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Ross (3284 KP) rated Fire in the Blood in Books
Mar 6, 2018
Another cracking page-turner in the Cullen series, this time following the case of a body found in a barrel of whiskey.
For me, the mystery surrounding the case and the identity of the victim and the perpetrator were less hidden than in the previous books: I had an inkling of the plot from fairly early on. That being said, the journey to the conclusion was still an enjoyable one.
Main gripes are:
Too much "thumbing" going on; everyone "thumbed" this and "thumbed" that
The climax of the book was less of a revelation, more of the killer panicking and attacking the police when they really were not all that close to "cracking the case". Cullen is making a career for himself from being attacked by the killer on high profile murder cases who suddenly feel the need to reveal themselves and save another 50 pages of detective work.
Part of this may have been as the story evolved from a short story into a novella and ultimately into a full novel.
Still, an enjoyable, well-written story.
For me, the mystery surrounding the case and the identity of the victim and the perpetrator were less hidden than in the previous books: I had an inkling of the plot from fairly early on. That being said, the journey to the conclusion was still an enjoyable one.
Main gripes are:
Too much "thumbing" going on; everyone "thumbed" this and "thumbed" that
The climax of the book was less of a revelation, more of the killer panicking and attacking the police when they really were not all that close to "cracking the case". Cullen is making a career for himself from being attacked by the killer on high profile murder cases who suddenly feel the need to reveal themselves and save another 50 pages of detective work.
Part of this may have been as the story evolved from a short story into a novella and ultimately into a full novel.
Still, an enjoyable, well-written story.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Frenzy (1972) in Movies
Mar 8, 2018 (Updated Mar 8, 2018)
Penultimate Hitchcock thriller is solid but unpalatable tale of a serial killer on the loose in London and marked Hitchcock's return to his home country for the first time in decades. Police are baffled by the crimes of the so-called Necktie Killer, eventually set their sights on drifter and generally moody git Blaney (Finch). But have they got the right man?
Hitchcock himself certainly turns up, for there is at least one moment of the old dark magic (a bravura tracking shot in which a murder is implied without being shown), but it is the problematic Hitch - misogynistic, sour, given to awkward tonal misjudgements - who oversees this movie. Movie is largely about a rapist and killer, but the director still includes various jolly running gags and moments of broad comedy; the end result may well leave a bad taste in the mouth of discerning viewers. The decision to go with such an unsympathetic anti-hero is also arguably a mistake. Worth a look for Hitchcock fans, but also evidence that the great man had essentially shot his bolt many years earlier.
Hitchcock himself certainly turns up, for there is at least one moment of the old dark magic (a bravura tracking shot in which a murder is implied without being shown), but it is the problematic Hitch - misogynistic, sour, given to awkward tonal misjudgements - who oversees this movie. Movie is largely about a rapist and killer, but the director still includes various jolly running gags and moments of broad comedy; the end result may well leave a bad taste in the mouth of discerning viewers. The decision to go with such an unsympathetic anti-hero is also arguably a mistake. Worth a look for Hitchcock fans, but also evidence that the great man had essentially shot his bolt many years earlier.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2177 KP) rated The Final Tap (Living History Museum, #2) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Kelsey Cambridge is getting ready for the first annual Maple Sugar Festival at Barton Farm, the living history museum she runs in Ohio. As part of that festival, she has invited Dr. Conrad Beeson to teach a class on harvesting maple sugar. However, while he is inspecting the trees on the farm, someone stabs him with a hand drill. With the police looking at one of Kelsey’s employees, can she find the real killer?
