A colorful and proficient missing child mystery.
A priest and his wife help to solve a cold case in small-town Oregon in this mystery.
Father Matthew and his wife, Maggie,are hosting their friend Father Francesco, who’s visiting their new home and parish of Biggs Junction, Oregon, at the beginning of Kelley's novel. Father Francesco, on a break from his usual work writing encyclicals for the Vatican, decides to go for a walk, exploring the rocks under a nearby bridge spanning the Columbia River, which forms the border between Oregon and Washington. But what starts as a casual outing quickly turns much darker when Father Francesco finds a human skeleton among the rocks. The three friends call the local police, who automatically think of the 5-year-old unsolved case of the Celilo girls—13-year-old twins who disappeared without a trace. If the skeleton is the remains of one of those girls, could there be a chance that the other sister is still alive? Father Matthew and Maggie describe themselves to the police as “pretty good” amateur sleuths and are soon receiving sage advice from a local officer and helping out with the case. Father Matthew and Maggie come to know Biggs Junction and its people in ways they never expected. Over many chapters, Kelley develops the mystery quite slowly and methodically as the investigation gradually broadens to include possible police corruption, inequities at the local Native Americanreservation, and the intricacies of the dark world of human trafficking. Overall, the author follows a fairly standard template for amateur-detective crime novels, but she has a winning pair in her two lead characters, whose straightforward compassion and humanity stand in refreshing contrast to the book’s darker elements. The deliberate pacing sometimes results in some stodgy sections, but the author does effectively convey the feeling of long-buried lurking evil, and some readers will be reminded of the work of bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman.
A colorful and proficient missing child mystery.Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-73-589280-1
Page Count: 251
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 19, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.
Stephanie Plum’s 31st adventure shows that Trenton’s preeminent fugitive-apprehension agent still has plenty of tricks up her sleeve, and needs every one of them.
The current caseload for Stephanie and Lula—the ex-prostitute file clerk at her cousin Vincent Plum’s bail bonds company, who serves as her unflappable sidekick—begins with two “failures to appear.” Eugene Fleck is suspected of being Robin Hoodie, who robs from the rich and, yes, distributes the proceeds to the poor. Racketeer Bruno Jug, who’s missed his court date on charges of tax evasion, is also suspected of drugging and raping a 14-year-old. But neither of these fugitives can hold a candle to Zoran Djordjevic, aka Fang, a self-proclaimed vampire wanted in connection with the gruesome fate of his late wife and three other missing women. As usual, Stephanie’s personal life is just as helter-skelter as her professional life as a bounty hunter. She’s managed to get herself engaged both to Det. Joe Morelli, of the Trenton PD, and Ranger, a former Special Forces agent who runs a private security firm; she thinks she may be pregnant; and she’s willing to marry the father, whichever of her fiances that turns out to be. On top of it all, her nothingburger schoolmate Herbert Slovinski suddenly pops up at one of the funerals she ferries her Grandma Mazur to, hitting on her relentlessly and gilding his importunities by cleaning and painting her shabby apartment and laying new carpet. Luckily, Lula’s on hand to offer cupcakes that stave off the worst disasters, and whenever this hodgepodge threatens to slow down, another FTA appears, or fails to appear.
As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781668003138
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.
The feds must protect an accused criminal and an orphaned girl.
Maybe you’ve met him before as protagonist of The 6:20 Man (2022): Ex-Army Ranger Travis Devine, who’d had the dubious fortune to tangle with “the girl on the train,” is now assigned by his homeland security boss to protect Danny Glass, who's awaiting trial on multiple RICO charges in Washington state. Devine has what it takes: He “was a closer, snooper, fixer, investigator,” and, when necessary, a killer. These skills are on full display as the deaths of three key witnesses grind justice to a temporary halt. Glass has a 12-year-old niece, Betsy Odom, and each is the other’s only living relative—her parents recently died of an apparent drug overdose. The FBI has temporary guardianship of Betsy, who's a handful. She tells Travis that though she’s not yet 13, she's 28 in “life-shit years.” The financially well-heeled Glass wants to be her legal guardian with an eye to eventual adoption, but what are his real motives? And what happens to her if he's convicted? Meanwhile, Betsy insists that her parents never touched drugs, and she begs Travis to find out how they really died. This becomes part of a mission that oozes danger. The small town of Ricketts has a woman mayor who’s full of charm on the surface, but deeply corrupt and deadly when crossed. She may be linked to a subversive group called "12/24/65," as in 1865, when the Ku Klux Klan beast was born. Blood flows, bombs explode, and people perish, both good guys and not-so-good guys. Readers might ponder why in fiction as well as in life, it sometimes seems necessary for many to die so one may live. And what about the girl on the train? She's not necessary to the plot, but she's a fun addition as she pops in and out of the pages, occasionally leaving notes for Travis. Maybe she still wants him dead.
Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781538757901
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
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