Despite the crackerjack opening movement, Paul’s first instinct was right: No thanks.
A highly suspect client takes San Diego attorney Paul Madriani (The Jury, 2001, etc.) farther from the courtroom than he’s ever been—maybe a little too far.
No thanks, Paul tells his friend Nick Rush, of Rocker, Dusher and DeWine (RDD), when Nick asks him to advise his trophy wife’s friend, construction wheeler-dealer Gerald Metz, about a grand-jury money-laundering probe. He unbends enough for a single consultation with Metz, but the would-be client’s answers set off so many alarms that he tosses this stinker back to Nick, who’s therefore on hand to get perforated along with his client in a drive-by execution outside the courthouse. Torn by guilt and manipulated by the luscious Dana Rush into fighting for a key-man insurance policy Nick had inexplicably left in the name of his embittered ex Margaret, Paul finds himself stuck between an irresistible widow and an immovable discard—until, in the story’s early high point, he comes up with a truly brilliant strategy for satisfying them both, along with RDD bigwig Adam Tolt and even RDD’s insurance company. Unfortunately, his scheme doesn’t prevent him from sinking deeper into the bog of Nick’s secrets, from his hidden business partnership with the late Jerry Metz to his ties to the sinister Ibarra family of Mexico, where Tolt, Paul, and his partner Harry Hinds will shortly be winging aboard the RDD jet. In Cancun, far from the courtroom where he’s always been the strongest player on the board, Paul shrinks to the size of a target in the sights of enemies who play a lot harder than he does. The resulting action sequences, although they provide plenty of fodder for movie-happy lawyers’ pipe dreams, are likely to strain the patience of Martini’s many fans as completely as they shred his proven formula.
Despite the crackerjack opening movement, Paul’s first instinct was right: No thanks.Pub Date: Jan. 6, 2003
ISBN: 0-399-14878-7
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2002
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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