NetGalley – Page 22 – Carol's Notebook

Haunted House Murder by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Barbara Ross

September 19, 2019September 25, 2019 by Carol6 Comments

I love seasonal novella collections! Haunted House Murder contains three cozy mystery novellas. Each is part of series, but they all worked well as stand-alones for me. Out of the three, the only one I really enjoyed was Hallowed Out by Barbara Ross. Haunted House Murder, the first in the book, was lacking in a real plot. New people move into town, they're weird, let's all judge them. The amount of time Lucy spent complaining about having to take care of her grandson was annoying and I don't understand why her husband seemed to be incapable of helping at all. The mystery itself wasn't really much of a mystery, just people jumping to conclusions with little to no actual evidence. In Death By Haunted House, new people move into town, they're weird, let's all judge them. And guess, what? They haven't killed anyone either. Sorry, that was a spoiler but not a surprising one. At least this time, there actually was...

A Purrfect Alibi by Leighann Dobbs

August 29, 2019August 29, 2019 by Carol4 Comments

In A Purrfect Alibi, the Oyster Cove Guesthouse is full of psychics, mediums, tea readers, etc. all hoping to speak to the ghost of Jedediah Biddeford and find his treasure. Josie doesn't believe in ghosts and is really just happy to have paying guests, until—surprise, surprise—one of them ends up dead. Nero and Marlowe, the guest house cats, have a case to solve, and a ghost to deal with, because Jed is hanging around now, even if Josie doesn't know it. It's a cute enough story. The cats and Jed are fun. The killer's a little obvious, even if I didn't catch the motive until it was revealed. The Oyster Cover Guesthouse series is light and breezy. The books are perfect for lazy summer afternoons. This counts as 4 pts in the COYER Treasure Hunt (the last book in a series). ...

A Whisker in the Dark by Leighann Dobbs

August 14, 2019August 29, 2019 by Carol2 Comments

A Whisker in the Dark was a fun, easy, silly read. Josie owns a guesthouse where people keep ending up dead. Well, this time around the first dead body is a skeleton from 300 years ago, but we end up with a murder soon enough—and it's probably no surprise with so many folks thinking there's a treasure buried on the guesthouse's property. So, the cats, Nero and Marlowe and their friends, are the real detectives here, although Josie does some investigating too. In Josie's defense, she's got a lot on her mind, with running the guesthouse, trying to learn how to cook, and flirting with the building inspector. The cats are pretty darn smart, and cats can get into places people can't and eavesdrop without being noticed. I'm still getting used to the cats talking to each other, but it does make the series stand out. The book is really about the characters, both human and feline. The mystery itself is...

Murder in the Mill-Race by E. C. R. Lorac

July 31, 2019August 1, 2019 by Carol3 Comments

Murder in the Mill-Race, also published as Speak Justly of the Dead, takes place in a small, somewhat isolated town North Devon. Dr. Ferens has taken over the practice of the mostly retired town doctor and he and his wife are happy to move away from the grit and grime of the city. Of course, villages come with their own sets of difficulties, and in this particular village, one of those is Sister Monica who runs the children's home. Mrs. Ferens has an instant dislike to her and while the townsfolk all praise her, you know something's not quite right. It's no surprise when she ends up dead in the stream just beyond the mill. We meet the people in town as Dr. Ferens does and we are allowed to settle into the setting nicely before the murder occurs. Even then the local guy does a bit of investigating before MacDonald is called in. The villagers are not keen on answering...

A Twist in the Tail by Leighann Dobbs

July 18, 2019August 1, 2019 by Carol2 Comments

First of all, A Twist in the Tail has talking cats. They don't talk out loud to people, but they talk to each other in English. They have conversations and find clues and discuss the best way to help their not so competent humans. It caught me off-guard. I knew there were going to be cats, just didn't realize the extent of their involvement, that they were also amateur detectives. I've read other Leighann Dobbs mysteries that didn't have talking animals and I don't think I could have been expected to know it based on the blurb. It turned out I enjoyed the book, so maybe it's just as well I was clueless since I'm not sure if I would have picked it up had I known. A Twist in the Tail is the first in a series, and it's a good start. It's fun and light-hearted but the mystery had plenty of clues for the cats to get Josie to...

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas

June 19, 2019June 19, 2019 by Carol2 Comments

Four women invented time travel in 1967. Three went on to become rich and famous. One went on to have a breakdown and be cut off from her friends. The Psychology of Time Travel is clearly science fiction, but it's also a murder mystery and even more about women and their relationships. I'm in general not a big time travel fan. It can so easily turn wonky. Here time travel is treated almost cavalierly. It was invented and people exploit it. Time travelers themselves regularly get together with their "green selves" and "silver selves," sometimes having over a dozen of themselves in the same place at the same time. It does allow for some interesting interactions and to see how time travel affects the individuals. Because that's what the book is about, how time travel affects people, mentally and emotionally, not about how it works or how it affects cultures or politics. The murder mystery bit was interesting. It's a locked...