Assaulted Pretzel by Laura Bradford
Berkley Prime Crime (288 pages)
March 5, 2013
Rating: 8 (Good!)
For fans of: Paige Shelton
Claire Weatherly loves the life she’s carved out for herself in the small town of Heavenly, Pennsylvania. She loves living in Sleep Heavenly, the bed-and-breakfast owned by her Aunt Diane. She loves running her own gift shop, Heavenly Treasures, and selling local products to the tourists who pass through. And she loves how much quieter and simpler life is in Heavenly, thanks in no small part to the presence of the Amish families who also call the town their home.
But that quiet simplicity is shattered when toy manufacturer Rob Karble is murdered during a visit to Heavenly. Rumor has it that Karble came to town under the pretense of forging a partnership with local Amish toymakers, but backed out of the deal after procuring copies of the toymakers’ designs. Did Karble’s backroom dealings get him killed – or is there more going on in sleepy little Heavenly than meets the eye?
Assaulted Pretzel is the second in Laura Bradford’s Amish Mystery series, and it’s a wonderfully engaging read. The book has a strong sense of place; Heavenly comes to life on the page by virtue of Bradford’s vibrant prose, and in Sleep Heavenly, she’s created one of the warmest, coziest, most inviting retreats a reader could ever hope to visit (in person or via fiction). The story is cleverly plotted and quickly paced, and the mystery is remarkably well constructed, with a nice collection of plausible suspects and a host of expertly deployed clues.
Bradford does a fantastic job of introducing the reader to what’s essentially a foreign culture. The rules by which the Amish live are complex and are vastly different than those followed by their “English” counterparts, but Bradford not only manages to explain them without employing a single info dump, but uses them to enrich and complicate her tale, as well. The interpersonal relationships alone are enough to make your head spin, and Bradford deserves a ton of credit for choosing such a unique and fertile theme for her series.
Bradford’s character development skills are strong. Claire’s occasionally a little too earnest for my taste, but when she’s not busy channeling Pollyanna she makes for a strong and determined heroine. Good friend and potential love interest Jakob is a skilled and dedicated detective, and is made all the more interesting by the fact that he decided to leave Heavenly to become a cop after he was baptized into the Amish faith – an act that earn him ostracization by his family and his community. And the love triangle that’s developing between Claire, Jakob, and Jakob’s still-Amish childhood rival Benjamin is positively riveting. To call the situation complicated would be a gross understatement, and the relationships forming between the three of them alone are reason enough for me to seek out the next installment of Laura Bradford’s Amish Mysteries.
-Kat
REVIEW: Sweet Tea Revenge
Sweet Tea Revenge by Laura Childs
Berkley Prime Crime (336 pages)
March 5, 2013
Rating: 6 (Just okay. It had its strong points, but...)
For fans of: Joanne Fluke
When Indigo Tea Shop proprietress Theodosia Browning agrees to be Delaine Dish’s maid of honor, she assumes her biggest chore will be keeping the high-maintenance bride from melting down long enough to officially become groom Dougan Granville’s problem. Unfortunately, however, that accomplishment isn’t meant to be, for Theodosia finds poor Dougan dead in his room just minutes before the ceremony’s scheduled to begin. Who killed Delaine’s fiancé, and why? Theodosia must help the local police get to the bottom of this particular mystery if her friend’s ever to receive any closure.
Sweet Tea Revenge is the fourteenth of Laura Childs’ Tea Shop Mysteries, and it’s a decidedly ho-hum addition to the series. Childs’ prose is, as usual, overwrought and preposterously florid; the book is drowning in so many adjectives, adverbs, metaphors, and exclamation points that you occasionally lose track of the plot. The pace is slow, there isn’t much action or drama, and the stakes are incredibly low, with nobody of import in danger of being killed or arrested, and no real pressing need to solve Dougan’s murder. The mystery itself is hastily sketched and shoddily constructed, with both the circumstances of the murder and the investigation into it straining credulity. There aren’t enough clues, the suspects are woefully underdeveloped, and the Big Showdown between Theodosia and the murderer is nothing short of ridiculous.
That’s not to say that Sweet Tea Revenge has no redeeming qualities, however. Theodosia and the other Indigo employees, Drayton and Haley, are charming as ever, and actually make for pretty great company. For you camellia sinensis aficionados out there, this tale contains a ton of information about exotic teas (and even features some tips and a lengthy list of tea resources). And the book has an incredibly strong sense of place, with Charleston and its homes and businesses coming to life in Childs’ hands. In particular, I find myself wishing the Indigo Tea Shop actually existed; between Drayton’s amazing collection of teas, Haley’s drool-worthy assortments of sweets and savories, and the tranquil and cozy yet still genteel atmosphere of the space itself, I can’t imagine a better place to escape to on a sunny afternoon. Ultimately, that’s what keeps me coming back to this series, installment after installment – because everybody needs a cozy getaway, even if it’s located between the covers of a book.
