Audiobook – Page 42 – Carol's Notebook

The Paper Caper by Kate Carlisle

July 19, 2022July 22, 2022 by Carol3 Comments

I assumed I would enjoy The Paper Caper. The main character, Brooklyn, restores books and does paper art and the story is set during a Mark Twain festival. This is the first I've read in the series and maybe that's the problem, maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I knew the characters better. I love that Brooklyn restores books but I couldn't quite get a hold of her character. This is #16, so presumably she's helped solve at least sixteen murders. But she seems really young and her husband seems to humor her more than take her thoughts on the case seriously. I'm assuming she's seen several dead bodies, but watching a video of a car crash is almost too much for her to handle? The whodunnit was a bit obvious and therefore disappointing. The twist I was assuming there would be regarding who the killer was just never happened. Overall, it was just a little too silly. Some...

Lost and Found by Helena Marchmont

July 18, 2022July 18, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

Like all the Bunburry books, Lost and Found is light and cozy. This time around, Alfie meets his half-sister and his niece. Both are warm, charming women, but the niece has a problem Alfie is determined to help her solve. I should have figured out the answer to the main mystery, it's a short novella and there are only so many characters. I can't say I loved the mystery itself, but I read these more to spend time with the characters than for the plot. Alfie and his friends (and now family) are a delightful, colorful bunch....

All the Queen’s Men by S. J. Bennett

July 11, 2022July 11, 2022 by Carol2 Comments

The Queen is disconcerted to see one of her favorite paintings at an exhibition of maritime art in Portsmouth. The painting, given to her by the artist, is of the retired Britannia yacht and once hung outside her bedroom. She enlists Rozie to discover when it left her collection and why it has never been returned, a task that turns out to be not as easy as it sounds. Then, a housekeeper is found beside the Palace swimming pool and it turns out several of the staff, including the dead woman, had received nasty, threatening anonymous letters. The mystery is a bit convoluted. The clues and cases all tie together, but it meanders a bit getting to the conclusion. I do enjoy the characters though. They give the book its charm. The Queen is sharp and charming. Rozie is super competent and we get to see a bit more of the personal side of her life. Prince Philip steals every...

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

July 6, 2022July 6, 2022 by Carol6 Comments

In Cold Blood has been on my to-read list for a while. Honestly, I'm not sure why I put it off. I enjoy both true crime and crime novels and since this is one of the classics in the genre, chances were pretty good I'd enjoy it, which of course I did. Well, as much as you can "enjoy" the story of a horrible murder, of the men who committed it, and the law enforcement trying to track them down. On November 15, 1959, Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Smith, on a tip from another inmate, went to the Clutter household in Holcomb, Kansas expecting to find a safe or $10,000 cash in the home. There was neither money nor a safe, but they had agreed to leave no witnesses, so the four family members in the house were killed. Due to the relentless work of the Kansas Bureau of Investigations led by Alvin Dewey, Hickock and Smith were eventually...

Fevered Star by Rebecca Roanhorse

June 30, 2022June 29, 2022 by Carol2 Comments

I hate to tell you to go back and read Black Sun before starting Fevered Star, but you really should. And the good news is the "to be continued" ending won't bother you nearly as much as it did me if you can head straight into this one. Not that this one has a very satisfying ending either, but it's at least not quite as cliffhanger. As before, the world (a weaving of pre-Colombian influences) is strongly engaging and well developed, with fascinating characters and culture. We have several viewpoints in Fevered Star, some more compelling than others. We learn more about our avatar's powers and about their own interior struggles. We see the people that surround them, those who love them, hate them, or want to use them. Heroes and villains are very much a matter of perspective. There's a war coming and the book is all about forming alliances and putting people in the right places, which can...

The Fields by Erin Young

June 29, 2022June 28, 2022 by Carol2 Comments

The Fields was a bit too much for me. Riley Fisher, with a new promotion under her belt, is in charge of the investigation of the gruesome death of a woman found in the middle of a corn field, a woman who was Riley's friend when they were teenagers. Too much: Backstory: Riley was friends with the woman, but there's also another more tenuous personal connection to the case. I'm not a fan of dwelling on backstories and if this is actually the first of the series and relied so heavily on Riley's past, I'm not sure I want to read the next.Gruesome details: I read a lot of mysteries. The details here made me flinch and were just gross. For me they were over the top, and not in an enjoyable way.Bad decisions: The detectives in books like this always make some questionable decisions, and Riley is no exception. There are also some decisions that put a child in danger,...