I was delighted to slip back into the world of this series. The setting is fantastic, and the characters are strong. Not all the returning characters get a lot of page time, but the ones that do get a good deal of development. The suspects are also strong, and the varying suspects and motives kept me guessing until the end.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/05/book-review-final-tap-by-amanda-flower.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
I was delighted to slip back into the world of this series. The setting is fantastic, and the characters are strong. Not all the returning characters get a lot of page time, but the ones that do get a good deal of development. The suspects are also strong, and the varying suspects and motives kept me guessing until the end.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/05/book-review-final-tap-by-amanda-flower.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
LA homicide detective Harry Bosch is facing a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the Dollmaker case. Four years ago, this serial killer was terrorizing Los Angeles until Bosch killed him. But just as the case comes to trial, Harry gets a new note that appears to come from the killer. And it leads them to a fresh body. Did Bosch kill the right person? How might this affect his trial?
This is quite obviously not one of the cozies I normally read, and it got into some details I didn’t care for. However, the case was very compelling, and it kept me engrossed the entire time. This was half police procedural and half legal thriller, something this author has turned back to for the Mickey Haller series. We also got to see so true growth in Bosch in this book, and I can’t wait to see where that growth takes the character next.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/04/book-review-concrete-blonde-by-michael.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
This is quite obviously not one of the cozies I normally read, and it got into some details I didn’t care for. However, the case was very compelling, and it kept me engrossed the entire time. This was half police procedural and half legal thriller, something this author has turned back to for the Mickey Haller series. We also got to see so true growth in Bosch in this book, and I can’t wait to see where that growth takes the character next.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/04/book-review-concrete-blonde-by-michael.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2177 KP) rated Prose and Cons (Magical Bookshop, #2) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
It’s time for the annual Food and Wine festival in town, and this year Violet Waverly is adding a Poe-try reading at Charming Books to the week’s line up. However, when one of the readers is found dead at the bottom of the shop’s steep stairs during the event, things take a tragic turn. The police quickly decide it was murder and start looking at Violet’s friend Sadie. An Violet prove her friend is innocent?
I absolutely love the bookstore in this series, a shop where the perfect book finds you. That’s really the only bit of magic in the series, and Violet is left to use old fashion methods to sift through clues and motives to find the killer. I did feel some of the characters could be stronger, but the mystery is strong with plenty of red herrings before things fall into place at the end.
NOTE: I received a copy of this book.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/12/book-review-prose-and-cons-by-amanda.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
I absolutely love the bookstore in this series, a shop where the perfect book finds you. That’s really the only bit of magic in the series, and Violet is left to use old fashion methods to sift through clues and motives to find the killer. I did feel some of the characters could be stronger, but the mystery is strong with plenty of red herrings before things fall into place at the end.
NOTE: I received a copy of this book.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/12/book-review-prose-and-cons-by-amanda.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2177 KP) rated The Corpse with the Silver Tongue (Cait Morgan #1) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Cait Morgan has traveled to Nice to present a paper for a sick colleague when she runs into her former boss, Alistair Townsend. Unable to say no, she finds herself at a birthday party for Alistair’s wife that night. Dinner is ruined when Alistair drops dead at the table and the other guests start feeling sick. With the police looking at Cait, she needs to figure out what is really happening.
Cait is an interesting character because she has an excellent memory but a habit of judging others quickly. I did find myself annoyed by her at times, but that never lasted for long. The suspects make a strong cast as they have layers to them that Cait has to peal back before she can solve the crime. And the plot heads into some areas I wasn’t expecting that I found interesting. I had a couple of niggles with the climax, but they were minor.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2018/02/book-review-corpse-with-silver-tongue.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Cait is an interesting character because she has an excellent memory but a habit of judging others quickly. I did find myself annoyed by her at times, but that never lasted for long. The suspects make a strong cast as they have layers to them that Cait has to peal back before she can solve the crime. And the plot heads into some areas I wasn’t expecting that I found interesting. I had a couple of niggles with the climax, but they were minor.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2018/02/book-review-corpse-with-silver-tongue.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2177 KP) rated Farmed and Dangerous (Local Foods Mystery, #3) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Winter has settle on Massachusetts, but farmer Cam Flaherty is still very busy. She’s growing food in her hoop house and hoping to land a contract to provide produce during the summer at the local assisted living facility. However, the night that her food is served, one of the residents dies from poison. With local gossip and the police looking at her, Cam must dive in to the mystery to clear her reputation.