-Kat
Berkley Prime Crime (336 pages)
March 5, 2013
Rating: 6 (Just okay. It had its strong points, but...)
For fans of: Joanne Fluke
When Indigo Tea Shop proprietress Theodosia Browning agrees to be Delaine Dish’s maid of honor, she assumes her biggest chore will be keeping the high-maintenance bride from melting down long enough to officially become groom Dougan Granville’s problem. Unfortunately, however, that accomplishment isn’t meant to be, for Theodosia finds poor Dougan dead in his room just minutes before the ceremony’s scheduled to begin. Who killed Delaine’s fiancé, and why? Theodosia must help the local police get to the bottom of this particular mystery if her friend’s ever to receive any closure.
Sweet Tea Revenge is the fourteenth of Laura Childs’ Tea Shop Mysteries, and it’s a decidedly ho-hum addition to the series. Childs’ prose is, as usual, overwrought and preposterously florid; the book is drowning in so many adjectives, adverbs, metaphors, and exclamation points that you occasionally lose track of the plot. The pace is slow, there isn’t much action or drama, and the stakes are incredibly low, with nobody of import in danger of being killed or arrested, and no real pressing need to solve Dougan’s murder. The mystery itself is hastily sketched and shoddily constructed, with both the circumstances of the murder and the investigation into it straining credulity. There aren’t enough clues, the suspects are woefully underdeveloped, and the Big Showdown between Theodosia and the murderer is nothing short of ridiculous.
That’s not to say that Sweet Tea Revenge has no redeeming qualities, however. Theodosia and the other Indigo employees, Drayton and Haley, are charming as ever, and actually make for pretty great company. For you camellia sinensis aficionados out there, this tale contains a ton of information about exotic teas (and even features some tips and a lengthy list of tea resources). And the book has an incredibly strong sense of place, with Charleston and its homes and businesses coming to life in Childs’ hands. In particular, I find myself wishing the Indigo Tea Shop actually existed; between Drayton’s amazing collection of teas, Haley’s drool-worthy assortments of sweets and savories, and the tranquil and cozy yet still genteel atmosphere of the space itself, I can’t imagine a better place to escape to on a sunny afternoon. Ultimately, that’s what keeps me coming back to this series, installment after installment – because everybody needs a cozy getaway, even if it’s located between the covers of a book.
-Kat
REVIEW: Nickeled-and-Dimed to Death
Nickeled-and-Dimed to Death by Denise Swanson
Obsidian (272 pages)
March 5, 2013
Rating: 9/10
For fans of: Jenn McKinlay, Diane Kelly
When Elise Whitmore shows up at Devereaux "Dev" Sinclair's five-and-dime store and offers her a fantastic price on some antique Easter-candy molds, Dev doesn't think too much of it; the woman is probably either cleaning out her attic or needs some extra spending money. But then Dev learns that Elise is going through a nasty divorce and has been sticking it to her husband by systematically unloading all of his family heirlooms, and she feels a twinge of concern; in buying the molds from Elise, did Dev take possession of stolen property?
That question falls to the back burner when Elise turns up dead, though – particularly since Dev's friend Boone is the one to discover the body and immediately becomes the police’s prime suspect. Dev knows Boone is innocent, but the chief remains unconvinced. Can Dev exonerate Boone and help the cops catch the real culprit, or is her friend doomed to do time for a crime he didn’t commit?
Nickeled-and-Dimed to Death is the second of Denise Swanson’s Devereaux’s Dime Store Mysteries, and it’s a fabulously entertaining read. The pace is quick, the prose is snappy, and the dialogue is sharp. The mystery is incredibly successful, too – elegant in both design and construction. Yes, the clues are smart, the suspects are well developed, and the solution is satisfying, but Swanson also manages to connect the book’s central whodunit to the series as a whole; the Big Reveal not only ties off the book’s loose ends, but casts a whole new light on Dev’s past – and possibly her future, as well.
I do have a minor complaint regarding the way Swanson chose to tell this particular tale. The majority of the book is recounted in the first person from Dev’s perspective. Dev has a very engaging and propulsive narrative style, and her chapters read very naturally. Unfortunately, however, for whatever reason, Swanson chooses to occasionally slip into the third person and tell snippets of the story from Dev’s high-school sweetheart Noah’s point of view. Not only are the transitions from first-person to third-person awkward and jarring, but Noah’s voice never quite rings true, and I actually found that I liked him a little less every time I was forced to spend a chapter in (adjacent to?) his head.
