Tag Archives: review

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Tressed to Kill by Lila Dare

 

Very cute first in a new series.  The southern setting is charming and the author doesn’t overdo it by interjecting too many cutesy southernisms.  The premise is that the protagonist, Grace,  has returned home from a life and marriage in Atlanta to the small town she grew up in and where her mother,Violetta, still lives.  She now works in her mother’s salon and is attempting to start over.

One of the town’s leading ladies is murdered after a public argument with Violetta, which makes Violetta the prime suspect.  There is the prerequisite hunky cop, Dillon, or Marshall as Grace refers to him in their bantering.  Hank, Grace’s ex, is also in town and they often run into each other adding to the drama.

The red herrings were well done and I didn’t solve the main mystery ahead of time which is always fun.  A well done mystery plot tying together multiple, mysteries past and present.

Some of the descriptions could have been a little less wordy but that was a very minor issue.  All in all, a fun quick cozy mystery read and good start to a new series.

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Divorce Can Be Murder by Victoria Pade

 I picked up this one at my local second hand book seller.  I hadn’t heard anything about it but the cover and title intrigued me.

Jimi Plain is a technical writer and a single mother of 2 girls.  She has an ex, who is the girls’ father.  He is active “off screen” through broken promises and phone calls interwoven in the story.  Danny is her policeman cousin and Nell is her Grandmother.  At the beginning of the book, Jimi is moving her girls into the house with Danny and Nell somewhat regretfully but financially necessary.  Other characters include Linda, a good friend and neighbor in the middle of a divorce, and Audrey, a nun and counselor, who runs a divorce recovery group.  Although Audrey is a main character, and Nell and Danny both are regular church goers,  the story line is not preachy or full of religious references or moral “lessons”.

The Divorce group is at the center of the murders and the plot twists and turns.  The character of Jimi was interesting and sympathetic.  The other members of the divorce group seemed to me to represent the gamut of reactions to divorce and were very well done.  Jimi’s girls also gave realistic faces to teen children of divorce.  The representations of divorce and the impacts not only on the couple divorcing but others around them were particularly well done.

There were many intersections in the relationships among the characters and this led to red herrings in the mystery plot line. I did figure out the culprit at chapter 25 out of 35, however there was one piece I was wrong about and I did doubt myself a little bit so the book was still very engaging and the twist right at the end was unexpected.

A warning, simply because many cozy readers don’t like cursing at all, there are about two instances of cursing in the book but no sex.  That is a non-issue for me, but I do know that some readers expect their cozies to be clean.

I enjoyed this book and would read another in the series.  I am glad to have stumbled across it.

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Wicked Autumn by G.M. Malliet

 

I read this one as the group read this month for the English Kindle Mystery Club on Goodreads.  I have previously read two other books from this author, Death of a Lit Chick and Death of a Cozy Writer.  The two books appeared to be a parody of cozy mysteries, perhaps some kind of satire, but they didn’t really work for me in that form.

This book started out with very much the same tone as the previous books, but then seemed to change  somewhat at around page 100, as though the book couldn’t decide whether it was a cozy or a parody. That was about when we got heavily introduced to the sleuth Max, ex MI5 agent turned village Vicar.  Max as a character just didn’t seem very real.  The whole dramatic event turning him from MI5 agent to a man of the cloth, who just doesn’t seem very religious or all that interested in the village didn’t really work as a character.    He only really sparks to life during the investigation of the murder.

Overall, I was disappointed with this.  Many characters seem cartoonish, not well drawn.  I assume it was intentional, perhaps meant to be a parody, however not funny enough for me for a parody.  The pacing was slow.  I usually finish cozy mysteries in one sitting.  This one I kept finding excuses to put it down and get up and do something else.  There were some point of view issues and other little style points I wasn’t crazy about.

While I will probably not read another in this series, I do know many people really enjoy G.M. Malliet’s writing and she has  won an Agatha for a previous book and that Wicked Autumn has been nominated for an Agatha, so perhaps it is just me.

