A tropical romp that folds a frothy romance into a whodunit.
An idyllic island is the perfect setting for amour and murder.
A brief prologue follows lovestruck Diana Harden as she secretly climbs to the clifftop home of Ethan Valentine, the object of her affection, and an anonymous figure sneaks up behind her and strangles her with her own scarf. Cut to workaholic accountant Mia Crawford, on her way to the Caribbean for her “nonnegotiable anniversary bonus” and angling for romance. Her first-person narration bubbles as she meets a large group of tourists, including NFL team owner Nelson Stockton and his wife, Anja, along with friendly couple David and Doug. A newspaper article about the missing Diana piques her interest, further stimulated when she overhears an isolated remark: “You have until Friday or you’re dead.” Mia begins her vacation project of meeting men at the Blue Dahlia beachside bar by flirting with dreamy head bartender Jason Mallory, whose daredevil escapades might be a red flag. But details of Diana’s disappearance keep distracting Mia. The discovery of a book with writing in the margins and underlined passages proves to be a key clue. When Diana’s corpse washes up on shore, Mia, who never leaves home without a book, can’t help digging deeper. The addition of a literary quotation at the beginning of each chapter, a nod to Mia’s bibliophilia, adds a dash of panache to this volume. Brennan’s “romantic mystery” (as she describes it in the acknowledgments) is slight and shaggy and ebullient and largely set—where else?—on a beach.
A tropical romp that folds a frothy romance into a whodunit.Pub Date: June 17, 2025
ISBN: 9780778387251
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA
Review Posted Online: May 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
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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