Fans of the Queen of Crime will delight in this modernized classic mystery, heavily laden with Christie lore.
Agatha Christie, who died in 1976, returns to solve some present-day mysteries.
Tory Van Dyne, a book conservator at Manhattan’s Mystery Guild Library, lives in an apartment on the top two floors of the Greenwich Village townhouse left to her by her grandmother; the building also houses the library and Tory’s basement workshop. When a woman claiming to be Mrs. Max Mallowan, aka Agatha Christie, appears in the Agatha Christie room—a replica of the author’s library in Devon—offering to solve a murder mystery, Tory thinks she’s a wandering nut job, albeit one who’s capable of trading esoteric Christie quotations with her. But in fact Agatha, who finds eternity dull, has been granted leave to solve a mystery, such as the one presented by Tory’s lookalike cousin, Nicola. Unlike the flamboyant Nic, Tory is quiet, and she’s no fan of Nic’s friend and fellow actress, the entitled Sailor Savoie. Nic thinks someone’s poisoned Bertram, her agent Howard Calhoun’s pug, and she suspects Sailor. Nic, Sailor, and their mutual friend, Wren, had starred in the off-Broadway version of Beauty and the Beast, and Nic’s desperate to land a part in the planned movie. Sharp-eyed Agatha notices that Nic’s wearing earrings made from the seeds of a plant that could have poisoned Bertram. When Nic turns up with handsome detective Sebastian Mendez-Cruz, Tory learns that Howard’s been pushed to his death in the subway. Eager for advice, Tory tells head librarian Adrian Gooding the story of Agatha, but he dismisses it as nonsense. Upon the death of Sailor, supposedly of food poisoning, Tory, Adrian, Nic, and eventually Sebastian get together with Agatha to explore means and motives.
Fans of the Queen of Crime will delight in this modernized classic mystery, heavily laden with Christie lore.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9780593818817
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2025
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.
A 16-year-old savant uses his Groundhog Day gift to solve his grandfather’s murder.
Nishizawa’s compulsively readable puzzle opens with the discovery of the victim, patriarch Reijiro Fuchigami, sprawled on a futon in the attic of his elegant mansion, where his family has gathered for a consequential announcement about his estate. The weapon seems to be a copper vase lying nearby. Given this setup, the novel might have proceeded as a traditional whodunit but for two delightful features. The first is the ebullient narration of Fuchigami’s youngest grandson, Hisataro, thrust into the role of an investigator with more dedication than finesse. The second is Nishizawa’s clever premise: The 16-year-old Hisataro has lived ever since birth with a condition that occasionally has him falling into a time loop that he calls "the Trap," replaying the same 24 hours of his life exactly nine times before moving on. And, of course, the murder takes place on the first day of one of these loops. Can he solve the murder before the cycle is played out? His initial strategies—never leaving his grandfather’s side, focusing on specific suspects, hiding in order to observe them all—fall frustratingly short. Hisataro’s comical anxiety rises with every failed attempt to identify the culprit. It’s only when he steps back and examines all the evidence that he discovers the solution. First published in 1995, this is the first of Nishizawa’s novels to be translated into English. As for Hisataro, he ultimately concludes that his condition is not a burden but a gift: “Time’s spiral never ends.”
A fresh and clever whodunit with an engaging twist.Pub Date: July 29, 2025
ISBN: 9781805335436
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.
Four residents of Coopers Chase, a British retirement village, compete with the police to solve a murder in this debut novel.
The Thursday Murder Club started out with a group of septuagenarians working on old murder cases culled from the files of club founder Elizabeth Best’s friend Penny Gray, a former police officer who's now comatose in the village's nursing home. Elizabeth used to have an unspecified job, possibly as a spy, that has left her with a large network of helpful sources. Joyce Meadowcroft is a former nurse who chronicles their deeds. Psychiatrist Ibrahim Arif and well-known political firebrand Ron Ritchie complete the group. They charm Police Constable Donna De Freitas, who, visiting to give a talk on safety at Coopers Chase, finds the residents sharp as tacks. Built with drug money on the grounds of a convent, Coopers Chase is a high-end development conceived by loathsome Ian Ventham and maintained by dangerous crook Tony Curran, who’s about to be fired and replaced with wary but willing Bogdan Jankowski. Ventham has big plans for the future—as soon as he’s removed the nuns' bodies from the cemetery. When Curran is murdered, DCI Chris Hudson gets the case, but Elizabeth uses her influence to get the ambitious De Freitas included, giving the Thursday Club a police source. What follows is a fascinating primer in detection as British TV personality Osman allows the members to use their diverse skills to solve a series of interconnected crimes.
A top-class cozy infused with dry wit and charming characters who draw you in and leave you wanting more, please.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-98-488096-3
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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