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THE NUBIAN'S CURSE

A hauntingly atmospheric mystery with a complex and exciting storyline.

A series of mysteries spanning two continents and many years comes to a head in Louisiana.

Benjamin January may be a Paris-trained doctor and an excellent musician, but in 1840 New Orleans, he’s a Black man who has to remember his place. The evening Ben plays at a Christmas ball, he encounters a haunting puzzle from his past. The star of the ball, the Vicomtesse de St.-Forgeux, turns out to be Persephone Jondrette, whom Ben knew in Paris as a dancer. She’s now serving as a companion to wealthy Miss Daisy Emmett, whose slave-trader father died and left her guardianship to his business partner, Creon Grice. When Persephone comes to Ben’s home the next day to ask for help looking into the well-being of two old friends, he can’t refuse, even though it brings back unpleasant memories of a weird, unsolved murder in Paris more than a decade earlier. The friends are African mathematical genius Arithmus Sudirja and Belle Wishart, a British woman; Arithmus was a companion to Belle’s scientifically inclined uncle, Deverel Wishart. After her uncle’s death, Grice married Belle for her money; he spirited Belle and Arithmus to Louisiana because the French police suspected them of killing Deverel. Now, Persephone reveals, it seems that Arithmus is enslaved on Grice’s Natchez plantation. Traveling to Natchez disguised as the valet of a white musician who’s helped him before, Ben finds that Grice has thrown Belle out of the house, demanding a divorce and obviously planning on marrying Miss Emmett to increase his fortune. Miss Emmett, however, has set her sights higher, on Prince Serafin Corvinus. When Grice vanishes, Ben, certain that he’s dead, finds himself again forced to rescue himself and his friends from a murder charge.

A hauntingly atmospheric mystery with a complex and exciting storyline.

Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2024

ISBN: 9781448311361

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Severn House

Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

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TO DIE FOR

Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.

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The feds must protect an accused criminal and an orphaned girl.

Maybe you’ve met him before as protagonist of The 6:20 Man (2022): Ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine, who’d had the dubious fortune to tangle with “the girl on the train,” is now assigned by his homeland security boss to protect Danny Glass, who's awaiting trial on multiple RICO charges in Washington state. Devine has what it takes: He “was a closer, snooper, fixer, investigator,” and, when necessary, a killer. These skills are on full display as the deaths of three key witnesses grind justice to a temporary halt. Glass has a 12-year-old niece, Betsy Odom, and each is the other’s only living relative—her parents recently died of an apparent drug overdose. The FBI has temporary guardianship of Betsy, who's a handful. She tells Travis that though she’s not yet 13, she's 28 in “life-shit years.” The financially well-heeled Glass wants to be her legal guardian with an eye to eventual adoption, but what are his real motives? And what happens to her if he's convicted? Meanwhile, Betsy insists that her parents never touched drugs, and she begs Travis to find out how they really died. This becomes part of a mission that oozes danger. The small town of Ricketts has a woman mayor who’s full of charm on the surface, but deeply corrupt and deadly when crossed. She may be linked to a subversive group called "12/24/65," as in 1865, when the Ku Klux Klan beast was born. Blood flows, bombs explode, and people perish, both good guys and not-so-good guys. Readers might ponder why in fiction as well as in life, it sometimes seems necessary for many to die so one may live. And what about the girl on the train? She's not necessary to the plot, but she's a fun addition as she pops in and out of the pages, occasionally leaving notes for Travis. Maybe she still wants him dead. 

Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.

Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024

ISBN: 9781538757901

Page Count: 432

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024

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NOW OR NEVER

As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.

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Stephanie Plum’s 31st adventure shows that Trenton’s preeminent fugitive-apprehension agent still has plenty of tricks up her sleeve, and needs every one of them.

The current caseload for Stephanie and Lula—the ex-prostitute file clerk at her cousin Vincent Plum’s bail bonds company, who serves as her unflappable sidekick—begins with two “failures to appear.” Eugene Fleck is suspected of being Robin Hoodie, who robs from the rich and, yes, distributes the proceeds to the poor. Racketeer Bruno Jug, who’s missed his court date on charges of tax evasion, is also suspected of drugging and raping a 14-year-old. But neither of these fugitives can hold a candle to Zoran Djordjevic, aka Fang, a self-proclaimed vampire wanted in connection with the gruesome fate of his late wife and three other missing women. As usual, Stephanie’s personal life is just as helter-skelter as her professional life as a bounty hunter. She’s managed to get herself engaged both to Det. Joe Morelli, of the Trenton PD, and Ranger, a former Special Forces agent who runs a private security firm; she thinks she may be pregnant; and she’s willing to marry the father, whichever of her fiances that turns out to be. On top of it all, her nothingburger schoolmate Herbert Slovinski suddenly pops up at one of the funerals she ferries her Grandma Mazur to, hitting on her relentlessly and gilding his importunities by cleaning and painting her shabby apartment and laying new carpet. Luckily, Lula’s on hand to offer cupcakes that stave off the worst disasters, and whenever this hodgepodge threatens to slow down, another FTA appears, or fails to appear.

As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.

Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024

ISBN: 9781668003138

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Atria

Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024

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