A sublime female gumshoe elevates this sober, measured whodunit.
An Alaska sleuth must solve a murder case with frustratingly few leads in a mystery series opener from Nancy Buell with Bill Buell.
Special Investigator Annie Brewster’s newest case is a body dump at the Juneau (garbage) Dump. The Alaska Investigation Bureau has sent Annie to assist local cops with their inquiry into Commissioner Richard Grossman’s death. How he died isn’t entirely certain; there’s a gunshot to the neck and a knife wound in the back. But Annie and the Juneau Police Department surmise the murder happened elsewhere despite incessant rain that’s washed away possible clues. No shortage of people might have welcomed the death of Grossman, especially his employees, who saw him as a bully and worse. While the savvy inspector has theories about how the killer took out Grossman without any witnesses, no evidence points Annie to a solid suspect. This tough case begins in the late ’90s and gradually turns cold as the world heads into the new millennium. Annie, however, may get the break she needs when she teams up with both an FBI profiler and an experienced detective who has an affinity for cold cases. A former resident of Barrow, Alaska, Nancy Buell (Time Share Addendum, 2021, etc.) delivers a well-written story and realistically portrays a murder investigation. The novel often comes across as a procedural; Annie repeatedly scrutinizes case details even when she has nothing new. While this showcases her tenacity, it also makes for a leisurely paced, somewhat prolonged narrative given that readers learn early on how the murder transpired (with an inkling as to the culprit’s identity) and must wait for Annie to slowly catch up. Still, Annie is immensely likable; this investigation begets a separate assault case that she wraps up with proficiency. Moreover, her devoted lover, Fred, and their springer spaniel, Bones, help alleviate the gloomy murder plot. Notwithstanding the possibility of a welcome Annie-centric series, this book ends on a relatively disappointing note.
A sublime female gumshoe elevates this sober, measured whodunit.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2021
ISBN: 9798989557282
Page Count: 633
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Bright and breezy Maggy makes a charmingly down-to-earth sleuth. A bit of romance and coffee lore provide the froth on top.
Can too much caffeine lead to murder?
Though she still has bitter thoughts about her dentist husband dumping her for his 20-something hygienist, attractive divorcée Maggy Thorsen has channeled her energies into making her coffeehouse a success after the untimely murder of her partner (Uncommon Grounds, 2004). Now she faces serious competition from Marvin LaRoche, owner of HotWired, a big chain of coffee shops, one of which has recently muscled into her territory. While Maggy’s up to her eyeballs working on the creative contest she’s running for baristas at Java Ho, Milwaukee’s competitive coffee trade show, her partner Caron asks her to steal Amy, the talented barista who manages the shop run by Marvin’s wife, Janalee. Despite her budding relationship with Sheriff Jake Pavlik, Maggy feels like a suspect after someone burns down Janalee’s Place, and even more vulnerable when she discovers Marvin’s body under a table at her mega-caffeinated contest, bashed to death with the first-prize trophy. Marvin’s opening speech alienated a lot of people, and his tough business practices earned him plenty of enemies. It’s up to Maggy and Jake to figure out who did the deed.
Bright and breezy Maggy makes a charmingly down-to-earth sleuth. A bit of romance and coffee lore provide the froth on top.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-7278-6549-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Severn House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2007
A sometimes-interesting undercover crime story undermined by its fragmented structure.
An inside account of an elaborate undercover police sting that snagged a Northern Irish terrorist.
For almost two years, William James “Jimmy” Fulton, a suspect in the March 1999 murder of a Catholic lawyer in Northern Ireland by Protestant paramilitaries, thought he was part of a criminal gang, or “firm,” operating in South West England. He worked as the driver for the gang’s boss, socialized with its members, and helped them in varied other ways. But he was actually the main target of “Operation George,” an elaborate and audacious undercover sting by British police that recorded almost his every word on audiotape and resulted in his arrest in June 2001. “Just like Jim Carrey’s character in The Truman Show, Fulton’s environment had been controlled and his life manipulated,” co-authors Dickens (a pseudonym) and Bentley, both former undercover officers, write in this rare and at times compelling window into the murky world of undercover policing. Fulton was not charged with the slaying of lawyer Rosemary Nelson, but Operation George amassed enough evidence to get him convicted of 48 terrorist offenses, including the murder of a grandmother. Dickens and Bentley are at their best in describing the intricacies of the sting and the tightrope the undercover officers walked as they fraternized with Fulton in the hope he would spill the beans on his criminal activities in Northern Ireland. “They were living and working in a stress-filled atmosphere laden with potential danger to themselves,” the authors write. Fulton’s boss had to time bathroom breaks on their road trips to coincide with changing the tape in his listening device but made sure to use different locations so “Jimmy didn’t start forming a pattern in his head,” and when the officers went out drinking with Fulton, they had to find ways to dump their drinks to manage their alcohol consumption. Such details make the first half of the book worthwhile. But the second consists of a dry compendium of excerpts from Fulton's taped admissions to the undercover officers and the judge’s ruling at his trial—a trove of documentation that might have made for a more absorbing story had the authors incorporated the right material into a single coherent narrative.
A sometimes-interesting undercover crime story undermined by its fragmented structure.Pub Date: April 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-73981-362-8
Page Count: 314
Publisher: Hendry Publishing Ltd
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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