Tag Archives: mystery

by

Death Under the Dryer by Simon Brett

This is book 8 in the Fethering series by Simon Brett featuring the sleuths Carole Seddon and her neighbor Jude.  Although this is not my favorite in the series, it is still a charming fun mystery.  Simon Brett’s depiction of seaside town and its inhabitants is vivid and makes it easy for the reader to submerge  themselves in the story.  The mainstay of this series is the relationship between Carole and Jude, complements of each other, one fills in what the other lacks.  It is  a true duo sleuth team, rather than a leader and the sidekick.  Although we do know more about Carole, Jude is no mere ancillary character.  The fact we don’t know everything about Jude is intention and indeed is a often a source of frustration for Carole.  I love the fact that neither character is a stereotype, it makes them so much more interesting and real.

Brett’s wry humor is abundant as he pokes fun, all the while leading readers through a set of twists and turns to reach the conclusion.  If you like British village cozy mysteries, with a light touch of satire, and minimal romance, this is a great series to try.  I would suggest that you read the books in order as the relationships between Carole, Jude and others develops over time.  Besides, the first in the series, The Body on the Beach is one of  my favorites.

by

Death of a Valentine by M.C. Beaton

 

I have been reading the series of Hamish Macbeth for a long time now.  I love the setting of Lochdubh and Hamish Macbeth the sleuth.  This was another great whodunnit filled with humor and a more than slightly demented romance.  The clues take you from Locdubh, to Strathbane and from small outlying homes, to churches and even a disco. Hamish, his new hapless constable Josie, his dog Lugs and cat Sonsie deal with murders, a temptress victim, unrequited love, infidelity and a hit man.  A quick, fun read, if you like mysteries and haven’t tried this series yet you should.

by

Dusted to Death by Barbara Colley

 

Cozy mystery time again!  I have read the rest of this series about Charlotte LaRue, cleaning lady sleuth, and enjoyed them all.  The mystery in this book is not my favorite of the series, but it is still a fun read. There is more of a romance element in this book for Charlotte and it is done very well with a light touch that didn’t overwhelm the mystery.  Charlotte is a very realistic, likable character.  She is spunky and independent enough to be someone you cheer for, but she is intelligent enough that she doesn’t deliberately endanger herself or others.  For example, when a mysterious vehicle is following her, she heads straight for the police station, unlike some sleuths who go home or to a friend’s house instead.

Fun light cozy.  This could be read as a stand alone, if you wanted, but I think some of the ongoing relationships are more enjoyable if you have read other books in the series.

by

Death’s Autograph by Marianne MacDonald

 

I just found this series by Marianne MacDonald and my library system had the first book, Death’s Autograph. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more in the series.  The protagonist, Dido Hoare, is a book shop owner/book antiquarian, in her 30s and divorced.  She is smart and independent, a really likable character still reeling somewhat over her divorce from Davey.  Barnabas is Dido’s father, a retired professor, and her main support system. The love interest is a police officer who is working the case.

The main characters are interesting and fully developed, no ridiculously off beat people wandering around the story.  There is a slightly more menacing tone to this than most cozies, which often displace the danger or fear in a situation with humor. That is probably a marked difference from this and many newer cozies is the darker mood that it evokes.  The theme and the setting are both well done and ones that I enjoy.

The mystery has many threads that are all tied together with a common motive at the end.  In the last few chapters, everything comes together neatly.  This was a well constructed mystery with evidence of thought and care taken by the author.  I am wondering if the series is finished, the last book was published in 2006 and the website has not been updated.  Does anyone know if Marianne MacDonald is still writing?

by

Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriason

 

 

This is the second book I have read in the series.  I read Jar City,which is book 3 in the series.  Unfortunately, it does not appear that Book 1 & 2 have been translated into English.  Starting with book 3, does not seem to have impacted my enjoyment of this series.

Here in book 4, Silence of the Grave, we again meet Erlendur as he investigates a body found at the site of a now demolished chalet.  The book is told in current time as Erlendur attempts to solve the crime and also in the past with the tragic story of the family that inhabited the house.  The sense of dread builds as the book progresses.  We all know that a human body has been found, but not who is it and meanwhile we are reading about the horrific circumstances of the family.

As a story on the side, we again meet Eva Lind, Erlendur’s drug addict daughter and she has a story line within the book.  Her story line serves to reveal aspects of Erlendur’s past and more of his relationship with Eva and his ex-wife.  The mystery is surprising, especially the twists surrounding the identity of the body.

Very good mystery and I look forward to reading more in this series.

 

 

 

 

by

Awakening by S.J. Bolton

I just finished Awakening by S.J. Bolton.  I will start off by saying that I love all the books I have read by this author.  Sacrifice, her debut novel, in particular sticks out in mind as excellent.  Awakening is a good mystery novel.  The snakes alone make it particularly scary, especially as someone who lives in an older house and knows how they could get in if they wanted to and hide in nooks and crannies. {{{insert shudder here}}}

The protagonist is Clara Benning, a physically and emotionally scarred veterinary surgeion, who does a great deal of wildlife rescue work.  She prefers her animal charges to people.  The other characters like Matt, Sean and Sally are well developed and fit seamlessly together.  The misdirection worked very well and I was surprised at the ending.  The novel seemed well researched in terms of the snakes, not that I am an expert by any means.

