Plausible suspects throng this amusing look at the hidden lives of the aristocracy.
A new mother’s perfect life is upended when murder comes to Eynsleigh Manor.
Lady Georgiana Rannoch is cousin to David (King Edward VIII to you), sister to a duke, and wife of Darcy O’Mara, a spy for Great Britain. Happy to leave her exciting past behind and devote herself to doting on her adorable infant son, she lives with her family on the estate she’ll inherit from her godfather, Sir Hubert. Darcy’s just returned from Germany, where Georgie’s beautiful mother spends a lot of time with her wealthy industrialist lover, apparently unaware of the dark clouds gathering in 1936. Trouble arrives in the form of Wallis Simpson, the mistress David wants stashed somewhere quiet while his subjects absorb the news that he’s determined to marry her despite all the warnings that he can’t. Georgie, appalled at the idea, is aggravated further by her brother, Binky, her bossy sister-in-law, Fig, and their children, who plan to use her home as a base while they investigate boarding schools nearby. Next, Hubert arrives with a Hollywood production company; they may be staying elsewhere, but they still disturb the routine of the estate while they’re filming. Mrs. Simpson vanishes. So does a child star, who seems to have been kidnapped. New mother Georgie is more upset by the second of these developments than the first and in the course of her search for the child, she discovers something distinctly odd about the kidnapping. Things get even worse when Georgie’s dogs find the strangled body of the film’s leading lady. Georgie and Darcy must use all their skills and connections to thwart a murderer.
Plausible suspects throng this amusing look at the hidden lives of the aristocracy.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2024
ISBN: 9780593641361
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.
A 16-year-old savant uses his Groundhog Day gift to solve his grandfather’s murder.
Nishizawa’s compulsively readable puzzle opens with the discovery of the victim, patriarch Reijiro Fuchigami, sprawled on a futon in the attic of his elegant mansion, where his family has gathered for a consequential announcement about his estate. The weapon seems to be a copper vase lying nearby. Given this setup, the novel might have proceeded as a traditional whodunit but for two delightful features. The first is the ebullient narration of Fuchigami’s youngest grandson, Hisataro, thrust into the role of an investigator with more dedication than finesse. The second is Nishizawa’s clever premise: The 16-year-old Hisataro has lived ever since birth with a condition that occasionally has him falling into a time loop that he calls "the Trap," replaying the same 24 hours of his life exactly nine times before moving on. And, of course, the murder takes place on the first day of one of these loops. Can he solve the murder before the cycle is played out? His initial strategies—never leaving his grandfather’s side, focusing on specific suspects, hiding in order to observe them all—fall frustratingly short. Hisataro’s comical anxiety rises with every failed attempt to identify the culprit. It’s only when he steps back and examines all the evidence that he discovers the solution. First published in 1995, this is the first of Nishizawa’s novels to be translated into English. As for Hisataro, he ultimately concludes that his condition is not a burden but a gift: “Time’s spiral never ends.”
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781805335436
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.
Four residents of Coopers Chase, a British retirement village, compete with the police to solve a murder in this debut novel.
The Thursday Murder Club started out with a group of septuagenarians working on old murder cases culled from the files of club founder Elizabeth Best’s friend Penny Gray, a former police officer who's now comatose in the village's nursing home. Elizabeth used to have an unspecified job, possibly as a spy, that has left her with a large network of helpful sources. Joyce Meadowcroft is a former nurse who chronicles their deeds. Psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif and well-known political firebrand Ron Ritchie complete the group. They charm Police Constable Donna De Freitas, who, visiting to give a talk on safety at Coopers Chase, finds the residents sharp as tacks. Built with drug money on the grounds of a convent, Coopers Chase is a high-end development conceived by loathsome Ian Ventham and maintained by dangerous crook Tony Curran, who’s about to be fired and replaced with wary but willing Bogdan Jankowski. Ventham has big plans for the future—as soon as he’s removed the nuns' bodies from the cemetery. When Curran is murdered, DCI Chris Hudson gets the case, but Elizabeth uses her influence to get the ambitious De Freitas included, giving the Thursday Club a police source. What follows is a fascinating primer in detection as British TV personality Osman allows the members to use their diverse skills to solve a series of interconnected crimes.
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-98-488096-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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