BOOK REVIEW: The Strangling on the Stage, by Simon Brett (The Fethering Mysteries)

There's no doubt in my mind that Simon Brett is a very talented mystery writer. He's responsible for one of my favourite mystery novels of all time, The Christmas Crimes at Puzzel Manor. He's also a very prolific writer and, in my opinion, not always consistent. This book, for instance, is definitely not one of my favourites.

It started out with some great elements. It's set in the world of amateur theatre ("SADOS" not "am-drams"), which is always fun. It reminded me of "The Dangers of Gingerbread Cookies," by Laura Levine, or the movie Hot Fuzz in that respect. 

Of course it's strange to read a Simon Brett mystery about the theatre without having Charles Paris show up, but I suppose Paris is an amateur detective but a professional actor so he wouldn't be anywhere near the am-drams (sorry, SADOS). But it's a good setting, flush with drama, histrionics and things not being as they appear.

Which brings us to the murder, the so-called 'strangling on the stage.' It seems straight forward enough. A prop Velcro noose is replaced with a real one and an actor is hanged while reahearsing a gallows scene. So who switched the ropes? Seems simple enough but it felt like 150 pages are devoted to nothing else but this question. I really could have used a few subplots to keep the interest up.

And if I never read the words "drinkie things" again in my life, it'll be too soon. It's what the SADOS members call their after theatre cocktails and according to my e-reader the phrase appears over thirty times in the book. I don't believe that. I'm sure it was more like 200 times. And we don't actually get to see much "drinkie"-ing!

The whole book could have taken a cue from that old Elvis song, "A Little Less Conversation (A Little More Action)". And no "drinkie things"!

BOOK DETAILS:
The Strangling on the Stage
A Fethering Mystery
by Simon Brett
Publisher: Creme de la Crime
Publication Date: February 1, 2014
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Source: NetGalley


MENTIONED IN THIS REVIEW:

Gingerbread Cookie
Murder
(my review)

The Christmas Crimes
at Puzzel Manor
(my review)

Hot Fuzz

A Little Less Conversation

BOOK REVIEW: I finally read an Ann Cleeves book and it was pretty great

I love a British mystery. There are many British mystery series that I love to read, and plenty TV adaptations that I love to watch, but few that I love in equal measure. Either the show does no justice to the books, or else it's so good that I hate to admit I like it better than the original stories. But the ITV adaptation of Ann Cleeves' Vera Stanhope mysteries hits just the right balance, and I love them both.

Reading Silent Voices was like watching an episode of Vera, except all of my extra questions about the characters were explained (I know, this sounds obvious, but I'm not sure how else to say it). The tone was the same in the book as it is in the show, so if you've seen the show and hate it, you might not like the books at all.

This entry in the series is a story of a social worker and single mom whom Vera finds dead--a victim of strangulation--in the steam room of her gym. I love the moment when Vera realizes she'll have to call it in, meaning that everyone at work will know she's joined a health club. Realizing she has no choice, she at least takes the time to change back into her street clothes before her team arrives. No need to be seen in her swim suit, even if there is a crime scene!

The pace is somewhat slow, but I didn't find it dragged on. The pace made sense for the setting. Everyone is lying and everyone is at least a little bit depressed about something, so they don't make for very helpful witnesses. DI Stanhope, herself a little depressed and secretive, knows how to get things out of people eventually. These are, after all, her people. The bleakness of the setting is a big part of the charm.

Only Ann Cleeves could make a character as grumpy and frumpy as Vera Stanhope seem like the most capable, formidable, and oddly likeable detective ever. If I had a crime that needed solving, I'd want Vera to solve it. Unless of course I was the criminal, in which case I'd probably break down eventually, confessing everything to her over a cup of spiked tea and a good cry. She'd give me a biscuit, call me pet, and then cart me off to jail in handcuffs. She's made of stern stuff, our Vera.


BOOK DETAILS:
Silent Voices (A DI Vera Stanhope Mystery)
by Ann Cleeves
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: May 7, 2013
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Source: local library



RELATED POSTS:

Death of a Policeman

A Very British Murder

Hercule Poirot and the Greenshore Folly

BOOK REVIEW: Clammed Up, by Barbara Ross (A Maine Clambake Mystery)

I love cozy mysteries. Like most avid readers, I read a lot of different kinds of books, but I have a guilty-pleasure favourite genre. I adore a good paperback murder that has an amateur sleuth snooping around her small town looking for clues and handing out recipes. Ooh how I love them! And because I love the genre so much, I'll usually put up with a lot of the mediocrity that comes with genre fiction (by that I mean that even though there are many, many great examples of the genre, there are inevitably also many less successful ones...and I love most of them just the same).

