Stylish and superlative entertainment: perfect for a wintry eve with the wind howling dutifully outside.
Collins’s genius for intricate plotting and breakneck narrative pacing is vividly displayed in these two stories written after his masterpieces The Woman in White, Armadale, and The Moonstone. The brief 1881 title story is a former policeman’s tale of his unhappy investigation of a murder in a boardinghouse, seemingly committed by a distraught young widow. The now-clichéd plot elements of sleepwalking and locked doors are deployed with genuine skill, but the story is a tad abrupt and probably ought to have been longer. Its novella-length companion piece, “John Jago’s Ghost” (1873–74), is narrated by a London barrister whose vacation among American relatives (unprophetically prescribed as a rest cure) enwraps him in an “atmosphere of smouldering enmities” among two brothers of contrasting temperaments, their eponymous rival and enemy, a “melancholy” Bible-toting spinster, and a stalwart girl who’ll believe no ill of the man she thinks she loves. Collins misdirects and teases with a master’s hand, and the tale races to a smashing, satisfying ironic final paragraph.
Stylish and superlative entertainment: perfect for a wintry eve with the wind howling dutifully outside.Pub Date: April 1, 2003
ISBN: 1-84391-019-5
Page Count: 110
Publisher: Hesperus/Trafalgar
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
This ran in the S.E.P. and resulted in more demands for the story in book form than ever recorded. Well, here it is and it is a honey. Imagine ten people, not knowing each other, not knowing why they were invited on a certain island house-party, not knowing their hosts. Then imagine them dead, one by one, until none remained alive, nor any clue to the murderer. Grand suspense, a unique trick, expertly handled.
Pub Date: Feb. 21, 1939
ISBN: 0062073478
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dodd, Mead
Review Posted Online: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1939
SEEN & HEARD
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
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