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Cat Nap by Claire Donally

This is the second book in the A Sunny & Shadow Mystery series.  In this book, the uneasy friendship between Sunny and Jane continues to develop with Will stuck in the middle.  This is an unusual love triangle for a cozy mystery.  The norm is that the female protagonist has two men she can’t or won’t decide between.  There is also the addition of another possible love interest, Tobe Phillips.  Mike, Sunny’s father, also shows growth in this book, both in his recovery from his heart attack, his independence, and his social life.

The mystery in this book centers around the death of Jane’s ex-husband and proving Jane’s innocence.  The ending had quite a twist and I didn’t figure it out all.  Shadow continues to provide his point of view to the story which is very well done.  The setting and the difficulties of living and working in a Northern climate are described in realistic detail.  After reading many southern series, this was a nice change.

I am definitely going to continue with this series, good characters and well written mystery plot!

 

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Sloane Monroe Book 2 & 3

This was a 3 book set that I picked up on offer from Amazon.  I read book 1, Black Diamond Death, quite some time ago and now I finally came back to finish book 2, Sinnerman, and Book 3, I Have A Secret.  I really like the character of Sloane, she is fiercely independent, brave and uncompromising.  It is this last characteristic that leads to many of the situations she ends up in.

Sloane is a PI, who still mourns the death of her sister at the hand of a serial killer.  She uses this grief over her sister’s unsolved murder as motivation to solve crimes and see criminals brought to justice.  There are some romantic elements throughout the books, but I don’t want to say too much and give any of the twists and turns away.

The strength in these books is the investigative work Sloane engages in to solve the crimes.  This is not an unprofessional sleuth, who just stumbles across clues and suspects, but rather a methodical hard working professional.

My only issue with the books in this series is the seem too short.  There are characters I would like to see explored more but with all the detail in the investigative piece of the plot and the shortness of the books there simply isn’t time to develop them more fully.

Well written, quick-to-read mysteries with a strong, professional female lead.

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Angel’s Advocate by Mary Stanton

This is my second book in this series and I am still not really sure about it.  The concept of a Celestial court and justice system being  served by a terrestrial lawyer is interesting, but we still don’t really know much about how it works.  The setting of Savannah is detailed with loving care.  The focus on the setting is definitely something that the author is emphasizing.  Some pieces still seem a little disjointed and  Bree’s behavior is often unprofessional or irrational.  I get the sense that everything will be explained if the reader hangs in and continues reading the series. This series came highly recommended from a friend who had finished it, so I probably will continue.

 

 

 

 

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Witch Hunt by Shirley Damsgaard

This is the 4th book in the Ophelia and Abby Mystery series.  I am not a big reader of paranormal cozies, but I really enjoy this series.  Mainly due to the character of Ophelia, I like her a great deal.  She has shown tremendous growth over the span of the four books so far in the series.  In the beginning, she was very untrusting and closed off from everyone around her.  Over the course of time she has opened up to more people and relaxed her rigid outlook somewhat, fostered a child, and has come into more of an accord with her powers.

This story involves a 1%er motorcycle club that has moved into town and is causing all kinds of chaos.  Darcy’s cousin who comes to town to visit is implicated in a murder and Ophelia gets dragged into the investigation.  The mystery is interesting, however I figured one of the main things pretty early on and then I just spent time waiting for the mystery to be solved.  The resolution was interesting and watching Ophelia work through the clues was fun.  Tink is becoming more of a substantial character and the relationship between her, Ophelia and Abby is fun to read about.

There are only 7 books in this series and I have been told the 7th is the best so I am looking forward to completing the series.  Highly recommended paranormal cozy series!

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Christine Falls by Benjamin Black

I ran out and got this one from the library the minute I heard that Gabriel Byrne was going to be starring in the TV series, Quirke.  Benjamin Black is a pseudonym for a literary writer, John Banville.  The writing of this mystery definitely reflects the literary writing craft of Mr. Banville…a much more elegant style than the average genre novel.  That being said I definitely can appreciate  simplicity of sparse prose as well.

