Tag Archives: book

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The Irish Cottage Murder by Dicey Deere

Picked this up from the library and read it last night.  I recently read another Irish based mystery, Buried in a Bog, and really liked that book, so this appealed to me.  First the good, the book has a, strong female protagonist and interesting writing style, such as using chapters of varying lengths and different points of view (some are only a page long).  The bad is ..well, bad.  The protagonist is 27 or is that 30? Depends upon which section of the book you are reading (not really a bad error over all), the combination of languages the translator speaks is almost completely impossible to believe, especially coming from a relatively small American town where she would not have had the opportunity to be be immersed in them, we are talking about Scandinavian languages, Greek, Hungarian, some Russian, French, Portuguese, Gaelic and so on.    I could understand a large group of Romance languages, but not this combination.  And if by chance she is some unique human language savant, why would she be working hit or miss contract work and struggling for money?

Next, up some of the geography in Ireland, as in the distances is off.  The pay for Maureen Devlin is off for the time period  and some other little anachronisms as well.  The biggest problem with the plot is the back story for the protagonist, Torrey Tunet.  I don’t want to tell the whole thing, but it drives much of the plot in the current story, so the fact that it is far fetched is an issue.

As many problems as there are, the main character is strong and charming, very individualistic, it does leave me wondering if things improve in later books.

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Reading This Week

I have looked at this series several times and finally decided to try it on my Kindle.  I read lots of mysteries and love cats and wine, so  expected to love this.  The main character is a young widow who is a relative stranger in the small town she lives in, people know of her but don’t know her. Her life revolves around her three cats and her quilting business and the mystery begins with one of her cats, an Abyssinian, named Syrah, being catnapped.  The other two, Merlot and Chablis, were apparently the “brains” of the crew and hid from the cat napper.  There is a murder later with a human victim, but make no mistake the cats are the stars of this show.

I found the book to be okay, maybe 2.5 out of 5 stars, but there was not enough there to keep me going back for more in the series. Not when I am interested in so many other series and have so many started.  I didn’t connect with the character, Jill, that well and found a couple of the other characters a little odd, not odd in the cozy mystery, quirky character kind of way, just odd.  I will say I was surprised at the reveal and the mystery was solved satisfactorily.

Also on my Kindle, I had this book:

This is not the cover of my edition, but it was all I  could find. Truth be told I probably wouldn’t have bought the book with this cover :).  Light, fun read with some heartbreak, some romance, and some basic growing up.  The main character, Mary was married young and then her husband has an affair and she has to start over, in the Cotswolds.  I liked it well enough that I would probably try the second in the series given the opportunity.  I found some parts of the plot forced you to suspend your disbelief  quite a bit, but overall an enjoyable chick lit type read.

I received this book by Mariah Stewart as part of a series from a friend.  I hate to say but it went in my DNF pile…I finished it, but with major league skimming to the end, so I don’t think I can say much more other than it was not for me.

 

Finally, the best of the bunch!  I always enjoy Trisha Ashley books and this was no exception to that.  Really lovely, touching, romantic comedy type read.  I loved the main character, Holly Brown (perfect name for a Christmas themed book).  The cooking and food scenes were mouthwatering and the setting was perfect.  The characters were well developed and interesting.  You could clearly understand their motivations and behaviors.  This book definitely put me in the mood for the holidays.  Fans of British women’s fiction, Christmas themed books, and cooking (traditional foods) should all find something to enjoy here.

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Read-a-thon Book 4: Ghost in the Machine by Ed James

 

This was book 4 for me in the Dewey’s Read-a-thon.  I found the character of Cullen interesting and well drawn.  I liked the relationships drawn among the team of officers investigating the case.  The mystery was well plotted out and all the ends tied together.  I particularly liked all the technology aspects of the crime and how they were integrated into the story.  The most interesting part of the story was really the “frame” job that was done.  I don’t want to say anything more to spoil it for anyone else.  Interesting mystery read, well written with good characters.

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Read-a-thon Book 3: Thursday Morning Breakfast (and Murder) Club by Liz Stauffer

Finished Book 3 for the Dewey’s Read-a-thon.  Thursday Morning Breakfast (and Murder) Club by Liz Stauffer.  I didn’t really get into this book at all.  It seemed very rushed and there were lots of characters but no time spent to develop them.  I assumed they were older and retired because only a couple, the sheriff and the film producer seemed to have work  while the rest met on Thursday mornings for breakfast.  Just not for me.

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Read-a-thon Book 2: Strictly Murder by Lynda Wilcox

 

Finished Book 2 for the Dewey’s Read-a-thon.  This was an interesting British murder mystery with twists and turns and tie-ins to a previous crime.  I really liked the fact that the sleuth was a researcher/assistant for a crime novelist, I think that is a great lead in for an amateur sleuth.  I felt the mystery was well plotted as far as the whodunnit portion of things.  However, some parts of the book didn’t really gel for me, the sleuth, Verity insisting that she wasn’t investigating.  Her reactions at times didn’t  ring true to the character, as developed in the book.  The constant references to the play on one character’s name, Candida = thrush, get it, heh heh, funny huh, elbow in the ribs, was well overdone.  The Detective Inspector Farish character needed some fleshing out but that might occur in later books in the series.

