As her plot thrusts forward, Dunlap’s terse style battles her complex storyline, with a result more ZipCar than Zen.
San Francisco stuntwoman Darcy Lott (Power Slide, 2010, etc.) learns the burden of responsibility that comes from saving someone’s life.
On her way to meet her brother, Mike, back home after 20 years away, Darcy spots a jumper on the walkway of the Golden Gate Bridge. Athletic Darcy wrestles the young woman from the railing only to see her disappear into the fog. To help find the jumper before she can try again, Darcy enlists Mike and her police officer brother, John. But it isn’t until she hooks up with shady Declan Serrano, who keeps peace in the Mission District by methods that don’t follow San Francisco PD protocol, that she’s able to track down Tessa Jurovik. Tessa works at a high-end copy shop by day and sleeps in a building owned by a bagpiper whose practice keeps his tenants awake all night. Is it those midnight bagpipe sessions that prompt Tessa to swipe a credit card from socialite Varine Adamé and hole up in the Presidential Suite of the swanky Mark Hopkins? Or is it the mysterious influx of cash that also allows the former bike messenger to purchase a pricey new ride? Whatever the reason, Darcy ignores her Zen master’s admonition to live in the moment and trains her sights on the future that she’s afraid Tessa won’t live to see.
As her plot thrusts forward, Dunlap’s terse style battles her complex storyline, with a result more ZipCar than Zen.Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-58243-771-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Counterpoint
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
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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