Not for the first time, Tremayne (Atonement of Blood, 2015, etc.) packs the case with historical information that threatens...
Sister Fidelma of Cashel, nonpareil advocate of medieval Ireland’s law courts, faces one of the hardest cases in her illustrious career.
Fidelma’s companion, Brother Eadulf of Seaxmund’s Ham, is about to receive an unexpected surprise in the form of his younger brother Egric, whom he hasn’t seen in 10 years. But there’s a more sinister surprise as well. Gormán, commander of the king’s bodyguard, and his companions find Egric unconscious and his three fellow travelers—the Venerable Victricius and the two boatmen taking them up the river—dead. All the victims’ possessions have been stolen or destroyed. Fidelma’s brother Colgú, king of Muman, Ireland, receives a message that the arrogant Brother Cerdic will soon arrive as an advance man for a party of clerics, including the equally arrogant Bishop Arwald and the Roman cleric Verax, the pope’s brother. Before they arrive, Cerdic is murdered. So is Rudgal, one of Egric’s attackers, who had claimed when he was captured to have knowledge he hoped to bargain for his freedom. In seventhth-century Ireland as elsewhere, the Church of Rome is still in a state of flux: points of religious differences and politics make for contentious arguments. When the party of clerics arrives, they are evasive about why they’ve come but willing to engage in long discussions about how the church should develop in Ireland. Fidelma and Eadulf are almost killed by a falling statue, and the bodies continue to pile up while Fidelma struggles to unravel a knotty problem, uncover a motive for many murders, and unmask those who are not what they seem.
Not for the first time, Tremayne (Atonement of Blood, 2015, etc.) packs the case with historical information that threatens to overwhelm what in this installment is a very good mystery indeed.Pub Date: July 28, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-05972-7
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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