As a dunderheaded supporting character announces, “Wit in the face of tragedy is admirable.” So true.
Having established herself as the preeminent sleuth in Swampshire, Regency-period debutante Beatrice Steele hangs out her investigator’s shingle in London, partnering with Inspector Vivek Drake, whose first case with her got him drummed out of the police force.
Someone is after the founders of NAGS, the Neighborhood Association of Gentlemen Sweetbriarians. After wealthy NAGS cofounder Walter Shrewsbury is bashed and stabbed to death shortly after receiving a note saying “Confess, or die. Your choice,” and celebrated detective Sir Lawrence Huxley comes to suspect Percival Nash, the star of Figaro III: Here We Figaro Again, Nash approaches the partners of DS Investigations asking them to clear his name. It’s an uphill battle for several reasons. The evidence against the overbearing Nash is significant; Huxley thinks he’s incapable of making a mistake; and Nash doesn’t have a convincing alibi for this or the other murders that predictably follow after the other NAGS cofounders receive identical notes. Beatrice’s biggest challenge, though, is that in order to investigate properly, she has to somehow get herself invited to the events restricted to the exclusive Rose list of debutantes and persuade her social superiors to reveal indiscreet things to her, all while assuring her goal-oriented mother and Helen Bolton, the aspiring playwright who’s agreed to serve as her chaperone, that she’s spending every waking moment courting a proposal from an eligible suitor or two. Seales adroitly walks the line between decorous Regency dialogue and manners and Beatrice’s acidic contemporary sensibility. The delectable result will enchant fans who thought Bridgerton would have been even better with a higher body count.
As a dunderheaded supporting character announces, “Wit in the face of tragedy is admirable.” So true.Pub Date: June 24, 2025
ISBN: 9780593450017
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
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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