The leading takeaway is a question: Why don’t more of those scrums among dueling reporters and sources end in murder?
Estes’ debut follows a Phoenix TV news reporter as she struggles to identify a colleague’s killer—and possibly land an interview with same.
At least Jolene Garcia doesn’t have to worry about any more rivalry from Larry Lemmon, the most popular radio host in town: He’s probably dead, maybe poisoned, perhaps courtesy of cyanide-laced cookies. No detail, however small, is definite until it’s confirmed and attributed, and although Jolene’s cop friend, Commander Jim Miranda, is willing to dole out information drop by drop, he won’t talk on the record. So Jolene watches in helpless fury as she’s scooped by inexplicably Emmy-winning SoCal hairpiece Jessica “JJ” Jackson, outmaneuvered by newbie network reporter Jeffrey Cooper, and stonewalled by differently leaning community activists Phillip Ellys and Ignacio Cortez, whose frequent differences with Larry make his producer, Ralph Flemski, dangle them as likely suspects. Both the likably whiny narrator and her author are less interested in solving the case than in making a case for, or against, the challenges of journalism in the multimedia age. It makes perfect sense that when Jolene is rescued from a face-to-face with a murderer who shows up at their climactic meeting better prepared than she is, her paramount concern is whether she’ll get an exclusive on the story. An appended Content Advisory warns that the tale “contains references to abandonment, ageism, animal cruelty, child neglect, classism, homelessness, racism, sexism, sexual coercion, and substance abuse.” It’s all there, but don’t get your hopes up: This is PG homicide.
The leading takeaway is a question: Why don’t more of those scrums among dueling reporters and sources end in murder?Pub Date: March 26, 2024
ISBN: 9781250863850
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Minotaur
Review Posted Online: Jan. 13, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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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