The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles is the second novella featuring Mossa and Pleiti. We've colonized Jupiter, "Giant," but are still working towards one day returning to Earth. Mossa, our investigator, is on a missing persons case that takes her to Veldageld where Pleiti lives and works. She of course asks Pleiti for help, since it is one of the university students who seems to have disappeared. I can't decide how I feel about Mossa and Pleiti's relationship. Pleiti spends so much time picking over every little comment or decision Mossa makes that it get annoying. I like them together and I like how they have different strengths and abilities - I just want Pleiti to communicate better and be a little less insecure. I feel like that's what I always want in romances and why I don't usually read them. At least here the main focus is on the mystery and not their relationship.
The mystery is put together well and I...
I honestly expected to thoroughly enjoy The Marlow Murder Club. It features three very different women who form a friendship and solve murders. We have Judith, in her 70s, who lives on her own in a mansion on the edge of town, drinks too much, and sets crossword puzzles. Becks is the vicar's wife, who usually spends her time taking care of her family and house. Suzy is a dog-walker who is estranged from her adult daughter. I like the friendship the women form and how they push each other outside of their comfort zones.
The plot is where the story really let me down. Judith very early on has a couple of suspicions and then they spend the rest of the book trying to prove her theories. A few of the clues were unbelievable. The twist wasn't surprising, although it did make the mystery overly convoluted. Even the suspenseful ending was over the top and borderline silly.
I listened...
I listened to Murder in an Irish Garden on audio and I loved the narrator's accent. She helped place the book solidly in Ireland. And I love hearing names and places pronounced correctly.
The story starts off with Siobhan studying for her detective sergeant exam with help from her husband, Macdara. This somehow leads to a fight that has them bickering through the first half of the book, which I found annoying, especially since I couldn't see what the big deal was to begin with. Maybe they always argue? I've only read one other in this series.
This time, the mystery centers around a garden competition. One of the competitors is found murdered and everyone's gardens have been ruined. Multiple crime scenes and plenty of suspects make it a complicated case. Everyone seems innocent and and everyone seems guilty.
While the plot was good, I also enjoyed all the garden and flower talk. Maybe I'm just dreaming of summer and...
How to Piss Off Men is not a book I would usually pick up, but I was looking for a How To book for one of the challenges I'm doing. "Funny" books don't usually work for me, but maybe I was just in the right mood, or it was short enough that I actually found it amusing. The author/narrator is funny and sincere. Not all of the "insults" are particularly original and some I didn't quite get, but it's not just ways to insult men. Although it is that, it's also an invitation to men to look at why those comments/questions make them angry. I think the author also sees it as a call to continue to tear down the patriarchy.
I listened to the audio which the author narrated himself. I think it made the jokes funnier than if I read them in print and the musing more heartfelt. It also included a conversation between Prue and his mom at...
I was looking for a book set in Cuba when I ran across Death Comes in Through the Kitchen. It sounded like one I would enjoy - an interesting setting, an interesting main character, and Cuban food. I ended up being disappointed.
Matt arrives in Havana to meet his Cuban fiancée, Yarmila, hopefully get married and persuade her to return with him to the States. Things go down hill immediately when he finds Yarmila dead in her apartment He becomes a suspect in her murder and the authorities believe he may be an American spy.
We see most of the story from Matt's viewpint.. He's pretty clueless really, about Yarmila's death, but also about life in Cuba. We also get to see the case, and Cuba, from Detective Martinez's point of view. She's in charge of the official investigation, but she's not getting much cooperation from the other people involved. And finally, we have El Padrino, a former police officer turned...
Lao She is an unassuming, respectable young scholar from China who has emigrated to London and now teaches Chinese language at Oxford and wants to write a novel. Then he is called to the home of philosopher Bertrand Russell who needs his assistance - in breaking a friend out of jail. It's during this errand that Lao meets Judge Dee Ren Jie. I do have to say it's an interesting meeting and sets the tone for the rest of the book. Judge Dee is in London to investigate the death of Mr. Ma, a fellow member of the Chinese Labor Corps who served in France during the First World War and was allowed to come to London afterward. Lao, who is more familiar with the city, offers to help Dee, but soon another Chinese man is found dead and the whole situation becomes more complicated.
Lao is our Watson to Dee's Sherlock. I listened to the audiobook, which worked well....
