The mix of pirates and detection works surprisingly well. If the guilty party is no great surprise, both the mystery and the...
Avast, Watson! Journalist Goble’s fiction debut sets its murder mystery aboard an 18th-century pirate ship.
Narrowly escaping first the shipwreck of the Lamia and then the wrath of one of the wreck’s few other survivors, carpenter Spider John Rush and his blood brother, Ezra Coombs, accept an offer they’d spurned only hours earlier, seeking to elude further dangers in Massachusetts Bay by joining the crew of the Plymouth Dream. They duly sign the ship’s articles, accept the work Capt. William Barlow assigns them, and bed down in the expectation of more adventures. But Ezra’s adventures are ended the next night, along with Spider John’s hopes of peace, by the man who clubs Ezra to death and leaves a pewter tankard close by to suggest he got drunk and fell. Spider John, who knows that Ezra didn’t drink and that an accidental fall wouldn’t have left two distinct head wounds, vows to avenge him, well aware that he faces some unique challenges. Of the 70 crewmen aboard the Plymouth Dream, all are lawbreakers, most are killers, and every single one’s a reasonable suspect. In addition, Ezra’s unfortunate reputation as a witch’s son, which followed him to his new berth and perhaps caused his death, guarantees to make anyone investigating that death deeply unpopular. Even so, Spider John, determined to get to the truth of the killing, begins to make cautious inquiries among the pirate crew—inquiries that will be interrupted by the Plymouth Dream’s battle with another ship, a forced search for a mysterious brass cylinder, a mutiny, and the intermittent pursuit of the ship by one of His Majesty’s frigates.
The mix of pirates and detection works surprisingly well. If the guilty party is no great surprise, both the mystery and the sleuthing are neatly turned. First of a series.Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63388-359-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Seventh Street Books
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2017
This ran in the S.E.P. and resulted in more demands for the story in book form than ever recorded. Well, here it is and it is a honey. Imagine ten people, not knowing each other, not knowing why they were invited on a certain island house-party, not knowing their hosts. Then imagine them dead, one by one, until none remained alive, nor any clue to the murderer. Grand suspense, a unique trick, expertly handled.
Pub Date: Feb. 21, 1939
ISBN: 0062073478
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1939
SEEN & HEARD
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
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