A conscientiously plotted mystery maze most likely to appeal to serious amateur detectives.
A fraught house party at a stately English home is the curtain-raiser for a mysterious death in France in this whodunit first published in 1956.
Schoolmaster Nigel Derry, the godson of Gwendoline Marrable, has long been in love with Sheila Tallent, whom Gwenny adopted after the death of her parents. Since Sheila’s only 19, the couple needs Gwenny’s permission to wed. So Nigel asks Aunt Gwenny, as he calls her, about it after a dinner at her country house, attended by Gwenny’s live-in lover, George Gammon; Gwenny’s sister, romance novelist Deborah Gaye; and French visitor André Duconte, who seems positioned to become George’s successor. Nothing doing, says Gwenny, who announces that her will cuts Sheila off without a penny if she marries before she reaches 30. George, who hasn’t heard any of this, reacts to André’s arrival by making love to Deborah, who responds with unwonted enthusiasm. As these parties and others disperse, the scene abruptly shifts to Cap Martin in southern France, where Gwenny has telegraphed Nigel inviting (read: commanding) him to visit her at her villa. The only trouble is that she won’t be there herself, since her naked body’s been found smothered and stuffed into a trunk. Convinced that “this isn’t a woman’s crime,” Inspector Blampignon, a superstar summoned from Nice to work with local Inspector Hamonet, toils to keep up with the domestic and romantic complications that continue to mount and mount until the inevitably anticlimactic denouement. Don’t count on marriage to rescue the heroes; marriage is one of the biggest problems here.
A conscientiously plotted mystery maze most likely to appeal to serious amateur detectives.Pub Date: May 20, 2025
ISBN: 9781464230554
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Poisoned Pen
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
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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