by Rosemary Rowe ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2012
Historical details provide the principal pleasures in Libertus’ 13th case (The Vestal Vanishes, 2011, etc.), but the mystery...
A favor for his wealthy patron puts a Roman citizen of Britain in a dangerous predicament.
In A.D. 191, when Britain has been a Roman province for over 200 years, ex-lictor Voluus plans to make the city of Glevum his retirement home. The wealthy but ill-tempered retiree has already hired an apartment and bought property to build a house for his family, none of whom have arrived. Pavement-maker Libertus is sent by his powerful patron Marcus Septimus Aurelius to seek information about the new arrival by offering his services to Voluus’ steward Calvinus. After his visit, one of the carts carrying part of Voluus’ treasure is found empty, and all the guards and even the horses have been slaughtered. Members of the council who have had spies watching Voluus’ household accuse Libertus of the crime. All the spies’ information may be open to interpretation, but Libertus has a difficult time explaining it away. He’s arrested and held by the commander of the local fort, who’s had dealings with Libertus before and is so disposed to believe him that he takes him to the scene of the crime, where all is not as it seems. With his adopted son and a slave of Voluus’ doing some of the investigating, Libertus must find the actual criminal or face exile under Roman law.
Historical details provide the principal pleasures in Libertus’ 13th case (The Vestal Vanishes, 2011, etc.), but the mystery still poses a challenge.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7278-8163-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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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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by Robert Goldsborough ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 19, 2020
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.
In Archie Goodwin's 15th adventure since the death of his creator, Rex Stout, his gossipy Aunt Edna Wainwright lures him from 34th Street to his carefully unnamed hometown in Ohio to investigate the death of a well-hated bank president.
Tom Blankenship, the local police chief, thinks there’s no case since Logan Mulgrew shot himself. But Archie’s mother, Marjorie Goodwin, and Aunt Edna know lots of people with reason to have killed him. Mulgrew drove rival banker Charles Purcell out of business, forcing Purcell to get work as an auto mechanic, and foreclosed on dairy farmer Harold Mapes’ spread. Lester Newman is convinced that Mulgrew murdered his ailing wife, Lester’s sister, so that he could romance her nurse, Carrie Yeager. And Donna Newman, Lester’s granddaughter, might have had an eye on her great-uncle’s substantial estate. Nor is Archie limited to mulling over his relatives’ gossip, for Trumpet reporter Verna Kay Padgett, whose apartment window was shot out the night her column raised questions about the alleged suicide, is perfectly willing to publish a floridly actionable summary of the leading suspects that delights her editor, shocks Archie, and infuriates everyone else. The one person missing is Archie’s boss, Nero Wolfe (Death of an Art Collector, 2019, etc.), and fans will breathe a sigh of relief when he appears at Marjorie’s door, debriefs Archie, notices a telltale clue, prepares dinner for everyone, sleeps on his discovery, and arranges a meeting of all parties in Marjorie’s living room in which he names the killer.
The parts with Nero Wolfe, the only character Goldsborough brings to life, are almost worth waiting for.Pub Date: May 19, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5040-5988-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Mysterious Press
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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