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Whew! You know you have stepped up from "cozy" mystery into "standard" mystery, when a grim and serious murder was discovered on page one. This one, including sex organ dismemberment, is gruesome but flitted by quickly. This is not "psychological thriller" / "horror" thankfully.
This novel will be serious without any more gross descriptions than that, about how various cultures / classes will react to everything.

We are in the thick of the action, which we swung into from the beginning. The home time with Brooklyn, her parents, and siblings in their calm commune, not to mention cozier down-time than usual with her boyfriend, Derek and sexy friend, Gabriel; round this story out more nicely than "cozy mysteries" usually do. I like Kate for a reason. However I find it too convenient to suddenly suss out clues in her hometown.

Oh gosh, is it hard to step down from "standard mystery". It's as if some authors take a pass on writing quality, just because they lead with wonderful humour. Here is a tip for authors & reviewers alike. If you find a living person, say "a person". If you find a body, JUST SAY "a body"! As if that weren't annoying enough, Kate repeated "dead" body something like 60 times in 40 pages! I wanted to scream!

Well now we are trotting along. We knew there were personal developments galore but despite flat narration and throwaway dialogue for the first half, we feel the heart of every development and personal development now and are well-invested in them and moved by them. Furthermore the mystery, which never lacked originality, has accumulated intriguing clues that I am enjoying immensely. I will coast through this now.

I asked if anyone knew the "buried spiritual documents" quest novel I was enthusiastic about finding. I had commented on it, no more than a couple of months ago, at the profile of someone not connected with me. I backtracked through "comment" and "like button" history all day, all the way to January 10 and found it at 1:30AM! It is "Mythos Christos"! When I purchase an affordable paperback, it had better be good!

Narration and dialogue lack the oomph of legendary authors I have read lately. That must be what it is, unless an author can be more stilted than usual, because I loved Ellery Adams's first two novels. Perhaps an additional contributer was the need to summarize so much now. As I wrote, however; all the ingredients are here for me to love this story and I do. It grows personal quickly and I am invested in it all.

As my profile bio tells you: my favourite reading is paranormal in "standard mystery" and non-crime in "standard mystery"; not "cozy" or "thriller" However I loved Ellery's first two novels and 40 year-old non-Mom, non-divorced heroine. Unfortunately, this narration flatly states everything, with cardboard, throwaway dialogue. The ingredients for interest are here. I'm enjoying it but not impressed or swept-up.

I prefer "standard mystery" to "cozy mystery" and cats to dogs by far but enjoyed this 40 year-old heroine. We need more of them. However, this volume is starting out flat and narrating at us, instead of "showing". We'll see if I dig it like the others.

What I need is modernity! My whopping 5 novels so far were from 1927, 1930, 1989, 2000 set in 1893 and 2000 in Botswana, which felt far off and old. Hello 2011!

I "liked" fiction someone was reading, about a woman who saves & hides texts from Alexandria before it is wrecked. Protagonists believe they can find them, or did, in present day. It has to do with the truth about Jesus or the gnostic subject. I think it is fairly recent.

Please only reply if you think you know the novel. "Books about Alexandria" list didn't help. Searching excess tips is hard on dial-up speed.

You really wouldn't think that anyone could fall asleep ten pages from a novel's conclusion. Albert Campion is talking with the long-time villain, kept secret for fifty years; with a syndicate that goes back one-hundred years. I am interested in what they say and what the conclusion is. However, if you fall asleep, the quantity of pages outstanding don't matter.

You would think I would get reading faster and remain awake longer, to complete the last few pages.

You would think I would get reading faster and remain awake longer, to complete the last few pages.

Okay, I am perplexed and have to ask. The same people comment 50x on every review mutual friends post. Can any of you 50-comment receivers imagine how it feels not to receive one? I cherish comments! They are almost the whole point for me and I would answer them with excitement and a real conversation. Why my reviews resonate with you, or how you enjoy my writing. I could use a little love, that is visible. :)

I like this book far better than the first. Four stars were a penalty for sacrificing a mouse. No one kills an animal and gets away with it, not even an author. The balance has been a treat, until not just excessive but stupid contexts of saying "gently" multiplied! Fucking say "cautiously"! Next, there is no mystery about fairies as suggested. Finally, Albert fabricated the chief mystery and reveals it later!?

This has gotten enjoyable and I applaud the picturesque, unique setting and a wholly likeable cast of characters. I am pleasantly suprised and will delight in the rest of this 1930 novel! The only criticism is two cases of "Oh, come on". A dying and a kidnapped person, each, get word out to loved-ones; one comprised a full letter. You didn't identify the villain? You couldn't use the note to say where you were?

Phrases like "gazed solemnly or gravely" has to go, rather than occur every coupe of pages. However since we moved settings to "Mystery Mile", which it turns out is a place; the whole atmosphere has become far more interesting, suspenseful, and almost gothic and paranormal than London, a city could have been. I will also grant that we suddenly have a cast of characters and villagers too, who are all very likeable.

I see this getting better. I shall flip pages tonight! I just don't read by day. We all have a lot of other things to do, don't we?

A book opening with sacrificing any animal, including a beautiful mouse, doesn't cut the mustard with me! Using an animal to save a human mammal is not okay. Life is life and they are equal when you get down to souls. There are a million ways to test electricity and save someone without tossing an innocent life onto it. Also, when introduced to Albert Campion in the first novel, I don't recall him being this odd.

Hello everyone! I am going to write a blog post later today and look forward to it. I stayed up late last night finishing things. Those wanting to join my reading themes: sign-up in the buttons at my blog. Our year, February 1 has arrived!

It is my pleasure to welcome you and to declare: Happy RIEDEL Fascination starting day!!!! Start your engines, folks: playtime is on!! Yours truly, Carolyn!

I fell asleep during the chapters-long courtroom monologues again. Different from the opening newspaper reading of Gerald Wimsey's pre-trial, or sentencing I guess you call these things (I am not a police crime fan); I came to love and click with the humour injected all the way through the closing courtroom monolgues. The lawyer is eloquent and hilarious. I have just been working at setting-up my challenges late.

It sounds like people's impression is that the reading themes to which I invite you, task you with some kind of requirements. There are none! :)
These are colourful, fun, themes for sharing WHAT YOU ALREADY READ. Please ask me to clarify questions you might have. All you do is sign-up in the buttons at the blog posts that suit you. Next, add reviews to my lovely review pages through the year, whenever you wish.

Oh how annoyed I am, with falling asleep every night that I want to finish this novel and get grooving on another one. I have reading challenges to do! I also finally grew interested enough that I look forward to the pleasure of a story's conclusion. That's the thing about beds being where we read and retiring later than we plan. I couldn't be closer to the last page than this! I'll try to finish this afternoon.

So close to finishing, it isn't funny. I started to enjoy Peter's humour and personality. Now we are back into detailed courtroom scenes! I woke myself up twice to power through it, shifting one of my cuddly cat sweethearts every time. Angel finally gave her elder, McCartney a try; even though he is one Siamese who is not keen on close cuddling. He likes being by my side all day but not held or pressed against.