With Barbara Ross' Maine Clambake series, however, no forgiveness is required. Her writing is stellar, right out of the gate. In fact, if someone who had never read a cozy mystery before asked me to recommend a book to introduce them to the genre, I might choose this one.

Barbara Ross understands everything that I love about fiction in general and mysteries in particular. First, her setting is a real place. I don't just mean that she set the book in a place that exists in real life (I don't care about that...fictional places are just fine), but that she describes it in a way that is so deliciously realistic that I feel I could walk down any street in her book and I would know exactly what it would look and smell like. She spends time on her secondary characters, giving them things to do other than just provide clues to the murder investigation (which is wonderful because some of them are hilarious).

I had actually started reading the second book in this series, Boiled Over, first but then was enjoying it so much that I decided to stop and read this one first. Because of that, I think it was a little easier for me to figure out "whodunnit" in this one. I'd recommend just reading them in order if you can. They're both heaven.

BOOK DETAILS:
Clammed Up
A Maine Clambake Mystery (Book 1)
by Barbara Ross
Published by Kensington
Publication Date: September 3, 2013
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Source: my local library


ALSO MENTIONED:

BOOK REVIEW: Rosemary and Crime, by Gail Oust

I'll admit I picked up this cozy for the title. It's a hell of a title. Like many cozy mystery titles, it's pun-based, and after binge watching all three seasons of Rosemary and Thyme (an absolutely delightful British mystery series that has nothing to do with this book), it was a pun I was particularly susceptible to. Plus, I had a vague recollection of reading a review and/or giveaway for this book on another book blog some time ago, though I couldn't remember if the review had been positive. No matter. I figured I'd pick it up and decide for myself.

I wouldn't say I was over the moon for this book or its characters. There was something unconvincing about the whole thing right from the beginning.



The premise is that our heroine--not that I found myself rooting for her much--runs a spice shop in a small town in Georgia. A spice shop. As in, one that only sells spices. I'm not sure how she'll manage to stay in business! Granted, I'm sure these shops do exist, but the author has the spice shop owner doing such "radical things" as putting curry in mayonnaise (shocking, I know!), only to have the people in the town revolt over such exotic spiciness. Yeahhh...that's not a town that can support a spice shop.



But I decided to ignore it. After all, Gail Oust is hardly the first author to create an amateur detective who runs a shop that couldn't possibly make enough money to stay afloat (*ahem* Joan Hess).

Beyond the premise, though, it's the little things that kept taking me out of the story. Our "heroine," Piper, discovers the body (of course) and panics (okay) and thinks to herself that she should contact the authorities to "report the crime" (good). But then when the police arrive and spend most of their time being excessively rude and snappish (why?) and tell her they have a murder to investigate, she freaks the hell out. Murder! She never considered it might be murder! She's beyond shocked! Except that no, she can't be, because she just called it a crime scene two pages ago!

It's just those kinds of little things that annoyed me throughout this book. I believe the technical term is "bad writing."



Even if I had been willing to overlook the flaws in the storyline, it's not like I was enjoying following the characters around or being immersed in the setting. The town is dull and unpleasant, all of the characters are irritating, and Piper Prescott the spice shop lady only has two settings: shock and rage. She goes from being shocked to outraged and back again so frequently throughout the book that her resting face must be a deep scowl. If she used Twitter her favourite hashtag would be #whyInever. In short, she's unpleasant.



I can't say I'd recommend this book. I would, however, recommend a lot of OTHER books with similar themes that have been better writing and more likeable characters. Maybe some of those Laura Childs Southern tea mysteries, for instance. Or the new Maine Clambake series by Barbara Ross (soooo good!). Or the particularly on point Penn Dutch series by Tamar Myers that includes this title. Or...well you're spoiled for choice really. No need to settle for one that doesn't suit. And for me, this one just didn't measure up.




