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177th out of 660 books
—
636 voters
Chapter and Hearse (Booktown Mystery #4)
by
Lorna Barrett (Goodreads Author)
According to the gossip around Stoneham, New Hampshire, Tricia Miles cannot put down a real murder mystery. After all, the owner of the mystery bookstore, Haven’t Got a Clue, has been spending more time solving whodunits than reading them…
Tricia’s sister, Angelica, considers herself to be the next celebrity chef. To celebrate her first cookbook, Angelica hosts a launch par...more
Tricia’s sister, Angelica, considers herself to be the next celebrity chef. To celebrate her first cookbook, Angelica hosts a launch par...more
Paperback, 326 pages
Published
August 3rd 2010
by Berkley Prime Crime
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This is one LOL book that has a terrific mystery right at the beginning. The best, by miles, in the series yet! Join me reading this book...pre-order it Now!
I began reading this book with laughter and then...it was a murder mystery. The transition was so smooth you felt you were there. Then you get shocked because the 'killer' appears to be after all sorts of persons.
Meanwhile our intrepid sleuth is trying to deal with a couple of personal problems and she is confused with the reactions of pers...more
I began reading this book with laughter and then...it was a murder mystery. The transition was so smooth you felt you were there. Then you get shocked because the 'killer' appears to be after all sorts of persons.
Meanwhile our intrepid sleuth is trying to deal with a couple of personal problems and she is confused with the reactions of pers...more
I really like this Booktown Mystery series. So I picked up books 4 and 5 of the series, and finished them as quickly as I picked them up!
Book 4, or Chapter & Hearse, starts out with a launch party of Angelica's new cookbook, but no one shows up, except this larger than life cut-out of Angelica. Bob Kelly, Angelica's boyfriend since she moved to Stoneham, is suppose to be there, but his car is parked in from of History Repeats Itself, and never shows up for the party. Tricia has never really...more
Book 4, or Chapter & Hearse, starts out with a launch party of Angelica's new cookbook, but no one shows up, except this larger than life cut-out of Angelica. Bob Kelly, Angelica's boyfriend since she moved to Stoneham, is suppose to be there, but his car is parked in from of History Repeats Itself, and never shows up for the party. Tricia has never really...more
So I borrowed a print copy of this book like I said I would, to see if it was any better without Tricia and Angelica ACTUALLY whining in my ear. And it was! Kind of. (I can still hear them)
At last, Tricia doesn't stumble across a random dead body! Instead, a building explodes! Yay! Nosy bookseller go! If I were hottie Captain Baker I would stay as far away from this brand of crazy as possible. Go ahead and keep up that "sickly ex-wife" story, Baker!
Did you know that Tricia HATES when people say...more
At last, Tricia doesn't stumble across a random dead body! Instead, a building explodes! Yay! Nosy bookseller go! If I were hottie Captain Baker I would stay as far away from this brand of crazy as possible. Go ahead and keep up that "sickly ex-wife" story, Baker!
Did you know that Tricia HATES when people say...more
In this Booktown Mystery, Tricia Miles finds herself blown away when the shop History Repeats Itself explodes and Angelica's boyfriend is rushed to the hospital. Sadly, the owner did not make it out alive. Although Bob walked away with a few injuries, he refuses to say anything about the night in question. Since Angelica is off promoting her her cookbook, Tricia has to try to keep an eye on everything for Angelica, including her tight-lipped boyfriend. But Bob wants nothing to do with anyone, es...more
Book store owner Angelica Miles should be on top of the world – she has a new cookbook out and is promoting it on a book tour. However, her happiness is tempered when a gas explosion kills a local merchant and injures her boyfriend Bob Kelly. Bob is acting a bit strangely so Angelica asks her sister Tricia, who also runs a bookstore, to not only keep an eye on Angelica’s businesses while she’s away, but watch over Bob as well. Tricia agrees and soon has her hands full as she begins to investigat...more
Chapter and Hearse: A Booktown Mystery by Lorna Barrett is the fourth book in this cozy mystery series. It is set on the street of my dreams: one book store after another, with a place to find pastries, sandwiches in between all the wonderful books. There are book stores for romance, cooking, travel, mysteries (of course) and history. Unfortunately, the history book store has a gas leak and goes BOOM along with its owner. Was it an accident? The usual characters are all back: Tricia Miles the ow...more
The mystery in this book was slow and uninteresting. Tricia never seemed to be on the right track, and *spoiler* the perpetrator had lame-o "scorned lover" motives.