The book takes place in Ireland and in Boston with Quirke as a pathologist following up on a mysterious death of Christine Falls.  His adopted family via his brother, Mal, is wrapped up tightly in this mystery.  As the first book in a series, there is a great deal of explaining Quirke’s background and “family relations”.  As much as the writing was well done and the character of Quirke was interesting, the mystery fell flat.  Either Quirke was stupid or simply was being obtuse, but there is no way that he could be unaware of the Catholic Church and baby smuggling/orphanages, especially when he himself was plucked from one by the Judge.  The mortal danger that he put another character in through his seeming unawareness was just not to be believed.  Although perhaps we are to believe he is that dense, there seem to be many characters who hold him in disdain.

The book seemed more interested in making statements about “the evil Catholic Church” and “the 1950s repressive morals” than being a mystery. The ending falls completely flat.  The big “mystery” (which all the readers already figured out pages and pages before) is just  a “so what”?  This just didn’t work for me, however I am still interested to see how the TV series turns out.

 

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Exile by Denise Mina

Just finished Denise Mina’s , Exile, book 2 in the Garnethill Trilogy.  I did enjoy book 1, Garnethill, however this book was much better!  Maureen’s character is in a self-destructive post-traumatic stress downward spiral fueled mainly by alcohol.  She is investigating a murder at the request of her friend Leslie, who is not much less of a mess.  A woman has been brutally tortured and murdered with her body dumped.  She was recently a resident at a battered woman’s shelter, so all fingers point toward the husband, Jimmy, who is the only surviving parent for their 4 small boys.  Only things are not what they seem and Maureen through her alcohol induced haze and her desire to maintain her friendship with Leslie seeks to prove that Jimmy didn’t kill his wife.

The characters are what makes this work stand out.  Denise Mina has crafted incredibly human characters with all the dirt and despair that one could stand to read.   Maureen is a walking train wreck, yet in this book she comes across as more intelligent, not just crafty in the way of many street survivors, but also analytical.  Jimmy is a portrait of despair and a born victim.  Even Winnie, in her own alcohol fueled rages, is a fully developed character.

Liam and Vik are some of the only positive characters in the book.  Liam has made great strides to pull himself out of his past.  Vik is strong enough to insist that he deserves to be treated right by Maureen.  There are still differences between these two:  Liam wants to save or protect Maureen, while Vik wants her to save herself.  After the ending of this book, I will be interested to see what happens here.

The mystery is well done  with great twists and turns and an ending that I did not see coming.  There is a great sense of place in this book, even though most of the places are nowhere the reader would want to be.

Great read!  I can’t wait to read the third one.

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The Outcast Dead by Elly Griffiths

I should begin by saying that I have read all of the books so far in the Ruth Galloway series.  I truly love this series, it is one of my favorites.  I have been eagerly awaiting this, book 6, in the series.  And it was fine, but for some reason, just fine.

The characters of Ruth, Cathbad, and DI Harry Nelson are excellent as usual. The reader can see growth in these characters, within themselves and their relationships with each other and other characters.  The mystery still involves a background of archaeology, but certainly not to the extent of earlier books.  The plot is  a little overly crowded with characters and story lines.  It involves the discovery of an executed Victorian “child killer’s” body, a TV crew anxious for a high profile story, a child’d death and mother’s suicide, and  current child abductions.  Ruth is right in the middle of all of it, from discovering the body, to being involved in the TV program, and investigating the abductions.

This book, The Outcast Dead, was more about relationships, particularly the relationship between parent and child, Mother Hook and her “children”, Ruth, DI Nelson and Kate, Judy, Cathbad, and Michael, among others.  Children are involved in every plot line, in every conceivable way.  This seems to have occurred at the expense of the archaeological aspects, the mystery, and for me very importantly, the setting.  I missed that mood that the setting of these books usually evokes.  It was just not here in the this outing.

I will continue on with this series and see where it goes from here.  I am hoping the next book returns more to the feel and style of the early books.

As a side note, there are several references to early books, so I think this would be best read as part of the series, not a stand-alone.