A mystery and character study that satisfies and surprises right to the final page.
In Yocum’s mystery, “stop the presses” becomes “stop the wedding” when a former reporter’s fiance mysteriously disappears on the day of their nuptials.
The author’s third installment of his Cape Cod Mystery series begins with a scream; it is a scream of joy, expressed when Stacie Davis accepts her boyfriend Carl Lane’s proposal on Lighthouse Beach. But, as a police captain observes, “Wedding season on Cape Cod can be unpredictable.” Sure enough, six months later on their wedding day, Carl is not to be found. The situation grows curiouser when security footage captures an image of Carl in the early morning hours after the rehearsal dinner walking down the street holding an unseen woman’s hand. Adding even more tension and intrigue, police officer—and former flame of Stacie—Dan Yellen reaches out to the would-be bride on Facebook with an offer to track down Carl. The bits of news she receives are not encouraging: The night before the wedding, Carl sold his truck and his boat and announced he was getting out of the charter boat business. Desperate for an explanation, she reaches out to Carl’s ex-wife and to his 12-year-old daughter; one restraining order later, she accepts Dan’s offer, and together they head to Florida, where a confrontation will yield more questions than answers, including a confession about involvement in a presumed murder. The narrative takes several hard left turns as Stacie seeks closure for her wedding day devastation. Yocum is as interested in exploring the interpersonal relationships between Stacie and her family, co-workers, friends, and Carl’s perplexed loved ones as he is in teasing out the secrets and lies driving the plot. Still, the twists come fast and furious as this mystery careens to its conclusion and the “brilliant” Stacie proves herself willing to step over some lines that readers may not have thought her capable of crossing. They’ll end this book eager to see what she does next.
A mystery and character study that satisfies and surprises right to the final page.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 979898553453
Page Count: 326
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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