RMR Project: Feddersen's "Dead in the Melon Patch"

WARNING: Some of my comments here could be considered spoilers. Just so you are warned.


Dead In The Melon Patch by Connie Fedderson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


There are a couple things that bugged me with this one.



1) The POV is pretty unstable with lots of head-hopping primarily between Amanda and Nick. But also to Jenny. I think this could be cleaned up a good bit and that that would improve the story.

2) Amanda's motivation for researching the murder. Ego and being better than her BF. Is that really enough?

3) This is the spoiler bit. One of the clues to the murder is supposed the green car that forces Nick off the road when he is heading to Amanda's after the bombing (only he doesn't know abotu the bomb yet). But how can this car be speeding away after leaving the bomb for Amanda? Amanda arrives home to find a package on her porch. It explodes. She attempts to bandage the wound in her hand then calls and talks to Jenny at the office. Jenny misunderstands, but drives out to Nick to tell him about the call, expecting it to take her half an hour to get there. Nick then has to drive from the field to Amanda's, meaning his encounter with the green car was at least well over half an hour after the bomb was left on the porch. This makes no sense. Even if the bomber hung around to make sure Amanda got the package, she'd have been long gone by the time Nick heads over and wouldn't have any need to be speeding away!

4) The love affair between Nick and Amanda seems like it is a bit too much for a cozy mystery.


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Tense: Past
POV: 3rd limited. CPA dating sheriff. Nope. Found out on p. 26 that isn't right. Omniscient? Head jumping crazy between Amanda and Nick Thorn.
Pretty close to limited with 2 simultaneous POVs but then it breaks again with more heads. Some of this is probably avoidable.

Deaths: p. 18. Sheila MacAdo. Lazy granddaughter of Miz Lulu MacAdo

Suspects: 3 ex-husbands. plenty of lovers. The women she stole the lovers from. An escaped con.


Other: escaped con adds excitement and tension.
love affair between Hazard and Thorn a little too much??
Would be good except POV annoyances. Reader probably wouldn't notice. But then there is that timing bug mentioned in point 3 in the Goodreads review.

RMR Project: Myer's "Play it Again, Spam"

Play It Again, Spam by Tamar Myers

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I didn't really like it. I think partly I am suspicious of the presentations and attitudes shown by Amish, Mennonite, and other Pennsylvania Dutch. It seems more stereotypical than realistic to me.


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Tense: Past

POV: First. Magdalena, a mennonite inn-keeper

Deaths: No one dies until late in the book. There are missing people for earlier tension.

RMR Project: Fluke's "Blueberry Muffin Murder"

It is so long ago that I actually did these, that I am rereading them because I otherwise wouldn't remember anything about them.


Blueberry Muffin Murder by Joanne Fluke

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Lake Eden plans a winter carnival to add some excitement to the usually boring Minnesota Winter. Celebrity chef Connie Mac comes to town and tries to turn the carnival into an advertisement for herself and her new store. Hannah Swenson reluctantly agrees to allow Connie Mac to use the kitchen at her store, The Cookie Jar, to bake a replacement cake for the carnival after an accident destroys the original.

When Hannah finds Connie Mac dead the next morning, she realizes that she wasn't the only one who saw through the chef's pleasant facade to the cruel and manipulative woman underneath. The police shut down her store, forcing Hannah to sift through the suspects to find the killer and save her business.

I really enjoyed this cozy-style mystery. The story was interesting and well-written. The cookie recipes, some of which sound quite good, are an added bonus.

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Published by Kensington Books. Copyright 2002.

Tense: Past

POV: 3rd. Hannah, a cookie baker in a northern Minnesota town. Dates both a dentist and a cop.

Deaths: p. 66, Connie Mac, the Cooking Sweetheart
p. 233. a second body


Suspects: Everyone who knew the victim. She was mean. There are even rumors that a ghost might be involved.

Other: Cookie recipes. Some pretty good.