Sandra C. Lopez's Blog, page 251
October 8, 2020
Review: VANISHING DAY by Valerie Davisson
Logan McKenna was a music teacher that befriended her new neighbor. The new neighbor and her daughter are certainly not who they seem to be. They’re definitely running from something—or someone—as she has the evidence. It’s not too clear what’s going on, but it lends some interest and inspires you to read on.
Story had an easy narrative, but it takes a while to settle in. It was a little too involved in the history and attributes of the characters, which kind of hindered the story. You’d think that the different character views would give more to the story, but it just felt too sporadic to me. It needed a faster pace and more clarity. Not quite as exciting as I anticipated, but it was a nicely written mystery.
My rating: 3 stars
Review: MURDER AT THE COUNTRY CLUB by Judy Moore
A woman was badly playing golf when she spotted the foot of a dead woman. Detective Abby was put on the case because of her golf skills. Somebody killed the cart girl.
I didn’t quite understand the golf play, the rules, or the terminology, because, well…I don’t know anything about golf. In fact, I think some of the golf kind of hindered the story a bit. Story still carries an easy narrative as Abby dives into basic procedurals (questioning, forensics, clues) to solve the case. Although not as compelling as other books by this author, the mystery is still fairly interesting.
My rating: 3 stars
Review: GRANNY SMITH IS DEAD by Chelsea Thomas
Chelsea helps run her family’s apple orchard. The town historian (Granny Smith) was the meanest old lady in town, and everyone hated her. Story discusses the historical aspect of homes and the people a lot, which takes away from the mystery—Granny smith being dead. It takes a while to figure out that the old bat is dead.
Slow pace. Mystery was okay.
My rating: 3 stars
Review: DYING FOR A DRIVE by Susan Harper
Felicity just opened up her party-planning shop. The first day brings in a slew of events, including the town’s annual car show. One of the car owner’s is found dead in the elevator. Strangled by a car belt? There was a killer loose in town and Felicity would use her journalistic skills to find out who it was. She gets more determined than ever when an old friend gets accused of the murder. An interesting mystery and a good read!
My rating: 4 stars
Review: COFFEE AND CORPSES by Maisy Marple
Connie Café always wanted to open her own coffee shop. Sadly, her dream was not to be. She was still single, still living at home, still working at the coffee shop, and still working as a journalist for a small town, where nothing ever happens….until recently when a golf pro champion is found dead. This sounded like an interesting mystery, except she tends to dawdle too much with the dry narratives and bringing up God without getting to the point. It’s not that focused on coffee and didn’t think it would involve so much golf.
Okay read.
My rating: 3 stars
Review: ARSON AT THE ART GALLERY by Catherine Lee
Addison moved into a new beach house with her daughter with a plan to turn it into a B&B. They start renovation and, on a break, her cousin, Laylah, invites them both to her art gallery, where a fire breaks out and a body is found. One cousin was dead and the other had lost everything she owned.
Someone killed Addison’s other cousin and set the gallery on fire. But who?
Having been married to a homicide detective, Addison feels she could solve the case and clear her cousin’s name.
An interesting mystery and a good read!
My rating: 4 stars
Review: BARK ONCE FOR MURDER by Susie Gayle
Pet show owner Will believes every pet deserves a home; they deserve to be with a loving family, not in his store, where they run amok and cause a ruckus. But it’s all good, even when business is not. And it would get even worse with the new pet emporium coming into town.
Angered by the idea that his small seaside town would allow a money-hungry corporation to infiltrate it, Will’s girlfriend decides to take a stand. If that wasn’t enough stress for him, his ex-wife was back in town.
One night before closing, one of the dogs gets loose and finds a body—the dead body of the Pet Emporium owner. Since his girlfriend was particularly vocal about the whole situation, she gets arrested for the murder. With the help of a shelter dog, Will aims to prove her innocence.
A quick and easy read! A good mystery!
My rating: 4 stars
Review: DEATH DOWN UNDER by Samantha Silver
Miki was on her way Down Under. What’s the sport of Skeleton? Evidently, she was banned from it and was shipped to Australia.
It had a slow start. It goes on to describe everything. We don’t need to know everything. Sure is long for such a short novel. We don’t even get to the dead body until Chapter 5.
This wasn’t that great.
My rating: 2 stars
Review: WHO KILLED THE GHOST IN THE LIBRARY? by Teresa Watson
Camille was a ghost writer in desperate need of a job. Then she gets a mysterious note asking her to come to a house about a job. Thing was that house had a haunting mystery. Oooh!
She goes there and meets the man that wants to hire her—only he’s been dead for 60 years. Yikes! Great, now she’s talking to a ghost—and a chauvinistic, arrogant one at that. The ghost claimed that he never shot himself—he was murdered, and he wanted Camille to solve it. For some reason, a ghost from the 1950’s thought a ghost writer dealt with…you know…ghosts.
The mystery was set: who killed the ghost in the library?
Looking into the old murder sounded interesting at first, but then it tapers off as you get more involved in it. Turns more into her helping him resolve his unfinished business rather than figuring out who killed the guy.
Overall, it’s an okay read with snappy quips.
My rating: 3 stars
Review: DIE BUYING by Laura Disilverio
EJ is a mall cop patrolling the stores. Her day stars with a break-in at the Reptile Hut with a bunch of snakes and lizards and whatnots possibly loose in the mall. Yikes!
The whole thing reads kind of slow with character intros and mall layouts. Just nothing but stale mall shenanigans. Kinda boring.
It’s lame that these mall cops have military experience and try to act tougher than they are. Not a good read.
My rating: 2 stars