I might have appreciated the jabs at Strictly Come Dancing, if I had ever seen the show so I won’t hold that against the book.  Fans (or people who hate the show) might find the tie-in interesting.

I don’t know if I will read more of not of this series, I already have a huge TBR list.

 

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Read-a-thon Book 1: Murder on the Candlelight Tour by Ellen Elizabeth Hunter

 

Finished book 1 for Dewey’s Read-a-thon.  This is book 2 in a mystery series that I found when the first book was chosen  by the Cozy Mystery Corner book club on Goodreads.  I was one of the few members who liked the first book in this series.  I found the mystery well done in that book and this one.

Just like in the first book,, I like the main character, her sister and her sidekick.  Her love interest, Nick runs hot and cold, but it made him interesting to me.  Her sister’s boyfriend, Joel was a little too stereotypical Hollywood con man  This book connected several crimes, an old robbery and a couple new murders.  There were lots of clues and red herrings.  The issue with this book, like the first, is that sometimes the dialog is unnatural or stilted and in a couple places, I actually had to go back and reread to understand what I had read.  Still, I think there is enough good about this books, well plotted mystery and interesting characters, to make me want to continue with it.

On to a visit to my local book shop and then back for more reading!

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Death and the Lit Chick by G.M. Malliet

 

 

This is the second in the series, the first being Death of  a Cozy Writer.  I thought the first one was okay and so decided to try another in the series.  This started out definitely more interesting.  Very Agatha Christie-ish, as in And Then There Were None.

We had the group of isolated visitors, in this case writers at a conference.  There is a house that is cut off from the outside, power outage, fog, etc.  There is a first victim, who is a very unlikable character.  All this added up to a lot of promise for this book.

St. Just, the detective, is definitely more visible and engaged in this book than he was in the first outing of the series.  The characters are all very classic of cozy “house” mysteries, the elderly female, the brash American, the meek submissive wife, the femme fatale, the young “con man” type, and  the unlucky-in-love copper and others.

The book just didn’t live up to the promise of all the elements.  It was definitely okay, but I don’t know if I would read any others in the series.  I enjoyed about the first two thirds and then it just seemed to  peter out.

 

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Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan by Jamie Zeppa

I read this book for my One Drink Minimum Book Club.  We have a round the world theme this month and this was the book selected.  I really haven’t digested it fully but I will say there were definite positives and negatives.  On the positive side, the author excelled at giving us a sense of place.  I really came away with a feeling for Bhutan and the way the people lived.  She also revealed political issues that I was not aware of within Bhutan and managed to “educate” without the reader feeling as thought they were being lectured or reading a book for school.  Being a teacher, I enjoyed the detail about the school system she was teaching in and was surprised with some of the details she revealed.

On the negative side, the author comes across as really self absorbed, which is sort of odd for a Buddhist (she converted during her time in Bhutan).   I think it was supposed to seem self reflective, but that was not what I took away from it. She makes some …interesting decisions and although she is living there and others point out “home truths” to her she seems to hold this idealized/idolized version on Bhutan.  I kept trying to remind myself that she was only 22 at the beginning of this journey and that youthfulness probably was the part of her voice that seemed self absorbed and impulsive to me.

On the whole, I am glad that I read it and I did enjoy learning about Bhutan.  If the topic of Bhutan or teaching abroad interests you, this is a worthwhile read.

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This is a meme hosted by Midnight Book Girl found here.

This morning I only had a little time to read and I spent it with

 

A really interesting, so far anyway, book I am reading for my book club.  I read a little in this after giving up on:

 

I had this series on my TBR page forever and picked up the first book and a couple more from my local used bookshop, but I just couldn’t get into it.  Not exactly sure why, just I couldn’t immerse myself in it and ended up shelving it in my very small “did not finish” pile.  I may try it again later.  It is a very popular series, so maybe I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it.

So, what are you reading this morning?

 

 

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Steamed to Death by Peg Cochran

 

Just finished Steamed to Death last night, the second in the Gourmet De-lite Mystery series.  I did enjoy this book, but the first one Allergic to Death is my favorite of the two.  I like the slow progress in the romance between GiGi and Detective Mertz (I hope Declan is just a distraction).  Detective Mertz really won me over this book as a love interest – there is a scene with a kitten that just did it for me.  The other characters are interesting and provided red herrings in solving the murders (plural).  There was one clue that was a little heavy handed and I solved the mystery right at that point, but it did not spoil the book for me.  It wasn’t that far from the end anyway.

Light, fun mystery with cooking and animals and small town life mixed all together.