Cheers to this cozy mystery that’s an enjoyable, breezy beach read.
At the height of spring break, a Florida bartender finds a murdered woman in her car and becomes obsessed with finding the killer in this debut novel.
Mike, the security guard, and Carlos, the night manager, escort The Lazy Gecko’s premier bartender, Kalliope Brooks, to her car at the end of a busy night. After the men say goodnight to her, Kallie starts the engine and then, in the rearview mirror, sees something on the dark back seat. A shopping bag? A pair of shoes? No, it’s the hand of a petite blond whose lifeless body is folded up in the leg space of the car’s back seat. After Det. Morrison interviews Kallie, he says the police will need to keep her car as evidence. It’s late when she is given a ride home, but her dad has waited up. Her father has been a widow magnet since he moved in with Kallie sometime after his divorce. The next day, after volunteering at a homeless shelter’s kitchen with her best friend, Tess, Kallie breaks down sobbing, thinking of the poor, dead woman. After police reveal the victim was the 24-year-old daughter of a famous, wealthy Washingtonian widower, Kallie and Tess commit to solving the murder. Although Morrison leans toward Mike as the killer (and toward Kallie as his future girlfriend), the young women find plenty of other suspects, including the victim’s landlord and her fiance, who has a girlfriend on the side. But spring breakers, other bar employees, and possibly even Kallie’s friends are not above suspicion. The story’s pacing is excellent, and a few curveballs are thrown into the plot. The spring break wackiness in this beachfront town seems authentic (“Can you believe that fight on the beach tonight?” “That was so crazy! Don’t these people know they’re supposed to be having fun?”). Humor and quirky but believable characters add to Westlake’s entertaining mystery. Bonus: Kallie has a rescue dog, Sherman, a “happy fuzzball,” who gets into mischief and loves pizza. Loose ends involving Kallie’s multidivorced mom and troubled brother, Jack, indicate a sequel may be in the works.
Cheers to this cozy mystery that’s an enjoyable, breezy beach read.Pub Date: Dec. 5, 2022
ISBN: 9798985642544
Page Count: 270
Publisher: Impractical Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 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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