BOOK DETAILS:
Rosemary and Crime
by Gail Oust
Publisher: Minotaur
Publication Date: December 17, 2013
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Source: local library

BOOK REVIEW: The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches, by Alan Bradley

The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches
A Flavia de Luce Mystery
Author: Alan Bradley
Series: Flavia de Luce
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: January 14, 2014
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Source: NetGalley

There are few things that excite me more than seeing a new Flavia DeLuce mystery by Alan Bradley. With the familiar cover art it's easy to spot them right away, and when I saw The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches on NetGalley I literally squealed. Quite loudly in fact.

I read the entire book in the first twenty-four hours I had it, partly because it's a short book and partly because I couldn't put it down.

This is Book #6 in the series and it--more than any of the previous novels--is not a stand alone story. It picks up where the cliffhanger ending of the last book (Speaking From Among the Bones) left off. In fact it's the last book in the original story arc that Alan Bradley had planned, though apparently there will be at least four more books after it.

BOOK REVIEW: The Body in the Piazza, by Katherine Hall Page

The Body in the Piazza: A Faith Fairchild Mystery, by Katherine Hall Page

Published by HarperCollins on April 30, 2013

First reviewed on Cozy Little Book Journal on April 4, 2013

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I didn't quite "get" this book. I haven't read any in the Faith Fairchild series so I'm not sure exactly what I expected, but it wasn't this. Faith Fairchild is the wife of a minister who travels (extensively, by the looks of some of the other titles), this time to Rome. Although it seems like Faith and her husband Tom are happily married, almost as soon as they arrive Faith engages in a flirtatious and--to my mind--wildly inappropriate relationship with a British stranger named Freddy Ives (mild spoiler: he's the "body" in the piazza). The beginning of the book read like a cross between The Man Who Knew Too Much with Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day and Bitter Moon with Hugh Grant and Kristin Scott Thomas. But Faith and Freddy never actually kissed or anything, so I was left wondering if I was misreading it. Was I more prudish than the author of a series about a minister's wife? It was weird.

Weirder still is the fact that after Freddy is murdered, Faith initially vows to solve the crime (as one would expect in a "Faith Fairchild Mystery") but then leaves to go on some sort of cooking retreat with her husband for a huge portion of the book. It does all tie in at the end, but I was confused by the change of pace. All sense of urgency was gone as Faith spent days and days perfecting her homemade pasta. I actually found myself skipping ahead to make sure they really did get back to talking about Freddy eventually.

Ultimately it was the lack of urgency that made the book fall apart for me. The author note at the end talks about her own to trip to Italy which was the basis of the book (even the author's note was long and rambling and didn't connect to anything). It seems obvious that this book was a "love letter to Italy" as the author says, but with a murder mystery thrown clumsily in so she could call it a mystery. Mostly it's just a collection of "stuff that happened" with little connective tissue and no stakes. It should have been called Eat, Pray, Murder.

BOOK REVIEW: Out of the Frying Pan, by Robin Allen

Out of the Frying Pan

(A Poppy Markham Culinary Cop Mystery)

Author: Robin Allen

Publisher: Midnight Ink Books

Publication Date: July 8, 2013

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It was pretty good. With an amateur sleuth in the form of a food safety inspector (but I like "culinary cop" better) and a murder that takes place on an organic farm, it satisfies the cozy mystery fan AND the wannabe foodie in me. And a lot of the characters are fantastic, particularly the socialite stepmother (whom I pictured as a slightly younger Lucille Bluth). But at times I felt like I needed the out of state translation guide. It seemed VERY Texas at times, with more references to college football than I could keep up with. There were entire passages I had to reread slowly just to figure out which things I needed to look up. This should not be a problem for people who know about Texas, American colleges, or sports, but I fit into none of those categories. 

Apart from being a little confusing (almost convoluted) at times, I'd give it a solid B+.

BOOK REVIEW: Killer Librarian, by Mary Lou Kirwin

Killer Librarian
Author: Mary Lou Kirwin
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publication Date: November 27, 2012
Source: local library
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Full Disclosure: I didn't finish this book. I rarely abandon a book I'm not enjoying, not because I have a problem doing so, but because so many of the books I read have been provided by publishers through review programs (usually in the form of digital galleys) and I feel bad abandoning them because then I can't write a proper review. So usually I slog on, even if I'm hating the book (which almost always results in a negative review, but at least an honest one). In this case I had gotten the book from the library so I hadn't promised a review to anyone, so I didn't feel bad about stopping after only a few chapters.

