A Death in Tokyo by Keigo Higashino

A Death in Tokyo by Keigo Higashino

A Death in Tokyo is the third entry in the Detective Kaga series that has been translated into English. Once again, it's a solid, enjoyable read, with a couple of good twists. Kaga is part of a squad investigating the brutal murder of a middle-aged man. The man was stabbed but stayed alive long enough to drag himself to the famous Nihonbashi Bridge, in order to die at the foot of the statue of a kirin adorning it. Not far away, a young man in a park flees police and runs out into traffic where he is struck and seriously injured. The young man, Yashima, is carrying the murdered man's wallet. Unfortunately, the man ends up in the hospital in a coma, unable to answer questions. This is a police procedural. Kaga is unsatisfied with Yashima as the killer, so he keeps questioning people and walking the neighborhood where the crime occurred. He's persistent, follows his hunches, and step by step...
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Invitation to a Killer by G.M. Malliet

Invitation to a Killer by G.M. Malliet

Our amateur sleuth in Invitation to a Killer is Augusta Hawke, who doesn't seem to actually do much writing. I guess she isn't quite an amateur, she got her PI license after helping solve the case in the first book, which I didn't read. This time around she's at a party hosted by a lobbyist's wife when a celebrated doctor dies. At first, the death is written off as a heart attack, but of course, we're not surprised when it turns out he was murdered. Someone at the party killed him. Was it one of the CIA couple, the lobbyist or his wife, the book publisher, the image consultant, the congressman or his wife? It could even have been the cook or the butler. Augusta decides the police aren't treating the death as the murder it clearly was, so starts investigating on her own. Augusta is kind of a bland character, but hearing the story (I listened to the audiobook) from...
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Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer

Murder After Christmas by Rupert Latimer

Uncle Willie is rich and old, and therefore would be much more useful to his greedy relatives dead than alive, if only they could be sure who he’d left his money to. Several of his relatives joke on a regular basis about murdering him. The Redpaths have reluctantly invited him to stay over Christmas and would be quite happy if he included them in his will. They’re not the only people who want Uncle Willie’s money though, and soon others are turning up to try to inveigle themselves into his good graces. And of course, Uncle Willie is indeed murdered - after Christmas. Murder After Christmas is an odd book. It's full of holiday cheer - Santa Claus, mince pies, snow, Christmas decorations, and food. It's funny, even if the jokes get a bit repetitive, and the characters are eccentric to say the least. The plot is twisty and turny and people act in all kinds of odd ways. The plot...
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The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

I don't know where to start with The Villa. We have two storylines and the narrative jumps back and forth. In 1974, five people stayed at the villa. Two women came out of it with career-defining works. One man was killed. In the present day, Chess and Emily are spending the summer at the villa, each working on her next book. Emily becomes interested in the events from 1974 and starts researching and piecing together that story. The parallels between the 70s and the present day become clearer as the novel progresses. Friendships are tested. Tempers boil over. Secrets are revealed. Both storylines grabbed my attention. The book slowly leads up to the defining moments, moments that are both inevitable and shocking. I honestly didn't like any of the characters though, in either time. While the women especially, were strong and bold, they were also manipulative and did more damage to each other than the men in their lives did. I...
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Death at Beresford Hall by Emma Davies

Death at Beresford Hall by Emma Davies

Death at Beresford Hall is the 4th in the Adam and Eve series. It worked okay as a stand-alone, but I think I would have benefitted from knowing a bit more about Fran and Adam and their previous cases. We're kind of dropped in the middle of the action. Fran is undercover at a cooking show tv competition, posing as a writer gathering "behind the scenes" info about the show, with Adam there to assist. The show's star, Miranda Appleby, has been receiving threatening gifts and Fran and Adam are charged with finding out who is doing it. Things turn more complicated when Miranda manipulates Fran into stepping in as a contestant on the show. Then, of course, Miranda ends up murdered, killed with a cake knife. The "behind the scenes" peek at a reality cooking show was fun. There's plenty of jealousy and backstabbing and secrets. The clues were tucked in well, with several red herrings and enough suspects to...
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The Railway Detective’s Christmas Case by Edward Marston

The Railway Detective’s Christmas Case by Edward Marston

The Railway Detective's Christmas Case is the first I've read in the series. It works fine as a stand-alone, but I wonder if I would have enjoyed it more had I been more familiar with the characters. Colbeck's family is featured often, mostly hoping he gets home in time for Christmas and, for me, those interludes were distractions from the plot, but if I cared more about the characters I might have been more interested. Colbeck and Leeming are charged with finding the killer of a well-respected man, Cyril Hubblesday. Hubblesday was not a nice man though and there are a fair number of suspects, from employees at the works to his daughter's former suitor. The clues the pair dig up point in several directions, and it turns out there is more going on than was originally suspected. I don't know. The case was interesting and I enjoyed the historical details, but it dragged a bit. There were a lot of...
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