Three different takes on Halloween and cupcakes that range from the historical to the fanciful.
A trio of Halloween-themed stories all featuring deadly cupcakes.
O’Connor’s American heroine Tara Meehan’s search for Halloween decorations for her architectural salvage shop in Galway leads her to a curiosity shop, where she buys a painting that might provide a motive for murder. When Tara finds the shop owner dead, possibly poisoned by a Halloween cupcake, she’s both witness and suspect and must turn sleuth to extricate herself from a dangerous situation before she can enjoy an Irish Halloween. Ireland spins a Halloween fantasy set in Santaland, with Mrs. Claus herself as the sleuth who uncovers a murderous plot. A baking contest featuring candy corn causes a run on the product as bakers practice for a chance to win. When star baker Chestnut leaves the Silver Bell Bakery to open his own shop, taking Wink Jollyflake with him, the owner of Silver Bell is furious. After Jollyflake is found dead with a half-eaten candy corn cupcake by his side, rumors run wild, and Mrs. Claus decides that investigating herself is the only way to find the killer and keep Santaland’s Halloween festival on track. In Perry’s tale, TV station program director and part-time reporter Lee Barrett and her policeman boyfriend live in witchy Salem, Massachusetts, where the owner of the Pretty Party Bakery has gone missing, and his cat, Cupcake, has to be rescued from a tree in front of the house Lee shares with her aunt. Lee’s human interest story about the cat plunges her into an investigation of the missing man, who has plenty of enemies despite his famously yummy triple-layer cupcakes.
Three different takes on Halloween and cupcakes that range from the historical to the fanciful.Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2023
ISBN: 9781496740267
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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