Time and place are fully realized in this murder story, making for a fascinating period piece.
Brighton spins a tale of murder and revenge in Gilded Age Buffalo in this thriller.
A very scandalous divorce looms for Alicia and Edward Miller, but Edward is found bludgeoned to death on New Year’s Day 1902, before it can happen. Not long after, Alicia’s lover—and a key suspect in the killing—Arthur Pendle, is (along with his wife, Cassandra) killed when their car is demolished at a railroad crossing. Sarah Payne, who loved Edward (though it was never consummated) goes on to found the Avenging Angel Detective Agency, fulfilling a dream born of her devotion to Sherlock Holmes stories. A trove of love letters that Arthur had sent to Alicia (which he told her to destroy, but she could not bear to do so) contains details of Arthur’s secret life as a bagman and fixer for the corrupt district attorney, Terry Penrose, a man who would not hesitate to have his own mother killed in pursuit of his ambitions. As various parties seek the letters, the spunky Sarah involves herself in the situation at great risk to her own life. Along the way we meet a dangerous psychotic, who convinces himself that he is in love with Sarah, and the hulking Harry Price, who is sent to kill her. The author is a talented storyteller, and it is hard to resist the very detailed and authentic world he creates, all leavened with a strong sense of irony: As Brighton writes, President McKinley was shot in Buffalo and lingered for five days before expiring, “still in agony and still in Buffalo.” Alicia Miller is an indelible character, a woman who came from the wrong side of the tracks to claw her way into Ashwood society. Sex is her weapon and she knows how to use it—in need of free legal counsel, she seduces a lawyer, then threatens to tell his wife. In her way, she is as ruthless as Terry Penrose, yet the reader feels for her and even roots for her. She and Sarah are wonderful complements and effectively drive the plot.
Time and place are fully realized in this murder story, making for a fascinating period piece.Pub Date: June 27, 2023
ISBN: 9798987696408
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Ashwood Press
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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