Tag Archives: mystery

Murder in the Locked Library

Book Review of Murder in the Locked Library (Book Retreat Mysteries #4), by Ellery Adams

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I won a paperback copy of Ellery Adams‘ Murder in the Locked Library through Goodreads.

Description:

Welcome to Storyton Hall, Virginia, where book lovers travel from near and far to enjoy the singular comforts of the Agatha Christie Tea Room, where they can discuss the merits of their favorite authors no matter how deadly the topic . . . 

With her twins, Fitzgerald and Hemingway, back in school, Jane Steward can finally focus on her work again—managing Storyton Hall, and breaking ground on the resort’s latest attraction: a luxurious, relaxing spa named in honor of Walt Whitman. But when the earth is dug up to start laying the spa’s foundation, something else comes to the surface—a collection of unusual bones and the ragged remnants of a very old book. The attendees of the Rare Book Conference are eager to assist Jane with this unexpected historical mystery—until a visitor meets an untimely end in the Henry James Library. As the questions—and suspects—start stacking up, Jane will have to uncover a killer before more unhappy endings ensue . . .

Review:

A book-themed murder mystery, heck yeah, I expected to love this. But honestly I just didn’t. It wasn’t bad, but I also wasn’t impressed. Jane is supposed to be the guardian of a trove of dangerous books and the leader of a secret society, complete with martial guards and lifelong legacies, etc. But I never felt the gravitas of it AT ALL. This is very much a cozy mystery and that just doesn’t fit what the author was trying to create. 

What’s more, there are A LOT of descriptions. In fact, I think if you took all the superfluous descriptions out, this would be about a 60 page book. Not a lot actually happens. And honestly, since so many of the descriptions are about book-themed decorations, or cakes, or food, it all just eventually felt like author wish fulfillment. I’m very much a bibliophile, but eventually it started to just feel pretentious. These descriptions did a lot more to stall the plot, than progress it, in my opinion. 

It is also one of those mysteries where the characters spend 75% of the book trying to solve it, and then the villain does something drastic and gives themselves away (with a bit of monologuing along the way), such that the heroine doesn’t actually solve the mystery. It solves itself. 

This is book four in a series. So, I’m guessing some people must like this style of story telling a lot more than me. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a whole series. This one is readable, even if you haven’t read the first three (like me). You feel the lack of those first books, a few things aren’t explained (such as what exactly a Fin is), but you figure them out. And there is a subplot about a missing boyfriend that is obviously a carryover from a previous book and lead-in to a next. But none of it prevents you understanding the events of this one. 

It’s not all bad. I did like the characters and the writing is perfectly readable. I think it’s just a little too Dan Brown meets Mrs. Marple for my tastes.

Review of Cold Shadows (Ellie Jordan, Ghost Trapper #2), by J.L. Bryan

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I borrowed an audio copy of J.L Bryan‘s Cold Shadows through Hoopla and my local library.

Description from Goodreads:

Paranormal investigator Ellie Jordan faces a difficult new case. Her new clients are a family haunted by multiple ghosts and a poltergeist that wrecks their home at night. Their seven-year-old son’s invisible friends may not be imaginary at all but the restless spirits of dead children. To clear her clients’ house of the dangerous entities, Ellie must unravel the mysterious deaths of another family who lived in the old mansion more than a hundred and sixty years ago, and she must do it before the ghosts can carry out their malevolent designs on her clients and their children.

Review:

Enjoyable enough. It’d been quite a long time since I read book one in this series. I honestly didn’t remember much beyond the bare bones. But I was able to pick this one up without trouble. It suffers from a bit of the “we did this” and then “we did this” writing, Ellie seems to take beating after beating without effect, and honestly I couldn’t figure out how the homeowner kept sleeping through all the racket she and the ghosts must have been making. But it was a fun little ghost mystery. 

I 100% approve of seeing a paraplegic, wheelchair using business owner. He may not play a big part in the book, page-wise, but he is an important character. (I’m sure he was in book one too, but as I’d forgotten, it got to be a new surprise again.) Similarly, there are characters who are “plump,” but no issue is made of it. 

All in all, Ellie Jordon is just as advertised, a ghost-hunter. And the book is thus exactly as you would expect, a story of hunting ghosts. There isn’t yet a lot more depth to the plotting (though there seem to be some hints of a deeper mystery in the future). I’d be willing to read it…or listen. Carla Mercer-Meyer did a fine job with the narration of this one.

Premeditated Peppermint

Book Review of Premeditated Peppermint (Amish Candy Shop Mystery #3), by Amanda Flower

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I won a copy of Amanda Flower’s Premeditated Peppermint through Goodreads. Early November may seem an odd time to read a book set around Christmas, but I try to fill my Little Free Library with holiday books in December. So, I wanted to go ahead and get this read and added to the stock.

Description:
Christmas is Bailey King’s favorite time of year. For her first Yuletide in Harvest, Ohio, the former big-city chocolatier is recreating a cherished holiday treat: peppermint combined with molten white chocolate. But her sugar high plummets when her former boyfriend walks into the candy shop she now runs with her Amish grandmother. New York celebrity chef Eric Sharp and his TV crew have arrived to film an authentic Amish Christmas. Bailey’s not about to let her beloved town–and Swissmen Sweets–be turned into a sound bite. Unfortunately, she gets more publicity than she bargained for when Eric’s executive producer is found strangled to death–and Eric’s the prime suspect.

With Bailey’s sheriff deputy boyfriend out to prove Eric’s guilt, her bad-boy ex tries to sweet-talk her into helping him clear his name . . . and rekindle their romance to boost ratings for his show. Now, between a surplus of suspects and a victim who wasn’t who she seemed, Bailey’s edging dangerously close to a killer who isn’t looking to bring joy to the world–or to Bailey–this deadly Noel . . .

Review:
I can’t say I truly loved this. I suppose that if you’re really into cozy mysteries you might like it a bit more. Certainly, the writing is fine. (I thought a tad forced at times, with names used too often in dialogue. Mostly fine though.) However, I seriously disliked one of the characters, thought another was painfully cliche, and I had a serious issue with this being categorized as an Amish mystery.

Specifically Premeditated Peppermint calls itself an “Amish Candy Shop Mystery.” And while the argument could be made that the emphasis is on Amish Candy shop, not Amish mystery, I still think the selling point is meant to be that this is a book about Amish characters. There are Amish people in the book, but (and here’s my beef) THE MAIN CHARACTER IS NOT AMISH.

I suspect (though I don’t know) that Flower has some Amish connection in real life. The culture is treated respectfully and the book does address some of the difficulties of navigating non-Amish life as an Amish person. The rules and mores are repeatedly dismissed by outsiders as flexible, for example, and the main character is considered Amish by those same outsiders for her mere association with the community. While all that may be true, the Amish community is still just window dressing on the book. It’s what makes the world-building different from other cozy mysteries. And in the end, I was uncomfortable with it; side-eyeing and wondering where exactly the line of appropriation really is.

Outside of that big issue, I also thought it inappropriate Bailey inserted herself into a police investigation, thought the pushy mother shipping Bailey and her son before they’d even had a date too much to believe, and the mystery wasn’t hard to figure out at all. As a side note, I was able to follow it just fine without having read the previous books.

This is not to say the book is without merit. It was cute, had some good quips and is as squeaky clean as anyone could hope. It seems to have just not been the book for me.