Tag:

Amateur Sleuth

Review

The Queen Who Came in from the Cold

by Brian Kenney

This fifth in the series featuring Queen Elizabeth as an amateur sleuth is even more credible, more captivating than its predecessors—and they were awfully good. It’s 1961, deep into the Cold War, and the queen is headed north aboard the royal train, along with Princess Margaret and their respective entourages, when one of the ladies-in-waiting claims to have seen a murder unfold from her carriage. Is this sighting for real or a case of ladies-who-drink-too much? The queen, along with her assistant private secretary Joan McGraw—she’s the thread who connects many of the books—takes on the possible murder, which then expands, threatening to spoil the queen’s state visit to Italy. (Here the action moves to the royal yacht, a delightful foray.) Bennett does a fabulous job of balancing the monarch’s role as head of state with her involvement in a tale that exposes the dark side of the post-war world. For fans of The Crown, the Marlow Murder Club series, Miss Marple, and Robert Lacey’s Majesty: Elizabeth II and the House of Windsor.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife

by Willy Williams

In a clever standalone homage to Agatha Christie and other Golden Age authors, Edwards (Rachel Savernake series) invites “external observers” (i.e., readers) and “analysts” (reviewers) to participate in an interactive puzzle mystery-within-a-mystery set in a remote, snowbound Yorkshire village. The mysterious Midwinter Trust has brought six down-on-their-luck people with connections to crime fiction (including washed-out author Harry Crystal and laid-off book publicist Poppy de Lisle) to Midwinter village in the rugged Pennines to solve a fictional murder over the Christmas holidays under the close supervision of six Midwinter Trust employees. But the game soon goes awry when one of the guests, podcaster Baz Frederick, is found dead in a frozen creek; it is determined that he fell accidentally. But two more deaths are more than coincidental. Is a killer on the loose? As the players struggle to solve both the actual murders and the fictional one, readers can apply their own detective skills in deciphering the clues the author sprinkles throughout the podcast excerpts, text messages, journal entries, webpage excerpts, and third-person narrative. He even provides a Cluefinder (a nod to Golden Age detective fiction) but warns sternly that readers who cheat will be disqualified. If you love to play Clue and are a fan of atmospheric cozies, this is a fun, diverting read.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Crown City

by Brian Kenney

Set in 1903 Pasadena and told through the eyes of 18-year-old Ryunosuke “Ryui” Wada, who has recently arrived from Yokohama, Japan, this novel is rich in dualities. An orphan, Ryui is fascinated by the world around himself—including Jack, his talented roommate and photographer and Gigi, a beautiful seamstress. Trained as an artist, Jack manages to find work in Pasadena’s art community as an apprentice, a job that takes him all over town. “In America, or perhaps especially in California, people could be transformed into anyone they dreamed of being.” Pasadena is rife with cultural appropriation; one of the personas Ryui encounters involves young white women re-creating Japanese culture, “which made me feel uneasy and confused,” Ryui notes. But when he and Jack are hired by Toshio Aoki, Pasadena’s best-known Japanese artist, to recover a missing painting (“I could be the first Nipponese detective in this country,” crows Jack) they willingly enter a world where danger abounds and real historical figures have a role. Poignant, marvellously well imagined, and deeply moving, this latest from Hirahara, author of the Edgar Award-winning Mas Arai series, and more recently the writer of Clark and Division and Evergreen, is sure to engage fans of historical fiction.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

All My Bones

by Brian Kenney

Quirky and quick-witted, this second mystery in the Old Juniper series manages to be both action packed and full of the rich details that make up small-town life. Madeline Brimley is back in her hometown of Enigma, Georgia (“A little do-nothing town in the worst part of the third-worst state in the country”). A former actor, Madeline inherited her aunt’s home/bookstore and has no problem making new friends, although her bestie would be Gloria Coleman, the Episcopal priest who lives right across the street. When a corpse is found in the front yard of the bookstore, of all places, it turns out to be that of the rich and nasty Bea Glassie. And while no one in town can stand Bea, it’s Gloria who takes the heat for killing her and ends up in the slammer—while Madeline and friends are cavorting about town, interviewing suspects, cooking dinner, and in general living it up. Madeline even manages to get herself a boyfriend (a poet and horticulturalist. How cute is that?) Gradually the mystery starts to fall in place, characters step up to their roles, and the world eventually settles back into a familiar place.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

At Death’s Dough

by Danise Hoover

As Geneva Bay, WI is mostly a summer resort, making ends meet for the town’s small businesses in the winter is no easy task. Delilah and Son, gourmet pizza establishment, is no exception. The history of the place as a vacation spot for the Chicago mob is a mixed blessing, but when the Chamber of Commerce comes up with a “Gangsters of Geneva Bay” map and self-guided tour, Delilah is sort of obliged to sign on, even though it upsets cop boyfriend Calvin Capone, who does his best to play down his nominal connection to the mob. That she and her Aunt Biz discover frozen human remains while ice fishing only makes things worse. We have local and mob history combined with the overflow of ugly divorces, bad police work, family feuds, and a juicy bit of danger to liven the plot, along with trying to make sure that Valentines Day reservations will make up for the rest of the slow month to make this a fun addition to an entertaining series. And of course there are recipes at the end.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests

