Despite a few satisfying surprises, the fascinating historical information on the early Catskill resorts overwhelms the...
A 1908 visit to the Catskills is spoiled by murder.
Because New York City is suffering an outbreak of typhoid, Police Captain Daniel Sullivan encourages his pregnant wife, Molly, to remove their household to his mother’s home in Westchester. Family ties also take Molly’s best friends, free-spirted feminists Sid and Gus, to the Catskills when a letter arrives asking Sid to come see her elderly Bubbe and Zayde. Her grandparents, who disapprove of her lifestyle, live quietly on a farm that they’re laboriously converting to a bungalow colony for Jews who are unwelcome elsewhere. Molly, who’s bored at her mother-in-law’s, visits her friends, who are staying at an artists’ retreat near Sid’s relatives. Sid’s grandfather’s alleged ill health was just an excuse to get her to the farm, where a matchmaker has brought possible mates for both Sid and her cousin Mira. Mira’s match, Mr. Simon Levin, is a flashy, conceited young man with plans to build a hotel on disputed state land; he’s already fighting with the owners of a nearby bluestone quarry over the noise they make with dynamite. Sid’s match is a college professor she finds interesting but has no intention of wedding. While they’re all out walking in the woods, Levin is shot with his own rifle, and the local police fasten on Mira, who’s been acting bad ever since she realized she was tricked by her grandparents, as his killer. When her friends beg Molly to help Mira, she unearths other motives for his murder, but it will take a visit from Daniel to get Mira exonerated.
Despite a few satisfying surprises, the fascinating historical information on the early Catskill resorts overwhelms the mystery.Pub Date: March 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781250890788
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: Dec. 16, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
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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