Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2506 KP) rated Hide & Snoop (An Odelia Grey mystery, #7) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2013/07/book-review-hide-and-snoop-by-sue-ann.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Learn Technical Analysis
Book and Finance
App
Learn Technical Analysis with this concise E-Book that covers the essentials of technical analysis. ...
RadioNowhere
Podcast
It's eclectic! It's eccentric! It's RadioNowhere! The official and original since 2002! ...
Cat Owner's Manual
8.0
Rate It
Book
At Last! A Beginner's Guide to Feline Technology Scratch marks on your furniture. Dead mice on your...
The Dogfather
9.0
Rate It
Book
Who knew the world of designer purses could be such a dog-eat-dog business? When a local,...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2506 KP) rated Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder in Books
Apr 23, 2021 (Updated Apr 23, 2021)
I’ve been reading this long running series since the beginning, and I keep reading because I do enjoy catching up with the characters. If that is your reason for picking up the book, you’ll find they are as charming as always. I was pleased to see the soap opera of the previous few books has died down, and we see growth in a surprising direction in one character. Sadly, the love triangle is no closer to being resolved. The mystery is decent with enough suspects to keep us engaged. However, the focus is on the food. There is plenty of talk about food and how much the characters love what they are eating. With 24 new recipes for us to try, there is certainly plenty of new food to talk about. The dialogue is repetitious, an example of why realistic dialogue is better than real dialogue in a novel. While I still want to catch up with the characters, I find myself skimming the book instead of reading it closely. If you are like me and want to keep up with the characters, you’ll be glad you picked up this book. But if you haven’t started the series yet, you’ll want to go back to the beginning to find out why there are readers like me who still enjoy visiting the characters. And if you’ve given up on the series, you can safely skip this one.
Seashells , Spells and Caramels
7.0
Rate It
Book
A magical French island. A dead contestant. An aspiring baker must clear her name before she gets...
The Witless Protection Program
10.0
Rate It
Book
In the fifth Catering Hall Mystery by Agatha Award-winning author Maria DiRico, series sleuth Mia...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2506 KP) rated Murder by Invitation Only in Books
Feb 14, 2026
Normally, I advise people to read a series in order. In this case, the focus is on the new mystery with only vague references to past cases. And the character arcs are pretty self-contained as well. Not that I’m complaining since I found Phyllida charming as always and the rest of the characters engaging. The book spends as little time as needed setting things up. From there, we are off on a puzzling mystery that surprised up to the page turning climax. I also enjoyed the scenes about the new invention Phyllida brings to the house – a vacuum cleaner. Whether you are a fan of Christie’s works or not, you’ll enjoy this book.
Zuky the BookBum (15 KP) rated Painkiller in Books
Mar 15, 2018
<i><b>I cannot go on like this. I feel such a burden to you. You are young and can start again. You deserve that chance. By the time you read this I will be dead. Do not grieve for me, for I am now without pain.</i></b>
This was a real page-turner from page one! Would have been unputdownable if it hadnt been for the fact that I <i>had</i> to put it down while at work.
I found myself absolutely loving Monicas character. Ive seen a couple of reviews that state her as unlikable but I thought she was very likable! She was a really unique character due to her constant pain and the way that affects her daily life and relationships. I loved that she could be sassy, lovely, and angry all in one go, she was a really fun character to immerse yourself in.
The plot of the unreliable narrator, the secretive husband etc wasnt unique, Ive read several books very similar to it in the past year in fact, but there was a certain edge to this book that made it so much more intriguing than some of the others Ive read. Its not that the twists were much better or more unpredictable than those in the other novels, its just simply that I enjoyed the writing style, characters and pace of this book more. For a mystery like this, novels usually try to cram as much as they can into the story to make the biggest number of twists possible, to get the reader excited, but this was nice and slow paced. It had just the right amount of shock moments in it, you didnt feel overwhelmed by it at all.
The ending really got to me and was certainly not how I expected this book to end up. Ill admit that I got a little emotional. If youre a mystery thriller junkie like me, I definitely recommend this, its one of the best Ive read this year.
Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.