MURDER FRAMES THE SCENE

Name: MURDER FRAMES THE SCENE
Author: Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl
ISBN: 978-0-8248-5529-1

by Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 2016

Despite some sharp exchanges between the fiances, Kneubuhl (Murder Leaves its Mark, 2011) evokes Charlie Chan more than Nick...

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Even in paradise, murder can disrupt the lives of the upper class.

While her playwright fiance, Ned Manusia, prowls the streets of 1930s Shanghai in search of his lifelong friend Nigel Hawthorn, Mina Beckwith, back in Hawaii, lunches at the Harbor Grill with “petite and spunky” Cecily Porter, one of her childhood pals. Since Mina’s about to start work on the catalog for the upcoming Honolulu Academy of Arts show at Tamara Morrison’s gallery, where Cecily’s husband, Tom works, the two plan Mina’s best approach to the socialite over teriyaki steak and macaroni salad. Ned soon returns to Hawaii with Nigel and Nigel’s wife, pianist Mei Lien Chen, in tow, so tête-à-têtes over cocktails on the lanai often become foursomes. Ned and Nigel set up an outpost in town where they can help the Americans keep tabs on suspicious comings and goings at the Japanese Embassy. Meanwhile, Mina trails photographer Raymond Morgan as he snaps the artists in poses that evoke classical paintings. Mina does her best to write copy to accompany Raymond’s photos, but the artists, being artists, can’t always articulate what inspires them. One of the things that clearly does inspire them, however, is dallying with folks other than their spouses. So when corpses start to appear, Ned and Mina first assume the motive is personal. But Ned and Nigel’s surveillance soon points to the possibility of more global forces at work, as they find that even a remote tropical island can feel the force of the storm gathering over Europe.

Despite some sharp exchanges between the fiances, Kneubuhl (Murder Leaves its Mark, 2011) evokes Charlie Chan more than Nick and Nora, with exotic locale and period setting at the forefront.

Pub Date: May 15, 2016

ISBN: 978-0-8248-5529-1

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Univ. of Hawai'i

Review Posted Online: March 2, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2016

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

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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.