Helpful Score: 1
This book reminded me of a 70's "heroine-in-peril" gothic---a BAD one. In the first 100 pages, our heroine decided: "if someone had murdered her aunt, she would find the killer. Or die trying." (We can only hope.) She runs into the police detective investigating her aunt's murder at the train station and thought "...he was so tall, so attractive, so sexy. Why would a man like that be a small-town homicide detective? (Ummm...he liked to eat?) And when they arrived at the house she inherited and went up to her childhood room, the detective looks around the room and says: "What a charming room. A young girl's dream come true---canopied bed, antiques and old lace, and a window seat where you can see all the way to the Catskills." (I don't know---the guy is starting to sound a little fluffy to me.) Oh, yeah, and this old faithful: "Damn, the woman was special: beautiful, smart, talented, and with enough fire in her temperament to justify the reddish chestnut hair." (Firstly, note to author: chestnut is defined as "moderate to deep reddish brown", so let's not be redundant. Secondly, I dated my husband at least a couple of times before he realized that I was beautiful, smart, talented and fiery...our perceptive hero figures it out on the basis of a couple of brief meetings? And how does he know she's talented? As far as the plot goes, he has not yet viewed any of her artwork. She could paint like a duck with paint on it's tail. And finally, let's not forget our bad guy, who spies on our heroine and observes that: "she slept like a Grecian goddess, with her hair splayed out over the pillow and her soft breasts trembling with each breath." I take it our gal didn't crawl into bed in her Patriot's t-shirt and forget to remove her make-up---let's not even touch morning breath. Anyhow, these were just a couple of the *highlights* of the interminable 400 pages of this book---unfortunately, I have a rule that once I start a book, I have to finish it---especially after investing $8.00 in it. Trust me, they should have paid me $800 to read it to the last page! And in case you are wondering, I was in a rush and I snatched up the book thinking that the author was Donna ANDREWS, who writes the series that started with "Murder with Puffins", which are all decent reads. Well, at least I can add this writer to my list of "Avoid At All Costs" authors. And that's my review. Thank you very much.
Helpful Score: 1
I loved this book and had a hard time putting it down. A good mystery with a little romance thrown in. A moving plot. I would recommend this book and author!!!!
