The last few Fethering mysteries (Blood at the Bookies, 2008, etc.) have lacked the usual quota of wit, gleeful satire and...
Fethering neighbors Jude and Carole come to the aid of a publican.
Ted Crisp’s Crown and Anchor is in trouble. A motorcycle gang has taken to vrooming in and out at all hours, disturbing shopkeepers and residents along Fethering’s High Street. Recently served scallops have caused serious food poisoning. The local paper’s headlines announce that the Health Department has ordered the Crown and Anchor closed. And Dan Poke, the comedian Ted engages to inaugurate the pub’s comedy nights, is not only unfunny but insistent on reminding those present about the dodgy scallops. Could things get worse? Well, yes. When a brawl breaks out, Ray, the simple-minded lad Ted lets help out, is stabbed to death, and Ted’s long-separated wife reappears to demand a divorce and major alimony. Perhaps inspired by the Chilean chardonnay they quaff, Jude and Carole decide to set matters right. Soon they’re confronted by another death, a philandering civic-minded do-gooder, and a man with a scarred face and fewer than ten fingers. Not to worry, though. A few more nips of the chardonnay, and Jude and Carole have put Ted and his pub back in business while sparing a kind thought or two for poor Ray.
The last few Fethering mysteries (Blood at the Bookies, 2008, etc.) have lacked the usual quota of wit, gleeful satire and clever if unmemorable plotting. Alas, matters are equally tired at the pub. Even Brett devotees might want to give this installment a miss.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-59414-890-3
Page Count: 298
Publisher: Five Star/Gale Cengage
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2009
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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