Crimes and Covers
Book
Violet Waverly sleuths a Thoreau-ly puzzling Christmastime murder in Agatha Award-winning, USA Today...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2163 KP) rated The Case of the Ghost of Christmas Morning in Books
Jul 26, 2024
The book doesn’t hesitate, jumping into the murder in the first chapter. I found the pacing to be a little uneven, especially early on. The further I got into the book, the more impossibility we saw, and the more I was engaged. By the end, everything made sense. I also found the suspects a little shallow. I loved the first in the series, so maybe my expectations were too high here. The one thing that was definitely the same as the first book was the dry wit. I laughed so much reading this book. We get some nice Christmas cheer over the course of the book as well. Overall, I enjoyed it and recommend it for anyone looking for a humorous impossible crime mystery.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2163 KP) rated Scone Cold Dead in Books
Jul 23, 2019
It’s always a pleasure to visit Cranberry Island, and this book is no exception. The characters are old friends by this point, and there are a couple of sub-plots that focus on them that helped pull me into the book early. Not that the mystery itself wasn’t compelling, and the sub-plots and mystery weave in and out of each other expertly. There are several good fully developed suspects we meet and plenty of turns before we hit the suspenseful climax. Natalie is working on recipes for a scone competition, so it is no surprise that three of the recipes at the end of the book are scones. Fans of the series will be happy with our latest visit to the island, and this book is fun enough to hook new fans as well.
The Monogram Murders
Agatha Christie and Sophie Hannah
Book
The new Hercule Poirot novel - another brilliant murder mystery that can only be solved by the...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2163 KP) rated Murder in Murray Hill in Books
May 19, 2021 (Updated May 19, 2021)
This book is darker than some of the others in the series, but it deals with that darker subject sympathetically, and there aren’t any details we don’t need. The darker subject of the mystery is balanced out by lighter sub-plots involving Sarah and Frank’s future plans. (And if you aren’t up to date on the series, know that this one spoils some major events from the end of the previous book.) I love the characters, so it was wonderful to check in again with them and find out what is happening in their lives. The mystery is twisty; just when I thought I knew where things were going, something would happen to confuse me again. The world of 1890’s New York City is brought to life expertly without slowing the story down at all. This is another page turning entry in the series.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2163 KP) rated Shucked Apart in Books
Feb 25, 2021 (Updated Feb 25, 2021)
This book does a great job of introducing us to oyster farming without slowing down the mystery itself. I learned quite a bit while also getting the foundation for the plot. The pace does build as Julia gets closer to figuring things out, and the climax wraps everything up for us perfectly. This series is often on the slim side, and this is no exception. While the suspects are strong and the mystery complex, the supporting players aren’t as prevalent as they might be. While I did miss them and wouldn’t have minded a sub-plot that could have included them, it’s a minor issue. The book leaves us with five recipes that seafood lovers will want to try. As always, this book left me anxious to find out what will happen to Julia next. Fans won’t be disappointed.
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Camino Winds in Books
Aug 20, 2020
It's easy to feel the storm and its tension through Grisham's picturesque writing. Leo hits quickly and the devastation that follows is bad. The post-hurricane feeling on a nearly abandoned Camino Island seems oddly aligned to the pandemic--at least when I read this in May--or it's easy to read that sense into everything I read.
Still, despite the hurricane and the murder and other various killings, this is actually a fun read. Grisham gives us an engaging mystery, and I love his "good versus evil" formula. It always works so well for him and this is one of his breezier presentations. While there isn't much depth, it's a fast read with interesting characters and a snappy mystery. 3.5 stars.
The Body in the Garden (Lily Adler Mystery #1)
Book
Perfect for fans of Tasha Alexander and Rhys Bowen, Katharine Schellman's debut novel is sure to...
Historical Mystery
Past Due for Murder
Book
Has a curse fallen on the small town of Taylorsford, Virginia? After a young woman goes missing...
Fiction Mystery Cozy
Death in Her Hands
Book
While on her daily walk with her dog in a secluded woods, a woman comes across a note, handwritten...