Anyway, I always enjoy a visit to the fictional Stoneham, NH, which is down the street from where I live, even if its residents are kind of dull and annoying. Actually, most of the supporting characters are okay; it's the protagonist who is insufferable. For example, after a building EXPLODES a paramedic asks her, "are you okay, ma'a...more
Anyway, I always enjoy a visit to the fictional Stoneham, NH, which is down the street from where I live, even if its residents are kind of dull and annoying. Actually, most of the supporting characters are okay; it's the protagonist who is insufferable. For example, after a building EXPLODES a paramedic asks her, "are you okay, ma'a...more
Title: Chapter & Hearse (Booktown Mystery #4)
Author: Lorna Barrett
Publication Date: 2010
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780425236017
Synopsis (from Amazon.com):
Mystery bookstore owner Tricia Miles has been spending more time solving whodunits than reading them. Now a nearby gas explosion has injured Tricia's sister's boyfriend, Bob Kelly, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, and killed the owner of the town's history bookstore. Tricia's never been a fan of Bob, but when she reads that he's being ti...more
Author: Lorna Barrett
Publication Date: 2010
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780425236017
Synopsis (from Amazon.com):
Mystery bookstore owner Tricia Miles has been spending more time solving whodunits than reading them. Now a nearby gas explosion has injured Tricia's sister's boyfriend, Bob Kelly, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, and killed the owner of the town's history bookstore. Tricia's never been a fan of Bob, but when she reads that he's being ti...more
I really enjoyed this mystery, the fourth in a delightful cozy series in which each book seems better than the last. I loved the setting, a New Hampshire town centered on bookstores. In this one, the History Repeats Itself bookshop is hit by a fiery gas explosion, which kills the proprietor and injures a local real estate mogul, and presents our heroine, Tricia, owner of the Haven't Got a Clue mystery bookstore, with yet another case to solve.
The author does a great job of portraying the charact...more
The author does a great job of portraying the charact...more
Title: Chapter and Hearse
Author: Lorna Barrett
Series: Book 4 of the Booktown Mysteries
Mystery bookstore owner Tricia Miles has been spending more time solving whodunits than reading them. Now a nearby gas explosion has injured Tricia's sister's boyfriend, Bob Kelly, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, and killed the owner of the town's history bookstore. Tricia's never been a fan of Bob, but when she reads that he's being tight-lipped about the "accident", it's time to take action.[via Amazon]
I...more
Author: Lorna Barrett
Series: Book 4 of the Booktown Mysteries
Mystery bookstore owner Tricia Miles has been spending more time solving whodunits than reading them. Now a nearby gas explosion has injured Tricia's sister's boyfriend, Bob Kelly, the head of the Chamber of Commerce, and killed the owner of the town's history bookstore. Tricia's never been a fan of Bob, but when she reads that he's being tight-lipped about the "accident", it's time to take action.[via Amazon]
I...more
Lorna Barrett writes with a flow that takes the reader into the story as eye witness to the events. You are there, it feels real. What I like best about reading a series is the character development and consistency; you soon feel you know these people personally, and Lorna is very good at giving her readers those characters. "Chapter & Hearse" is the fourth in the Booktown series.
An explosion rocks the little town of Stoneham, completely demolishing one of the heritage buildings as well as...more
Do you ever read books and get the impression that the author has written the main character with him/herself in mind? That's the feeling I get when reading this series, and this book in particular.
The main character finds the strangest things to comment on and take issue with. For example, she hates when people say, "No problem," in response to being thanked. It's so trivial, and I can see no reason for it to be included in the book other than because it mirrors the author's personal pet peeve....more
The main character finds the strangest things to comment on and take issue with. For example, she hates when people say, "No problem," in response to being thanked. It's so trivial, and I can see no reason for it to be included in the book other than because it mirrors the author's personal pet peeve....more
Frannie goes from being a likable person in the previous books to a weird, raving psycho in this one. It was weird and disappointing. Tricia attempts to buy her friends out of any and every trouble they get into. I can see how everyone would be put off about it. And what was the deal with the dead guy's mom? She asking for money all over the place, even flat-out asking Tricia to pay for the storage space, bemoaning how she has no money, but then goes on a cruise with her boyfriend and later decl...more
This fourth book in the Booktown Mystery series finds Tricia investigating the murder of one of the bookstore owners, with two of the primary suspects being a friend and Tricia’s sister’s boyfriend. I enjoyed this book although not quite as much as most in the series. It just kind of stuck out from the others. It initially troubled me to see who the victim was as well as to see some negative aspects of some of the characters. However, there were some positive happenstances as well with promises...more
This series just keeps getting better and better. I love the whole idea of a theme town with bookstores (what librarian wouldn't?) and the characters are so well drawn that the books just seem to suck me in and hold me captive until I finish them!