S.J. Bolton writes in an extraordinarily well paced style.  There are no dull moments or “filler, everything is purposeful.  The book is a mystery and yet it also explores a “monumental change” for Clara through the events in the book and the people she meets, in her perspective and outlook on life.  She is certainly a character that shows growth and change.

I would definitely recommend this book, although I did prefer Sacrifice over it.

by

Simon Kirby-Jones Mysteries by Dean James

 

 

I just finished reading the wonderful Simon Kirby-Jones Mystery series by Dean James.  Mr. James is also writes under the pen names of Miranda James, Honor Hartman, and Jimmie Ruth Evans.

I first read Posted to Death which I found at my local library.  I loved the humorous, almost campy take on the cozy mystery series.  Unfortunately, my library didn’t carry the others in the series so I ordered the other three  and just recently received them.

Books 2,3 and 4 do not disappoint.  The character of Simon Kirby-Jones continues to be a wonderful mix of off beat humor, genuinely nice person, and sly sleuth.  The other characters develop nicely along the way, Sir Giles as his sidekick-assistant-love interest, Robin  as the police officer who respects Simon’s intelligence and help,  and Lady Prunella, village Grand Dame who becomes much more human and likable as the series progressed through the reader seeing her vulnerability behind her persona.

In these three books, Simon faces a variety of villains, a Renaissance/Medieval Faire and a classic locked room murder.  Each mystery was well crafted with twists and turns that Simon navigates with his usual cool self assurance, although we do see Simon’s feathers ruffled a little on the personal level.  Simon as a sleuth is logical and smart.  He is not one to run around throwing out accusations at random.  There are many nods to Agatha Christie and John Dickinson-Carr.  I don’t know if the author intends to end the series at Book 4, but it does offer a satisfying conclusion to an ongoing story line.

An excellent, humorous cozy mystery series written by a talented writer.  Definitely worth the read for cozy fans.  I have now read two series by Mr. James and will seek out the others.

 

 

by

Death on Demand by Carolyn G. Hart

 

I have heard so much about this series, that I am really glad that I finally read it.  I like the setting and the theme of the book.  Having a bookshop is a dream of mine, so this really appealed to me.  The character of Max is outstanding.  He draws you in on his own, even though it seems as though he is intended to be the sidekick to Annie, our protagonist, he definitely overshadows her.  The mystery was well crafted.  Being a “locked room” type of mystery, you had a limited list of suspects from the start.  From that you could eliminate Max and Annie whittling down the list further.  The book was written in 1987 and so the discussion of the writer’s technology at it related to the mystery  was really quite funny to look back on now.

The issue I had, and I think this is just a personal problem for me ;p ,  was the name dropping of other authors and their books.  It is constant throughout the book, even when they drink coffee there are references to the mugs with authors and books on them.  I just found that this pulled me out of the story each time.  If  I didn’t remember a particular book or author, I needed to google it to find out about it.  I think this is just me and the fact that I can’t stand not remembering something and having the technology at my fingertips makes it easy to look it up. It really was disruptive for me and made the book take much longer than it should have.

I probably will try another in the series to see if this decreases in subsequent books because everything else was very good.  Interestingly, I just read another mystery that used the same device, A Killer Read, and it bothered me just as much in that book.

by

Thyme of Death by Susan Wittig Albert

 

This is book 1 of the very well established, 21 books, China Bayles series.  It has often been recommended to me based on other books that I enjoy.

Very quick read, pacing of the mystery is not a problem.  I loved the theme, the idea of an Herbal Remedies shop owner as the sleuth.  I just kept getting pulled out of the story by the “feminist manifesto” type comments and asides.  I didn’t like many of the characters and the attitude towards mothers/motherhood was so negative; it was big turn off for me.  The male characters were stereotypes and you feel the animosity towards them and men in general.  China’s boyfriend, a college professor, is considered good for a “booty call” and not much else, because “horror of horrors”, he has a child he is taking responsibility for.  Despite the pro-feminist slant of the book, the irony is that the “feminist model” characters don’t seem particularly happy or content, with the possible exception of Ruby who just seems ….out in left field, following her “Path” (with a capitol P, no less).

I really didn’t like the fact that China colluded with her friends to destroy evidence, just to suit their own purposes.

This book didn’t work for me and I won’t be reading more in the series.

 

 

by

Sacrifice by S.J. Bolton

 

Could not put this book down!!  Fresh off of Dead Scared also by S.J. Bolton I started this and read it straight through.  Not part of the Lacey Flint series, this was the author’s debut stand alone novel.

Chilling thriller in which the sense of dread builds exponentially.  The twists and turns leave you scared to death for Tora Hamilton.  Red herrings are plentiful and DS Dana Tulloch even makes mention of the term, which was quite clever.  Tora, the protagonist a surgeon and Dana, a police officer are well crafted, likable characters, as are the others in the book.

The setting of the Shetland Islands adds so much to the story, that it is almost another character, in the style of Ann Cleeves or Elly Griffiths.  The sense of isolation on the islands is made  even more eerie by the hints and warnings of the danger that faces Tora.  The story is based on some particularly gruesome historic legends from the Shetland Islands and that historic piece is incorporated believably with the modern story.

Having read two other books by this author, I continue to be impressed.  I am especially impressed by the range exhibited by her.  All her books I have read so far have been thriller/mystery types, however the characters are very distinct, the settings are varied and the plots are very dissimilar.   A great read!  I have one more book out from the library by this author and I am tempted to start it right away.