Miyabe’s trademark sociological dissection of contemporary Japan (Shadow Family, 2005, etc.) takes a backseat to Stephen...
A veteran Tokyo cop hunts a vigilante killer with paranormal powers.
Junko Aoki has the gift, or the curse, of pyrokinesis. She can make objects and people explode into flames just by focusing her mind on them. Ever since a catastrophic accident 20 years ago when her uncanny force got out of hand, she’s tried to keep a lid on it. But a recent spree by a gang of teenaged thrill-killers who abduct and murder high-school girls has brought her back into the fray with a vengeance. Determined to fight the good fight, yet terrified of her powers, she’s a natural double for Sgt. Chikako Ishizu, an arson investigator with the Tokyo Metropolitan police, who can scarcely believe the carnage at the scene of Junko’s latest holocaust. As Chikako and Makihara, the homicide detective assigned to a strikingly similar case, close in on Junko, she’s pursuing the ringleaders behind the abductions. But the most important pursuit of all may be the attempt by a group calling itself the Guardians to recruit Junko along with Kaori Kurata, a girl of 13 who’s been linked to over a dozen suspicious fires.
Miyabe’s trademark sociological dissection of contemporary Japan (Shadow Family, 2005, etc.) takes a backseat to Stephen King set pieces in the most conventional of her three novels translated into English. But she still manages to capture the warring loyalties of her avengers.Pub Date: March 6, 2006
ISBN: 4-7700-2993-4
Page Count: 408
Publisher: Kodansha
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 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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