Kayote B. (kayote) reviewed The Main Line Is Murder (Ginger Barnes, Bk 1) on + 254 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
For a first mystery, not bad at all. It is a first mystery, though, and the author is still finding her (and her sleuth's) voice.
For example, there is the comment that she and her best friend agree that life isn't lived in the kitchen--yet she spends a lot of the book cooking this meal or that. It became repetitive and grew to feel like a crutch. I was also surprised to realize it was the start of a series. It seemed in many ways to start in the middle with little introduction to the supporting characters, and references to previous locations that just felt like other books. Not anything that made this book hard to read, just felt like it was picking up with familiar characters.
For first person (which is not my favorite style) it wasn't bad. She handled that all right. I also liked the solution and how she managed to bring it out.
The ending bothers me. Not the ending of the mystery but the "oh, everything is now fine." Bwah? I'm glad she feels so, but the entire last couple chapters were a bit strange for the genre (not inherently a bad thing) and I don't know that I believe the main character. The book is over, so clearly she's right, but it set wrong with me.
If I found another of these, I'd probably read it to see how the author handled later books. The lead is fairly good (but if she doesn't stop cooking all the time and and doing everything to support her husband's career while looking down her nose at housewives I will be irritated), but she isn't quite settled in the character yet. I'm not going to seek one out, but if I find it at a book sale I'll pick one more up
For example, there is the comment that she and her best friend agree that life isn't lived in the kitchen--yet she spends a lot of the book cooking this meal or that. It became repetitive and grew to feel like a crutch. I was also surprised to realize it was the start of a series. It seemed in many ways to start in the middle with little introduction to the supporting characters, and references to previous locations that just felt like other books. Not anything that made this book hard to read, just felt like it was picking up with familiar characters.
For first person (which is not my favorite style) it wasn't bad. She handled that all right. I also liked the solution and how she managed to bring it out.
The ending bothers me. Not the ending of the mystery but the "oh, everything is now fine." Bwah? I'm glad she feels so, but the entire last couple chapters were a bit strange for the genre (not inherently a bad thing) and I don't know that I believe the main character. The book is over, so clearly she's right, but it set wrong with me.
If I found another of these, I'd probably read it to see how the author handled later books. The lead is fairly good (but if she doesn't stop cooking all the time and and doing everything to support her husband's career while looking down her nose at housewives I will be irritated), but she isn't quite settled in the character yet. I'm not going to seek one out, but if I find it at a book sale I'll pick one more up
A nice cozy. Ginger Barnes is wife to Bryn Derwyn Academy's new headmaster. When the exclusive main line Pennsylvania private school's lawyer is murdered with a shovel, it takes her sleuthing skill to unearth the truth.
