Who is killing off the most influential men in the little Connecticut town of Scarborough? That's the question for Jonathan Wilder, ornithologist and renowned bird artist, in this blandly agreeable, feebly plotted mystery debut by former Sesame Street writer Sipherd (The Courtship of Peggy McCoy, 1990). Jonathan, a rather juiceless hero, discovers the first body—that of smug, womanizing Rod Ramsey, the town's first selectman—strung up in a cornfield. Soon he's amateur-sleuthing obsessively, convinced that the murders (the next to die is restaurateur Bernie Benjamin) are linked to a nefarious scheme by the town leaders to sell off pristine local land to corporate developers. Eventually, of course, Jonathan himself becomes both a suspect and a target for sniping bad guys—while he also finds time to begin a low-key, somewhat precious romance with a newcomer to town, the lovely antique-store owner, Lorelei Merriwell. Bird-watchers may appreciate the bits of ornithological lore (crow feathers are a central clue), and Sipherd daubs in the local atmosphere fairly gracefully. But the mystery is a twistless yawn, and everything else—from the environmental themes to Jonathan's tragic past to the supporting cast of local types—seems mechanical and familiar.
Pub Date: Aug. 20, 1996
ISBN: 0-312-14306-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Veteran crime reporter Connelly's (The Black Ice, 1993) third novel deftly blends cop thriller and courtroom drama in a darkly gripping tale structured around a set of gruesome serial killings. Gritty LA homicide detective Harry Bosch acted recklessly when he killed a man who may or may not have been the serial killer known as the "Dollmaker" for the makeup he applied to his victim's faces after he raped and murdered them. Four years and a big demotion later Bosch stands trial for the murder of Norman Church — whose widow, with the help of her tough-cookie lawyer, asserts that Church was not the Dollmaker. Bosch's confidence that he got the right guy crumbles as the prosecution provides an airtight alibi for one of the murders and as another victim (a buxom blond porn star slayed after Church's death) is uncovered from a concrete grave. Our clever, instinctive hero quickly discovers that the murders were committed by two men — one of them a copycat still on the prowl. To vindicate himself and save future victims, Bosch stands trial by day and hunts for the killer at night. A sordid premise becomes thornier and more chilling as Bosch realizes that the copycat is a colleague — an insider in the Dollmaker case. Suspects include Bosch's turncoat ex-partner, a shifty vice-squad cop, a journalist who reported on the Dollmaker, and an eccentric professor of psychosexual behavior. The courses of the trial and the investigation collide in an intricately plotted and turbo-charged conclusion safely arrived at by Bosch's cunning, foresight, and trademark intuition. Cliches persist in characters like the brassy woman lawyer, the foolish bureaucrat, and the hero with a tarnished heart of gold. But the charming, if retro, writing ("The courtroom seemed as silent as a dead man's heart") and the lurid thrills make this gem as lovable as any tale of serial murder can be.
Pub Date: June 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-316-15383-4
Page Count: 392
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1994
Both darker and more absurd than previous romps, the latest Montalbano is a bracing cautionary tale.
Murder, meltdowns, and a boisterous Swedish film crew bring chaos to a veteran police chief and his Sicilian community.
Inspector Montalbano has his hands full when a television crew from Sweden invades his bailiwick. To celebrate the linking of Vigàta with its sister city, Kalmar, Swedish TV is filming a movie about a romance between a Swedish girl and a “youth from Vigàta.” All this bustle is a nuisance to the world-weary Montalbano (The Other End of the Line, 2019, etc.), who coincidentally finds himself investigating an odd case that involves the cinema. Ernesto Sabatello has discovered a reel of film from decades ago: a collection of shots taken by his father, Francesco, once a year over a series of years. The boring film shows just a patch of wall, apparently unchanged year after year. Montalbano is intrigued, but it takes him quite a while to focus on this puzzle when distractions come in the form of a melee between Swedes and Sicilians and the need to referee the marital battle between his quirky detective, Mimì, and Mimì’s wife, Beba. This last becomes unexpectedly serious when Mimì attempts suicide. The discovery that Francesco had a twin brother named Emanuele, who apparently committed suicide in 1957, makes the case even curiouser. Montalbano’s attentiveness to Swedish visitor Ingrid and her blond bear sidekick, the director Gustav, puts a new wrinkle in his relationship with girlfriend Livia. Then another investigation concerning an incident at a school is added to his crowded plate. When disaffected teens emerge as the prime suspects, Montalbano fears for the state of the world.
Both darker and more absurd than previous romps, the latest Montalbano is a bracing cautionary tale.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-14-313-496-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Penguin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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