by Dodie Ownes

When Vivienne, an admittedly dowdy and somewhat bitter middle-aged magazine editor, receives a mysterious invitation to a dinner party, she almost throws it away. Reconsidering, she goes to the elusive address to find Serendipity, which appears to be a pop-up fine dining experience. None of the other six guests has any relation to her, or one another, it seems. Readers get to know them through their actions and words, and it would be easy to start guessing what is to come, but the highlight of the dinner is when each finds an envelope at his or her place setting. Janet, the most spontaneous (and likely most drunk) of the guests, tears hers open to find a card that states You will die age 44, and she is just weeks from her 45th birthday. Fear, accusations, and incredulity sweep across the group, and then, dismissing it as a publicity stunt, they depart. But then the words on the cards start coming true. As the guests tell their stories and admit to their sins, readers see Vivienne emerge as a caring and clever amateur sleuth who finally has a family to protect. A terrific addition to the current trend of If you knew you were going to die, how would you live your life? novels.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Poison & Pooches

by Brian Kenney

A charming novel with community at its heart. Arial Mayes Kingston has inherited a guest house in Monterey, California. Only in her mid-twenties, Arial turns to the one thing she knows how to do well: walk and sit dogs. O.K., so she is able to drum up only one client: the very handsome Golden named Monty (fans of Laurien Berenson and David Rosenfelt will enjoy meeting Monty). But she is able to make new acquaintances in the neighborhood while walking about with Monty, and Balzo spends plenty of time on character development. In fact, we’re nearly a quarter of the way through the book before a male corpse shows up, discovered, of all places, in the floorboards beneath Arial’s guest house. Fortunately Arial is in the clear—she hadn’t even moved to California when the body had been buried. But boy, talk about an incentive for gossip. Between the local book group, the vet, the neighborhood detective, and several more, we have enough speculation to keep the questions of who killed the victim and who buried him very much alive. When the murderer is finally revealed, it is truly a shock worth waiting for. Looking forward to more from Arial and Monty

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Just Another Dead Author

by Dodie Ownes

Swedish author Bivald gives readers another delightful twisty tale (following The Murders in Great Diddling) with well-known mystery author Berit Gardner in the lead role, along with a diverse and quirky cast of characters, most of whom are writers, agents, and publishers attending a retreat outside Lyon, France. Against the backdrop of the somewhat dilapidated yet beautiful Chateau des Livres, the envy and adoration amongst the attendees begins to merge, even as they continue to workshop “Dramatic Plot Twists” and “Portrait of a Writer on Fire.” When John Wright, headliner and bestselling author, dies in the front row during Berit’s welcoming address, nearly everyone is a suspect. A series of reveals follows, including two Mrs. Wrights, a partial manuscript, and a kitchen crush. When another particularly annoying attendee is found stabbed, the stakes are raised. With the help of sharp-eyed observers and a DCI Ahmed, a friend from England, Berit and her rep Sarah, who happens to be the daughter of John Wright’s agent, start to work out whom the murderer might be, much to the chagrin of local authority Commissaire Roche. Fans of Kemper Donovan’s Ghostwriter series will eat this up. A fun romp through the publishing industry is icing on the cake!

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Two Truths and a Murder

by Brian Kenney

Phyllida Bright, Agatha Christie’s long-standing housekeeper, close friend, and—with Agatha’s permission—sometime sleuth takes on a local case involving multiple murders. Invited to a dinner party, she’s been asked to help determine whether one of the husbands is guilty of infidelity (he isn’t), but instead observes as the obnoxious Genevra Blastwick, the complete opposite of her shy sister Ethel, forces everyone into playing Two Truths and a Lie, and she herself is quick to claim as one of her truths that she once witnessed a murder. Fact or fiction? In either case, her claim garners her plenty of attention—these days, Genevra would be an influencer of some sort—but it’s not necessarily the attention she wants, as the next morning, reclusive Ethel is discovered to have been run over by an automobile while walking home from the party. Has the murderer killed the wrong sister, “offing” sweet Ethel when they meant to murder big-mouthed Genevra? Set entirely in the countryside, with the supportive Agatha in the background, this novel sees Phyllida taking on an even greater role as an amateur sleuth, with many in the community, especially the service workers, turning to her for help. Add to all this a burgeoning romance that will knock Phyllida and many readers off of their feet, and you have all the makings of one of the best cozies of the year.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
Review

Everyone in the Group Chat Dies

by Brian Kenney

This is one of those binary books. As darkly funny as it’s poignant and moving. Light and cozy, except when it’s suspenseful and horrifying. In short, there’s a whole lot going on, yet Chilton, author of the delightful Swiped, succeeds in keeping it all afloat. Kirby Cornell, a failed Nepo Baby, lives in the bleak town of Crowhust in an even bleaker apartment with a gaggle of roommates. It takes a desperate message to their old group chat to get Kirby and her chums to put down the beer. But the message isn’t what’s so scary. It’s that the message comes from Esme, an ex-roommate who died a year ago. Creepy, no? The novel moves between a year ago and the present day, with plenty of Crowhurst, including the local “fayre,” in between. Because it turns out that Crowhurst was the killing ground of a terrifying serial killer who was active in the 1980s, may have never been fully identified, and who provides Kirby and chums with plenty of speculation. A fast-moving, clever thriller that uses social media to keep the narrative thriving. Teens and twenty-somethings should love this.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail