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MIDSUMMER MYSTERIES

TALES FROM THE QUEEN OF MYSTERY

Creaky, tasty bonbons from the golden age.

Another unnecessary but rewarding collection of 12 stories culled from the archives of the Queen of Crime.

The least familiar item is the brief introduction, an excerpt from Christie’s autobiography describing her shock and sorrow when a well-meaning guide in the Pyrenees pinned a live butterfly to her hat. The stories that follow, all reprinted in earlier collections, feature her leading sleuths and then some. Miss Jane Marple plays armchair detective in the clever “The Blood-Stained Pavement” and “The Idol House of Astarte,” which is clearly meant to be creepier than it really is. Mr. Parker Pyne solves a poisoning in “Death on the Nile,” a story that shares only its setting with Christie’s novel, and a kidnapping in “The Oracle at Delphi,” which closes with a decided snap. Tommy and Tuppence unexpectedly find themselves in a Bulldog Drummond parody in the silly “The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger.” Elderly Mr. Satterthwaite meets spectral Harley Quin in “Harlequin’s Lane,” which shows Christie’s impatience with the whodunit formula and the limitations of her attempts to break out of it. The ingenious “The Rajah’s Emerald” and the amusing, improbable “Jane in Search of a Job” get along without any franchise detectives. The star, of course, is Hercule Poirot, who ebulliently solves “The Double Clue,” “The Adventure of the Italian Nobleman,” “The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim,” and the longest tale here, “The Incredible Theft,” all of which showcase Christie’s underappreciated talent for enlivening the second movements of her stories—the questioning of suspects—with teasing undercurrents of suspicion and misdirection. Fans will charitably overlook the appearance of too many fake detectives.

Creaky, tasty bonbons from the golden age.

Pub Date: May 9, 2023

ISBN: 9780063310957

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023

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TO DIE FOR

Fast-moving excitement with a satisfying finish.

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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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NOW OR NEVER

As usual, Evanovich handles the funny stuff better (much better) than the mystery stuff.

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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

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