A vintage 1962 whodunit: clever, understated, and altogether expert, though its did-she-or-didn’t-she dynamic lacks the edge...
For years, the Forst family, sheepherders in the Australian outback’s remote Leumah Valley, have depended on the bounty of matriarchal Ella Forst. Now Ella is dead, leaving her grandson Gregory as her sole heir. Hudson Forst and Diana McGuire, the nephew and niece she’d taken in as children, are left penniless, along with their dazed spouses, Marcia Forst and Billy McGuire; Hudson’s daughter Wilma; and Ella’s goddaughter Rowena Searle. The murder of a wandering swagman, poisoned with cyanide in the middle of a raging brush fire, brings all the family’s suspicion and hatred to a flashpoint. Was the tramp killed because he knew too much about Gregory’s take-charge fiancée, Linda Condrick, who came out of nowhere four months ago to nurse Ella Forst in her final illness and has since been found in possession of a valuable brooch that went missing the day Ella died? Or has some resentful member of the Forst clan found grasping Linda an irresistible target for suspicions that should lodge much closer to home? Only endless rounds of patient questioning by Inspector Quince, of the city police, and another murder will reveal the final weary skeleton in the family closet.
A vintage 1962 whodunit: clever, understated, and altogether expert, though its did-she-or-didn’t-she dynamic lacks the edge marking the best of the eight mysteries by Carlon (Death by Demonstration, 2001, etc.) already to reach American shores.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2002
ISBN: 1-56947-258-0
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Soho
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2002
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
