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Charles Atkins is a practising psychiatrist, writer, professional speaker and member of the clinical faculty at Yale. He is the author of several psychological thrillers, as well as numerous short stories, articles and essays, and two non-fiction books. He is also the author of the new, well-regarded mystery series featuring elderly sleuths Lil and Ada.
Vultures at Twilight
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ISBN-13:
9781780102207
- Publisher: Severn House Publishers
- Publication date: 10/01/2012
- Series: A Campbell and Strauss Mystery , #1
- Sold by: Barnes & Noble
- Format: eBook
- Pages: 224
- File size: 512 KB
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First in a New England mystery series featuring a formidable pair of widow-sleuths and “a baffling mystery that will keep readers turning the pages” (Publishers Weekly).
Something wicked has come to Grenville, Connecticut, where high-end antique dealers are being murdered in gruesome—yet fitting—ways. It’s shaking up the lives of Lil Campbell and Ada Strauss, widows who have become best friends in a gated community for seniors. Not only are they finally confronting long-held heart-felt feelings for each other, but Ada’s been named executrix of a late friend’s estate. And all her vintage valuables are drawing Ada and Lil into a dangerous circle of suspects and potential new victims.
Lacing up their sensible gumshoes, they’re all too eager to help homicide detective Mattie Perez in the investigation. But as Lil and Ada dig deeper, the determined duo begin to expose festering small-town secrets, and unravel a mystery that proves all is not well in a town famed for its postcard-perfect charm.
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Publishers Weekly
Set in the small town of Grenville, Conn., Atkins’s promising first in a new cozy series introduces widows Lillian Campbell and Ada Straus, both residents of a local retirement community. Before their good friend Evie died of Alzheimer’s disease, Lil and Ada tended her at home during her decline. Now Lil and Ada, who’s the executrix of Evie’s estate, face the daunting task of packing up her house and selling off her valuable antiques as well as “an extremely desirable work of American Impressionism” by Childe Hassam. But can they find a trustworthy dealer to help them? Meanwhile, someone shoots antiques dealer Paul Conroy in the forehead and cuts off one of Paul’s fingers—which somehow winds up in the bottom drawer of an old dresser up for auction. Soon Lil and Ada are involved in a baffling mystery that will keep readers turning the pages until the dramatic conclusion. Agent: Al Zuckerman, Writers House. (June)Library Journal
Charming little Grenville, CT, an antiques mecca, has been clobbered by a vicious crime wave. A killer is targeting antique dealers. Needless to say, the community is freaking out, and a state police detective, Mattie Perez, has been brought in to help the local force. Widows Ada and Lillian are neighbors and friends in the thick of things. They are valuable sources of local information, and Mattie gains their trust. Mattie notices that the antiques dealers have a system of inventory markups that might tie in with the murders. When Lil's persistently annoying crank phone calls take on a decidedly more sinister tone, it takes a village to figure out who is behind all the murder and mayhem in the harrowing finale. VERDICT This series debut fires on all cylinders, introducing a postmenopausal detective team whose dedicated sleuthing is enhanced by the members' growing love for one another. Atkins, a practicing psychiatrist, writes expertly styled psychological tension (Mother's Milk). [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/12.]Kirkus Reviews
Generally scarifying Atkins (Mother's Milk, 2009, etc.) dials down the violence, though not the body count, in a demi-cozy that asks who's declared war on the antique dealers of Grenville, Conn. Mere days after Mildred Potts (of Aunt Millie's Attic) wrestles what proves to be the severed finger of the late Philip Conroy (Grenville Antiques) away from her Shih Tzu, Taffy, the police are called to Mildred's murder scene as well. In the meantime, Ada Strauss' friend Evie has died, presumably of natural causes, and Ada's been pressed into service as executrix. That chore brings Ada into contact with a wide range of antique jobbers and sellers, from Philip's partner, Tolliver Jacobs, to Rudy Caputo (McElroy's auction) to Mildred, very shortly before she gets murdered. So Ada and Lillian Campbell, her best buddy in Pilgrim's Progress nursing home, are right in the thick of things when decaying bodies that could be those of Carl McElroy and Rudy Caputo are discovered. Ordinarily there'd be no mystery about why someone would kill local antique dealers, especially since most of them seem little better than pond scum. But, as sometime narrator Lillian sagely asks Police Chief Hank Morgan, "Why would someone kill [Mildred], rob her, but then throw out, or give away all the jewelry" that turns up dangling from yew hedges and the like? The answer to this excellent question must lie deep in the past--perhaps in the death ten years ago of Philip's troubled sister Wendy. The killer is surprisingly lightweight for someone of Atkins' formidable ability to evoke evil. And Lillian isn't a patch on Jessica Fletcher, still less Miss Marple. First of a series.