In this story Tricia is busy trying to run her bookstore, Angelica's bookstore and Angelica's cafe as Angelica is out on book tour for her new cookbook. Naturally, a dead body shows up and Tricia has to try and solve the mystery as well as juggle three...more
In this story Tricia is busy trying to run her bookstore, Angelica's bookstore and Angelica's cafe as Angelica is out on book tour for her new cookbook. Naturally, a dead body shows up and Tricia has to try and solve the mystery as well as juggle three...more
I started out liking this series except for a few moments of revulsion at Ginny's constant fishing for more money or Tricia's use of the politically incorrect word "retarded" to describe a mentally challenged/special needs child and complete spaciness that there are people in the world that don't eat every day. However, I wanted to give the series another chance.
Big mistake.
I have no desire to read any more of this drivel. The main character, Tricia, has gradually become more and more annoying...more
Big mistake.
I have no desire to read any more of this drivel. The main character, Tricia, has gradually become more and more annoying...more
This is another one of those easy to read and hard to put down cozy mysteries; I finished reading it before I turned out the light. Even if this is classified as a "cozy" things were once again less than cozy for many of the residents of Stoneham, New Hampshire. With explosions, lies, twists and turns there was plenty for our heroine Tricia Miles to uncover. Again we were treated to good food, good fun and a good mystery at the heart of it all. I love the stories behind the main story. What is...more
I don't mind the mysteries, but the main character Tricia can be annoying at times. She is judgmental, self-centered, and snooty. She needs to get over sheriff adams reactions to her theories and share them with Grant.
Why can't she have a love interest? Is she over her husband or interested in Grant? Her reactions to social interactions tend to be on the childish side, which seems to be a way the author is keeping distance between her and the men in her life. The stories aren't bad, but Tricia...more
Why can't she have a love interest? Is she over her husband or interested in Grant? Her reactions to social interactions tend to be on the childish side, which seems to be a way the author is keeping distance between her and the men in her life. The stories aren't bad, but Tricia...more
Unlike a lot of series these days, this one just gets better with time and I'm eager to read the next one in the series (I'm hoping Santa will leave the book for me on Christmas day!). The characters are multifaceted and engaging, plus the mystery was much better than the previous 3rd book in the series. If you want to read the book, though, it's best to start with the first one as this one references previous books.
I'm sad that the only the 5th book has been published so far, but feel better k...more
I'm sad that the only the 5th book has been published so far, but feel better k...more
http://www.cozylittlebookjournal.com/...
The writing is FAR too flawed and amateurish for me to become a real fan of this series, but the premise and setting are just so appealing! A small New England town that has a whole street of just specialty book stores and book-themed cafes? Holy shizz! So unlikely! So cozy! Plus there are old people and recipes and cats and...on second thought maybe the author was trying to cram as many cozy mystery standbys in a single series as she could. I'm surprised...more
The writing is FAR too flawed and amateurish for me to become a real fan of this series, but the premise and setting are just so appealing! A small New England town that has a whole street of just specialty book stores and book-themed cafes? Holy shizz! So unlikely! So cozy! Plus there are old people and recipes and cats and...on second thought maybe the author was trying to cram as many cozy mystery standbys in a single series as she could. I'm surprised...more
I read the first book in this series, and did not like it. More specifically, I did not like the characters. It's not that it wasn't well written, but just that the protagonist, Tricia, seemed unlikeable. I broke a cardinal rule and skipped books two and three in the series, and picking up with book four. Even with some time and seasoning I find that I still don't like Tricia, nor do I like many of the characters in this town. At times they are downright nasty. Maybe by book seven (after skippin...more
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The people we come to love and expect from a series are our friends that we want to return to and visit. Lorna's books are wonderful!
In Barrett's mystery novel, Trisha's sister, Angelica, is now a published author and sadly disappointed in the small turnout to her initial book signing when her boyfriend, Bob Kelly is injured when the bookstore across the street blows up. While not one of Bob's biggest fans, Tricia takes action when he becomes tightlipped about the circumstances surrounding his presence at the accident. As details emerge, Tricia gets up close and personal in a murder investigation that becomes as intense as an...more
Another Booktown Mystery, and although I enjoyed this one more than the last one (it seemed to have fewer "issues" inelegantly plopped in for the protagonist to be clueless about), it was still a pretty silly diversion.
