Though Mills’s attempt at a comedic mystery doesn’t quite work out, Sabrina still holds promise for future development.
Her recent move to a beautiful tropical island forces a Midwestern schoolteacher into a cat-and-mouse game with a killer.
Sabrina Dunsweeney’s relocation from Cincinnati (Island Intrigue, not reviewed) hasn’t turned out as she’d hoped. Jobless and forced out of her original rental, she may have to head back north with her parakeet Calvin. When she’s offered the job of Comico Island ombudsman, she’s hesitant, but knows someone is needed to try to keep peace between the quirky, clannish islanders and the unhappy tourists whom unscrupulous property manager Vicki Carroway has promised more than they’re getting. Sabrina learns more about Comico’s past as a rumrunners’ haven when she visits Shell Lodge to try to soothe the sensibilities of an ill-assorted group of “Hummers.” These poor souls, who continually hear a humming noise that’s driving them mad, have made a retreat to be cured by expert Joseph Siderius, his son Michael and his business associate Gilbert Kane, who’s just been found murdered. Sabrina’s sleuthing gets the killer’s attention, and she barely escapes a few attempts on her own life. Unable to believe that attractive boatmaster Sam Myers is guilty even after he’s arrested, she keeps digging until she discovers that past secrets provide fertile ground for present crimes.
Though Mills’s attempt at a comedic mystery doesn’t quite work out, Sabrina still holds promise for future development.Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 1-59058-396-5
Page Count: 276
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2007
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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