So here's why I abandoned Killer Librarian:

BOOK REVIEW: Gingerbread Cookie Murder, by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine and Leslie Meier

Gingerbread Cookie Murder
Authors: Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine and Leslie Meier
Publisher: Kensington Books
Publication Date: October 1, 2010
Source: my local library
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This is actually a three-in-one book with three separate stories, all with gingerbread cookie themes, by Joanne Fluke, Laura Levine and Leslie Meier. (Sorry for the lateness of this Christmas-themed review, but I usually don't even get a chance to read my Christmas-themed mysteries until January as it is!)

BOOK REVIEW: The Body in the Sleigh, by Katherine Hall Page

The Body in the Sleigh: A Faith Fairchild Mystery, by Katherine Hall Page

Published by William Morrow on October 27, 2009

Review first appeared on Cozy Little Book Journal on February 2, 2014

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I've read at least one Faith Fairchild mystery before and I enjoyed it, but this one didn't quite live up to my expectations. It started off very promising but the pace slowed to a crawl at times and it seemed the author was still laying down establishing details and character background right up to the last page.

BOOK REVIEW: The Great Cake Mystery, by Alexander McCall Smith

The Great Cake Mystery: 
Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case 
Series: A Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Book for Young Readers
Author: Alexander McCall Smith
Illustrator: Iain McIntosh
Publisher: Anchor
Publication Date: April 3, 2012
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Originally published in the UK by Polygon on February 1, 2012, with the title "Precious and the Monkeys"
Source: local library (digital)
Author's website
Illustrator's website

Magda and I read this in one sitting. It's absolutely delightful! It's based on the character from The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, except it's her as a little girl, solving her first case. She's logical and adorable! My daughter and I were thoroughly charmed.

BOOK REVIEW: The Litter of the Law, by Rita Mae Brown

The Litter of the Law: A Mrs. Murphy Mystery, by Rita Mae Brown (and Sneaky Pie Brown)

Published by Bantam, October 22, 2013

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Before my first blog, Cozy Little Book Journal, was even a book blog, it was an actual journal that I kept beside my bed and used to record my thoughts on books I had read. One of the reasons I did that was for books like this. I read a lot of cozy mysteries and sometimes when I discover a series I like, I want to make sure I can find that author again. Other times I want to warn myself that this series is not for me. The reason I need to take notes is because, with cozy mysteries, they can all start to look the same after a while.

Take, for example, the cat cozy. There are a million of them. I remember reading something by Marian Babson on my lunch break once and my boss said, "Oh is she the woman who writes all those cat mysteries?" and I said, "No, you're thinking of that other one." In other words, there are a LOT of "that woman who writes the cat mysteries." It's hard to remember which ones I like and which ones I don't.

BOOK REVIEW: A Christmas Secret, by Anne Perry

NOTE: Oh. my. GAWD. Can't even deal with this.
A Christmas Secret
Author: Anne Perry
Series: The Christmas Stories
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: November 7, 2006
Source: local library
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NOTE: So I read and reviewed this book before I realized that Anne Perry was, in fact, herself a convicted murderer. I'm still trying to process that information. (Agghhhhh! That's the sound my mental processing makes.)

This is the first Anne Perry book I've ever read and I was pleasantly surprised. I guess I've always avoided her because, despite the "mystery" label, her covers always look like they belong on romance novels (not my favourite genre). And with a plot description about a 19th century vicar's wife who accompanies her husband to a remote village at Christmastime to replace the regular pastor, well, I was afraid the only "secret" she'd be uncovering would be the "secret to a happy marriage" and maybe a new biscuit recipe. But I am happy to say I was wrong.

BOOK REVIEW: A Grid For Murder, by Casey Mayes

A Grid For Murder: A Mystery By the Numbers, by Casey Mayes

Published by Berkley Prime Crime, 2012

Review first appeared on Cozy Little Book Journal on September 8, 2013

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It's a good little cozy, or rather it's almost a good little cozy. My main problem with it is the flaw in the lead character's logic. The amateur sleuth, Savannah Stone, makes the same leap of logic when trying to solve a murder that nearly all cozy sleuths make: she is so obsessed with finding people with motive that she completely ignores means and opportunity. Who was actually in the area when the victim was killed? Who could have had access to her in the time period before she died? She's focused solely on the "why" and not the "how."

