I really enjoy these short mysteries. This time around, Dorothy and the former Sargent Wilson are getting married. I have to say I like what the Sarge's recent health scare and relationship with Dorothy have done for his character. Everyone in town is at the reception, but that same evening, someone tries to set the Choudhury house on fire. Thankfully little damage is done, but the police, and Bunburry Triangle, are anxious to find the culprit.
This is a fun, quick read. I love the characters, each of whom is just quirky enough without going over the edge into annoying. There are several suspects and it's good to see how many people care about the Choudhury family. I liked the yoga center and how it brings together people you wouldn't expect. I was happy Oscar had a part to play this time around too....
I love going to baseball games. I'm a Pirates fan, though, which means I can sit back and have fun but don't really expect too much. Not like the people watching the Red Sox and Yankees in 1949. Summer of ‘49 is in theory about the 1949 pennant race between the Yankees and the Red Sox. We know the Yankees ended up beating the Red Sox and going on to bee the Dodgers in the World Series, but really the book is about the people - the players, managers, press. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of numbers - hits, games back, percentages, salaries, it's what baseball boils down to after all, but the fun part is hearing about the people - who they are, where they came from. We get stories of how they interact with each other and how they view the game. Some are people I've heard of, but most weren't.
This is definitely a nostalgic...
Crooked House is one of Christie's stand-alone mysteries. We have three generations of the Leonides family all living under the roof of the wealthy grandfather, Aristide. When Aristide is murdered, all the household comes under suspicion. His granddaughter Sophia tells our narrator and her fiancé, Charles Hayward, that they cannot marry until the killer is caught. Charles' father happens to be the Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard, so Charles investigates from the inside along with assigned detective, Chief Inspector Taverner.
The Leonides family members are an interesting, mostly unlikeable lot and any of them could have a motive - money, control. There are plenty of tensions and secrets. Charles makes a decent amateur sleuth and this one is more about uncovering family dynamics and tensions than concrete clues. The whodunnit is surprising, but makes total sense....
If you've read the first two in this series, you know that Susan should stay far away from Atticus Pünd novels, they only lead to trouble. If you've read the blurb above, you know that this time is no exception, even though there's a new author since Alan Conway was killed in book #1. I would suggest at least reading Magpie Murders first, since a.) there are spoilers in this one, and b.) there are a couple of returning characters who have major pieces in this one.
As usual in this series we have a book within the book. In Pünd's Last Case written by Elliott Crace, Lady Margaret Chalfont has been poisoned. Elliott believes his own grandmother, renowned author Marian Crace, was murdered 15 years ago and has worked clues to who the killer was into his novel. Then Elliott is killed in a hit and run before finishing the book - with Susan being the main suspect in...
Eleanor’s first novel, When in Rome, is being made into a movie and she is spending a lot of time on set. To make it even better, her best friend, Emma, is playing the lead role. After filming wraps, the cast and crew head to Catalina Island for Emma's wedding to her co-star. And then we find out that Emma's been receiving threats and that someone is going to be killed at the wedding.
My problem is I don't like Eleanor and she's the one telling us the story - in the first-person with tons of her internal thoughts, asides, and footnotes. Maybe it was too much? Funny and clever are good, but not when they become the whole point. Maybe it was just trying too hard. She's self-centered and doesn't seem to register the feelings of the people around her, even her sister.
We have lots of characters, all of whom are suspects, but there's more theorizing about motives than...
Apparently this book is a spin off of Rick Copp's Actor's Guide mysteries from 20-ish years ago, which I never read. Then, Jarrod was a former child actor trying to make a comeback, living with his LAPD cop boyfriend, Charlie, and solving murders. Now, he's given up on acting and writes and directs plays. He's still grieving over Charlie, who died ten years ago, and has an adult daughter, Liv, who has just found her boyfriend's dead body in his film studio.
I listened to the audiobook and I don't know if it was the writing or the narrator or just how much set up there was before the murder, but it took me a while to get into the story. It felt awkward, there was something annoying that I just couldn't put my finger on. But once the story got moving, it held my attention well.
Jarrod and Liv have plenty of suspects, including a pair of half-siblings Liv met thanks...
