An edge-of-your seat, page-turning delight.
The lives of three strangers become inextricably intertwined in a small Nova Scotia town filled with secrets, unexplained deaths, and old stories of hidden treasure.
When Peter Barnett receives an invitation from his estranged grandmother Mirabel Bellwood Johnson to join her at her Maple Bay mansion, a veil lifts from Peter’s aimless and confused life. Meanwhile, back in Maple Bay, a teenager named Danielle "Dandy" Feltzen is mourning the death of a beloved grandfather who left her with a mysterious directive: She should take his place in a secret society dedicated to finding treasure that the pirate crew of a ship called the Obelisk had buried on the coast. Neither Peter nor Dandy realized that they, along with Cass, a failed writer turned Maple Bay housesitter who dreams of restarting her career with a new, breakout book, would be drawn into a centuries-old web of murder and intrigue. Shifting points of view and deft plotting keep readers guessing about the suspicious deaths—like that of Peter’s grandmother and those of her oldest acquaintances—that occur after Dandy joins her grandfather’s society. Slowly, through stories contained in Bellwood family journals and letters, Dandy’s private sleuthing and Cass’ research into the history of the Obelisk treasure, truths begin to emerge not just about lost pirate gold, but about deadly intergenerational battles between fathers and sons and friends and families that haunted, corrupted, and completely destroyed lives. Ryan’s masterful interweaving of multiple storylines, surprising plot twists, and often eccentric characters makes for a novel that is as enjoyable as it is suspenseful.
An edge-of-your seat, page-turning delight.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2024
ISBN: 9780802163639
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 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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