A whodunit with twists and turns and some literary pyrotechnics.
In West’s mystery novel, a fire-twirling, whip-cracking amateur detective in Los Angeles brings the heat when it appears that her friend has been met with foul play.
Don’t call Brighid LaFlamme a dominatrix; she prefers to be called an event coordinator, or as her friends call her, “Fire Goddess.” She schedules performances for Hedon’s Sanctuary, “one of the best and safest BDSM and kink play spaces in Los Angeles County,” in which clubgoers use whips, paddles, handcuffs, and other toys; she also finds belly dancers, fire breathers, and pin jugglers for Renaissance fairs and other events needing such talent. As dangerous as their skills can be, the fire-wielding folks are well-trained, and they’re more likely to chat up a fire marshal than wreak havoc. When one of her own small tribe of “Fire Buddies,” Galen Kenneth Greene, dies alone in a fire-related accident, Brighid suspects there’s more to the story, as she trained him in fire safety herself. As with many LA tales, there’s a few sleazy movie producers, including Zayne “Wally” Wallace, who makes small but profitable straight-to-DVD movies with promising, attractive actors. There’s also a bachelor cop, Sgt. Harvey Simon, who, like Brighid, knows something’s rotten in Big Bear, where Galen’s body was found, and there are other Fire Buddies, including Mark and Matt, identical twin fire-breathers from Missouri. The cast also includes two of Brighid’s college friends, Layla and Godiva, who’ve belly-danced their way with her into their 30s, but who have more traditional jobs during the work week. West’s double narrative effectively weaves the history of Brighid and her Fire Buddies, which includes Galen’s death, together with the aftermath of his murder. This gambit enables the reader to see some things more clearly than the main characters do as each plot nears its climax. The book doesn’t entertain easy answers for why some people are drawn to such fiery ways of living; however, it doesn’t entertain complex ones, either, as it’s more interested in the mystery plot. After all, when the two timelines stop twirling like flaming batons and readers see how everything connects into one story, the author’s done her trick—she doesn’t have to tell all her secrets.
A whodunit with twists and turns and some literary pyrotechnics.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
One of those rare triple-deckers that’s actually worth every page, every complication, every bead of sweat.
A routine break-in at the home of Sûreté homicide chief Armand Gamache leads slowly but surely to the revelation of a potentially calamitous threat to all Québec.
At first it seems as if nothing at all triggered the burglar alarm at Gamache’s home in Three Pines; it was literally a false alarm. It’s not till he receives a package containing his summer jacket that Gamache realizes someone really did get into his house, choosing to steal exactly this one item and return it with a cryptic note referring to “some malady…water” and “Angelica stems.” Having already refused to meet with Jeanne Caron, chief of staff to Marcus Lauzon, a powerful politician who’s already taken vengeance on Gamache and his family for not expunging his child’s criminal record, Gamache now agrees to meet with Charles Langlois, a marine biologist with ties to Caron who confesses to a leading role in stealing Gamache’s jacket. Their meeting ends inconclusively for Gamache, who’s convinced that Langlois is hiding something weighty, and all too conclusively for Langlois, who’s killed by a hit-and-run driver as he leaves. The news that Langlois had been investigating a water supply near the abbey of Saint-Gilbert-Entre-les-Loups sends Gamache scurrying off to the abbey, where the plot steadily thickens until he’s led to ask how “an old recipe for Chartreuse” can possibly be connected to “a terrorist plot to poison Québec’s drinking water.” That’s a great question, and answering it will take the second half of this story, which spins ever more intricate connections among leading players that become deeply unsettling.
One of those rare triple-deckers that’s actually worth every page, every complication, every bead of sweat.Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250328137
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
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