★★★½
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
SUBJECT: professional golfers, managers
Setting: Spyglass course, CA
CHARACTERS: Lee Ofsted, Kate O'Brian, Lt Graham Sheldon, Peg Fiske, Milton Sawyer, Wilma Snell, Farley Stratton
DATE READ: May 22 - May 23
NO. OF PAGES: 181
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI ,
SOURCE: MCL
PLOT:....................................................................4.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................3.50
TOPICS: ...............................................................3.00
STYLE:..................................................................3.50
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................3.50
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................3.00
OWNERSHIP:......................................................3.50
Threshold Quality.................................................4.00
Average..............................................................................................3.50
Lee Ofsted is a young female golfer trying to make her way on the pro Tour but unfortunately she is having a problem with her 4 wood seemingly always slicing, but only with that club. Trying to save a few dollars, Lee goes to recover her practice balls that landed near the lake on the practice range and discovers another golfer in the lake.
Trying to continue in the tournament as well as discover the murderer makes Lee's golf game a little off par.
I'm going to be looking for the next in this series.
My husband is an avid golfer, I frequently joke that in the ratings of what he counts as most important, golf is ahead of me. I thought reading a book centered on the golf course would be helpful for me to understand his passion. Didn't work that way, but it was a good mystery.
★★★½
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
SUBJECT: Decaf coffee beans, coffee wars
Setting: New York City, NY
CHARACTERS: Clare Cosi, Matt Allegro, Madame DuBois, Rick Gostwick, Ellie Lassiter
DATE READ: May 19 - May 21
NO. OF PAGES: 273
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI , Gastro Challenge
SOURCE: MCL
PLOT:....................................................................4.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................3.50
TOPICS: ...............................................................3.50
STYLE:..................................................................3.50
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................3.50
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................3.00
OWNERSHIP:......................................................3.00
Threshold Quality.................................................4.00
Average..............................................................................................3.50
Somehow I don't think that if I was standing on a street outside of a highrise building, and a body fell and landed splatt!! right next to me, that I would be calm and basically ignore the event after determining that I didn't know the dead person. Clare seems to be a bit too cool in this cozy but it was entertaining.
★★★¼
GENRE: Mystery
SUBJECT: gyspsies, coverups
Setting: Venice Italy
CHARACTERS: Guido Brunetti, Paola Brunetti, Vice Questore Patta, Sigborina Elettra, Vianello
DATE READ: May 4 - May 9
NO. OF PAGES: 304
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI ,
SOURCE: Audio stockpile
PLOT:....................................................................3.00
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................4.00
TOPICS: ...............................................................3.00
STYLE:..................................................................4.00
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................3.00
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................3.00
OWNERSHIP:......................................................3.50
Threshold Quality.................................................3.00
Average..............................................................................................3.31
As this series goes along I've come to the conclusion that it's not the mysteries that draw me but the writing and the characters. Guido Brunetti with so much authority as the Commissario of Homicide is still sensitive and willing to be patient in trying to solve the murder. He wrests from each of the other characters exactly what he expects and somehow gets more.
In this story, Guido is at the scene as a young girl's body is retrieved from the canal and he works diligently to find out why she was there and why she died. When it is discovered that she is a gypsy he must contact her band of relatives and somehow get them to trust him enough to solve the mystery.
Yes, the mystery wasn't that involved, but the characters are so well crafted. Ms Leon is not afraid to show the corruption of the government.
★★★¼
GENRE: Cozy Mystery
SUBJECT:
Setting: Maple Ridge, VT
CHARACTERS: Carolyn Emerson, Bill, Emerson, John Hodges, Herman Meadows, Buch Hardcastle
DATE READ: April 30 - May 2
NO. OF PAGES: 311
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI , 50 US States
SOURCE: Nook stockpile
PLOT:....................................................................3.50
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................3.00
TOPICS: ...............................................................4.00
STYLE:..................................................................3.50
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................3.00
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................3.00
OWNERSHIP:......................................................3.00
Threshold Quality.................................................3.00
Average..............................................................................................3.25
Carolyn Emerson is a potter whose studio, Fire at Will, was the scene of the discovery of dead body, someone she didn't particularly like, so, of course, she's a suspect in the murder. A dead body also doesn't help business, so Carolyn needs to get the murder solved ASAP but the sheriff in the little town of Maple Ridge VT is not one of her greatest fans and seems to be dragging his feet. Enlisting the help of the Firing Squad - amateur potters who use her kiln- Carolyn sets out to find the killer herself.
There were some fun characters in this starter for the Clay and Crime Mystery series and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better.
★★★★¼
GENRE: Fiction
SUBJECT: architecture, dysfunctional family
Setting: Seattle, WA; Antarctica
CHARACTERS: Bernadette Fox, Elgin Branch, Bee Branch, ManjuLa , Audrey Griffen, Soo-Lin Lee-Segal
DATE READ: April 25 - April 30
NO. OF PAGES: 479
Challenges: 75, Category, TIOLI , LILIES
SOURCE: AUDIO stockpile
PLOT:....................................................................4.50
CHARACTERIZATION:.......................................5.00
TOPICS: ...............................................................4.50
STYLE:..................................................................4.00
ORIGINALITY:.......................................................5.00
ADDICTIVENESS:..............................................4.00
OWNERSHIP:......................................................4.00
Threshold Quality.................................................3.00
Average..............................................................................................4.38
Do not judge a book by it's cover - because I know that if this was in a pile of books and I could choose only one, the cover would have sent me searching further in the pile. But I had an advantage - my sister, the librarian. Yes, she told me I'd love it, she told me I'd laugh, but I was still skeptical. I will never again doubt my sister when she says that a book is worthy of my perusal. I probably would have just passed this book by if she hadn't raved about it.
The story is told through a e-mails, letters, newspaper articles from various points of view and this could be chaotic but no it works. The characters are quirky - Bernadette is a reclusive former prize-winning architect who has abandoned her profession to be a stay-at-home mom who neither cleans nor cooks but has a virtual assistant from Asia order takeout, her husband Elgin, a Microsoft big shot, who bicycles to work and ignores his wife and child, and Bee (Balakrishna) the perfect student, who was born with a heart problem that has turned Bernadette into what she is. Then add over-zealous PTA/neighbor Moms and administrative assistants with a crush on the boss, how could Bernadette's world not go berserk.
A intervention gone wrong results in Bernadette's disappearance and an aborted vacation to Antarctica becomes the rabbit hole that Bernadette falls through.
This satirical novel is so amusing that you will laugh out loud, just don't judge it by its cover.
