After solid performances in their most recent efforts, the O’Shaughnessys stumble here.
In her tenth outing (Presumption of Death, 2002, etc.), lawyer Nina Reilly contends with an importuning Romeo, two would-be Romanovs, and a riot of runaway plot lines.
Start with Paul van Wagoner, the predatory (though dishy) private investigator who’s been eyeing Nina since forever without being able to bag his prey. Now, however, he’s got home field advantage in Carmel, California, and is he ever hot to trot. Out comes the diamond dazzler (his grandma’s) to accompany those commitment-demanding words: “Nina, will you marry me?” Is Nina finally cornered? Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, what’s she doing so far from her beloved Lake Tahoe? Turns out, it’s a sort of roots thing. Sweet old Klaus Pohlmann, for whom Nina once clerked, has lured her back to help with a murder case. And kindly Klaus, a brilliant trial lawyer in his time, clearly needs a talented second chair: his glance can go disturbingly vacant, his grasp of legal niceties seem unsettlingly shaky. Emanating from Klaus’s own firm are murmurs Nina would prefer not to hear, less-than-collegial suggestions that her former mentor might be best advised to pack up his Blackstone. As for the case itself, offbeat at the outset, it transmutes in a hurry to the authentically bizarre. Young Stefan Wyatt stands accused of grave-robbing and . . . er . . . grave-filling. How he got himself into this mess defies quick detailing. Suffice it to say that two corpses are involved, that both have connections to the last tsar of Russia, and that neither, believe it or not, is purported to be Anastasia. In a protracted, rather unconvincing courtroom climax, not at all typical of sure-handed O’Shaughnessy sisters Mary and Pam, Nina gets it sorted out, more or less. Paul van Wagoner? He gets sorted out, too.
After solid performances in their most recent efforts, the O’Shaughnessys stumble here.Pub Date: July 13, 2004
ISBN: 0-385-33646-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2004
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.
In Archie Goodwin's 15th adventure since the death of his creator, Rex Stout, his gossipy Aunt Edna Wainwright lures him from 34th Street to his carefully unnamed hometown in Ohio to investigate the death of a well-hated bank president.
Tom Blankenship, the local police chief, thinks there’s no case since Logan Mulgrew shot himself. But Archie’s mother, Marjorie Goodwin, and Aunt Edna know lots of people with reason to have killed him. Mulgrew drove rival banker Charles Purcell out of business, forcing Purcell to get work as an auto mechanic, and foreclosed on dairy farmer Harold Mapes’ spread. Lester Newman is convinced that Mulgrew murdered his ailing wife, Lester’s sister, so that he could romance her nurse, Carrie Yeager. And Donna Newman, Lester’s granddaughter, might have had an eye on her great-uncle’s substantial estate. Nor is Archie limited to mulling over his relatives’ gossip, for Trumpet reporter Verna Kay Padgett, whose apartment window was shot out the night her column raised questions about the alleged suicide, is perfectly willing to publish a floridly actionable summary of the leading suspects that delights her editor, shocks Archie, and infuriates everyone else. The one person missing is Archie’s boss, Nero Wolfe (Death of an Art Collector, 2019, etc.), and fans will breathe a sigh of relief when he appears at Marjorie’s door, debriefs Archie, notices a telltale clue, prepares dinner for everyone, sleeps on his discovery, and arranges a meeting of all parties in Marjorie’s living room in which he names the killer.
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5040-5988-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
You can’t help but chuckle over all the disasters, but in the end the heroine catches her prey.
An Arizona accountant with a penchant for solving murders lands a fishy case.
Sophie "Phee" Kimball might lead a dull life if it weren’t for her mother, Harriet Plunkett, and Harriet’s neurotic Chiweenie, Streetman. As it is, Harriet lives near her daughter in Sun City West and has a wide circle of zany friends who’ve helped Phee solve several mysteries (Molded 4 Murder, 2019, etc.) while she’s been working for Williams Investigations along with her boyfriend, Marshall, a former police officer. While Phee’s visiting Harriet one day, Streetman dashes over to the neighbors’ barbecue grill and unearths a dead body under a tarp. As usual, the overwhelmed local police ask Williams Investigations to help—er, consult. Harriet’s main concern is getting costumes made for the reluctant Streetman, whom she’s entered in a series of contests starting with Halloween and progressing through Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hannukah, and St. Patrick’s Day. One of her friends is an accomplished seamstress who goes all out making gorgeous costumes that will beat an obnoxious lady who looks down on mutts. The dead man is identified as Cameron Tully, a seafood distributor, who was poisoned by the locally ubiquitous sago pine. At the first dog contest, Elaine Meschow has to be rushed to the hospital after she gets a dose of the same thing. The owner of a gourmet dog food company, Elaine is lucky enough to recover. After Streetman takes second place, Harriet’s team redoubles its efforts for the next contest while Phee and Marshall, who are moving into a new place together, continue to hunt for clues. A restaurant holdup and a scheme to use empty houses for hookups for high school kids add to the confusion.
You can’t help but chuckle over all the disasters, but in the end the heroine catches her prey.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2455-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
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