An engaging mystery featuring a wonderfully appealing lead.
In Field’s novel, a detective nearing retirement pursues a suspected killer in Cajun country.
Driving out to Cajun country on a beautiful spring day to question a man named Joe Morrigan about a hit-and-run case, New Orleans police detective Ray “Tibby” Thibodaux mourns the disappearing natural beauty of the bayous and the sorry state of current politics. Though put off by Morrigan’s Trump-supporting yard sign, Tibby finds nothing to connect him with the hitter. When he gets back to work, his attention shifts to a new case; the investigation of a murder in the wealthy Garden District that looks like a burglary gone wrong has been assigned to his mentee, Estelle. The victim is Ginette Curtis, whose husband, Theodore, was assassinated decades earlier while running for the Senate seat as a liberal Democrat. The FBI never found his killer. Perhaps it’s a sad coincidence, or perhaps Ginette’s financially strapped son, Leo, couldn’t wait for his inheritance. A pair of FBI agents asks Tibby to do some more digging into Morrigan, as an anonymous tip suggests he may be a dangerous extremist. When Tibby follows up, Morrigan has vanished, and it seems every clue Tibby manages to track down raises more questions than it answers. The instincts honed over 40 years on the force suggest that the hit-and-run, Ginette’s murder, and Morrigan’s disappearance are somehow linked, driving him to risk his job—and his life—in pursuit of the elusive smoking gun. Detective Ray Thibodaux is a memorable and appealing character, at once jaded and humorous, both old-school and open-minded, cynical yet hopeful. He’s intelligent and observant, proud of his Black and Acadian heritage, affectionate with his elderly father and grown daughter, and able to play it as cool, warm, or tough as the situation demands. Though discreet about his politics at work, privately he calls the president “Il Duce” and “Trumpdy Dumpdy,” among other epithets. Field leaves a few loose ends, and the multiple plot threads take their time coming together, but Tibby’s distinctive voice and astute observations of human nature, the justice system, family, and more make it time well spent.
An engaging mystery featuring a wonderfully appealing lead.Pub Date: March 24, 2026
ISBN: 978-1963832419
Page Count: 238
Publisher: Artemesia Publishing
Review Posted Online: yesterday
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.
A violent attack hijacks a woman’s memory in this novel of domestic suspense.
McFadden wastes no time pulling the trigger in this harrowing story that starts with gunfire then swiftly propels readers into a crack tale of secrets and misdirection. Originally self-published in 2016, the book carries the same formidable weight as McFadden’s later novels featuring unsuspecting women who lose their power then fight to recapture it—mostly from men who have betrayed them. That formula perfectly fits Dr. Charlotte McKenna, a 37-year-old dermatologist who isn’t looking for love until the most handsome man she’s ever seen begins to woo her. There are warning signs about Clark Douglas and Charlotte overlooks them to her detriment—but is he a killer? The novel has dual timelines split between events leading up to the day Charlotte barely survives a head wound meant to kill her and the months afterward, when she struggles to reclaim her memory and her mobility. In real life, McFadden is a physician trained to treat brain injuries. Her expertise gives Charlotte’s rehabilitation authenticity, and her writing talent makes it interesting and engaging. As good as that timeline is, readers will yearn to get back to the alternate timeline about who wants Charlotte dead. It’s only a matter of time before Charlotte starts to remember who tried to kill her, and the clock is ticking toward their next attempt. McFadden dishes up plenty of suspects: Charlotte’s secretive husband, Clark; a former patient turned stalker who confronts Charlotte on her honeymoon; and the angry husband of a patient who blames Charlotte for his wife leaving him. Though the story is delicious and dark, McFadden brightens things up with a possible love interest for Charlotte and a surprise ending sure to please the author’s many fans.
Starts with a bang and closes with a knockout punch of an ending.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2026
ISBN: 9781464249617
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: July 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2026
A satisfying thriller that will warm the hearts of fans who already take comfort in hating the forces of evil.
Lt. Eve Dallas’ 63rd futuristic case is less a whodunit than a manhunt for an unusually sympathetic killer.
Thirteen years ago, way back in 2048, scientific genius Steve Redman—father of the Banner-Wyst corporation’s Rainmaker Project—narrowly escaped death in a gas explosion that killed his pregnant wife and infant son and 200 other residents of their New York City apartment building the night before he planned to report his suspicions about the company to the FBI. Now the bill is coming due for Banner-Wyst. The first death to be discovered is that of Lawrence Chu, Redman’s colleague and trusted friend, whose tenure as director of bioengineering science ends when he’s beaten to death. For quite a while, Dallas and her partner, Det. Delia Peabody, know less about this mystery than their readers do. But when Ezra Dent, a consultant to Banner-Wyst who worked with Redman and Chu back in the day, is murdered in exactly the same ferocious way, Dallas and Peabody, with help from Roarke, Dallas’ tech-billionaire husband, promptly put the pieces together and determine who they’re looking for. The search for Redman, who went AWOL from his hospital bed without a trace six years ago, has its own challenges. So does Dallas’ attempt to get cooperation from partners Calvin Banner and Jacob Wyst, who are clearly in the crosshairs of a killer who seems a lot less monstrous than they are. If the breaks in the case are suspiciously convenient in arriving, readers can pride themselves on taking sides against a mega-corporation whose self-avowed ecological saintliness is undermined by its leaders’ underhanded dealing.
A satisfying thriller that will warm the hearts of fans who already take comfort in hating the forces of evil.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9781250414564
Page Count: 368
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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