A seasoned author plays it safe in this cozy but forgettable ghostly whodunit.
The line between the supernatural and the suspicious is blurred when a haunted innkeeper gets embroiled in the murder of a visiting author.
Maureen Doherty never expected to run a haunted inn. But after inheriting the Floridian Haven House Inn from a stranger, she’s made peace with its ghostly residents and the occasional murder investigation. Struggling to keep the business afloat, she’s focused on ways to boost its profits, like a promotion of Haven as a dog-friendly town, inspired by the welcome everyone’s extended to Finn, her own pup. Maybe she just has how-to on her mind after running into her friend Aster Patterson, who owns the local bookstore, and discussing Terry Holiday, a how-to writer Aster is bringing to town for a visit. Distracted by the progression of her romance with her head chef, Ted Carr, and the wedding bells that may be in their future, Maureen doesn’t think too much about the event. And when Terry arrives, the mystery writers’ group that meets at Aster’s bookstore doesn’t exactly roll out the red carpet. They make it clear they aren’t fans of his work, or perhaps even of Terry himself. Maureen begins to suspect that his latest book wasn’t even written by him, but before she can dig deeper, Aster stumbles on Terry’s body in her flower garden. Aster claims her late husband’s ghost led her to the corpse, but top cop Frank Hubbard is dubious. As the ghostly sightings raise more questions than answers, Maureen must determine whether the truth lies with the living or the dead.
A seasoned author plays it safe in this cozy but forgettable ghostly whodunit.Pub Date: May 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781496743626
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 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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