An uneven mystery fails a charming, amateur detective.
The third in Pollero’s Finley Anderson Tanner mystery series has Finley finding love, bargains and bullets flying her way.
A paralegal at a swanky Palm Beach law firm, Finley has finally moved from estates to criminal law, where all the action is. But it may prove to be a bit more action than she envisioned. Late one night, Liam McGarrity, the law firm’s sexy PI, knocks on her door with a bullet wound in his side and his dishy ex-wife holding him up. Liam was set up: Called to his ex-partner’s house (Liam used to be a police officer before he had to resign in disgrace under suspicious circumstances), Liam arrives to find José dead, someone shooting at him and his old police-issue gun on the floor. What unravels is a plot that implicates drug lords, the police’s gang unit and maybe even the district attorney. Meanwhile, things heat up between Finley and Liam, but Finley can’t get over the constant presence of his ex-wife, Ashley. And not to be forgotten is her boss, Tony, a kind widower with a teenage daughter, who may be a better fit than sexy, dangerous Liam. Pollero delivers a by-the-numbers procedural mixed with the conventions of the chick-lit universe. The novel’s title, far from referencing the plot, describes Finley's pastime of trolling eBay for designer duds (in between shoot-em-up excitement, Finley keeps an eye on her bid for a diamond Rolex bevel). When getting dressed, to visit a gang leader in prison, say, we are treated to a quick rundown of her designer choices. These details feel thrown together and hardly distract from a mystery that is easily solved. Finley is a likable character: a little lazy, a little vain, a little conflicted about the kind of man she wants; now if only she had a better mystery to solve.
An uneven mystery fails a charming, amateur detective.Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-4165-9082-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
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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