Sign up
Search
Advanced search settings

Search only in certain items:

Search results
All (5000)
Content
People
Apps
Books
Orbs
Movies
Music
Podcasts
Shows
Tabletop Games
Tech
TV
Video Games
YouTube Channels
Videos
40x40

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2320 KP) rated Honeymoon with Murder in Books

Nov 8, 2021  
Honeymoon with Murder
Honeymoon with Murder
Carolyn G. Hart | 1988 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Annie and Max’s Marriage Gets Off to a Murderous Start
Annie and Max’s wedding turned out beautifully, despite Max’s mother’s attempts to hijack the ceremony. Their plans to leave the next morning on their honeymoon are sidetracked, however, when they get a panicked midnight call from Ingrid, Annie’s employee, friend, and matron of honor. Ingrid is cut off before they can get much out of her, so they race over to Ingrid’s cottage, where they find a dead body in the middle of her living room but no sign of the woman herself. The victim is Jesse Penrick, one of the residents of the cottages that Ingrid manages. With the police looking to Ingrid to arrest her for murder, Annie starts her own investigation to find and clear her friend. Can she do it?

I was very impressed with Max in this book. While he did grumble to himself a bit about the way these days played out, he showed his love for Annie by digging in and helping out. We get the usual assortment of colorful supporting players and suspects strong enough to keep us guessing. The wedding doesn’t really slow down the beginning of the book, and the mystery is strong. It kept me guessing until Annie put everything together at the end. I know the series is known for its mystery author name dropping, but it did get excessive at times. Also excessive was the foul language. Still, I did enjoy this book overall and look forward to Annie and Max’s next case.
  
40x40

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2320 KP) rated Gone for Gouda in Books

Jan 9, 2023 (Updated Jan 9, 2023)  
Gone for Gouda
Gone for Gouda
Korina Moss | 2022 | Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Murder Preempts Author Event
Willa Bauer is thrilled to be hosting a stop for Phoebe Winston on her tour promoting her new cookbook. The celebrity chef is sure to bring in lots of people to Willa’s new cheese shop. However, when Willa meets Phoebe, she discovers the author is a bit of a diva, with demands that make the event a much harder prospect than Willa bargained for. Then Phoebe is murdered in the house she was renting in the area, with Willa’s employee Archie the last person on the property’s security system. Can Willa figure out what happened?

I enjoyed the first book in the series, but this was even stronger. We meet Phoebe long enough to know what a pain she is before she dies, but then we learn even more, opening up the suspect pool. The climax becomes a race to figure things out, and I was along for the twists that kept coming at that point. I was thrilled that the supporting players got a bigger role this time around. They are fantastic, and I enjoyed spending time with all of them. I grew up in Sonoma County, so I have a special connection with the setting even if I did have to move my mental map of the fictional town where most of the action takes place. This book will leave you hungry for cheese, so the three recipes at the end will be welcome. I’m already anxious to see what happens to Willa and the others in the next in the series.
  
40x40

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2320 KP) rated Around the World in 80 Days in Books

Apr 11, 2022  
Around the World in 80 Days
Around the World in 80 Days
Jules Verne, Henry C. Kiefer | 2016 | Children
5
7.0 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Original Race Around the World
Phileas Fogg, a wealthy gentleman of the 1870’s, is a man of exacting routine until one day, when he makes a wager with some acquaintances at his club. With his bet that he can travel around the world in 80 days, he is off, shocking his new man servant, Passepartout, who was looking for a quiet job. Things get even trickier when they catch the attention of Detective Fix, who thinks Fogg might be the bank robber everyone is on the alert for. Will Fogg win his bet?

I’d heard about this book for years and was finally inspired to read it. I found it mixed, at least to what I am used to these days. The journey itself is uneven, with some areas more prominently featured than others, like the time spent in America. My biggest problem was the characters, who are paper thin. As a result, it took me a while to really get invested. Unfortunately, the thinnest of the lot is the sole woman in the book. There are a couple of complications that today’s readers will view as dated stereotypes, but they were real issues the world was dealing with at the time (or at least one of them was something that happened consistently, unfortunately). I did get caught up in the story at times, and I appreciated how the climax was set up early on. I’m glad I’ve finally read it, but the end result was only average.