A nasty picture of how far the Klan reached into everyday life, reflections on Native American culture and religion, and a...
An Irish private eye and his Cherokee assistant step into a hotbed of racism and crime when they look for a missing person in Prohibition-era Oklahoma.
J.D. Daugherty, a former Chicago cop who’s set up as a PI in Tulsa, and World War I veteran Hoolie Smith, whose services he often uses, arrive in the town of Anadarko looking for Frank Shotz, a geologist who’s supposed to be securing grazing leases on Indian land but who’s more likely looking for oil or gas. After he’s nearly shot on the street while attempting to talk to two Indian men, Hoolie learns that Sheriff Wynn and Police Chief Collins are fighting over the bootlegging business in the county. Another player is Violet Comstock, who not only owns a restaurant, but has interests in hotels and a brothel and, together with the mayor, wants to force out the sheriff and chief and take over the hooch business. They offer J.D. money to create a war between the two so the governor will be forced to send in troops. As it turns out, Shotz’s mutilated body was found and buried by the Kiowa Charging Horse family, who fear they’ll be accused of his murder. The Ku Klux Klan practically runs Oklahoma, but some of J.D.’s powerful friends in the oil industry are fighting its abhorrent influence. When J.D. is called back to Tulsa to help find the kidnapped daughter of a black leader whom he met in a former case (The Osage Rose, 2008), Hoolie stays in Anadarko to sort things out. Instead, he and his friends are falsely accused of murder. Clearly, they’ll have their hands full trying to discover the shadowy figure behind all the trouble in Anadarko.
A nasty picture of how far the Klan reached into everyday life, reflections on Native American culture and religion, and a gallery of fascinating characters are all woven into a complex mystery.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-8165-3181-3
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Univ. of Arizona
Review Posted Online: July 28, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
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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