Mystery – Page 92 – Carol's Notebook

The St. Valentine’s Day Cookie Massacre by Elisabeth Crabtree

February 14, 2019February 14, 2019 by Carol6 Comments

If I've learned anything from cozy mysteries, it's that holidays go perfect with dead bodies. So, instead of reading a romance for today, I went with The St. Valentine's Day Cookie Massacre and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Kat has must moved back home from a stint in Miami and is working at a small local paper. The staff is small and while her heart is in investigative journalism, mostly she's covering community events and doing the food critic column. She covers a local bakery opening where a fight breaks out. Later that evening, an anonymous caller asks her to meet him behind the bakery - he has information for her. When she shows up, she finds a dead body, a bakery employee who also happens to be one of the men who was in the fight earlier. Of course, she starts investigating. And ends up almost dead herself before she tracks down the killer(s). So, ...

Voice of the Violin by Andrea Camilleri

February 7, 2019February 7, 2019 by Carol2 Comments

It's been a while since I listened to a Commissario Montalbano mystery, but Voice of the Violin was part of Audible's 2-for-1 deal, so I picked it up. They're always enjoyable, well-thought-out mysteries and I love the cast of characters. In Voice of the Violin a young woman has been murdered and Montalbano is determined to find the killer, in spite of his new boss's manipulations. Montalbano may not always do things the legal way, but for him finding the truth is more important. Even though it's a pretty gruesome murder, there's humor sprinkled throughout the book that lightens it up. And Camilleri does a great job with depicting Sicily, the people, the weather, the food. These books always make me crave pasta - as if I didn't already. I especially liked how the violin plays into this one. I'm still not a fan of Montalbano's relationship with his long-distance girlfriend Livia. I'm pretty sure I say that every time....

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

February 5, 2019February 7, 2019 by Carol10 Comments

I don't want to tell you much about The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. I don't want to ruin it for you. Someone described it as "Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day" and I think that's pretty dead on. If you enjoy a good country house mystery, but like to take a chance with a book that's outside the usual, that may confuse/frustrate you at times, you should definitely pick it up. Aiden Bishop is our detective, but he doesn't remember being Aiden. He only knows that he's here, in Blackheath, and has to solve a murder that doesn't look like a murder. He repeats the same day eight times, but in eight different bodies. There are clues and red herrings, helpers and adversaries. We've got the standards of a house party, relatives who don't get along, guests with tons of secrets, scandals and drugs. And then we've got the almost sci-fi aspect of switching hosts and affecting how the day progresses...

Murder at Larkfield Barn by Betty Rowlands

February 4, 2019February 4, 2019 by Carol2 Comments

Murder at Larkfield Barn is the second of the Melissa Craig mysteries I've read, so while I usually avoid books with serial killers, I knew the type of book it was going to be and wasn't too concerned. Melissa is a mystery writer with a Private Investigator boyfriend, so it's really no wonder she gets mixed up in these mysteries. The blurb gives you the lay-out. There's a serial killer in the area who paints horrible smiles on the victims. But the police aren't convinced the murder in Upper Benbury was committed by the same person, maybe it's a copycat. It turns out that of course there's more than one killer. And Melissa is always at just the right place at the right time to put all the clues together. Rowland can be a little heavy-handed in this one. The foreshadowing is annoying rather than suspense-building. It's pretty easy to guess who the killer(s) are, just based on how they're portrayed, but...

Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny

January 10, 2019January 10, 2019 by Carol11 Comments

Penny's Inspector Gamache series is definitely one that is best to read from the beginning. However, this is #14, which makes it a bit difficult, so it you want to jump in here, I'd recommend you at least read Glass Houses, #13, as it connects closely with some of the events in Kingdom of the Blind. We've got two story lines in this one. There's the mysterious will and dead man in a collapsed house. Then, there's secondary one involving the drugs Gamache allowed to get onto the streets of Montreal in the previous. The Baroness, Bertha Baumgartnor, a cleaning woman who lived near Three Pines, wrote the will mentioned in the blurb, splitting between her children a vast fortune and properties that she clearly did not have. The dead man is her son. The piece about the collapsed farmhouse, about the search and rescue, is one of the tensest scenes on the book. Winter in Quebec can be dangerous. I loved...

Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie

January 3, 2019January 3, 2019 by Carol6 Comments

When will these older, wealthy men stop inviting their whole families, most of whom hate them or each other, to Christmas house parties? Simeon Lee is the one who's done it this time. All his children, a grandchild none of the others know, and an old "friend's" son, are at the house for Christmas and of course Simeon Lee ends up dead, killed in a locked room. There are plenty of motives, although how was he killed is a good question. The killer was a surprise to me. I'm not sure we really had enough clues to guess who it was on our own. But it's a good ending. I do love Christie. I also listened to this short story. It's another Christmas only this time, Poirot already knows what the crime was, a stolen gem. It's his job to track it down. But he also learns how enjoyable an English Christmas can be. There's no actual murder in this one, which...