A marvelous tale that will satisfy historical fiction enthusiasts.
A 19th-century journalist becomes a potential target in a mission to kill the queen in this thriller.
It’s 1897, and Margaret Harkness is a 40-year-old writer who describes herself as a suffragette and Christian socialist. She’s working on freelance pieces for newspapers when she’s diagnosed with “something resembling lupus.” Her illness and age make her consider retirement to Australia, but she’s doesn’t have the money necessary for the journey. As a result, she accepts a job with her old friend professor Joseph Bell—a real-life figure who provided author Arthur Conan Doyle with the inspiration for his famed fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes. Bell’s latest spy-hunting assignment takes the two to Germany, where Harkness works as Bell’s translator. However, their mission coincides with that of Herman Ott, a man with a connection to the Russian revolutionary group Narodnaya Volya (“People’s Will”), who’s on a mission of revenge against Queen Victoria. Soon, Harkness discovers that she, herself, is in danger, as well. Harper, the author of A Knife in the Fog (2018), offers an excellent continuation of Harkness’ adventures. All of the characters are vivid creations, but the middle-aged Harkness is a standout as a middle-aged female protagonist—a demographic that’s unfortunately rare in thriller fiction. Harper’s prose is often as humorous as it is well researched; an early scene in which Harkness meets Queen Victoria and deals with a snobbish chamberlain is but one of many fine examples of his skill. Harper seamlessly and enjoyably blends elements of historical fact with a thrilling story of political intrigue and anarchy. There are some slightly slow moments, but they’re few and far between, and Harkness’ sharp intellect and delightful personality more than make up for them.
A marvelous tale that will satisfy historical fiction enthusiasts.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64506-001-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Seventh Street Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Breezy, entertaining characters and a cheeky premise fall prey to too much explanation and an unlikely climax.
An aspiring mystery writer sets out to solve her great-aunt’s murder and inherit an estate.
Twenty-five-year-old Annie Adams has never met her great-aunt Frances, who prefers her small village to busy London. But when a mysterious letter arrives instructing Annie to come to Castle Knoll in Dorset to meet Frances and discuss her role as sole beneficiary of her great-aunt’s estate, Annie can’t resist. Unfortunately, she arrives to find Frances’ worst fears have come true: The elderly woman—who’s been haunted for decades by a fortuneteller’s prediction that this will happen—has been murdered, and her will dictates that she will leave her entire estate to Annie, but only if Annie solves her killing. It’s a cheeky if not exactly believable premise, especially since the local police don’t seem terribly opposed to it. Annie herself is an engaging presence, if a little too blind to the fact that she could be on the killer’s to-do list. Her roll call of suspects is pleasingly long, including but not limited to the local vicar, a one-time paramour of her great-aunt’s; a gardener who grows a lot more than flowers; shady developers and suspicious friends from Frances’ past; and Saxon, Annie’s crafty rival, who inherits the estate himself if he manages to solve the case first. Annie pieces together clues through readings of Frances’ journal, but the story eventually runs aground on the twin rocks of too much explanation and a flimsy climax. Cute dialogue gives way to lengthy exposition, and by the time Frances’ killer is revealed you may well be ready to leave Annie, Dorset, and Castle Knoll behind for the firmer ground of reality. Fans of cozy mysteries are likely to be more forgiving, but if you cast a skeptical eye toward amateur sleuths, this novel won’t change your mind about them.
Breezy, entertaining characters and a cheeky premise fall prey to too much explanation and an unlikely climax.Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780593474013
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2024
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.
Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.
A week after the night she chases but fails to catch a mysterious trespasser outside her town house, some unknown party texts Tempe four images of a corpse that looks as if it’s been chewed by wild hogs, because it has been. Showboat Medical Examiner Margot Heavner makes it clear that, breaking with her department’s earlier practice (The Bone Collection, 2016, etc.), she has no intention of calling in Tempe as a consultant and promptly identifies the faceless body herself as that of a young Asian man. Nettled by several errors in Heavner’s analysis, and even more by her willingness to share the gory details at a press conference, Tempe launches her own investigation, which is not so much off the books as against the books. Heavner isn’t exactly mollified when Tempe, aided by retired police detective Skinny Slidell and a host of experts, puts a name to the dead man. But the hints of other crimes Tempe’s identification uncovers, particularly crimes against children, spur her on to redouble her efforts despite the new M.E.’s splenetic outbursts. Before he died, it seems, Felix Vodyanov was linked to a passenger ferry that sank in 1994, an even earlier U.S. government project to research biological agents that could control human behavior, the hinky spiritual retreat Sparkling Waters, the dark web site DeepUnder, and the disappearances of at least four schoolchildren, two of whom have also turned up dead. And why on earth was Vodyanov carrying Tempe’s own contact information? The mounting evidence of ever more and ever worse skulduggery will pull Tempe deeper and deeper down what even she sees as a rabbit hole before she confronts a ringleader implicated in “Drugs. Fraud. Breaking and entering. Arson. Kidnapping. How does attempted murder sound?”
Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9821-3888-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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