Routine legal thriller based on Picasso’s maxim that art—in this case, a witness’s damning testimony—is a lie that helps us realize the truth. Heartbreakingly beautiful Davilon “Davey” Alden, mother of four-year-old Julie, ruins a scandalous child molestation case against her estranged husband, millionaire construction magnate Joel Alden, when she admits under oath that the heinous deeds she—d ascribed to Joel really never occurred. She tells her court-appointed defender, former Chicago criminal lawyer Jack Brenner, that she dreamed up the charges against her husband to stop him before he could destroy Julie’s life. Brenner, an embittered, childless divorcÇ, suffers also from mid-career burn-out. Against his better judgment, he decides not to accept Prosecutor Brad Holtzman’s plea-bargain that would put Davey in jail for five years and give Joel custody of Julie. The trial stirs a predictable pot of small-town intrigue in Laffler County, Michigan, where Joel Alden’s less-than-legal business affairs (including a landfill scam) directly affect the local economy. As an outsider, Brenner finds himself welcome only in philosophical conversations with a lakeside cottage neighbor and in the sexily evanescent embraces of social worker Judy Cusmano, both of whom feel that Davey is somehow innocent. While Joel’s menacing sidekicks pressure Brenner to throw the case, Brenner discovers that Melanie, Joel’s daughter from his first marriage, may have committed suicide because of Joel’s incestuous advances—and that Davey, with whom Brenner is now romantically involved, is herself the victim of a sexually abusive father. When Melanie’s horrific diary turns up, Brenner suppresses his doubts about his client and uses every cheap courtroom trick at Davey’s trial to make the jury accept her act of perjury as a desperate wife’s last resort. Juries are more interested in mercy than in justice? An astute premise from first-novelist (and circuit court judge) Latreille—who almost sinks the point with genre clichÇs (who needs another shrill, de-sexed female assistant prosecutor?).
Pub Date: July 8, 1998
ISBN: 0-609-60138-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1998
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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