A smart Swiss procedural that keeps its mystery ticking.
Two members of the Bern, Switzerland, police force navigate their mutual attraction as they investigate the death of a dysfunctional family’s patriarch in Hays’ second series mystery.
Johann Karl Gurtner takes his dachshund, Polo, for a walk in the Swiss capital; a few hours later, the 72-year-old surgeon’s corpse is floating in the Aare River. When police investigator Renzo Donatelli arrives, the body has already been pulled from the water; Johann’s bruises indicate “there was a bit of a punch-up.” His wallet holds plenty of money, but his Piguet watch, “worth about forty thousand Swiss francs,” and his dog are missing. Johann’s son Markus photographed a man named Jakob Amsler as part of an assignment involving former “contract children”—Swiss youngsters taken away from allegedly unfit parents and forced into labor as recently as the 1970s. Jakob tells Markus that he knew Johann when they were young. Markus was rejected by his father his entire life; Johann preferred his oldest son, Patrick, who seems strangely composed regarding his dad’s death. Det. Giuliana Linder meets with Philipp, Johann’s son with his much younger second wife, but he seems more concerned about his missing dog than his dead father. Meanwhile, the romantic heat between Linder and Renzo, who are married to others, grows during the investigation. Over the course of the novel, Hays makes sure that the historical aspects of the story are as compelling as the murder mystery at its heart. The family drama—and it’s a big family with a lot of drama—is consistently engaging and emphasizes the fact that the past is never truly past. The author’s descriptions are often unexpected: A woman crosses “her mental fingers”; Giuliana’s husband “scrunches” over to her side of a bed. Despite the inclusion of a list of characters’ names and nicknames, some readers may find it difficult to keep track of them.
A smart Swiss procedural that keeps its mystery ticking.Pub Date: April 18, 2023
ISBN: 9781645060581
Page Count: 362
Publisher: Seventh Street Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 9, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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