Book Reviews – Page 51 – Carol's Notebook

Death In A Strange Country by Donna Leon

August 10, 2021August 10, 2021 by Carol4 Comments

Death in a Strange Country is the second in the long-running series featuring Guido Brunetti, Commissario of the Venice Police. I’ve read several of them, usually out of order. Brunetti is a good character and I like that he has a lovely, intelligent, supportive wife and kids who are pretty typical. This is an early look into the Brunetti family, which is nice. His father-in-law is more present here than in some others; he has enough power to be a force in the city, but even he has limits. Leon also does a fabulous job of bringing Venice to life, the places, the food, the people. The story begins when a body is discovered in a canal. It looks like a simple mugging, but of course, it leads to a much bigger case. Leon's books often have topics in addition to the murder plot. Here it's toxic dumping, environmental issues, and of course corruption. The plot was well-done and the tension...

The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry

August 9, 2021August 9, 2021 by Carol2 Comments

The 22 Murders of Madison May has a great concept. A lone killer is stalking one woman through multiple words, killing her every time she doesn't live up to his idea of the perfect Madison. A group of other individuals, including the mysterious Hugo, is also moving across worlds, kind of in search of the perfect world, maybe. The group's motives weren't quite clear to me, but it was obvious that the killer is messing up their plans too. Felicity Staples is a newspaper reporter in New York when she discovers that multiverses exist and that Madison May is a murder target in every one of them. Felicity and Hugo move from world to world to stop the killer. Madison May, depending on which world, is an actress, a real estate agent, a weather girl, a student, etc, but she always ends up dead. And the same man always kills her. But the differences, similarities, and twists in the worlds keep...

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

July 28, 2021July 28, 2021 by Carol6 Comments

Murder at the Vicarage was a reread for me, but I didn't actually remember anything about it. This is the first book featuring Miss Marple and is set entirely in St Mary Mead, a small town where not much happens, and the ladies of the town know everyone's business and routinely gossip about it. Leonard Clement, the vicar, returns to his home one evening to find the body of Colonel Protheroe in the study. Protheroe was not well-liked in town and there are several people who may have wanted him dead. Clement is our narrator. We have a police detective who is a bit, not bumbling but oversure of himself. And we have Miss Marple who sees a lot and has a good sense of human nature. It's Miss Marple of course who solves the case, along with help from the vicar. The mystery itself was good. We've got plenty of suspects, fair clues, and decent red herrings. The villagers are...

The Corfe Castle Murders by Rachel McLean

July 21, 2021July 21, 2021 by Carol2 Comments

DCI Lesley Clarke has been transferred to Dorset for six months to slow down and recuperate after a recent case. Of course, the day before she officially starts her new position, an archaeologist is found murdered at a dig site and Lesley jumps right into the investigation. Lesley is a bit of a fish out of water. Several of her new team are not thrilled with having her in charge - she's a woman, she cusses, she's a bit prickly, but I think they are starting to gel by the end of the book. She may not be what they're used to, but she's intelligent, competent, and able to make compromises to benefit the team. The mystery itself was well-done. The clues are there, but so are the red herrings. There are plenty of suspects, a mistress, the wife, the wife's boyfriend, fellow archaeologists, and they all feel like real people, not cardboard cutouts. Every character in the case, whether they...

Scandal at the Salty Dog by Josh Lanyon

July 19, 2021July 20, 2021 by CarolNo Comments

I'm thoroughly enjoying this series. It's light and fun with just enough tension thrown in. Of course, it does have everything a cozy should have - an amateur detective, a bookstore, a dog, a quaint town, quirky secondary characters, and a sexy love interest. And of course, Ellery finds himself in danger on a semi-regular basis. This is a series best read in order. While the mystery is confined to this book, you'll understand the characters' backgrounds and relationships better if you start from the beginning. This time around Ellery finds himself in the middle of two mysteries. First, someone's breaking into the Salty Dog pub and stealing food. Second, Mrs. Blackwell is being haunted, well, maybe not haunted - Ellery doesn't believe in ghosts, but someone uninvited has definitely been in her house. Of course, the two are connected, but it takes a bit to figure out how. Ellery and Jack are finally kinda dating in this one, which is nice....

Nemesis by Agatha Christie

July 16, 2021July 15, 2021 by Carol2 Comments

Miss Marple is shrewd, observant, and calculating, but she uses her identity as an older woman as a disguise, allowing herself to appear confused, fragile, doddering. In this outing, an acquaintance, wealthy financier Mr. Rafiel, has sent her on a mission after his death. She is to bring justice, but to whom or why, he doesn't give her any clues. I like that the focus here is on Miss Marple, she is doing the investigating, not playing back-up to someone else. Love is the theme here. All kinds of love: family, romantic, deadly. Miss Marple talks to everyone, first to figure out what exactly the mystery is and then to solve it. She does a good job pulling out information and putting it all together. She's a character I appreciate more now than I did when I first started reading Christie's books as a teenager. She's not flashy, but she is sly and convincing. This is not the strongest of Christie's...