No beach required; this engaging mystery will float the boat of detective fiction fans.
A Navy veteran’s plans to open a dive shop are anything but smooth sailing when his friend and business partner gets arrested for murder.
This second Sim Greene mystery finds the retired sailor and ex–Navy cop in his natural habitat: aboard his cherished boat, Figaro, sailing toward the Caribbean. He is on the last leg of a three-month voyage from California to the British Virgin Islands, where he plans to open a dive shop with Al, his friend and new business partner. The eight consecutive days of stiff winds he encounters on the last leg of his journey are nothing compared to what awaits him. “You got big troubles coming, mon,” prophesies an amiable bar and restaurant owner. Sure enough, Sim learns that Al has been arrested for the murder of tourist Bradley Somerset. Sim has no doubt that Al did not commit the homicide, although he acknowledges he is far from innocent. In fact, Al has a perfectly good alibi, but he refuses to use it. He had been with a married woman. Sim’s investigation rankles the local constabulary. “You have no authority here and I will not tolerate any interference with our investigation,” he is told. But this would be a short book if Sim backed down. Sim, as one shady character tells him, is “the guy who can’t mind his own damned business.” Avery knows his way around an ocean as well as crime novel conventions. The “postcard-beautiful” paradise he vividly renders (“In the Caribbean, the fragrant smell of frangipani blossoms hits you about the same time you see the white, sandy beaches”) hides some very dark doings perpetrated by characters who enjoy otherwise spotless reputations and whom the authorities consider “totally untouchable.” A climactic confrontation aboard the Figaro is tautly rendered. For someone who spends much of his time on the water, Sim is firmly grounded and mostly free of the contrived, smart-ass commentary that plagues many wannabe Sam Spades.
No beach required; this engaging mystery will float the boat of detective fiction fans.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2017
ISBN: 9781945809064
Page Count: 375
Publisher: Jack Tar Publishing LLC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
