By the author of the non-fiction title Small Town D. A (Dutton, 1954), this transfers its technicalities to a fiction treatment of a murder and its trial, locating these doings on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where a long experienced prosecuting D.A. gets his first criminal defense experience. Paul Biegler, now in private law practice in Iron Cliff County, gives a first person report — how he came to defend Lt. Manion after Manion had shot and killed Barney Quill who had raped and beaten Laura, Manion's wife; how the plea of insanity was arrived at and how Biegler planned his strategy against the current D.A. Lodwick; how he acquired the erratic Parnell McCarthy as a silent partner to check and double check legal issues; how pretrial details were taken care of. Then to the courtroom and the surprise assistant Lodwick produces — tricky Claud Dancer of the State Attorney General's office; the surprise — and unexpected pleasure — of an unfamiliar judge who is not only learned but humane and touched with humor; the horn-locking of defense and prosecution; the touch and go as one, then the other, leads up to, pounds home, insinuates or makes clear, his points — and on to the climax of the jury's decision. The fine — and some not so fine — points of legal procedures annotate this overlong brief, put it in the fancier's rather than the literary classification.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1958
ISBN: 0312033567
Page Count: 452
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1957
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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