by Robert J. Mrazek ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 8, 2017
Mrazek’s (The Bone Hunters, 2015, etc.) gritty, vulnerable sleuth is a compelling protagonist whose first-person narration...
College officials try to block the investigation of a campus crime, but a dogged security officer can’t turn his back.
Jake Cantrell’s devastating deployment in Afghanistan ended in his court-martial. Years later, his tarnished reputation follows him, and he’s still trying to put his life back together, working as a security officer at little St. Andrews College in upstate New York. Late one night, he gets a call about a corpse dangling from a rope on a campus bridge. Jake tangles immediately with his boss, Janet Morgo, who wants to declare the victim a suicide. The case is complicated by the arrival of the press and the decapitation of the victim, restaurateur Dennis Wheatley, who had returned to his alma mater for a reunion. Wheatley’s widow, firmly rejecting the suicide theory, looks to Jake to find the truth. Could it be coincidental that Wheatley was about to make a major gift to the college? Things get even more complicated when college president Jordan Langford summons Jake to his office. Jake’s ex, Blair, dumped him for Jordan while he was in Afghanistan, but Jordan also got him this lifeline of a job. Jordan’s appeal for Jake to help him deal with a blackmailer will inevitably move the Wheatley case to the back burner. At the same time, Jake can’t help wondering whether there’s a connection between the blackmailing and Wheatley’s death. And helping Jordan inevitably brings him back into Blair’s orbit.
Mrazek’s (The Bone Hunters, 2015, etc.) gritty, vulnerable sleuth is a compelling protagonist whose first-person narration is punchy and lucid. An auspicious series debut.Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68331-269-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Crooked Lane
Review Posted Online: June 5, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2017
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by Lorna Barrett ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 13, 2019
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
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by Agatha Christie ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 1934
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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