As usual, Downie can be relied on for crisp, balanced prose and a sharp eye for historic detail. The inclusion of a map,...
In ancient Rome, a busy doctor and sometime sleuth puts himself at risk to save an old friend from a trumped-up murder charge.
The year is 123 C.E. Physician Gaius Petreius Ruso is interrupted mid–sheep butchering by the news that Serena, the wife of his fellow doctor and friend Valens, has been stabbed to death and Valens arrested for the crime. Reports of discord in the marriage are common knowledge, shared by Ruso and his wife, Tilla, in private conversation. After going to the sacred spring where Serena’s body was found floating, Ruso visits Valens, who blames his incarceration on his father-in-law, Pertinax, a retired centurion who’s never liked him. Strangely, on the same night that Serena was killed, Terentius, her presumed lover, disappeared. Valens makes things even harder on himself and Ruso when he goes on the run and a reward is placed on his head. Unsure how to proceed, Ruso naturally turns to Tilla, who’s long played Nora Charles to his Nick in seven previous whodunits (Vita Brevis, 2016, etc.). Witnesses tell Ruso of a fire that directly preceded (or covered up?) Serena’s murder and of Valens’ calm demeanor during this crisis. Tilla, meanwhile, gets an earful about Pertinax’s concerns over an heir and Serena’s presumed lover. If Valens is as innocent as he seems, who’s guilty? And why did the good doctor go on the run?
As usual, Downie can be relied on for crisp, balanced prose and a sharp eye for historic detail. The inclusion of a map, period quotations, and a cast of characters not only aids armchair detectives, but enhances authenticity.Pub Date: March 6, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-62040-961-9
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 11, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2018
Determined to shield her family from violence, a woman becomes a fierce freelance crime fighter in this mostly satisfying...
In the aftermath of a horrific crime, a woman makes herself over into a powerful protector—or perhaps an avenger.
Pinter (The Castle, 2019, etc.) already has the Henry Parker thriller series under his belt. In this book he introduces another potential series character, Rachel Marin. The story opens with a warm domestic scene of a young woman making dinner for her husband and two kids when a shattering (but undescribed) discovery intervenes. Jump ahead seven years, and single mom Rachel is living in another town several states away. When a mugger jumps her as she’s walking home from work, she leaves him bleeding in the street and hurries home to her bookish son, Eric, and sweet little daughter, Megan. Keeping them safe is her mission in life. But when she sees a news report about a body found on the ice beneath a nearby bridge, she’s riveted. The cops assigned to the case, detectives John Serrano and Leslie Tally, are shocked to discover the body is that of the town’s disgraced former mayor, Constance Wright. They’re even more shocked when Rachel, whom they don’t know, sends Serrano a message that the death was no suicide: “Constance Wright was murdered. And I can prove it.” When Serrano and Tally go to question Wright’s sketchy ex-husband, Rachel shows up at the same time, and they don’t know whether to order her away or be grateful for her help. Pinter builds a complex plot on the dual mysteries of Constance’s murder and Rachel’s transformation from suburban mom to crack investigator and lethal streetfighter. But the story has so many subplots and timelines that it can feel overstuffed, and some crucial questions asked early on are answered so late the reader might be surprised to be reminded of them. Pinter creates engaging characters, though, and keeps the suspense taut.
Determined to shield her family from violence, a woman becomes a fierce freelance crime fighter in this mostly satisfying thriller.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5420-0590-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
All these problems are handsomely solved at the unsurprising cost of making the human characters less interesting than the...
Just when you thought you’d seen a detective in every guise imaginable, here comes one in sheep’s clothing.
For years, George Glenn hasn’t been close to anyone but his sheep. Everyday he lets them out, pastures them, reads to them and brings them safely back home to his barn in the guilelessly named Irish village of Glennkill. Now George lies dead, pinned to the ground by a spade. Although his flock haven’t had much experience with this sort of thing, they’re determined to bring his killer to justice. There are of course several obstacles, and debut novelist Swann deals with them in appealingly matter-of-fact terms. Sheep can’t talk to people; they can only listen in on conversations between George’s widow Kate and Bible-basher Beth Jameson. Not even the smartest of them, Othello, Miss Maple (!) and Mopple the Whale, can understand much of what the neighborhood priest is talking about, except that his name is evidently God. They’re afraid to confront suspects like butcher Abraham Rackham and Gabriel O’Rourke, the Gaelic-speaking charmer who’s raising a flock for slaughter. And even after a series of providential discoveries and brainwaves reveals the answer to the riddle, they don’t know how to tell the Glennkill citizenry.
All these problems are handsomely solved at the unsurprising cost of making the human characters less interesting than the sheep. But the sustained tone of straight-faced wonderment is magical.Pub Date: June 5, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-385-52111-6
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Flying Dolphin/Doubleday
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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