RMR Project: Hart's "Resort to Murder"

Resort to Murder by Carolyn Hart

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Henrietta Collins reluctantly agrees to accompany her grandchildren to Bermuda for their father's wedding. She hopes to spend much of the time recovering from pneumonia. Unfortunately strange happenings bring back tragic events from a year earlier, upsetting the bride-to-be. Henrie worries that her granddaughter is involved and sets out to find out what is happening.

I really enjoyed this mystery. It is filled with tension and well-written.

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Tense: past

POV: first person. 70+ Henrie Collins. Former reporter.

Deaths: page 37. Earlier suicide of husband of woman who runs hotel year before.
Page 62. Waiter claims it was murder.
Page 103. A staff member dies.
Page 236. A member of the wedding party is killed.

Suspects: the wedding party, the hotel manager.

Other: first chapter has granddaughter wishing her future stepmother dead.

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.

RMR Project: Crane's "Miss Seeton Cracks the Case"

Miss Seeton has a knack for finding and getting into trouble. She is quite unaware of this and very humble about the occasions when it puts her into a situation where she can help the police solve a crime or two.

The police call her in to help as a police artist when a gang of criminals target the elderly for home robbery. Her skills also come in handy with some highway robbery cases.

Miss Seeton Cracks the Case was published by Berkley Books and has a 1991 copyright. I think someone else created the Miss Seeton character because the top of the cover says "Heron Carvic's Miss Seeton."

This is much different than most of the mysteries I read. It does include a death, but the heroine doesn't even know about it. The man died as a result of the home robbery so Miss Seeton solves it when she locates the band that did that and other home robberies.

Despite this significant difference--or perhaps because of it--the book was a very fun read. Miss Seeton is an interesting character with a good blend of strengths and weaknesses.

Tense

Past.

POV

Third person omniscient. This is unusual. Most of the cozies I've read had either been first person or limited omniscient. It does tend to focus on one group of characters per scene, but there is also a clear narrator voice in several places. But I liked the narrator.

Deaths

p. 14. RSM Brent. An elderly man killed by the "Sherry Gang" in a home robbery gone wrong.

p. 76. No death exactly, but a great deal of focus on rumors of a possible dead body being hidden in an air raid shelter thirty years earlier.

Suspects

They don't identify any specific suspects until near the end. They believe two women and a man are involved in the two gangs, but the details aren't revealed until the end. The reader, like the police, has to wonder whether it is one gang doing two types of crimes or two separate gangs.

RMR Project: McKevett's "Just Desserts"

I haven't gotten behind on my reading, but I have gotten behind on posting them to the blog.

Savannah Reid is a police officer who takes her job seriously. When she gets a job, she cares about doing it right. But when the husband of a local politician is killer, Savannah's dedication to the truth costs her her badge but she still doesn't give up.

Just Desserts was published by Kensington Books and has a 1995 copyright. The author is using a pseudonym, but the real name isn't listed in the book. I couldn't find mention of others, so this must be the first in the Savannah Reid series and the first using this pseudonym.

I like Savannah. She has a great sense of humor, a love of chocolate and other small luxuries, and cares about her friends and family. The book is pretty well done, but the POV break I will mention later really bothered me.

Tense

Past.

POV

Most of the book is told in third person limited omniscient from the perspective of Savannah herself.

However, it switched from pages 281 to 282 to Ryan, I think. I remember really studying the switch. I really think the story could have been told without the break. Enough details could have come from Savannah's perspective. This single irregularity in POV really bothered me when I was reading it.

Deaths

p 17. a homicide by shotgun. Later determined to be Jonathan Winston, wife of a councilwoman.

p. 254. Another homicide. Don't like spoilers, so won't tell you who.

Suspects

• Beverly Winston, the victim's wife. She is the prime suspect
• Police Chief Norman Hillquist, who takes a very personal interest in the case
• Fiona, Jonathan's ex-wife
• Danielle Lamont, another ex-lover
• Eric Bowman, a scumbag
• Paul Connors, another designer

Other

Savannah's dialog has a southern flavor.

The start to the book is made exciting by having Savannah and her partner chasing down a fugitive.

Tension is increased with tips from an anonymous caller--a woman with a NY accent.

RMR Project: Black's "A Vow of Fidelity"

 

When she receives a photograph of her art college class, Sister Joan is reminded of her promise to meet her classmates for a 20 year reunion. She is allowed to go, provided she uses the opportunity to advertise for the convent's new retreat offers.

