Tag Archives: mystery

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Dead Scared by S.J. Bolton

I read this as a follow up to to S.J. Bolton’s Now You See Me.    I really, really liked this book.  Exciting and suspenseful, unputdownable (and yes I know that is not a word).  The character of Lacey Flint is engaging and a real underdog  hero that you root for all the way.  Her complicated non-relationship with DI Mark Joesbury is fresh and fraught with its own tension and suspense.  Although you can read this as a standalone, to really have an understanding of Lacey and Joesbury I would recommend reading the first book.

The mystery is creepy and down right scary at times.  The combination of old fashioned scares combined with stalking and modern technology works really well.  The twists and turns have you doubting the characters and their perceptions even as they doubt themselves.  Evi is a perfect rendition of a therapist dealing with her own physical and emotional issues torn by her concern for the victims and her professional code of ethics.   The Cambridge setting is fascinating and the fact that it should be such a “safe” place adds weight to the horrifying events.

Great thriller mystery.  I have already checked a couple more of S.J. Bolton’s books out from the library.  Highly recommended read.

 

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The Diva Runs Out of Thyme by Krista Davis

Finished this cozy mystery out in the yard this afternoon.  I found this book cleaning out my bedroom and I swore that I had read this but the plot was not familiar.  I think I must have read a later one in the series.  Anyway, this one was a well written cozy with a great mystery and oodles of red herrings.  There were lots of clues pointing all over the place.

Loved the character of Sophie and I’m sure that as the series progresses her character will develop more depth.  The cast of characters had the prerequisite amount of quirkiness, but nothing too over the top as to be ridiculous. I liked that there was more than one love interest, but it didn’t turn into a triangle.

There could have been a little less emphasis on all the cooking and feeding the guests, but it was not so much that it distracted me from the mystery.  I also loved Judy’s love story with The Colonel.  I think it is great when an author shows an older person as a whole person interested in dating and still going out rather than just a stereotypical “grandma” type figure.

Very cute cozy and a fun read.  I look forward to reading more in this series.

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A Killer Read by Erika Chase

 

Just finished this for the Cozy Mystery Corner book group on Goodreads.  I really have mixed feelings about this. This book was on the short list for the Agatha Awards from Malice Domestic but it didn’t completely work for me.  It was as though the author had a checklist:  book theme, check, cats, check, small southern town, check, sheriff love interest, check, but she wasn’t really invested in these items.

I didn’t solve the mystery prior to the reveal but looking back I suppose I could have guessed at it.  The main character Lizzie was likable enough, but a little two dimensional.  I really didn’t need the description of all her outfits and yes, we understood that she was into fitness.  We didn’t really need to keep hearing how she needed to go run or run more or missed a day running and drinking her protein shakes.

My biggest issue with the book was the pacing.  Every time it seemed like something was going to happen, it didn’t.  The action stopped and she went to work or off on some mundane errand.  Slow pacing.  Even the little mystery book club started to get interested in solving the mystery and then they seemed to lose interest.  I also found the name dropping of other cozy mystery authors distracting, for some reason it seemed to pull me out of the story.

Often I find series improve after the initial book, but I don’t know if  I  will read another in this series.  On the other hand, the  fact that it was up for an Agatha makes me think I should give it another chance.

 

 

 

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Night of the Living Deed by E.J. Cooperman

I have had this cozy on my TBR list for a long time now, so I was really happy when it was selected as one of this month’s read over at Goodreads in the Cozy Mystery Corner Group.

First, let me admit that I live in New Jersey and this book is set at the Jersey Shore.  Now, I will admit something that will probably get me chased out of New Jersey by an angry mob, so I will just say it once and then pretend it didn’t happen…I don’t like the Jersey shore.    Anyway, I am familiar with some of the locales discussed in the book, let’s just leave it at that.

I think because I had been waiting to read this one for so long, I was really expecting a great cozy and then I had a hard time getting into this book.  I will say that it picked up in the second half.  The red herrings in the form of Ned and Tony’s behaviors are really heavy handed.  The villain was sort of an unbelievable character.  In fact, most of the characterizations felt flat or like stereotypes (the overachieving PTSO mom) or odd to me, not odd in the cozy quirky character kind of way , just odd as in not right.  A couple of the plot twists made no sense to me.

I did love one scene at the end involving Paul and the guest house, just because of a personal connection.  My daughter’s grandfather, who has since passed, was an ornamental plasterer and there is a reference to a crew of old school plasterers coming and working on the guesthouse and that made me smile.

