Mystery – Carol's Notebook

Cat Among the Pigeons by Agatha Christie

November 20, 2025November 20, 2025 by CarolNo Comments

I shouldn't actually like Cat Among the Pigeons. Spies and political intrigue are not usually my favorites, especially when it comes to a Christie novel, but this one is fun. Our set up is that during the revolution in a small Middle Eastern country, the king gave some jewels to his best friend to sneak out of the country. Those very valuable jewels end up at a girls' school in England, leading to a couple of murders and a kidnapping. Poirot doesn't show up until maybe two-thirds of the way into this one. The reader knows where the jewels are hidden but not who is after them or who the murderer is. A fun amateur sleuth puts together some of the pieces and heads off to London to ask for Poirot's help. This was a reread for me and I did remember a couple of the twists, but that doesn't make it less fun. This time I listened to the audio...

And to All a Good Bite by David Rosenfelt

November 19, 2025November 19, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

I have to admit that the reason I read these books is Grove Gardner's narration. He is just perfect for Andy Carpenter's sarcasm and self-deprecating humor. This time around the dog-lover accused of murder is Jeff Wheeler. Two years ago, Jeff's girlfriend was killed when her office building exploded. Jeff has never made it a secret that he blamed her boss, Stanley Franklin, but now that Franklin is dead, murdered in his own home, Jeff is the main suspect. The reader of course knows Jeff is innocent, but Andy and his team need to convince the jury. The best way is to figure out who did do it, but as always that's easier said than done. The plot is put together well with a couple of nice twists. The courtroom scenes move at a good pace, but the dialogue in this series is always the highpoint. It's funny and sharp. And of course, we have adorable dogs. While the cover is adorable...

A Wonderful Christmas Crime by Jacqueline Frost

November 18, 2025November 18, 2025 by Carol2 Comments

It's Christmas time, which in Mistletoe, Maine, means another murder. This time around, the dead woman is in town with a antiques show, and was caught earlier on the evening she died trying to steal an antique decoration from a bakery. When the bakery owner, Alice, comes under suspicion, Holly want to help. Holly's husband, Sherriff Evan Gray, wants her to leave the mystery to him, especially since she's pregnant. It annoyed me how everyone treated Holly with kid gloves. Yes, she needed to pay attention to her blood pressure, but that's for her and her doctor to worry about - and maybe Evan, but definitely not everyone in town. She's an adult woman with five solved murders to her credit. She doesn't need baby sitters and constant reminders to watch what she eats. I'll grant you, it frustrated her too, and she did tell her friends and family to back off, but so much of the story was wasted on...

A Killer Wedding by Joan O’Leary

November 11, 2025November 11, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

One of the many lessons I've learned in over four decades of reading mysteries is avoid destination weddings. This time around the setting is an opulent castle-turned-hotel in Ireland; the murdered woman is the groom's grandmother; and our plucky amateur sleuth is ambitious, newly promoted, senior magazine editor, Christine Russo. I did not like most of this book. While rich families behaving badly is usually a decent start, this one jus didn't work for the most part. We have so many characters and so many flashbacks and so many secrets. Everyone's a potential suspect. And Christine is a mediocre investigator who seems to be in over her head both with the family and her job. Really, the only reason she gets anywhere are the notes she's given by an unknown someone. Now, the twist at maybe 90% made the book worth reading. It doesn't make it a good book, but it does pull everything together well and caught me off...

Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife by Martin Edwards

November 10, 2025November 10, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife is a clever mystery that I enjoyed but probably won't work for everyone. Six not-quite stranger, all down on their luck, are invited to play a murder mystery game at the remote Midwinter retreat over Christmas. The rules are semi-clear and the prize is "life-changing." The book invites the reader to attempt to solve the murder puzzle, but whether you sit down with pencil and paper while reading or not, the story is enjoyable. We end up with two mysteries, the one in the puzzle and, as is to be expected, one of the guests is killed. Of course, a snowstorm has left the retreat cut off. The Midwinter Trust employees seem to have their own agenda, too. The is a book that's definitely heavier on plot than characters. While all the characters are interesting and have a bit of personality, i never actually cared about them. Yes, I wondered who would get...

Arsenic and Old Lies by Benedict Brown

November 5, 2025November 5, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

I enjoy this series a lot, but don't seem to have much to say about this one. Marius Quin, mystery writer and amateur detective, finds a dead man in his study. The man has obviously been murdered and was Bella's fiancé. Bella is Marius' friend, sleuthing partner, and the woman he's been in love with forever. He's too close to the situation to help the police, so distracts himself with the case of Felicity Mortimer, a woman imprisoned for poisoning her husband fifteen years earlier. Marius is convinced Felicity is innocent and he and Bella set off to the Mortimer country estate to prove it. I like Marius. He's not the best detective or writer or the most sensitive man, but he tries. I love how well he and Bella work together and their friendship is well done. The plot moved along at a nice pace with plenty of clues, suspicious characters, and family secrets. The next in the series takes...