eARC Archives – Carol's Notebook

Deadly Editions by Paige Shelton

April 13, 2021April 13, 2021 by CarolNo Comments

I enjoy every visit to the Scottish Bookshop. Delaney and her friends, and her new husband, Tom, are just a lot of fun to spend time with. Delaney works at The Cracked Spine in Edinburgh, a book store/warehouse full of neat stuff. Delaney can't pass up Shelagh O'Conner's tresure hunt. First, a treasure hunt is right up her alley or close, since we're in Scotland. Second, Shelagh's library is fabulous. But when a man is killed and Shelagh is kidnapped, Delaney feels like finding the treasure may help them find Shelagh. So Delaney and her friends are working on deciphering the treasure hunt clues while trying to catch a killer and save Shelagh. All the characters are well-developed and engaging. Their interactions feel real and I like a.) that Delaney shares everything with the police and b.) that people are given the benefit of a doubt. Just because someone doesn't tell you something you think is important, doesn't mean they...

The Three Locks by Bonnie MacBird

March 17, 2021March 17, 2021 by Carol2 Comments

The Three Locks is the fourth in MacBird's Sherlock series, but can be read as a stand-alone. She puts her own spin on the classic characters and she brings the era to life well. The story begins with Dr. Watson receiving a mysterious box, supposedly from his mother, who has been dead for many years. It's locked with the first of the three locks, a lock no one can open and for which Watson doesn't have the key. Soon, Sherlock and Watson are approached by the first client, the wife of an Italian escape artist. She wants him to discover the truth behind the feud between her husband, The Great Borelli, and a rival magician. That night, one of Borelli's acts goes wrong. He escapes, but barely. So, the second lock is involved in the magic tricks. Another client presents the third lock. Peregrine Buttons, a young Catholic deacon, asks Holmes to find a missing young woman, the strong-willed Odilie Wyndham,...

The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

March 12, 2021March 15, 2021 by Carol8 Comments

When Peggy Smith, a 90-year-old woman, is found dead, no one believes foul play had a role in her death….that is no one but her Ukrainian carer, Natalka. Peggy was a murder consultant, thinking up unique ways for characters to die for popular authors, I do wish we had gotten to know Peggy a bit more, she sounded like an amazing character. Natalka teams up with Edwin, an 80-year-old former TV producer, and Benedict a former monk now coffee shop owner to investigate Peggy’s death. And she takes her story to the police, bringing Detective Harbinder Kaur into the group. This is a character-driven mystery. Natalka, Edwin, and Benedict are fully developed and each truly likable, and they work together so well. The investigation and friendships change all their lives, in good ways. It's an eccentric group of characters, and each has their own viewpoint and reasons for joining the inquiry. I love Harbinder and how she both befriends and accepts...

Transient Desires by Donna Leon

March 2, 2021March 2, 2021 by Carol2 Comments

Leon's Commissario Brunetti series is an easy one to jump in and out of. Each book stands alone well. Yes, reading them in order would probably give you a fuller picture of how the characters change, or don't change, over time, and let you meet new characters when they're introduced. I don't feel like I've missed much by skipping around. As always, Transient Desires take place in Venice. The city is almost a character in and of itself. The city is full of both beautiful, old architecture and dark, dangerous alleys. It relies on tourism, but Venetians are contemptuous of the tourists. The picture of Venice is very vivid, which is a part of this series that I always enjoy. This time, the mystery starts with two young American women left severely injured outside a hospital. Finding out who the men were that dropped them off is easy enough, but leads to a much bigger situation, one that requires...

Shucked Apart by Barbara Ross

February 3, 2021February 18, 2021 by Carol6 Comments

The Snowden Family Clambake is gearing up for the season and Julia Snowden is busy preparing and hiring seasonal workers. Julia, as we know by now- this is the 9th in the series, is also a bit of a crime solver on the side. When her boyfriend, Chris, asks her to help one of his friends, of course she says yes. Andie is an oyster farmer. Someone assaulted her and stole two buckets of oyster seed, worth a lot of money. Andie, however, doesn't think robbery was the goal; she thinks someone is trying to sabotage her business. Before Julia can ask more than a few questions, Andie is murdered. There are plenty of suspects, from other oyster farmers to lobstermen to summer people. The plot was well-done. There were plenty of clues pointing in different directions and the solution was complicated, in a good way. I didn't guess who the killer was. This is maybe the third Clambake mystery I've...

Fatal Fried Rice by Vivien Chien

February 2, 2021February 18, 2021 by Carol6 Comments

I love that Lana decides to take Chinese cooking classes without letting her family know. It just feels so in character. And of course, her teacher would end up dead, killed after the first class. Lana found the body, so is apparently the number one suspect, even though she didn't know Margo Chan. Lana has to find the real killer before the detective on the case decides she's guilty. Aside from finding the body, Lana doesn't have much of a connection to the case, which makes her "snooping" a little awkward. Why do the people she questions tell her anything, aside from her reputation maybe? And why does Detective Bishop seem so convinced Lana's guilty? The plot fits together well, although the solution is a little weak. Lana is a fun character, smart, a little reckless, caring. Her usual Watson is her roommate Megan, who was working a bit too much this time around, leaving Lana with another friend, Kimmy, as...