At the meeting in London, Sister Joan learns that two of her classmates are already dead. Her visit to a third's home reveals that he died a few months earlier. As if that weren't enough to make her suspicious, the woman she talked to at the home of the deceased is murdered a few hours after they spoke.

The remaining classmates decide to book a retreat at the convent to continue the reunion. Then Sister Joan receives another copy of the class photo--with a threat in it. Can she find out what is going on before more classmates die?

A Vow of Fidelity was published by St. Martin's Paperbacks and has a 1995 copyright.

Despite the foreignness of the main character (I am not religious so have no experience with nuns and convents), I was comfortable with her perspective and quickly drawn into the story. The characters are interesting and realistic and the entire story is exciting. A good read.

Tense

Past.

POV

Vow of Fidelity is told in third person limited omniscient from the perspective of Sister Joan. Despite careful study, I found no POV breaks. It is very well done and Sister Joan is an interesting character.

Deaths

There were plenty of deaths talked about in the book, but only one is in the present. On page 26, we find out that Sally, the wife of a classmate and a classmate herself, died a few years earlier after a fall from a car park. The car park was known to be dangerous and her death is considered an accident, but there is some question in the minds of the classmates.

Bryan Grimes, another former classmate, was killed in a hit-and-run. We find this out on page 29.

Sister Joan learns of the death of Serge, a third classmate, on page 47. He had died a month earlier of an overdose. But his girlfriend swears he didn't take drugs and was not suicidal.

The death of a gypsy child on page 138 is a reminder of a child who died several years earlier.

There is another death on page 162, but telling you about it would be too much of a spoiler.

Suspects

Sister Joan fears that one of her living classmates is behind the crimes. She focuses her attention there.

Other

There was plenty of back story but it wasn't intrusive.

The book is a fine read on its own, even without knowledge of the several earlier books in the series.

RMR Project: Carter's "Candy Apple Dead"

 

Candy Apple Dead by Sammi Carter revolves around Abby, a corporate lawyer who returned to her hometown after her marriage failed and took over her great aunt's candy shop. When a friend's store burns down and his body is found in the rubble, her brother is the townspeople's main suspect. Assuming, of course, that the man didn't burn the shop down himself and get caught in the blaze. Abby can't believe either could be thought guilty, but soon finds out many things about both of them that she didn't know.

The book was published by Berkley Prime Crime and has a 2005 copyright. For subgenre, it is probably somewhere between a regular cozy and the newer class "culinary," which seems to simply be a cozy with a food aspect. Candy recipes are included (not something that would make me buy a book, but who knows).

I really liked this one. Even better than the previously read one in the project. I may partly prefer it because the POV is more like my own work. The characters were real and I could relate to them easily. The woman's need to find the answers herself were very understandable. Even analyzing it closely, I didn't find any real problems with the book. Just one spot where it says she turns on the flame then half a page later starts the burner--for the same pot. Not a big deal and probably not very noticeably problematic if reading just for fun.

The play between what the narrator thought of characters versus what the town thought added to the enjoyment. Abby made you sympathize with the dead guy even when the rest of the town had a grudge. She had a great sense of humor and personality as well.

POV

First person. Abby herself narrates the story and I found nothing that even hinted at a possible POV break.

Tense

Past.

Deaths

The victim fails to turn up for a date with Abby already just a little way into the book. Then the fire happens soon after (p. 18). An unidentified body is found under the rubble of the fire on page 42, but is not identified as Brandon until page 62.

Suspects

Although Abby tries to suspect pretty much everyone, the police only appear to suspect Wyatt, her brother, and Brandon himself of starting the fire. Abby turns up hints of other possible suspects on her own.

Other

Page 9 foreshadows events to come as the end of chapter hook. This makes sense when it is written in past tense--as if Abby herself wrote the tale once it was completed. But I am not sure I like that as much--I think I prefer to believe the narrator is just as ignorant of what's going to happen as I am.

Chapter 1 has minimal back story but Ch. 2 has plenty of it.

In the earlier chapters, I played close attention to the EOC hooks and found them very effective. I forgot to pay as much attention later on. Also by that time you are so far into the book that you want to know what happens anyway, even if the EOCs had been a little weak (not saying they were--I didn't notice).

RMR Project: Page's "The Body in the Belfry"

 

The Body in the Belfry is, according to the back flap, Katherine Hall Page's first book and it earned her the Agatha Award for best first mystery novel. From a reader perspective, it captivated me easily and carried me happily along on its tale. No problems with suspension of disbelief or characterization. A pleasant read.

