eARC – Page 14 – Carol's Notebook

Killer Kung Pao by Vivien Chien

August 3, 2020August 5, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

I have to admit that one of the reasons I like the Noodle Shop mystery series is that it's set in Cleveland. One of these days, maybe next summer, I'm going to get up there for a Night Market or maybe take a food tour. We've done a lot of the touristy things, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the museums, the zoo, but haven't made it to the Asiatown neighborhood yet. Lana is the manager of her family's restaurant in Asia Village, a shopping complex. Lana's a great main character, fun, smart and a bit sassy. Yes, she does almost always manage to put herself in danger - she is a cozy mystery sleuth after all. This time around, there's been another murder at Asia Village. The dead woman, Mildred, was not well-liked, cheated at Mah Jong, and was sue-happy. When she's killed at the hair salon, the obvious suspect is her most recent enemy, June. And honestly...

The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi

July 31, 2020March 31, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

If you read the blurb above for The Eighth Detective, you can see why I was drawn to the book. I adore murder mysteries and the set up here, an editor wanting to re-publish a reclusive authors detective story collection, but discovering that there's a larger mystery to solve, sounds right up my alley. Overall, though, I was disappointed. Granted, The Eighth Detective is unique. We all know that there are rules to murder mysteries, but here the author plays around with them and shows the variations well. For me though, it was just trying to be too clever. I like a good puzzle, I like twists, but here the author clearly planned his revelations, but by the time he let us in on what was really going on, I didn't care. The ideas behind what makes a murder mystery a murder mystery were interesting enough, but not ground-breaking. The book annoyed me more than anything else. It starts off with...

Bishop to Queen by Lexy Wolfe

July 20, 2020June 11, 2020 by Carol2 Comments

I have mixed feelings about Bishop to Queen by Lexy Wolfe. I didn't know it was the second in the series until I started to get this post ready. I did feel like this worked fine as a stand-alone and given the beginning and end of this one, I do wonder how the first fit in, but don't think I'll bother going back to read it. On the one hand, I enjoyed reading Bishop to Queen. I flew through it and maybe put off doing some work to read it instead. It was a fun book that moved along at a good pace. The characters were interesting and amusing if slightly one-dimensional. The idea of what makes a being human and what makes someone "good," while not a new topic in sci-fi, was explored well here. There were a couple of things I didn't like about the book too. First, as I mentioned, the characters were not a multi-dimensional as I could...

The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart

May 27, 2020May 29, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart is an old-fashioned mystery, set in early 18th century London. History is poised between the advent of modern science and the superstitions and fantasy of previous eras. Collectors - almost always men - searched the world for things, animal remains, plants, rocks, oddities to showcase in their homes. Or paid others to do the searching for them. They wanted prestige, social status, as much if not more than they wanted to further knowledge. They guarded their treasures, competed with other collectors, and spent much of their time arguing over provenance and ownership. Barnaby Mayne is one of England’s greatest collectors, and his house a confusing, claustrophobic place where anything, even murder, can happen. Honestly, as much as i love funky museums, the Mayne collection seems a bit creepy. Lady Cecily Kay has come to the house to view its plants. There she meets a woman she had known as a child, Meacon, a...

A Study in Murder by Callie Hutton

May 12, 2020May 12, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

I thoroughly enjoyed A Study in Murder. It's set in Bath, England in 1890, but features a fairly modern woman. Lady Amy is a mystery writer, although she writes under a pseudonym at her father's insistence and no one, aside from family and one close friend knows she's E.D. Burton. She and her Aunt live at the house in Bath while her father and brother mostly stay in London. She chafes under the restrictions placed on women at the time and counts herself a suffragette. She's twenty-five, not quite a "spinster" but older than most unmarried women, but that gives her the benefit of not actually needing a chaperone when she is out and about. Her Aunt Margaret is also single and a bit rebellious. She's in on Amy's secrets and supports her with a smile. In a cozy mystery, there needs to be a reason the amateur is investigating. In this case, Amy is the main, possibly only, suspect. The...

The Last Emperox by John Scalzi

April 23, 2020April 21, 2020 by Carol1 Comment

I have problems with series ending. Either I love the series and don't want it to end or I get bored with the series and don't make it to the end (which happens more often). Trilogies simplify the issue a little. There's only three, so chances are if I enjoyed the first one I won't have gotten bored yet by the time the third rolls around. On the other hand, there's only three and I want more time in the world with the characters. The Interdependency falls into the second category. I love it and want more. Maybe a follow-up trilogy. Please. First off, don't read The Last Emperox as a stand alone. Read the first and second, in that order. Meet the characters, discover the world, learn the politics, get an idea of the science. (I'm not really sure how scientific the science is, but that's beside the point. Don't worry that this is too sciencey, it's not.) The Last...