BOOK REVIEW: The Advent of Murder, by Martha Ockley

The Advent of Murder:
A Faith Morgan Mystery
Author: Martha Ockley
Publisher: Lion Hudson
Publication Date: July 19, 2013
Source: NetGalley
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Oh I'm a sucker for a good vicar mystery. The Father Dowling Mysteries, The Father Brown Stories (both with excellent TV adaptations), Sidney Chambers stories (we need more of those!) and now, the Faith Morgan series.

Faith Morgan is a lot of cozy mystery detective types all in one. She's a former police officer who has changed careers and become a vicar, and she has to deal with her surly police inspector of an ex-boyfriend Ben (I've never thought of vicars as having ex-boyfriends), and in this one she has to solve a murder while planning the Christmas pageant. Oh and it's a Christmas cozy! Basically this book was written with me in mind. If it had somehow included recipes or puzzles, I would have been in heaven.

BOOK REVIEW: Forget Me Knot, by Mary Marks

Forget Me Knot
A Quilting Mystery
Series: Quilting Mystery (#5)
Author: Mary Marks
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: January 7, 2014
Source: NetGalley
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Forget Me Knot is the "other sort" of cozy mystery from A Dark and Stormy Knit. While the two books are very similar--they are both amateur sleuth cozy mysteries set in the world of needlecraft--A Dark and Stormy Knit leads up to the murder with a series of escalating conflicts while Forget Me Knot just dives right in. I'd barely cracked the cover (okay that phrase is meaningless because I read it on my e-reader, but I couldn't think of the comparable term--"barely opened the file"?) when I'm confronted with a dead body. But that's not necessarily a bad thing if handled deftly, which this quilting mystery is.

BOOK REVIEW: A Dark and Stormy Knit, by Anne Canadeo

A Dark and Stormy Knit: A Black Sheep Knitting Mystery, by Anne Canadeo

Published by Gallery Books on January 14, 2014

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I should have known when I picked this up that I was going to love it. It's by the author of The Silence of the Llamas (I'm in love with that title) AND it involves both knitting and knit graffiti. I just started knitting last year and I'm finally at the point where I really enjoy it, plus I've been fascinated by knit graffiti because one of their most famous "leaders" has the same name as my daughter (Magda).

BOOK REVIEW: Killer Honeymoon, by G.A. McKevett

Killer Honeymoon

A Savannah Reid Mystery

Author: G.A. McKevett 

Publisher: Kensington 

Publication Date: March 26, 2013 

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I think I've only read one other book in the Savannah Reid series, and I remember it being a fun read (though apparently I had some issues with the fact checking, according to my review), so I was happy to get my hands on this. I've been reading so many heavy, heartbreaking books lately that I was due a nice light read. And thank goodness for it! It was exactly what I was looking for in a cozy mystery and it came at the perfect time.

One thing I liked about this one in particular is how the author managed to make her main characters--a police officer and a private investigator--feel like amateur sleuths (in a good way).  While on vacation (the titular killer honeymoon, no less), Savannah Reid and her new husband Dirk (Are people really named Dirk? Perhaps only in the South?) stumble upon a dying woman, the victim of multiple gunshot wounds. Although they are unable to save her, they do hear her dying declaration and are prepared to make a statement to the local police. Unfortunately the police seem more interested in protecting the reputation of the tourist destination than solving the murder of the woman, who turns out to be a popular news anchor. Obviously, Dirk and Savannah have to step in and solve the crime, with or without the help of the police!

BOOK REVIEW: A Bat in the Belfry, by Sarah Graves

A Bat in the Belfry

A Home Repair is Homicide Mystery

Author: Sarah Graves

Publisher: Bantam (Random House Publishing) 

Publication Date: April 30, 2013 

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I've only read one other book in Sarah Graves' "Home Repair is Homicide" series, Wreck the Halls, and that was so long ago I don't remember anything about it. I vaguely remember liking it, but based on my review (written before I had a book blog, back when I just jotted down my thoughts on the books I'd read in a little notebook on my night stand), I did not.

Still, after several weeks of increasingly depressing reads, I was all set for a nice cozy mystery. The problem was that this one was a little darker than I had hoped, opening with a young teenaged girl being bound and murdered in the church belfry. Eesh. But it wasn't quite tense enough to be a thriller either, so it was sort of in between "cozy" and "gruesome."