A highly stylized, quick-witted mystery with attractive characters and an effective postwar plot.
An American woman in London after World War II unravels the suspicious circumstances of her husband’s death in this novel.
Texas native Eve Battersby has been wed three times, but her last marriage lasted just a short while. Otis Battersby, the owner of a successful clothing company on London’s Savile Row, collapsed and died at his athletic club from sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 42. Eve stands to inherit a fortune from his death but is puzzled by the unexpected event. She begins to notice that inconsequential items are disappearing from her home, and she thinks she’s being followed. She also finds some curious things that seemingly belonged to Otis: Spanish passports, Swiss bonds, and portrait photographs. Needing to get away from the perceived threat, Eve fills her coat with cash, packs a suitcase, and boards a train to Edinburgh, Scotland. In her compartment, she meets Harry Douglas, a dashing Canadian who used to work in wartime British intelligence but is now a gambler. Eve likes what she sees in Harry (“Tall, lean, eyes as blue as a Texas sky, and remarkably warm hands”). In Edinburgh, Eve learns more about Otis’ true self and realizes the city isn’t the safe haven she had hoped for. As sordid tales from the past emerge, Harry and Eve face mounting threats to their safety as they search for the truth. Turner’s sleek postwar mystery is fast-moving and highly polished, but it does not skimp on historical details. Real historical figures are convincingly woven into the plot as Eve and Harry dig up some of the shadier stories from the period when Nazis were absconding to Spain and Argentina. The suspense runs high in this novel, which has a strong cast, an unrelenting energy, and a consistent devotion to the truth. Some points are repeated, and there isn’t much here about Eve’s background, but there is a promised sequel.
A highly stylized, quick-witted mystery with attractive characters and an effective postwar plot.Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2022
ISBN: 9780984723256
Page Count: 282
Publisher: Harry Douglas Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.
A 16-year-old savant uses his Groundhog Day gift to solve his grandfather’s murder.
Nishizawa’s compulsively readable puzzle opens with the discovery of the victim, patriarch Reijiro Fuchigami, sprawled on a futon in the attic of his elegant mansion, where his family has gathered for a consequential announcement about his estate. The weapon seems to be a copper vase lying nearby. Given this setup, the novel might have proceeded as a traditional whodunit but for two delightful features. The first is the ebullient narration of Fuchigami’s youngest grandson, Hisataro, thrust into the role of an investigator with more dedication than finesse. The second is Nishizawa’s clever premise: The 16-year-old Hisataro has lived ever since birth with a condition that occasionally has him falling into a time loop that he calls "the Trap," replaying the same 24 hours of his life exactly nine times before moving on. And, of course, the murder takes place on the first day of one of these loops. Can he solve the murder before the cycle is played out? His initial strategies—never leaving his grandfather’s side, focusing on specific suspects, hiding in order to observe them all—fall frustratingly short. Hisataro’s comical anxiety rises with every failed attempt to identify the culprit. It’s only when he steps back and examines all the evidence that he discovers the solution. First published in 1995, this is the first of Nishizawa’s novels to be translated into English. As for Hisataro, he ultimately concludes that his condition is not a burden but a gift: “Time’s spiral never ends.”
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781805335436
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.
Four residents of Coopers Chase, a British retirement village, compete with the police to solve a murder in this debut novel.
The Thursday Murder Club started out with a group of septuagenarians working on old murder cases culled from the files of club founder Elizabeth Best’s friend Penny Gray, a former police officer who's now comatose in the village's nursing home. Elizabeth used to have an unspecified job, possibly as a spy, that has left her with a large network of helpful sources. Joyce Meadowcroft is a former nurse who chronicles their deeds. Psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif and well-known political firebrand Ron Ritchie complete the group. They charm Police Constable Donna De Freitas, who, visiting to give a talk on safety at Coopers Chase, finds the residents sharp as tacks. Built with drug money on the grounds of a convent, Coopers Chase is a high-end development conceived by loathsome Ian Ventham and maintained by dangerous crook Tony Curran, who’s about to be fired and replaced with wary but willing Bogdan Jankowski. Ventham has big plans for the future—as soon as he’s removed the nuns' bodies from the cemetery. When Curran is murdered, DCI Chris Hudson gets the case, but Elizabeth uses her influence to get the ambitious De Freitas included, giving the Thursday Club a police source. What follows is a fascinating primer in detection as British TV personality Osman allows the members to use their diverse skills to solve a series of interconnected crimes.
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-98-488096-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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