The book did start a little slowly, but once the murder takes place, things pick up. I was turning pages as quickly as I could until I reached the satisfying ending. It was great to spend time with these characters again, and the suspects were equally engaging. Be sure to read through the recipes, too, since there is a joke in one of them.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/06/book-review-farmed-and-dangerous-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
The book did start a little slowly, but once the murder takes place, things pick up. I was turning pages as quickly as I could until I reached the satisfying ending. It was great to spend time with these characters again, and the suspects were equally engaging. Be sure to read through the recipes, too, since there is a joke in one of them.
NOTE: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/06/book-review-farmed-and-dangerous-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2177 KP) rated The Stolen Chapters (Story Thieves, #2) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
When Owen and Kiel wake up, they are in the library with no memory of how they got there or even what happened in the last couple of weeks. Then someone in a mask shows up to announce that their friend Bethany is in danger, and if they don’t rescue her in the next couple of hours, they will never see her again. Then he sets the library on fire and calls the police on them. Can Owen and Kiel find Bethany, figure out who the villain is, and stop him?
This is the second in a series, and you don’t want to start here if you haven’t read the first. However, once you’ve read the first, you’ll absolutely love this book. There are lots of laughs and fun and surprises along the way, including a fantastic cameo by a character I grew up with. The book gets very meta, but just go with it because it is a ton of fun.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/08/book-review-stolen-chapters-by-james.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
This is the second in a series, and you don’t want to start here if you haven’t read the first. However, once you’ve read the first, you’ll absolutely love this book. There are lots of laughs and fun and surprises along the way, including a fantastic cameo by a character I grew up with. The book gets very meta, but just go with it because it is a ton of fun.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/08/book-review-stolen-chapters-by-james.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2177 KP) rated A High-End Finish (A Fixer-Upper Mystery, #1) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Shannon Hammer loves her life and her job of working on the many Victorians in Lighthouse Cove. She’s agreed to go on a blind date with Jerry Saxton, but he turns out to be a complete jerk. To Shannon’s horror, she finds his dead body in one of her houses a couple of days later. With the police looking at her as the prime suspect, she has to build a case against someone else. There are no shortage of suspects, but who did it?
More than a mystery with clues and red herrings, this book is a series of mysterious events, with Shannon reacting to the latest. There are some interesting twists, but the lack of true investigation bothered me. Still, the book does come to a logical climax. I loved these characters. Shannon has a strong group of friends and family, and I really liked them.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/02/book-review-high-end-finish-by-kate.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
More than a mystery with clues and red herrings, this book is a series of mysterious events, with Shannon reacting to the latest. There are some interesting twists, but the lack of true investigation bothered me. Still, the book does come to a logical climax. I loved these characters. Shannon has a strong group of friends and family, and I really liked them.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/02/book-review-high-end-finish-by-kate.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Amy-Faye and her friends have formed a book club in their town of Heaven, Colorado. The morning after they meet to discuss The Maltese Falcon, Amy-Faye goes to meet with a member only to find that member dying from poison. The police rule is a suicide, but Amy-Faye is certain it was murder. With the help of the other Readaholics, she starts poking around. But what secrets will they uncover?
There were a lot of characters introduced early on, and I had a hard time keeping them straight early on. However, as I began to get into the story, their different personalities made it easy to distinguish them. The plot was strong with great twists and a couple of good sub-plots. I was surprised by the ending, and set the book down wanting the next already. I can’t wait for the sequel.
NOTE: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/04/book-review-readaholics-and-falcon.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
There were a lot of characters introduced early on, and I had a hard time keeping them straight early on. However, as I began to get into the story, their different personalities made it easy to distinguish them. The plot was strong with great twists and a couple of good sub-plots. I was surprised by the ending, and set the book down wanting the next already. I can’t wait for the sequel.
NOTE: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/04/book-review-readaholics-and-falcon.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.