This series debut from Ridpath (Trading Reality, 1997, etc.) combines long-winded exposition, humdrum detection, fascinating...
An Icelandic-American cop, exiled to his homeland, finds himself caught in a centuries-old web of murder, power grabs and the One True Ring.
The arrest of his ex-partner, Det. Sean Lenahan, on corruption charges makes Boston a little too hot for Sgt. Det. Magnus Jonson. His boss, hoping to get Lenahan to role over on Dominican trafficker Pedro Soto, wants Magnus kept safe until he can testify. That means getting him out of the country—in this case, sending him back to the land of his birth, where he’s seconded to the Reykjavik Metropolitan Police CID just in time to partner with Det. Árni Holm in the case of Agnar Haraldsson, clubbed to death and dumped into the icy waters. Who would kill a middle-aged professor of Icelandic? Inspector Baldur Jakobsson plumps for Yorkshire truck driver Steve Jubb, who under the pseudonym Gimli was determined to get his hands on a copy of Gaukur’s Saga, a long-hidden manuscript Agnar had recently translated. What makes this particular saga so attractive is not only the important addition it makes to the corpus of Icelandic sagas but its apparent status as catalyst for the plot of Lord of the Rings. As Pedro Soto patiently follows leads in Boston that will bring him closer and closer to the witness he must silence, Magnus, digging deeper into the family background of gallery owner Ingileif Ásgrímsdóttir, Agnar’s former student and former lover, finds that the lusts for sex, wealth and power that inspired the sagas of 1,000 years ago are still very much alive.
This series debut from Ridpath (Trading Reality, 1997, etc.) combines long-winded exposition, humdrum detection, fascinating echoes of Tolkien and Njal’s Saga and acute observations about the distinctive culture of Iceland.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-312-67503-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dunne/Minotaur
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2011
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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