Smashbomb

This was a difficult book to put down. It has a great mix of features that makes an intense story; deep character development, detailed world building (but not too detailed because, you know, imagination), interesting backstories, mysteries, horror, a little (very little) humor, psychologically thrilling and it sticks with you for a time after the last page. This is the type of novel to read when you are sick of the typical happy-go-lucky, boy-meets-girl romance and you're looking for something dark but not too dark. On a darkness scale between Christian Grey and Black Sabbath, I'd give this a solid M. Night Shyamalan. (Whatever that means)

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Chris Hooker (419 KP) rated Dead Chest Island (The Secrets Begin #1) in Books

Jan 12, 2018

I had the pleasure of meeting [J.J. Parsons] at the Savannah Children's Book Festival. I told her I had picked up her book [Dead Chest Island] at a local book seller. She kindly gave me the second book. That said, this is an unsolicited and honest review.

[Dead Chest Island] is a throw back to the mysteries of the 1950's. It made me think of The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. Young children getting into adventure after hearing a story about an island that leads to solving a international crime, or foiling it, rather.

[Parson's] writing has a good flow and is well thought out. The characters are well developed. I am looking forward to reading the second book and hearing more of Edison'd adventures and see if his sister is still a pest. Highly recommend this book to school libraries.

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Sarah (7800 KP) rated Line Of Duty - Season 4 in TV

May 13, 2019

Line Of Duty - Season 4

2017 | Crime, Drama

9.0

(2 Ratings)

TV Season Rating

Excellent yet again

To say that I’ve binge watched the first 4 series of Line of Duty in less than month says a lot about how good it really is. And what’s better is that the standards just never seem to drop, which is pretty impressive.

Can’t say much without revealing any spoilers, but this is an engrossing and entertaining series. There isn’t as much ambiguity in this as there is in some of the earlier series, but it’s still fascinating to watch it all unfold. And to have Thandie Newton guest star is a real bonus, she’s fantastic as Roz Huntley. The plot itself only further expands and unveils new mysteries as well as wrapping up some earlier characters and storylines. My only issue is that I have no idea what I’m going to watch after seeing the next series!

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Erika Kehlet (21 KP) rated The Calamity Café (Down South Café Mystery #1) in Books

Feb 21, 2018

Amys dream is to open a cafe in town, whether she buys Lou Lous existing place or builds her own. Just as she thinks things are starting to go her way, she finds the competition dead, and finds herself on the list of suspects. The victim was unpleasant enough to provide Amy and her pals with a town full of suspects to investigate to try to clear her name.

I liked Amy, her family and friends, the Down South Cafe, and just about everything about this new series. If youre a fan of culinary mysteries, the talk of southern cuisine will have your mouth watering while you try to deduce who killed Lou Lou.

Read more at <a href="https://booksthething.com/2016/06/16/calamity-cafe-by-gayle-leeson-blog-tour-and-giveaway/">The Book's the Thing</a>

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Sue (5 KP) rated Murder at the Makeover in Books

Aug 13, 2018

Kaye twins Georgie and Aleta are invited to what they believe is an impromptu reunion with classmates from high school, but it turns out to be what Georgie calls a makeup Ponzi scheme. She doesn’t want to take part in a makeover using unusual ingredients and wants to high tail it out of there. Unfortunately, an old classmate is found dead in the ladies room and the girls find themselves on the case.

Georgia and Aleta are 60+-year-olds, full of spunk, and can’t resist tasty pastries. They often find themselves in the middle of murder investigations and often find themselves in trouble with Georgie’s ex-husband Stan. Did I mention that he is a homicide detective?

If you like humor, hijinks, cozy mysteries, and fun-loving characters then this book has what you are looking for.

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ClareR (5996 KP) rated Midwinter Mysteries in Books

Jan 7, 2020

Tales not just for Christmas!

Midwinter Mysteries is a great, festive collection of crime stories and thrillers - and I loved it. There are some of my favourite characters in this anthology, and some I’m now very interested in finding out more about. Graham Brack brings in another great story from Josef Slonsky (he IS my favourite), Linda Stratmann’s Mina Scarletti is also a great, if ghostly, story, and Charles Dickens makes an appearance thanks to J. C. Briggs (might have to read more of these books). Actually, it’s hard NOT to like any of these stories, and this fabulous collection has just made my wish list even longer - there wasn’t a single story that I didn’t enjoy. The collection left me feeling kind of seasonal in a slightly murderous, criminal way - but these stories don’t have to be confined to December!