This time around Poirot happens to be passing through Iraq and is called upon by the local authorities to look into a suspicious death. Dr. Leidner is in charge of an archaeological dig. There are tensions among the members of the party and Dr. Leidner has hired a nurse, Amy Leatheran, to look after his wife, who has been overly nervous. Then, his wife ends up murdered.
Nurse Leatheran is our narrator this time around. She has not known the members of the dig for long and has her own opinions about their personalities and what's been going on. We also see Poirot and his investigation through her eyes and she's not always complimentary. The characters are drawn well, with their secrets, fears, and jealousies. The whodunnit is not great. It just seems rather unlikely all around, but I still enjoyed the book....
I didn't realize this was the 5th in the series when I picked it up, but it worked well as a stand-alone. Mandy, the owner of a dry cleaning shop, apparently has a habit of getting involved in murders. This time she has agreed to clean and alter her ex-husband's new bride's wedding dress. But when she delvers it to the hotel on the day of the wedding, she ends up a suspect in the bride's murder. Being the amateur sleuth that she is, she decides she has to get to the bottom of it, even if her boyfriend, Detective Stan Foster, wants her to stay far away.
We've got plenty of suspects, clues, and red herrings. The people surrounding Mandy are appropriately quirky, especially her mom and her employee, Betty, who get in all kind of trouble. I did get annoyed at how often Betty was described as a former bag lady and not listened to. Like, yes, I get...
Rosie recognizes a tourist who was killed and needs Charlie's help getting to the bottom of what happened. The characters are always fun and even though this one involves the FBI and CIA, it doesn't get too deep in the spy mire. And really how can you take a spy seriously with a name like Rex Thunder? And the FBI agents seem on the verge of incompetent. So the story is still fun and light and just over the top. Charlie figures out who the (unlikely, I thought) killer is and we get a nice show down. We also get a scene with Charlie and Jake making out, so hopefully their relationship will start moving in the right direction....
I love the concept behind this series. Cora and her friend, Jane, have renovated a Victorian house into a crafting paradise and are holding their first retreat weekend. Cora used to work as a counselor at a domestic violence shelter, but it became too stressful for her. Jane escaped an abusive relationship and has a school age daughter. It's all going well with their new venture until the school librarian is killed and Jane becomes a suspect.
We've got a nice cast of eccentric characters and a small town where gossip spreads quickly. I don't love Cora and Jane yet. Given their backgrounds, they make a few odd choices. And I wish the author didn't go on about how attractive they find the various men in the book - it just seemed strange. I know a lot of cozy mysteries have love interests, but we don't need them all the time.
The mystery was well done. There were enough clues...
I should probably not have started this series at #26. And probably not with the one dealing with dog thefts. Sara Booth and her partner at the Delaney Detective Agency, Tinkie, have been contacted about a dog that was stolen right out of someone's backyard.
We had so many characters that it was hard to keep everyone straight. The author provided plenty of background, but I'm sure if I had read the previous books, I would have had a much better handle on who was who and how everyone is connected. Sara Booth has a good batch of friends, including her boyfriend sheriff, and several animals: dogs, horses, a cat and a crow. Oh, and she has a ghost haunting her house that often appears to her as historical figures.
The mystery this time around involved several dogs who were stolen from homes, including Sara Booth's Sweetie Pie. There's rumors of a dog-fighting ring, but Sara's old nemesis, Gertrude, seems to...
The Cupcake Bakery Mysteries are typical cozies. This time around Mel, Angie, and the Fairy Tale Cupcake crew have the truck set up at a local zombie walk. Of course, the event takes a horrible turn when one of the "zombies" is killed and left in their prop casket, a zombie whose outfit is strikingly similar to Angie's.
I've complained before about over-arching storylines taking over a series. This time, it's Joe's super-important, super-dangerous case against a mob boss. It came up in the book previous to this one, maybe, when Joe had to break up with Mel. (But don't worry, he's still spying on her.) Since Joe is Angie's brother, everyone's worried that she might have been the actual target.
The mystery is pretty obvious. And I'm tired of Angie and Mel's love lifes. Of course, next time I can't decide what to read, I'll probably borrow #8 from the library. The characters are decent and I love cupcakes....
