A pleasant, holiday-themed escape that offers more giggles than shivers.
A murderer is afoot in the peaceful hamlet of Christmas Village in Wescott’s (Running from Scissors, 2018) whimsical cozy.
It’s the week before Christmas, and an eclectic troupe of jugglers, magicians, acrobats, and other performers called Harper’s Harpoons has arrived at Rose Willoughby’s Plum Cottage, where they plan to lodge for the duration of the village’s famous celebratory week. The morning after their arrival, though, the group’s manager, Barnaby Snipes, is found dead atop pristine snow on 12-foot-high Plum Hill. There aren’t any footprints leading to or away from the body, but it’s confirmed that Barnaby was killed sometime after the snow had fallen. Sheriff Fell and Deputy Bentley are stumped, but the challenge proves irresistible to Maribel Claus, a member of the village’s Council of Elders and Rose’s good friend. In between baking tarts and other pastries, Maribel sets about trying to solve the mystery. Snipes has plenty of enemies, and among the suspects are Jimmy “Sticks” Johannsen, a juggler who walks on stilts; Eric Stumpf, a magician who’s talented at making things appear and disappear; acrobat Xander “Whirly” Byrd; professional psychic Madame Zorena; and strongman Bull Vargas. But before the sheriff can make an arrest, another body is found along with a new set of mysterious clues. Overall, this is a tongue-in-cheek romp through an idealized village where the snow “is softer and drier than...any other place,” the flowers “stay in bloom all year round,” and streets have names like “Candy Cane Lane” and “Blitzen Court.” As a result, the narrative may seem a bit too cute for some readers—even the most devoted fans of cozy mysteries; at one point, for instance, a clue is found by examining the frolicking games of a pair of pet ferrets named Dancer and Prancer. However, the tale also has plenty of entertainingly quirky characters, headed by Maribel, who proves to be an enjoyable sleuth who’s always a step ahead of the sheriff. There’s also plenty of puzzle-solving fun to be had for readers who can sink into the fantasy along with engaging twists and red herrings.
A pleasant, holiday-themed escape that offers more giggles than shivers.Pub Date: Nov. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-73213-581-9
Page Count: 330
Publisher: Better Mousetrap Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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