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...
Poirot is on holiday at a secluded hotel on an island in Devon and, as always, is very much interested in the people around him. The other guests are a varied lot, including an actress and her family, a young married couple, and several single individuals. Most of the conversation (gossip) centers around the actress, Arlena Marshall, who is obviously flirting (having an affair) with Patrick Redfern, upsetting both her husband and Patrick's wife. When Arlena is found dead, strangled, at one of the coves, no one seems surprised.
Evil Under the Sun is not kind to its women characters. With one or two exceptions, their importance/ relevancy to the plot comes from the men in their lives. But the plot is clever and the clues fit together well. I liked the setting too. The small, isolated hotel seemed relaxing, until with the murder it becomes isolated and claustrophobic.
I listened to the audiobook narrated by David Suchet and feel like...
Most Agatha Christie's are rereads for me, including Cards on the Table. I remembered the setup. Mr. Shaitana invites Poirot to a dinner party, promising to introduce him to one of his collections, murders who have gotten away with their crimes. It turns out there are four "murderers" and four of Christie's detectives, Poirot, Colonel Race, Superintendent Battle, and Ariadne Oliver, at the dinner. After dinner, they play bridge and by the end of the night Shaitana is dead.
It's a clever mystery. We only have four suspects, but figuring out which one is guilty is not as easy as it seems. All of them have the same motive - Shaitana made several veiled references to the crimes and, if they were actually guilty, any of them may have been afraid he would go to the police. Poirot is the lead, but he does a nice job collaborating with the others. It's fun to see the different personalities and...
Death at the Highland Loch is an enjoyable, typical historical cozy. Our sleuth is Poppy Proudfoot, a young, well off widow whose parents are in Australia. So she has the money and freedom to more or less do what she wants. She's pretty, smart (she has a law degree), and has the requisite dog, an adorable lab named Major.
In this first outing, she has two cases she's working on. Her friend, Lady Constance Balfour, wants her to find out what happened to an bracelet that her husband apparently purchased shortly before his death. And then there's the murdered man down by the lock. Granted Inspector MacKenzie has told her to stay away from the murder investigation, but at least he seems to have a sense of humor about her interference. If nothing else, Poppy is sure of her own competence.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a good job dealing with the large cast and variety of...
I read The Tainted Cup, the first in the series, last year, but apparently didn't review it. I loved it. The world building is amazing and Ana and Din make a fantastic team. I would read it before starting A Drop of Corruption though. This second kind of drops you into the world and Dinios Kol's life. The world revolves around the leviathans, giant sea creatures who "attack" the Empire every wet season. The Empire protects the people from these monsters, but the leviathans' blood has infused the soil, the plants, the creatures. The blood also fuels the Empire's power and technology.
Ana Dolabra is an brilliant, but eccentric investigator. Din is her assistant, an engraver, magically altered to possess a perfect memory. His job is to observe and report, but he is becoming more adept at putting what he learns together. This time, the two are investigating the disappearance and murder of a Treasury officer, but as soon as Ana...
