Less original than Verdict of Twelve, and marred here and there by dated political satire, but still clever, absorbing, and...
As war hangs over England, a town councilor staggers into his home in Croxburn after what seemed a perfectly ordinary train ride from Euston Station and dies of mysterious causes in this reprint, first published in 1943.
Despite his invincible ordinariness, Henry Grayling seems to have given everyone who knew him reason to dislike him. His wife, Renata, had gone so far as to take a younger lover, publishing assistant Hugh Rolandson; George Ransom, a corporal in the same Home Guard platoon where Grayling served as second lieutenant, had clashed with him recently and insolently; Charlie Evetts, an assistant in the chemist’s department of Barrow and Furness, where Grayling worked as assistant cashier, had particular reason to fear him; even the vicar of Croxburn found little Christian sentiment in his churchwarden. Clearly Inspector Holly has his work cut out for him. It’s true that there were only nine other people in the railroad carriage that took him to Croxburn, but their number included Rolandson, Ransom, Evetts, and the vicar, as well as Albrecht Mannheim, a refugee who’s been under suspicion ever since he was rescued from the Third Reich. Since Grayling was carrying a weekly cash payroll of over 124 pounds that’s now disappeared, there’s an obvious motive for the crime. But besides whodunit, Holly must also figure out howdunit, since it’s not at all obvious what brought about Grayling’s death. Postgate adapts the most striking structural device of his much better known Verdict of Twelve (1940/2017) by devoting most of his narrative to detailed back stories of most of Grayling’s fellow passengers before returning to a present in which Holly tries out one possible solution after another before hitting on one as logical as it is surprising.
Less original than Verdict of Twelve, and marred here and there by dated political satire, but still clever, absorbing, and wide-ranging: another welcome rediscovery by the British Library Crime Classics.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4642-0912-3
Page Count: 238
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2017
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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