I am glad that I read it because it was on my TBR list, but if I want to read a ghost related cozy, I’ll stick with The Ghost and Mrs. McClure by Alice Kimberly.

 

 

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The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill ***slight spoiler***

Laying in the backyard, watching the grass grow long past the point where it needs to be mowed,   and drinking a bottle of Jersey Peach wine, I finished this book.  If you would have asked me, up to around Chapter 40 I would have have said, “Great mystery, good read, 4 stars.”  Unfortunately I continued reading for another 14 chapters and the book dropped down to a 3 star.

The main character Simon Serrailler is almost incidental in some ways, he is not the main investigator for the crime, but this is the first in the series so that might account for that.  He is a good character, isolated somewhat from his family due to his life choices, divided into policman and artist, and afraid of commitment or maybe just unaware of the possibility.  He comes across as an good police officer, a fair boss, an all round decent human being.  Other characters are equally appealing, Freya, Nathan, and Cat to name a few.

The issue for me is that the reveal (to the reader anyway) occurs in a separate piece just prior to Chapter 39, but then the book goes on and on, until chapter 54 and in the end we still really don’t know why.  It most definitely was the author’s purpose to leave it that way, making the statement that we never really know another human being and often we are in the dark about people’s motivations, but it just didn’t work for me.   Certain segments in the book are told in a form of a final confession letter/journal written by the villain and so hints of his motivations, mad though he may be, are peppered throughout them.  It just was frustrating to me that they were not followed up on or resolved.  On the last page Simon is thinking about the murderer and has this one thought that made it clear that this was all very purposeful of the author:

“Cat had said that his kind could only be left to the understanding of God.  Simon wondered.”

Interesting characters and a page turner, but frustrating to me as a reader.

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Library Read-a-thon Wrap Up & Posted to Death by Dean James

I have quite enjoyed this Library Read-a-thon and I finished quite a bit of reading of library books as well.

In total I read:

  1. File M for Murder by Miranda James 
  2. Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason,
  3. The Blackhouse by Peter May
  4. In Sickness and in Death by Lisa Bork
  5. For Richer, For Danger by Lisa Bork
  6. Without Trace by Katherine John

and finally this morning:

7. Posted to Death by Dean James

Hope everyone else enjoyed the read-a-thon!

Now just a quick note about Posted to Death.

 

This is a series new to me…however, I have read books by the author under another name, Miranda James.  I found this series because I enjoyed the Miranda James’ A Cat in the Stacks Mysteries so much that I was looking for other books by “her”.  I then found out Dean James writes under the names of Miranda James, Honor Hartman, and Jimmie Ruth Evans.  So, there is lots to read by him.

Anyway, Posted to Death was great!  Funny, well written, full of quirky characters and a very interesting take on the traditional English village mystery.  I wouldn’t call it a parody, just a humorous take on the paranormal cozy genre.  The big twist is that the Dr. Simon Kirby-Jones, our sleuth is a man, just like in the Cat in the Stacks mysteries and he is also gay and a vampire.  The character is done so well; I really enjoyed it.  It could have been over the top bordering on ridiculous but it doesn’t go there.

The other village characters are traditional examples of village life with secrets to hide and reputations to protect. Very much centered around village committee life and the small political battles that entails.  That aspect reminded me of the BBC series Clatterford (US title) or Jam and Jerusalem (UK title).

I will definitely read more in the series and more by Dean James in all his incarnations.

 

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Library Read-a-thon Day 6 & File M for Murder

Today’s prompt for the Library Read-a-thon was to think of library words.  Here are mine:

  • data
  • information
  • Page
  • classes
  • community
  • service
  • meetings
  • magazines
  • newspapers
  • clubs

I actually went back to my library today to drop off File M for Murder and to pick up some of my holds that came in:

 

I finished File M for Murder by Miranda James this morning.  This is the 3rd book in the series.

I love the characters in this series, particularly Charlie Harris, his son Sean, and Diesel, his Maine Coon cat.  Characters are definitely the main strength of  the  “A Cat in the Stacks” mysteries.  The setting and all the auxiliary characters are becoming more fleshed out as the series has progressed.  Charlie’s daughter has arrived in this book and we get to know her as well.  I love that the main protagonist, Charlie is a man and that gives this cozy a little bit different feel.  I also like that he is not involved in a love triangle that occurs in so many mysteries.

I did figure out the mystery prior to the reveal, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the book.  I don’t know exactly why this one was easier to solve than the others but I just had a hunch right away upon meeting the culprit that something was off about them.  There is a major misdirection in the form of a new character but that seemed a little to obvious to be anything but a red herring.

