An entertaining and engagingly complicated joyride.
A valuable painting, a friend in trouble, a dangerous loan shark, and an elaborate con game fuel Grayson’s sixth mystery novel in a series.
Kate Morgan, owner of a small independent movie studio, has a problem. She’s close to wrapping up production of the film Fade to Crimson, which is shooting in Seattle, but the project has been running low on funds. Unbeknown to her, Ray LeGrande—her boyfriend and the movie’s director—took it upon himself to find a temporary solution: He stole a valuable painting belonging to Kate’s father and used it as collateral for a 90-day loan of $500,000 in cash. Unfortunately, the lender is Billy Thorne, son of notorious loan shark Frank Thorne. Now time is running out, and Kate turns to private investigator Danny Logan for help. An initial investigative foray confirms what Danny and his partner, Toni Blair, suspect—that the Thornes are determined to keep the painting and sell it at auction. Logan Private Investigations calls upon the services of Henry Parker, con artist extraordinaire, who happens to have a personal score to settle with Thorne; he’s more than happy to set up an extravagant ruse to retrieve the painting before Kate’s father discovers it’s missing. Grayson, a fine storyteller, notes in his acknowledgements that he was inspired to become a writer after viewing the classic 1973 film The Sting, and here he creates his own intriguingly clever caper. Although readers are in on the secrets behind most of the deception, they’ll still find a few surprises in store. Lurking in the shadows of the narrative is a character with the capacity to torpedo the whole operation, which adds an additional layer of suspense. Overall, this page-turner is a bit light on character development, but it’s propelled by a steady supply of plot twists. Grayson meticulously crafts the hustle to create an enjoyable romp, and it all leads to a satisfyingly explosive conclusion—and a final tease to keep readers guessing.
An entertaining and engagingly complicated joyride.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2022
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 238
Publisher: Cedar Coast Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 19, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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