That said, the cast of Nickeled-and-Dimed to Death is flush with incredibly well drawn characters, each with his or her own unique personality, motivation, mannerisms, and background. Dev is as sweet, loyal, and stubborn as they come. Her good friend Poppy, bartender and antagonistic wild-child daughter of the local police chief, is both a supportive sidekick and fantastic comic relief. And Dev’s high-school sweetheart Noah proves a surprisingly likable addition to the group – and does a great job of throwing a wrench into the post-adolescent existence Dev’s been carving out for herself. The relationship between Dev and Noah is at once incredibly complicated and yet very simple, and does a great job of illustrating just how difficult it can be to put the past behind you in matters of romance – particularly when you live in a small town.
-Kat
Obsidian (272 pages)
March 5, 2013
Rating: 9/10
For fans of: Jenn McKinlay, Diane Kelly
When Elise Whitmore shows up at Devereaux "Dev" Sinclair's five-and-dime store and offers her a fantastic price on some antique Easter-candy molds, Dev doesn't think too much of it; the woman is probably either cleaning out her attic or needs some extra spending money. But then Dev learns that Elise is going through a nasty divorce and has been sticking it to her husband by systematically unloading all of his family heirlooms, and she feels a twinge of concern; in buying the molds from Elise, did Dev take possession of stolen property?
That question falls to the back burner when Elise turns up dead, though – particularly since Dev's friend Boone is the one to discover the body and immediately becomes the police’s prime suspect. Dev knows Boone is innocent, but the chief remains unconvinced. Can Dev exonerate Boone and help the cops catch the real culprit, or is her friend doomed to do time for a crime he didn’t commit?
Nickeled-and-Dimed to Death is the second of Denise Swanson’s Devereaux’s Dime Store Mysteries, and it’s a fabulously entertaining read. The pace is quick, the prose is snappy, and the dialogue is sharp. The mystery is incredibly successful, too – elegant in both design and construction. Yes, the clues are smart, the suspects are well developed, and the solution is satisfying, but Swanson also manages to connect the book’s central whodunit to the series as a whole; the Big Reveal not only ties off the book’s loose ends, but casts a whole new light on Dev’s past – and possibly her future, as well.
I do have a minor complaint regarding the way Swanson chose to tell this particular tale. The majority of the book is recounted in the first person from Dev’s perspective. Dev has a very engaging and propulsive narrative style, and her chapters read very naturally. Unfortunately, however, for whatever reason, Swanson chooses to occasionally slip into the third person and tell snippets of the story from Dev’s high-school sweetheart Noah’s point of view. Not only are the transitions from first-person to third-person awkward and jarring, but Noah’s voice never quite rings true, and I actually found that I liked him a little less every time I was forced to spend a chapter in (adjacent to?) his head.
That said, the cast of Nickeled-and-Dimed to Death is flush with incredibly well drawn characters, each with his or her own unique personality, motivation, mannerisms, and background. Dev is as sweet, loyal, and stubborn as they come. Her good friend Poppy, bartender and antagonistic wild-child daughter of the local police chief, is both a supportive sidekick and fantastic comic relief. And Dev’s high-school sweetheart Noah proves a surprisingly likable addition to the group – and does a great job of throwing a wrench into the post-adolescent existence Dev’s been carving out for herself. The relationship between Dev and Noah is at once incredibly complicated and yet very simple, and does a great job of illustrating just how difficult it can be to put the past behind you in matters of romance – particularly when you live in a small town.
-Kat
REVIEW: Evil in All Its Disguises
Evil in All Its Disguises by Hilary Davidson
Forge (352 pages)
March 5, 2013
Rating: 9 (Excellent!)
When travel writer Lily Moore signs on for an all-expenses-paid press trip to Acapulco, Mexico, she expects to spend a few days seeing the sights and being pampered in a ritzy hotel. She does not, however, expect for said ritzy hotel to be owned by her ex-fiancé. Or for fellow travel journalist Skye McDermott to vanish in the middle of dinner, just moments after dropping hints to Lily about a new exposé on which she’s working – an exposé that may or may not be about said ex-fiancé. And yet…
Before Skye went missing, it was Lily’s plan to decamp to a new hotel ASAP. But since neither her fellow travelers nor the hotel staff will lift a finger to help her find her friend and the police in Mexico are notoriously corrupt, she decides that before she can leave, she must first endeavor to locate Skye herself. That task isn’t as simple as it sounds, though – particularly since it seems Lily’s been lured down to Acapulco under false pretenses and is now essentially a prisoner.
