A crackling good crime yarn, overstuffed but juicy, with a thick Italian accent.
The murder of a popular Neapolitan baker has the floury fingerprints of the Mafia all over it. But does the trail of breadcrumbs lead elsewhere?
De Giovanni’s fifth Bastards of Pizzofalcone novel begins by picking up the careful early morning routine of a beloved baker known as the Prince of Dawn just minutes before he’s murdered. The discovery of the body is preceded by a flavorful synopsis of the series’ crime-busting team, disgraced cops who’ve recaptured their reputations after a stint in prison and a number of successful cases. Lojacono, Romano, Palma, and Aragona each has a backstory and an evocative nickname. When Lojacono and Romano arrive at the crime scene, they find other cops, bakery employee Mario Strabone, and TV personality Dottor Diego Buffardi all surrounding the corpse of Pasquale Granato. Buffardi, an assistant prosecutor, posits that the baker’s recent testimony against the Mafia has led to his execution. The duo meets up with their partners at the station house, where the police chief, Crispi, has already called in, directing the team to pursue this Mafia theory. Lojacono thinks otherwise, and the team interrogates a wide array of persons of interest, including female bakery employees and the baker’s ex-wife. The hectic personal lives of the bastards also merit narrative detours. De Giovanni writes with the long-winded charm and droll tone of a master yarn spinner, adorning descriptions of even minor events with telling detail and atmosphere.
A crackling good crime yarn, overstuffed but juicy, with a thick Italian accent.Pub Date: July 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-60945-689-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: World Noir
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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