Entertaining, escapist fare; to paraphrase one of Perez-Giese’s characters, it’s a great idea with good execution.
In Perez-Giese’s (Pac Heights, 2013) gritty mystery, a man upends his life to search for his estranged younger sibling, who’s gone missing in Juarez, Mexico.
This densely populated, darkly comic tale starts off with a wallop: “The Mexican punched me so hard that I said my mother’s name, which is interesting, because I don’t like my mother.” This isn’t just an easy gag, as family dynamics are at the heart of this south-of-the-border adventure, which has atmosphere to burn. Jon Lennox, an unhappily married Colorado lawyer, ventures to El Paso after his brother, Chris, a real estate agent—and, in Jon’s estimation, a total screw-up—is apparently kidnapped. But several things about the case don’t add up. If Chris was abducted, why is there no ransom demand? And if Chris, as one private investigator theorizes, “might have been involved in some things not pertaining to real estate,” then why hasn’t his body been found? As Jon investigates, he befriends Iraan, a down-on-his-luck detective who tells him that he “doesn’t fit the profile of the grieved relative.” He also meets Jimmy, an Iraqi war veteran; and Sway, a local hustler. Chris, however, serves as the story’s narrator, and the novel might have been better served if Jon picked up the narrative once Chris disappears early on. That said, Perez-Giese evocatively immerses readers in the ethical morass and moral vacuum of the border drug wars, using local authorities to orient readers on who the players are, how they operate, and the stakes involved. He also has a good eye, and nose, for setting a scene: “The room smelled of microwave popcorn and disinfectant, and the phones rang without being answered,” he writes of one police station waiting room. The pieces of the puzzle eventually fit together—some more seamlessly than others. Meanwhile, tense confrontations and odd character quirks (such as a drug lord’s predilection for the original Star Trek) keep the momentum going.
Entertaining, escapist fare; to paraphrase one of Perez-Giese’s characters, it’s a great idea with good execution.Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2015
ISBN: 978-1480813496
Page Count: 324
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 23, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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