An entertaining whodunit about running on empty.
In Breen’s debut mystery, an unsolved college-town murder gets a fresh look from an unlikely investigator.
It’s 1998 in Madison, Wisconsin—two years after college student and cross-country scholarship runner Andie Sheridan disappeared during a team outing only to be found days later in a shallow grave. Seamus O’Neill, a local rock musician who was never in it for the money (a good thing, because it never came), now works in a noninvestigative capacity for the Ryder Detective Agency, completing background checks and troubleshooting computer issues. When someone who knew Andie offers to hire the agency to find the killer that the cops couldn’t, O’Neill gets involved in the investigation. When he’s not on the case, he plays accordion and guitar in his shabby efficiency apartment, drinks, and woos women, who find him quite attractive. However, the heavy-drinking O’Neill knows that any woman who falls for him will leave after she realizes that he enjoys having a bottle more than having a girlfriend. However, the Sheridan case gives O’Neill a new focus. As a former runner, he relies on his knowledge of the sport and his creative instincts to determine how Andie could have disappeared midrun, why she was buried near the course but not close to where she was last seen, and how suspects’ alibis may not be as airtight as they seem. Mystery fans will be attracted to the puzzle of what appears to be an unsolvable murder. O’Neill is an intriguing antihero, aware of his foibles but unwilling to let go of them. Breen’s depiction of college-town life is convincing. Repetition does stumble in, particularly in descriptions of Andie’s final run. There are some fresh turns of phrase, as when someone says that Andie would hang with a pack of girls while at a bar in order to “dust guys away.” Discussion of the Madison and Chicago music scenes add dimension; the author also gets bonus points for a Steve Earle mention.
An entertaining whodunit about running on empty.Pub Date: July 15, 2022
ISBN: 9798986208305
Page Count: 291
Publisher: Dutch Hollow Press
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
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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