Colorful genre trappings enliven this familiar take on a resolute amateur female detective.
A New York City bar owner embarks on a deadly quest to identify a serial killer in this mystery.
Life is going well for Jude Dillane on New Year’s Eve. Her Corner Lounge bar and restaurant at 10th Street and Avenue B has turned into a New York hot spot, and she has a terrific man in her life. When her business partner, top chef Pete, reports a special knife missing from his kitchen, it’s worrisome. But the last thing Jude expects is to have the knife turn up in the chest of a man related to one of her regular customers. Worse, she learns from the FBI agent assigned to the case that the murder is disturbingly similar to killings that began on New Year’s Eve in the area 19 years ago. Apparently, what had been a five-year lull between deaths is now over, and a threatening note tells Jude—the novel’s first-person narrator—that she is in the serial killer’s sights. What’s Jude to do but start investigating on her own—especially if her suspicions are discounted by law enforcement officials and those closest to her? The familiar trope of the amateur female sleuth determined to track a killer—regardless of the risks to herself and others and the possible personal consequences if she ignores warnings from loved ones and the authorities—isn’t every reader’s cup of tea. And Jude does seem rather cavalier about distressing her loving boyfriend and chef, Pete. (“But still, what harm could it do to do a little digging just to satisfy my curiosity and maybe save my life?”) Nevertheless, readers should enjoy the behind-the-scenes bar setting, mouthwatering references to Pete’s culinary efforts, and offbeat characters. The players include Jude’s ex-Marine pal/landlord, a slimy reporter who works for a “slagheap of pseudo news and innuendo,” and a cadre of male customers called the bar’s “10th Street Irregulars,” who may or may not be who they seem. This is the second installment of Stoler’s Murder on the Rocks mystery series, and with frequent allusions to what happened in the first volume, Bar None (2020), readers may want to start there.
Colorful genre trappings enliven this familiar take on a resolute amateur female detective.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-94-791594-7
Page Count: 252
Publisher: Level Best Books
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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