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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2585 KP) rated Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots in Books

Jan 4, 2024  
Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots
Gingerbread Cookies and Gunshots
Leslie Meier | 2010 | Mystery
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Missing Child at Christmas
Lucy Stone gets involved when a four-year-old boy is kidnapped in her community. With no clues to go on, Lucy begins to think that something much larger is happening. Is she right?

Even though I don’t normally read this series, I didn't have any trouble jumping into the characters here. There was enough explanation of who people were that I could follow along. The bits about those I assume are series regulars didn't mean quite as much to me, but I enjoyed meeting everyone. This is on the serious side of the cozy spectrum, and the atmosphere was carried perfectly throughout the story. Lucy did seem to jump to one conclusion, but since she was proved right with evidence later on, I can't call it a major flaw. There are two recipes at the end of this story to enjoy later. This is probably my favorite of the stories I’ve read from Leslie Meier.

NOTE: This is a novella, roughly 100 pages along.

NOTE 2: This was originally published in the anthology Gingerbread Cookie Murder.
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2585 KP) rated Kinsey and Me: Stories in Books

Jul 9, 2023  
Kinsey and Me: Stories
Kinsey and Me: Stories
Sue Grafton | 2013 | Biography
8
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Short Stories and Essays
This book breaks down into two unequal sections. The first roughly 70% is made up of nine short stories featuring Kinsey Millhone, PI in Santa Teresa. She solves a murder with a disappearing body and a case of a man who fell off his roof. She also gets involved when an actor gets kidnapped.

The back section featuring thirteen vignettes as author Sue Grafton reflects on her life growing up with a functioning alcoholic father and a destructive alcoholic mother. While she admits they are autobiographical, she frames them around a character named Kit.

Fans of Kinsey will delight in these nine stories, all previous published, but decades ago so hard to track down outside this collection now. Personally, I found the back section depressing, but I suspect these stories were theopoetic for Ms. Grafton to write, and I can see others benefiting from them, too.

Overall, fans of the series will enjoy the collection. If you are new to the series, you can jump in here, too, and meet Kinsey without ruining any of fun of the novels.