A surprise ending makes this entry one of Shames’ best in an enjoyable series that raises small-town problems and their...
The dangers of internet dating surprise the chief of police in a small Texas town.
Samuel Craddock is well-acquainted with the citizens of the area he patrols. Although he’s solved tricky cases before (A Reckoning in the Back Country, 2018, etc.), his newest is especially disturbing because it involves Loretta Singletary, a friend he thought he knew well. Loretta’s Baptist church has recently welcomed a new preacher, Arlen Becker, a stickler for doctrine who seems determined to stir up trouble by insisting that his church have a say in running the popular goat rodeo, whose current leader is Father Sanchez of the local Catholic church. While Samuel ponders that problem and works on a few other minor cases, he realizes he hasn’t seen Loretta for several days. When he goes to her house, there are unwashed dishes in the sink, and her car and a suitcase are missing. Neither her sons nor any of her friends know where she’s gone, but one of them remembers her mentioning a man she met on an online dating site. Samuel’s concern deepens when he learns that a woman from neighboring Bobtail is also missing. With his pup, Dusty, by his side, Samuel works with the detective searching for the other missing woman. Once she’s found dead, run over on a deserted stretch of road, Samuel’s concern turns to fear. Every possible connection between the two women is explored and unexpected secrets uncovered as Samuel, his deputy, and the Bobtail police pull out all the stops in the hope of finding Loretta alive.
A surprise ending makes this entry one of Shames’ best in an enjoyable series that raises small-town problems and their solutions to an art form.Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63388-490-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Seventh Street Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The charming heroine has all too little to work with in this overlong and not very mysterious series opener.
Dirty deals are covered up by murder.
In a departure from her Flower Shop series (Tulips Too Late, 2018, etc.), Collins introduces a divorced mother who’s returned to Michigan and the suffocating bosom of her Greek family. Athena works at her father John Spencer’s garden center along with her younger sister, Delphi. Under the name Goddess Anon, she blogs out her frustrations with her family, who, failing to recognize that they’re the subjects of the blog, find it highly amusing. Working late one night, Athena disturbs a man trying to remove something from a life-size marble statue of her namesake that her grandfather had recently purchased, planning to use it to adorn his diner. Talking to strange men alone is not a wise idea, but Case Donnelly’s extraordinary good looks and his tale that the valuable statue actually belongs to him turn her head. The statue, however, is the least of her worries, for all the shops on Greene Street, known as Little Greece, are about to be torn down by powerful developer Grayson Talbot Jr., whose late father had planned to cancel the project. Athena, who’s dating annoying lawyer Kevin Coreopsis to keep her mother happy, soon becomes involved in protecting Case, who’s been seen leaving the scene of Talbot employee Harry Pepper’s murder. It seems a strange coincidence that everyone who was opposed to tearing down Little Greece has suddenly died. Believing Case innocent, Athena hides him on her grandfather’s rarely used boat, and a haircut, a beard, and some bronzer turn him into a Greek fisherman. As the leaders of the Greek community fight to save their shops, Athena attracts Talbot’s interest. He tries to bribe her by offering both an area for the diner and a large apartment for her grandparents in the new construction he plans. Her refusal puts her in danger from someone who’s already killed twice.
The charming heroine has all too little to work with in this overlong and not very mysterious series opener.Pub Date: Jan. 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4967-2433-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Neatly incorporates history, social commentary, and a satisfying mystery in one appealing package. More, please!
A fashionable Australian private eye finds herself embroiled in a difficult case just after World War II.
As a war correspondent, Billie Walker witnessed some terrible things in Germany and still carries many burdens, including the disappearance of her journalist husband. Back home in Sydney, however, she has returned to full-time work as owner and investigator of a private inquiry agency she inherited from her late father. She even has Sam, a brave and affable secretary-cum-assistant, himself a former soldier. When a woman asks Billie to find her missing teenage son, clues lead to The Dancers, an elite club, and Georges Boucher, owner of an expensive auction house. It seems that an old family photo of a particular necklace is at the heart of the case, but who has taken Adin Brown, and to what end? At the same time, Billie's secret informant Shyla reports on a man in the country who has been mistreating girls. Of course, both cases are related, and the truth behind Adin’s abduction, in a very Dashiell Hammett–like turn of events, involves Nazi war criminals, stolen treasures, and a prostitution ring. Billie is a smart, glamorous, kind, and well-turned-out woman, and her addition to the world of literary private detectives is welcome and deserved. She carries a bit of the hard-boiled tradition on her shoulders—the vulnerability, the brashness—while providing a completely feminine perspective on both the crimes and the approach to crime-solving. Moss clearly did a lot of research for the novel, including a great deal in fashion and sewing, so sometimes the details and descriptions can be lengthier than necessary, but gradually, as the pace picks up, these details serve to help us get to know the characters on multiple levels. The setting feels simultaneously familiar and exotic.
Neatly incorporates history, social commentary, and a satisfying mystery in one appealing package. More, please!Pub Date: May 5, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-18265-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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