In three novels, Parker (Pacific Beat; Little Saigon; Laguna Beach) has proven himself a master of the California thriller. So he can be forgiven for this ill-crafted amalgam of serial-killer chiller and tragic love story. Parker's narrator here is Russ Monroe, true-crime author and reporter for the Laguna Journal. As the story begins, two calamities plague Monroe: the slow death of his wife, Isabella, from a brain tumor; and the murder of his ex-lover, supermodel Amber Mae Wilson, whose savaged body Monroe finds in her home. Amber's death bears the hallmarks of the serial killer known as the Midnight Eye—except that, just before Monroe entered Amber's home, he spied Amber's ex-husband, Laguna homicide cop Martin Parish, wiping fingerprints off the outside gate. When the crime isn't reported, Monroe returns to the killing ground and finds the body missing but Parish lurking about. Monroe suspects Parish of the crime, while Parish claims innocence and accuses, then tries to frame, Monroe: Both are in Amber's will. But soon Amber herself surfaces—the victim was in fact her look-alike sister, Alice—even as Monroe and Amber's daughter turns up (did she help do away with Alice?), and as the Midnight Eye takes to calling Monroe at home, ranting about his crimes. Meanwhile, Isabella deteriorates—and endures an operation—as Monroe grieves for her and for his inability to save her, despite his pleasure in helping to i.d. the Midnight Eye, who escapes to N.Y.C. And then yet another possible Alice-killer surfaces—and he owns a copy of Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho.... A soggy, slow-moving fog—out of which, however, the subplot of the writer and his doomed wife glows with heart-stirring radiance.
Pub Date: July 30, 1993
ISBN: 0312952376
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1993
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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