A light and amusing whodunit that proves time spent in the company of the heroine is time well spent indeed.
Stella Reynolds investigates a pair of murders in this latest installment of Kirsch’s (The Big Interview, 2016, etc.) chick-lit mystery series.
Book 3 finds the intrepid reporter and amateur detective on the trail of a major drug ring in Knoxville, Tennessee. Stella has moved up the journalism food chain, enjoying a good job in a larger market. She doesn’t have to carry her own TV equipment, and she is far more comfortable with those tricky live shots. Outside of work, Stella is living with her old friend Janet Black, across town from ex-boyfriend John, and still considering her options with former flame and NASCAR driver Lucky Haskins. When Stella covers an overnight shift that morphs from a house fire to a murder, she soon finds herself on a complicated and dangerous case. Two homicides in one night appear to be connected, and the suspect who’s in jail may not be the guilty party. An anonymous tipster pushes Stella to look deeper at the killings, and it becomes apparent that Knoxville’s low crime rates are an illusion. Widespread drug and gang problems lie just below the surface, and government officials, detectives, and leading business owners are all on the take. Kirsch’s third Stella Reynolds mystery still feels fresh and fun. Though the narrative follows a predictable format—what seems to be a straightforward crime is a coverup with larger ramifications—it is still enjoyable to watch the mystery unravel. Kirsch’s leading lady remains a funny and relatable heroine. Her plucky attitude and aptitude for stumbling into sticky situations are pleasantly reminiscent of Janet Evanovich’s popular Stephanie Plum character. Roommate Janet provides an amusing, if somewhat clichéd, tough-nut foil to Stella’s optimism and do-gooder spirit. Stella’s love life is relevant but on the periphery, allowing the focus to remain on the case. One of the strongest facets of Kirsch’s series is her insider knowledge of journalism and TV reporting, which lends a feeling of authenticity to the plot and puts a unique spin on the cozy mystery genre.
A light and amusing whodunit that proves time spent in the company of the heroine is time well spent indeed.Pub Date: Oct. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9969350-3-6
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Sunnyside Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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