Evil in All Its Disguises is the third of Hilary Davidson’s Lily Moore novels, and it’s her best to date. A twisty, turny tale, full of cons within cons and feints within feints, Davidson’s latest is so compulsively readable, the pages practically turn themselves. Every time you think you've got it all figured out, the story takes another left turn and deposits you back at square one. And Davidson’s cinematic storytelling style coupled with her prose – at once elegant and refined, yet still lush, vivid, and approachable – only adds to this book’s rather considerable charms.
Most people think of hotels as homes away from home; places of safety and refuge, where at the end of the day, you can lock your door and let your guard down, secure in the knowledge that you’re on friendly soil. In Evil in All Its Disguises, Davidson beautifully illustrates – and then mercilessly exploits – that concept, exploring what it means for one’s sanctuary to become a cell – and a claustrophobic one, at that. The clouds are low, the air is close, and the hotel in which she’s being held captive is not only isolated, it’s practically deserted, all of which conspire to make it feel as though Lily's trapped in a twisted Hitchcockian nightmare.
Davidson tells this tale with a glorious economy of characters, which helps her to achieve two things. First, it lends the book an air of intimacy and intensity, making the whole thing feel a bit like a locked-room mystery. And second, it causes the reader to wonder whether he or she is truly watching a conspiracy unfold, or is instead witnessing Lily’s Poe-like descent into madness. Because Lily is traveling alone and therefore lacks a trusted ally to ground her and lend her perspective, the reader has no way of knowing whether Lily’s single-minded obsession with Skye’s disappearance is warranted, or is just bugnuts insane. Lily’s suspicions are so elaborate, and she’s so intent on solving a mystery whose existence nobody else is even willing to grant, that you genuinely start to consider the possibility she’s delusional. And while that’s not great for Lily, it definitely makes for entertaining reading.
Do yourself a favor and add this one to the TBR pile, and stat.
Forge (352 pages)
March 5, 2013
Rating: 9 (Excellent!)
When travel writer Lily Moore signs on for an all-expenses-paid press trip to Acapulco, Mexico, she expects to spend a few days seeing the sights and being pampered in a ritzy hotel. She does not, however, expect for said ritzy hotel to be owned by her ex-fiancé. Or for fellow travel journalist Skye McDermott to vanish in the middle of dinner, just moments after dropping hints to Lily about a new exposé on which she’s working – an exposé that may or may not be about said ex-fiancé. And yet…
Before Skye went missing, it was Lily’s plan to decamp to a new hotel ASAP. But since neither her fellow travelers nor the hotel staff will lift a finger to help her find her friend and the police in Mexico are notoriously corrupt, she decides that before she can leave, she must first endeavor to locate Skye herself. That task isn’t as simple as it sounds, though – particularly since it seems Lily’s been lured down to Acapulco under false pretenses and is now essentially a prisoner.
Evil in All Its Disguises is the third of Hilary Davidson’s Lily Moore novels, and it’s her best to date. A twisty, turny tale, full of cons within cons and feints within feints, Davidson’s latest is so compulsively readable, the pages practically turn themselves. Every time you think you've got it all figured out, the story takes another left turn and deposits you back at square one. And Davidson’s cinematic storytelling style coupled with her prose – at once elegant and refined, yet still lush, vivid, and approachable – only adds to this book’s rather considerable charms.
Most people think of hotels as homes away from home; places of safety and refuge, where at the end of the day, you can lock your door and let your guard down, secure in the knowledge that you’re on friendly soil. In Evil in All Its Disguises, Davidson beautifully illustrates – and then mercilessly exploits – that concept, exploring what it means for one’s sanctuary to become a cell – and a claustrophobic one, at that. The clouds are low, the air is close, and the hotel in which she’s being held captive is not only isolated, it’s practically deserted, all of which conspire to make it feel as though Lily's trapped in a twisted Hitchcockian nightmare.
Davidson tells this tale with a glorious economy of characters, which helps her to achieve two things. First, it lends the book an air of intimacy and intensity, making the whole thing feel a bit like a locked-room mystery. And second, it causes the reader to wonder whether he or she is truly watching a conspiracy unfold, or is instead witnessing Lily’s Poe-like descent into madness. Because Lily is traveling alone and therefore lacks a trusted ally to ground her and lend her perspective, the reader has no way of knowing whether Lily’s single-minded obsession with Skye’s disappearance is warranted, or is just bugnuts insane. Lily’s suspicions are so elaborate, and she’s so intent on solving a mystery whose existence nobody else is even willing to grant, that you genuinely start to consider the possibility she’s delusional. And while that’s not great for Lily, it definitely makes for entertaining reading.
Do yourself a favor and add this one to the TBR pile, and stat.