime
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
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