The prolific Cuffe sisters (Maine’s White Pine Cone Conspiracy, 2015, etc.) have produced another character-driven Christian...
An inheritance and a threat turn a teacher’s world upside down.
Gwen McPhail’s longest day begins when she’s awakened by a threatening phone call. Then she finds out she won’t be doing her usual teaching at a summer institute. All the while, she frets about her beloved niece Tasha’s engagement to handsome, wealthy, worldly Dalton Madison, a man Gwen doubts shares their Christian moral vision. The biggest surprise of the day comes when she receives a letter telling her she’s inherited an estate on Candle Island from a man she only vaguely remembers as Uncle Jonesy, a friend of her father. Dalton, who has connections on the island, and Tasha go with her to see what turns out to be a mansion much larger than the home Uncle Jonesy left his wife and son. Out of all the house’s many creature comforts, the only one Gwen likes is caretaker Stinson Scott, an attractive, sarcastic, down-to-earth islander who tells her Uncle Jonesy fell to his death from a nearby bluff. Dot Jones and her son, Ron, have good reason to dislike Gwen, whom Dot suspects of being her late husband’s lover. As Gwen meets more of the locals, she becomes more enamored of the people and the island, though still not the oversized house, and hatches a plan to give it all back to the widow. Dalton, by contrast, loves the house and looks forward to settling down there. He even invites his family for a visit. Although Gwen likes Dalton’s mother well enough, the time they spend together only reinforces her doubts about the differences in their values and lifestyles. Gwen must unravel the mystery of Uncle Jonesy’s death and his strange bequests before she can find the peace she seeks for herself and Tasha.
The prolific Cuffe sisters (Maine’s White Pine Cone Conspiracy, 2015, etc.) have produced another character-driven Christian cozy better enjoyed for its romance than its slight mystery.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4328-3256-8
Page Count: 226
Publisher: Gale Cengage
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2016
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
You can’t help but chuckle over all the disasters, but in the end the heroine catches her prey.
An Arizona accountant with a penchant for solving murders lands a fishy case.
Sophie "Phee" Kimball might lead a dull life if it weren’t for her mother, Harriet Plunkett, and Harriet’s neurotic Chiweenie, Streetman. As it is, Harriet lives near her daughter in Sun City West and has a wide circle of zany friends who’ve helped Phee solve several mysteries (Molded 4 Murder, 2019, etc.) while she’s been working for Williams Investigations along with her boyfriend, Marshall, a former police officer. While Phee’s visiting Harriet one day, Streetman dashes over to the neighbors’ barbecue grill and unearths a dead body under a tarp. As usual, the overwhelmed local police ask Williams Investigations to help—er, consult. Harriet’s main concern is getting costumes made for the reluctant Streetman, whom she’s entered in a series of contests starting with Halloween and progressing through Thanksgiving, Christmas/Hannukah, and St. Patrick’s Day. One of her friends is an accomplished seamstress who goes all out making gorgeous costumes that will beat an obnoxious lady who looks down on mutts. The dead man is identified as Cameron Tully, a seafood distributor, who was poisoned by the locally ubiquitous sago pine. At the first dog contest, Elaine Meschow has to be rushed to the hospital after she gets a dose of the same thing. The owner of a gourmet dog food company, Elaine is lucky enough to recover. After Streetman takes second place, Harriet’s team redoubles its efforts for the next contest while Phee and Marshall, who are moving into a new place together, continue to hunt for clues. A restaurant holdup and a scheme to use empty houses for hookups for high school kids add to the confusion.
You can’t help but chuckle over all the disasters, but in the end the heroine catches her prey.Pub Date: Feb. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2455-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
