This latest adventure of a charming Scottish family is perfect for readers who like thorny mysteries and puppies.
A little friendship is a dangerous thing in the Scottish town of Nairn.
The Christmas season finds business booming at Paislee Shaw’s yarn and sweater shop, Cashmere Crush, but her living situation more questionable. Ever since she; her grandfather; her son, Brody; and their Scottie, Wallace, were displaced from their house by a burst pipe, she’s been staying in a flat owned by her best friend, Lydia Barron-Smythe—who refuses to take any rent—but hoping to return home soon. Amelia Henry, a receptionist at the police station who helps Paislee in the shop on Saturdays, mentions that her brother, McCormac, has returned from Ireland with an assortment of purebred pups, one of which might make a nice gift for Brody. He’s already given one of the pups to Amelia, along with a gift certificate for the dog’s first visit to the veterinarian. McCormac is handsome, apparently well off, and clearly admired by a number of ladies. But then he’s shot to death in front of Paislee and Amelia during the fireworks display at the Hogmanay festival, and Amelia begs her friend for help. Amelia loved her brother but admits that her entire family has been in trouble with the law, and discovering a suitcase full of cash makes her suspect that McCormac was involved in something illegal. When Amelia’s puppy gets sick, Paislee drives them to the vet McCormac had prepaid, a decision that leads to many complications. Soon all the puppies are getting sick, raising further perils with the possibility that McCormac was smuggling puppies from Irish puppy mills and selling them for big bucks. Could that scheme have provided a motive for murder? Despite warnings from handsome DI Mack Zeffer, Paislee and Amelia put themselves at risk to find out.
This latest adventure of a charming Scottish family is perfect for readers who like thorny mysteries and puppies.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2024
ISBN: 9781496744395
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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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