carlamo - reviewed on 1/25/2011 + 269 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 9

I always like cozies with little built-in puzzles sprinkled throughout the story, and that's what I thought this would be. I was very wrong. The main character, Savannah Stone, creates number puzzles for newspapers, however, not a single one appears anywhere in the book. The "big" puzzle (clues being left by the killer) was so uninteresting, and almost completely irrelevant, that I never bothered to try to solve it.

The characters were paint-by-numbers cliches, and the conversations between Savannah and her husband, a retired police chief, made me feel like I was going to overload on sugary sweetness. Throw in a lonely multi-millionaire who wants to be BFFs after a few minutes, an unsolved family mystery, old friends acting oddly, and you've got the perfect recipe for another boring, improbable story.

The whole thing was unflinchingly formulaic - right down to the killer who explains his motives while trying to kill our brave heroine. No real suspense, no real-life situations, no entertaining puzzles, one-dimensional characters, and way too many words. Cut out all the "I love you" - "No, I love you" - "No, I love you more" dialogue and descriptions of how beautiful the scenery was and it might have been long enough for a short story. But it would still need a plot.

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