Like Umberto Eco, Gregorio has succumbed to the allure of fictional speculation about great works of western philosophy that...
In the winter of 1804, an unusually well-trained judge returns to Königsberg, Prussia’s intellectual center, to investigate a series of murders associated with something known as the Devil’s Claw.
Procurator Hanno Stiffeniis had resigned himself to rustication far from the city in which he received his university education, including tutelage from the eminent philosopher Immanuel Kant. Even though Stiffeniis has been forbidden further contact with his esteemed former professor, he conducts his work as a judge according to Kantian principles of logic, and he’s named his son Immanuel. It turns out that Kant himself has ended Stiffeniis’ exile from Königsberg because he thinks his former student, under his eccentric guidance, may be able to solve a string of murders whose weapon remains mysterious and perhaps supernatural. Stiffeniis must sort out Kant’s murky motivations as well as the mind behind the murders, and must do so as soon as possible. Königsberg, like most of Prussia, anticipates an imminent invasion from Napoleon’s army, and is meanwhile suffering one of the worst winters in its history. Should the mayhem continue, widespread civic unrest will be the inevitable result.
Like Umberto Eco, Gregorio has succumbed to the allure of fictional speculation about great works of western philosophy that were never written. Unlike The Name of the Rose, however, there’s very little pleasure to be had in this dark, grotesque and, yes, rather illogical novel.Pub Date: Nov. 21, 2006
ISBN: 0-312-34994-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Dunne/Minotaur
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2006
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
A murder is committed in a stalled transcontinental train in the Balkans, and every passenger has a watertight alibi. But Hercule Poirot finds a way.
**Note: This classic Agatha Christie mystery was originally published in England as Murder on the Orient Express, but in the United States as Murder in the Calais Coach. Kirkus reviewed the book in 1934 under the original US title, but we changed the title in our database to the now recognizable title Murder on the Orient Express. This is the only name now known for the book. The reason the US publisher, Dodd Mead, did not use the UK title in 1934 was to avoid confusion with the 1932 Graham Greene novel, Orient Express.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1934
ISBN: 978-0062073495
Page Count: -
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1934
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