A debut novel set in the competitive world of upscale restaurants in Washington, D.C. Chas Wheatley, a food critic for the Examiner, is shocked and unbelieving when her long-ago lover and longtime friend Laurence Levain, a master chef, is found dead in his apartment on the eve of the City Tastes gala, an annual event he founded. Heart attack is pronounced the cause, supposedly brought on by a sexual encounter with a hooker. But Chas knows from her brief, years-back affair with Laurence that he would never entertain a woman before a major food event. She presses Det. Homer Jones to look further, and it's soon proved that an overdose of Digoxin, Laurence's heart medication, was the culprit. Now Chas turns detective, seeking motive and killer among Laurence's friends and enemies: Chas's own ex-husband Ari, now in the catering business with his lover Paul; Laurence's older sister Jeanine; his newest girl friend Bebe; chef-restauranteurs Marcel and Marie Claire, who were scheduled to open a New York establishment with Laurence; and others galore. Eventually, Chas herself becomes a target of the poisoner, but makes it through to see her mission fulfilled. Writing with practiced assurance, the author has a fresh, blithe, sometimes raunchy style far beyond the talent needed for her real-life food critic's job at the Washington Post. A stronger editorial hand, however, would've helped tighten the plot and stem the flow of recipes, romances, and gossip that deadens suspense and threatens coherence. Altogether, then, a flawed but intriguingly different and readable first outing.
Pub Date: May 21, 1997
ISBN: 0-06-018370-5
Page Count: 320
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1997
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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