A wonderfully evocative medieval mystery that weaves historical fact with characters intriguing enough and adventures...
In his fourth adventure (Dragon’s Lair, 2003 etc.), Justin De Quincy, unacknowledged bastard son of the Bishop of Chester, is once again plunged into the dangerous work of “the Queen’s man.”
While Eleanor of Aquitaine is spending 1193 in Germany ransoming her eldest son Richard, and her youngest son John is plotting with the French King to keep Richard in captivity, De Quincey receives an urgent summons to Paris from Claudine, mother of his child. Prince John, it seems, needs him to help prove that a letter accusing John of planning to murder his brother is a forgery. John has been warned of the plot by his former mistress, Arzhela de Dinan of Brittany. Realizing that he will be serving the Queen’s interests after all, Justin makes an uneasy peace with John’s man Durand de Curzon, who had recently tried to kill him, in order to foil the plot. The ill-matched travelers arrive too late at Mont St. Michel to save Arzhela, who has been savagely stabbed, managing to utter only a single word before she dies. Justin and Durand, promptly thrown in a dungeon for Arzhela’s murder, barely escape with their lives. The spy known as the Breton seems to hold the key to the mystery, but finding him, unmasking the murderer, and solving John's problem will lead down dangerous paths for all involved.
A wonderfully evocative medieval mystery that weaves historical fact with characters intriguing enough and adventures exciting enough to lure even nonspecialists.Pub Date: April 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-399-15256-3
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2005
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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