Despite its lack of tension, this is an enjoyable mystery with a touch of pathos and a final, unexpected twist.
In this 12th volume of Kiernan-Lewis’ mystery series, American expatriate and amateur detective Maggie Newberry sees her husband charged with murder after he discovers a corpse in the Domaine St-Buvard vineyard.
Maggie has convinced her elderly parents to move to France so that she can better help her mother, Elspeth, care for her dad, John, whose symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease have worsened. Maggie drives back and forth between the vineyard where she, her French husband, Laurent Dernier, and their two small children live, and the nearby city of Aix-en-Provence, where her parents reside in a rented apartment. After two harrowing days of problem-solving in Aix, she returns home, only to be awakened by Laurent in the middle of the night. He’s found the lifeless body of Henri Dupree, who works for him at the vineyard, and the police are on the way. When police detective Roger Bedard asks Laurent to return with him to the station, Maggie knows that her spouse is in trouble, despite his reassurances. Although there are a few other potential suspects, the police have fixated on Laurent, who has a shady past as a successful con artist. Kiernan-Lewis ably catches newcomers up regarding the series’ regular characters and backstories, even as she introduces this episode’s new players, which include a diverse collection of refugees who’ve been given sanctuary at the L’Abbaye de Sainte-Trinité, run by Frère Jean, a monk who’s wrestling with personal demons. The travails of Maggie’s parents add a poignant side story to a narrative propelled more by relationships than by action. A variety of individual, secondary dramas keep this cozy mystery engaging, despite its slow pace. The author also constantly rotates locales, from city to vineyard estate to monastery, which gives the narrative a sense of forward momentum. The vivid descriptions of French cuisine, and especially the region’s delectable pastries, are a series trademark, and, once again, a definite bonus.
Despite its lack of tension, this is an enjoyable mystery with a touch of pathos and a final, unexpected twist.Pub Date: April 10, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-987723-06-9
Page Count: 362
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
It's hard to read but hard to look away from.
When two women who share a birthday meet, a journalist becomes the subject of her own true-crime mystery.
On their 45th birthdays, Josie Fair and Alix Summer meet at a pub and discover they were born not only on the same day, but in the same hospital. Alix is a successful journalist, and Josie convinces Alix that her story is worth telling: Josie met her husband when she was 13 and he was 40. “I can see that maybe I was being used, that maybe I was even being groomed?” she confesses to Alix. “But that feeling of being powerful, right at the start, when I was still in control. I miss that sometimes. I really do. And what I’d like, more than anything, is to get it back.” From this premise Alix creates a Netflix series, Hi! I’m Your Birthday Twin! which investigates Josie’s life as she reconciles what happened to her as a teen and seeks a new path. With the story unfinished, the narrative unfolds in the present tense, with prose that jingles like song lyrics: “He turns to see if the girl is behind him, and sees her wishy-washy, wavy-wavy, in double vision through the glass windows of the hotel.” Alix is both intrigued and repulsed by Josie, but she initially gives her the benefit of the doubt. After all, Alix’s husband, Nathan, has a drinking problem, and Alix knows what it’s like to be reluctant to leave a bad situation. But Josie seems more interested in being part of Alix’s seemingly glamorous life than she is in fixing her own, and when three people end up dead and Alix’s life is turned upside down, the evidence points to Josie—and turns the TV series into a murder mystery. Transcripts from Alix’s interviews alternate with the narrative, offering increasingly varied perspectives on Josie’s story as told by her neighbors, friends, and family members. With so many versions of events, the ending shatters, leaving readers to decide whose is the truth.
It's hard to read but hard to look away from.Pub Date: Aug. 8, 2023
ISBN: 9781982179007
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
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