Most Recent Posts

"Peter Pan Must Die" (Crown), by John Verdon

John Verdon's skillful melding of the puzzle mystery with the police procedural and the psychological thriller brings a unique spin to his series about retired NYPD homicide Detective Dave Gurney.

"Peter Pan Must Die" again presents Dave with a seemingly insurmountable problem — a murder that, on the surface, was impossible to perform. Verdon expertly takes the novel through a labyrinth of twists that, however outlandish at first, are totally believable.

Dave is asked by former colleague Jack Hardwick to help overturn the murder conviction of Kay Spalter, who is in prison for shooting her wealthy husband, Carl, at his mother's funeral. Dave doesn't particularly like Jack, but feels responsible because Jack lost his job with the state police after helping Dave with a case.

Jack wants Dave to find irregularities in the investigation that would lead to an appeal. But Dave wants to find out what happened, whether that points to Jack's client or another suspect. "I'd like to think of myself as a seeker of truth, but I'm probably just an exposer of lies," Dave says.

Dave's investigation shows him that the details of the murder were fabricated, and it leads him to several people who had a grudge against the victim, who also was a gubernatorial candidate running on an anti-organized crime platform.

While a strong crime fiction story fuels "Peter Pan Must Die," the dynamics between Dave and his wife, Madeleine, continue to be the center of Verdon's series. Madeleine wants Dave to be content to live on the farm they bought near the Catskills in upstate New York. She takes delight in building a chicken coop and enjoying the scenery while Dave, who took early retirement at 48, is restless. Where she sees a tranquil landscape, he sees the potential for violence. She worries that Dave's involvement in the occasional case belies a deeper psychological unease.

Verdon's plot devices are intelligently layered in "Peter Pan Must Die." The denouement is one of the most unusual in crime fiction, and yet is perfectly logical. Verdon's cleverness again shines in "Peter Pan Must Die."

___

Online:

http://johnverdon.net/pages/index.php

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Spain's new king and queen have met with Pope Francis at the Vatican in their first foreign trip as monarchs and have invited the pontiff to visit Spain.

King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, wearing white as is standard protocol for a queen visiting the pope, were greeted Monday by Francis in the papal library. They chatted for about 40 minutes in private. As they left, Felipe invited Francis to visit and bent down to kiss the pope's ring; Letizia curtsied.

Francis had met Felipe's parents, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, on several occasions, the last time during the April 27 canonizations of Saints John Paul II and John XXIII.

Juan Carlos abdicated earlier this month.

ROME (AP) — The bodies of some 30 would-be migrants were found in the hold of a packed smugglers' boat making its way to Italy, the latest deaths in a surge of immigration to Europe, the Italian navy said Monday.

The boat was carrying nearly 600 people, and the remaining 566 survivors were rescued by the navy frigate Grecale and were headed to the port at Pozzallo, on the southern tip of Sicily. Overall during the weekend, the navy said it rescued more than 5,000 migrants, adding to the nearly 60,000 people who have made their way to Italy since the beginning of the year, compared with 42,000 in all of 2013.

Most are African or Middle Eastern refugees who pay hundreds or thousands of euros each to smugglers in Libya who pack them into unsafe fishing vessels for the crossing. Officials say the numbers have swelled this year due to the increasing instability in Libya.

The 30 corpses were discovered in the bow area of the boat during the rescue operation, according to a navy statement. The victims were believed to have suffocated or drowned during the crossing. Initial news reports said the migrants had suffocated because they were packed in so tightly. It wasn't clear if the boat was taking in water when it was rescued.

Italy beefed up its sea rescue operations last October after a migrant boat capsized off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa, killing more than 360 people. Italy has insisted that the European Union should shoulder more of the cost and burden of the rescue operations and says it will use its EU presidency starting Tuesday to press its case. Italy says it spends 9.5 million euro ($13 million) a month to operate the sea and air patrols.

The EU's home affairs commissioner, Cecilia Malmstrom, said in a statement Monday that the commission was preparing a plan to fight and dismantle the smuggling networks at their places of origin. She said the commission was making some 4 million euros ($5.45 million) available to Italy as emergency assistance to deal with the onslaught, though it was not clear if that is in addition to the 30 million euro in EU funds promised after the Lampedusa tragedy.

CHICAGO (AP) — Passengers say a United Airlines plane made an emergency landing in Kansas after an evacuation slide deployed during the flight, filling part of the cabin.

Mike Schroeder says he was flying from Chicago to Orange County, California, late Sunday when he heard a hiss and pop. He says he turned around and saw the plane's emergency evacuation slide inflating inside the plane.

Schroeder says the pilot announced to passengers that they would be landing at Wichita's Mid-Continent Airport. He says passengers remained calm and took pictures of the inflated slide with their phones.

Schroder says that after landing the pilot looked at the slide and said he had never seen that happen before.

United Airlines representatives did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment early Monday.