Things I liked:
- Angelica's cookbook tour + the subplot with her standee cutout thing
- Miss Marple, like last time
- Poor put-upon Ginny, though I hope things begin to look up for her
Tricia is as clueless, self-centered, and arrogant as before -- see, for example, the "baking" sce...more
Things I liked:
- Angelica's cookbook tour + the subplot with her standee cutout thing
- Miss Marple, like last time
- Poor put-upon Ginny, though I hope things begin to look up for her
Tricia is as clueless, self-centered, and arrogant as before -- see, for example, the "baking" sce...more
What seems to be an accidental natural gas explosion, killing history bookstore owner Jim Roth, turns quickly into something more evil. When townsman Bob Kelly is on the hook as a favorite suspect, Tricia decides to help the local police as Stoneham seems to have another killer on the loose. The twists in the story, from Jim's mom to the other bookstore owners, keep the story flowing along. Tricia's sister, Angelica, always good for some verbal sparring, was absent a good deal of the story on he...more
Another enjoyable mystery in this bookish series by Ms. Barrett.
This time, Tricia didn't stumble over a dead body, but, somehow, the appellation "jinx" still tainted her! At first, the explosion at the store across the street from Haven't Got a Clue looked like an accident, but it turned out to be murder, and Tricia was once again on the hunt for the killer.
Tricia seemed to run hot and cold in this story. Once minute, she was kind and compassionate and, the next, she thought and said some rather...more
This time, Tricia didn't stumble over a dead body, but, somehow, the appellation "jinx" still tainted her! At first, the explosion at the store across the street from Haven't Got a Clue looked like an accident, but it turned out to be murder, and Tricia was once again on the hunt for the killer.
Tricia seemed to run hot and cold in this story. Once minute, she was kind and compassionate and, the next, she thought and said some rather...more
I like the "voice" of this series and the idea of a New Hampshire town devoted to books, but this particular story never grabbed me. Trisha seemed a little whiny this time and the men in her life were just plain annoying. Her sister is pretty hard to like, most of the other women seem needy in one way or another and, frankly, Mr. Everett and his wife Grace was the most enjoyable personalities this time out. Nevertheless, I finished it. Even the murderer was somehow disappointing. For the first t...more
Hmmmmm. One of my first reads by author Lorna Barrett. A small town mystery set in New Hampshire.
Cute but so many aspects of the book seemed silly to me ... i.e. a small town with multiple bookstore on one street, each selling only one type of mystery book - the Cookery (cookbooks), History Repeats Itself (history books) and Haven't Got A Clue (mystery only)???? Also, I just could not seem to get a feel for the characters - picture them or see their personalities clearly. Still, it was okay for...more
Cute but so many aspects of the book seemed silly to me ... i.e. a small town with multiple bookstore on one street, each selling only one type of mystery book - the Cookery (cookbooks), History Repeats Itself (history books) and Haven't Got A Clue (mystery only)???? Also, I just could not seem to get a feel for the characters - picture them or see their personalities clearly. Still, it was okay for...more
This book starts with a book launch for Angelica's cookbook, however it doesn't go very well. Soon a bookstore across the street is blown to smithereens. Angelica's boyfriend was close by and is rushed to the hospital. He is very tight lipped and mysterious about why he was in the store. Angelica still has to go on her book tour. She has a life size cutout made of herself. While she is gone, the cutout gets humorously dressed in different outfits everyday. We also have the mystery of why Tricia'...more
This one was OK. The owner of the book shop History Repeats is blown up, someone seems to be after Angelica, the owner of The Cookery book shop, and someone in the town is the winner of $20 million. It's entertaining enough and the culprit a bit difficult to pinpoint. The problem is that the protagonist, Tricia, owner of Haven't Got a Clue book store, takes a gigantic leap to figure out who the murderer. I had to read that section a couple of times trying to find the logic in how she figured out...more
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The immensely popular Booktown Mystery series is what put Lorna Barrett’s name on the New York Times Bestseller list, but it’s her talent -- whether writing as Lorna, or L.L. Bartlett, or Lorraine Bartlett -- that keeps her there. This multi-published, Agatha-nominated author pens the exciting Jeff Resnick Mysteries as well as the acclaimed Victoria Square Mystery series and has many short stories...more
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