An enjoyable and suspenseful whodunit with a smart, captivating hero.
A trio of amateur sleuths must find a murderer in this first installment of a mystery series.
You would think Mia Murphy’s upbringing as a child con artist would prepare her for a life of crime, but that was not the case. Her husband, Stanley Herrera, was a big-time drug dealer until the FBI convinced Mia to gather evidence against him. Now, Stanley is put away and Mia needs to make a change. Determined to be her own woman, she skips the Witness Protection Program and heads to Maine with a cat named King Tut to reinvent herself as the owner of a dilapidated marina in the town of Bass Derby. Her reputation precedes her and the townies think Mia plans to deal dope. A resident tries to run Mia over with an SUV and the Welcome to Bass Derby sign (which the villagers take great pride in) is collateral damage, which angers almost everyone. But new friends Hattie Lawless and Lucy Grande are impressed by Mia’s racy past and the three bond over “scumbag” exes and their talent at finding comedy in just about every situation. The girl power they muster comes in handy when they discover Lucy’s abusive former boyfriend bludgeoned to death. Soon, Lucy becomes the main suspect. Who better to help investigate than the experienced (but reluctant) Mia? Rowe smoothly packs plenty of humor and lively plot details into this taut story with a vivid setting. The murder case and other messes must be cleaned up quickly—Bass Derby is in the running to be voted the Best Lake Town in Maine for the 12th year in a row. If the town of Bugscuffle across the lake takes the crown, Bass Derby will be up in arms. Mia proves to be a spirited, appealing, and loyal protagonist. She is harassed by the violent Derby Moose, a collection of nameless vigilantes who ride Jet Skis and wear moose costumes. The wacky outfits notwithstanding, they mean business and warn Mia to leave town. Though tempted by the desire to live a quiet life, Mia sticks to her guns and remains a true crime-solving pal in this engaging tale.
An enjoyable and suspenseful whodunit with a smart, captivating hero.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A satisfying thriller that will warm the hearts of fans who already take comfort in hating the forces of evil.
Lt. Eve Dallas’ 63rd futuristic case is less a whodunit than a manhunt for an unusually sympathetic killer.
Thirteen years ago, way back in 2048, scientific genius Steve Redman—father of the Banner-Wyst corporation’s Rainmaker Project—narrowly escaped death in a gas explosion that killed his pregnant wife and infant son and 200 other residents of their New York City apartment building the night before he planned to report his suspicions about the company to the FBI. Now the bill is coming due for Banner-Wyst. The first death to be discovered is that of Lawrence Chu, Redman’s colleague and trusted friend, whose tenure as director of bioengineering science ends when he’s beaten to death. For quite a while, Dallas and her partner, Det. Delia Peabody, know less about this mystery than their readers do. But when Ezra Dent, a consultant to Banner-Wyst who worked with Redman and Chu back in the day, is murdered in exactly the same ferocious way, Dallas and Peabody, with help from Roarke, Dallas’ tech-billionaire husband, promptly put the pieces together and determine who they’re looking for. The search for Redman, who went AWOL from his hospital bed without a trace six years ago, has its own challenges. So does Dallas’ attempt to get cooperation from partners Calvin Banner and Jacob Wyst, who are clearly in the crosshairs of a killer who seems a lot less monstrous than they are. If the breaks in the case are suspiciously convenient in arriving, readers can pride themselves on taking sides against a mega-corporation whose self-avowed ecological saintliness is undermined by its leaders’ underhanded dealing.
A satisfying thriller that will warm the hearts of fans who already take comfort in hating the forces of evil.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2026
ISBN: 9781250414564
Page Count: 368
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
The delightful debut of a classic, prolific detective.
It takes a quirky sleuth to solve a baffling closed-door murder.
The author himself or, more accurately, some version of him, walks the reader through a “gruesome murder” that occurred in a rural farming village. At the center of the crime is the wealthy Ichiyanagi family, including the widow Itoko and her five children. The “heinous crime” occurs in the evening after the festive wedding of eldest son Kenzo to schoolteacher Katsuko. Yokomizo, part narrator and part raconteur, liberally shares digressions such as the fact that his favorite British author is A.A. Milne, who wrote The Red House Mystery as well as the books about Winnie-the-Pooh. Written in 1946 but set in 1937 before the devastation of World War II, this is the first novel featuring Kosuke Kindaichi, the legendary detective who appeared in more than 70 stories by Yokomizo. If Yokomizo is the Japanese Agatha Christie, Kindaichi may seem the Japanese Hercule Poirot—although actually, given his unkempt hair and apparently distracted manner, he’s more a cross between Poirot and Columbo. Shrewdly, his entrance is delayed until midway through the novel, after the police have stalled and both the family and the reader are anxious for a solution. The narrator’s garrulous charm, in a mystery long on logistics and forensic clues but short on detailed character portraits or extended interactions, is a key to the novel’s success, leavening the more intricate pieces of the puzzle. Armchair detectives will welcome the helpful character list that precedes the story.
The delightful debut of a classic, prolific detective.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2026
ISBN: 9781805336549
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 20, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2026
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