An enjoyable, quick read and I will continue to read more in this series.

 

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Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason

 

Another library book for the Library Read-a-thon.   I have been looking forward to this one for a while so I am happy I finally got to it.  I enjoyed the Icelandic setting and  Inspector Erlendur is a great character.  

This is the first of Arnaldur Indridason’s books that I have read and I love his style of writing.  Throughout the book are episodes of dry humor and plain speaking.  An example from early in the book is:

“Perhaps he did not know his assailant well.  Perhaps the visitor had attacked him without any preamble, the moment the door opened.  Without taking off his shoes.

Can you murder someone in your socks?

Erlendur looked all around and  told himself he really must organize his thoughts better.”

Another is :

“”Isn’t this your typical Icelandic murder?”…

“What?” said Erlendur, engrossed in his thoughts.

“Squalid, pointless and committed without any attempt to hide it, change the clues or conceal the evidence.”

“Yes,” said Erlendur.  “A pathetic Icelandic murder.””

As an overview, the characters were well drawn and developed, even likable, which was surprising in the case of Erlendur’s daughter, a drug addict.   At first, I didn’t really see the point of her story but it was connected seamlessly in the end.

The only weakness was in the actual main mystery itself.  I figured it out about half way through and   in my opinion it was somewhat improbable.  There is just so much else good in this book, that I would still recommend it and will read more in the series.

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Dangers of Raving about a Book…before you’re finished

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Welcome to my Sundays In Bed With… Meme! The meme that dares to ask, what book has been in your bed this morning? Come share what book you’ve spent time curled up reading in bed, or which book you wish you had time to read today!  Hosted by Midnightbookgirl.com

 

So, anyway, I am reading, stop, make that I am supposed to be reading this:

I started it yesterday and it was excellent.  My daughter came home and I had to stop reading to make dinner, which I did reluctantly and I told her how great the book was and how I couldn’t wait to finish it.  Big mistake.  She has inherited the bibliophile gene from me and so while I was distracted with dinner, she absconded with my book.   I managed to swipe it back for a few minutes but when I went to put my teacup back in the kitchen, she struck again.   Now she won’t give it back until she’s finished…this is an argument  against having children, if I ever heard one.

Giving in and moving on with my life, I picked up this, also a library book, instead:

How I found this series is interesting.  David, over at Goodreads English Kindle Mystery Club, posted about book 5  being free on Amazon.  So, I downloaded it and another that was also free but realized I didn’t want to start half way through the series.  Luckily, my library had the earlier books and this is book 1.

Very good writing.  Complex and engaging characters.  A thrilling plot with lots of twists and turns.  Red herrings and misdirection lead the reader on a very satisfying mystery chase,  some characters are convinced that TIm is still alive, while others are equally convinced that he is dead.  The story begins with a doctor getting called in on an emergency early in the morning.  He never arrives at the hospital and that is the beginning of what begins as a missing person case and ends in multiple homicides.  Not for the squeamish, some  graphic violence and descriptions of bodies/parts, but that is not just done for effect.  It is definitely core to the story.

The characters reactions are very realistic and run the gamut just as normal human reactions would.  The climax is thrilling and although I suspected there was something “wrong” with the character who ends up being involved in the crimes, I didn’t know exactly what was wrong.

A great start to a new-to-me series.  Highly recommended to readers of very dark mysteries.

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Book, Line and Sinker by Jenn McKinlay

 

I picked this up from the library which only seems appropriate since it is book 3 in a “Library Lover’s Mystery” series.  For some reason I had a hard time getting into this book, I picked it up and  put it down a few times and that is unusual for me.  It may have been that I was trudging,  er…I mean reading through Stephen King’s Under the Dome at the same time.

Anyway, today after my errands I had a lunch out on the patio with my mom of  salad, a delicious pate, some wonderful olives and fresh bread along with a bottle of Jersey White wine.  I brought the book along and after we finished eating I sunk into my sun lounger  to read.  This time I got right into it.  There was more than one mystery going on in the story, an older unsolved mystery and the current one.  Pirates (ahoy matey, eye patch and all), treasure and eco-warriors abounded, all great fun.

I did find some of the dialogue stilted or even trite and I was concerned about the return of an old love interest creating the classic “love triangle”, but there was an interesting twist on it.  We see more of Sully in this book and I like his character.  I enjoy this type of plot, in which there is an old crime and a new crime that are connected and we just have to figure out how.

Cute mystery that is a quick, fun read for anyone who likes book themed cozies.

Now I am working on:

 

This book has sucked me right in and I will probably finish it tonight.