Copyright 1990. Published by Avon Books.

Now for the more clinical aspects.

POV

The book starts out with Faith, a minister's wife and new mom. My expectation after reading the first few pages was that it would be a third person limited omniscient POV. I was wrong.

Already within the first chapter I found hints of omniscient--no clear narrator, but obviously more than Faith should know.

As a short example of the most glaring breaks of Faith's POV:

• p. 73-74. Dave's POV
• p. 79. 1 para of Dunne, back to Faith, then a touch of Tom
• p. 82. Millicent
• p. 92. Pix.
• p. 106. Scott

By the time I'd gone through that headhopping section, I quit noting the shifts, declaring it some kind of third person omniscient perspective.

I think I need to study more on third person omniscient because of the questions I am left with.

Was Page trying to write third person omniscient or did she just break the limited POV without realizing it?

Perhaps she was not edited as firmly because of her Agatha prize? Is the prize awarded to a draft or to a published book? If the former, the award might result in less thorough editing in the haste to get it published.

Tense

Past. That was easy.

Deaths

There are two. Cindy Shepherd on page 12 with a knife and a second murder on page 168. I won't reveal the victim and method of the second here because it might be a bit of a spoiler.

Suspects

Pretty much the entire town and even beyond. The first victim was quite a troublemaker. The second narrows the suspect field in some directions and opens it in others.

Other

The first chapter is all back story. That continues up to the death on p. 12. Agents on Twitter recently have been talking a lot about the importance of limiting back story in the early chapter. I guess no one told this author or she did it so well that no one was disturbed?

Rereading Mysteries for Research: The Project

I always said this blog would be about whatever didn't fit in my dog blog. This may get boring for some people, but I don't really have a gumption to start a new blog right now. If it seems necessary at some point, advise me. I have a complicated brain and a complicated life and am not very good at compartmentalizing. But I will try to index intelligently to make the blog more useful for readers.

In case you don't know this already, I am trying to write a mystery. To help myself on this goal and occupy times when pain keeps me from writing, I've decided to go back through all the mysteries I have, which I have read at least once already for pleasure, and start trying to get more useful tidbits out of them.

The things I look at will probably vary with time based on whatever is worrying me most about writing, but so far I am working with a rough note scheme with the following categories.

• POV
• Tense
• Deaths (who, how, what page)
• Suspects
• Whodunit
• Other

I am going to post these on my blog as I do it in case the info is useful to anyone else. However, I suppose I must have the Whodunit part only in my notes. I refuse to put out total spoilers right now.

I guess you could say I'm not ready to share my work with the world, but I will share my research! The notes won't exactly be reviews, but may interest someone. Who knows.

Book Review: "The Equivoque Principle" by Darren Craske

This is my first attempt at a book review, so please forgive me if it sucks. I won this book in a drawing from Caroline Smailes.

The Equivoque Principle is a murder mystery set in Victorian England. When a bishop hires criminals to clear a section of England, Cornelius Quaint and the members of Dr. Marvello's Traveling Circus are dragged into the middle of the killing spree. Prometheus, the strong man, is framed for the murders by being drugged and left with the body of his love.

Struggling to prove the mute innocent, the troupe is forced to face nightmares from Prometheus’s and Quaint's pasts. The quest is a trying one that unites the group, but forces some members to face their fears of their own inadequacies.

Personally, I enjoyed the book. I found myself quickly drawn into the vibrant settings and connecting to the humanity of the unusual circus characters. Although most people's personal struggles are not as dramatic as those in the book, I think it is easy to relate to the issues of loyalty, trust, and fear of failure.

Even if I weren't trying to hide from pain, I think I would've had great difficulty putting the book down in the middle. The book is well paced and keeps you hooked on every page.

Although it is written in third person omniscient, the writer has held back enough important information to leave the reader guessing. It also gives enough view into the perspective of individual characters to allow the reader to feel a bit of a bond with those characters.

One thing is bugging me about the ending. I feel like there is a flaw in the book, but it was late and I was drugged and I might just read something wrong. I'm going to have to reread part of it to check how those bits hang together. However, even if I am right that there is a flaw there, I doubt the average reader will notice.

I recommend the book to anyone who can find it. It is a good and exciting read, and I'm looking forward to more with these characters.

Edited to add: I talked to the author about the thing in the end that was bugging me. It was just me being paranoid and probably a little out of it when I read it. It doesn't have that flaw, so I am just insane.