A leisurely mystery with a memorable protagonist.
A detective’s assistant takes on the case of a missing farmer in Breen’s mystery novel, the third in a series.
Madison, Wisconsin, 2000: For the last two years, former local rock musician Seamus O’Neill has worked for the Ryder Detective Agency, and he’s just taken the state’s private detective exam. It’s part of the 33-year-old’s plan to live more like a real adult, a plan that also includes getting a bed frame for his mattress. Seamus and his sister are driving through the countryside to pick up said bedframe when they come across a case in the middle of the road—literally. A large tractor is tooling down the country lane with no one inside of it; it seems the farmer who was driving it, Vernon Cooper, has evaporated into thin air. What’s more, the Coopers are somewhat notorious in Dane County for disappearing—the first to go, Stephen Cooper, vanished from his fields a century ago. People suspect everything from mental illness to a simple case of running away, but Seamus senses there is more to Vernon’s disappearance than meets the eye. Seamus technically isn’t licensed yet, but, as a witness to the crime, he can’t help but snoop around a little; as he digs into the case of the missing farmer, the fields around Madison start to turn up more than just last year’s corn husks. Seamus makes for an unlikely detective; a troublemaker in his youth, he’s now something of a harmless slacker—usually hung-over, unable to drive, shuffling into work late with a breakfast of “two loaves of day-old bread [bought] at Sam’s Subs.” One wishes the plot itself were a bit livelier, but it unfolds with a sluggishness characteristic of Seamus himself, a fact which, when coupled with the fairly minor mystery at the center of it, does not make for a page-turning read. The care with which Breen evokes the Wisconsin setting provides a fair amount of charm, however, and fans of the previous volumes are unlikely to be disappointed by this latest outing.
A leisurely mystery with a memorable protagonist.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9798986208374
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Dutch Hollow Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 23, 2024
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
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
