Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe’s college years turn out to have included a bit of amateur detection.
Before Marlowe set on the career path that made him famous, he was known as Kit, a principled Matthew Parker scholar trying to graduate with his cohort. When he discovers fellow scholar Ralph Whitingside’s body, Marlowe refuses to rest until he leads the other lads in a full investigation of the circumstances surrounding Ralph’s death. Assisted by the quirky but able Dr. John Dee, Marlowe learns that Ralph’s so-called suicide is part of something larger. His suspicions are all but confirmed when an unknown woman’s body mysteriously washes ashore, even though the local law refuses to see the pattern Marlowe is certain looms in the background. The moody and divisive Marlowe has his fair share of adversaries, and his quest for truth is hampered by his enmity with everyone from his teachers and proctors to local villagers. While Marlowe is known for his straightforward nature, the more he investigates, the more he is certain that a foe may be masquerading as a friend. The tension absent from the early scenes finally builds as Trow (Jack Ripper: Quest for a Killer, 2009, etc.) rallies his cast for a suspenseful conclusion. Readers enamored of the customs of the time are most likely to welcome this mystery of manners. The less historically well-informed may struggle to keep up with the details that make all the difference.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-78029-006-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Creme de la Crime
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 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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