Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.47 AVERAGE
3.47 AVERAGE
3 Stars
As a fan of the movie I decided to give the book a shot and enjoyed it as much as the movie. Roe is great as the main character she smart and observant, the only character I really like better in the movie is Sally Allison, who in the movie is also a reporter, but younger and Roe's best friend.
I'd had the book for quite some time but didn't bother to read it because I'd enjoyed the movie, now I'm really glad that I did and will be getting more books in the series.
Cozies Reading Challenge
As a fan of the movie I decided to give the book a shot and enjoyed it as much as the movie. Roe is great as the main character she smart and observant, the only character I really like better in the movie is Sally Allison, who in the movie is also a reporter, but younger and Roe's best friend.
Spoiler
The fact that Roe has a younger stepbrother who was taken by the killers was something that ramped up the tension, over that of the movie. All in all it is a bit darker then most cozys with a recreation of Lizzie Bordens hatchet murders being the most bloodyI'd had the book for quite some time but didn't bother to read it because I'd enjoyed the movie, now I'm really glad that I did and will be getting more books in the series.
Cozies Reading Challenge
Entertaining, mindless fluff. Perfect for when you aren't feeling well and want to read something light.
It's a murder mystery, pretty cookie cutter, you know what they look like. What interests me more is the fact that this book is the author's first, published in 1990.
The author, Charlaine Harris, went on to write the wildly popular Sookie Stackhouse books, which inspired the HBO show True Blood. This book feels pretty far from those, though. In this book she includes a gay character, a character with mental illness, and a character of color, all of whom are poorly represented, so she's batting 0 for 3 in that regard. She manages to let slip revealing things like:
That last question, at least, the main character can answer for me, as she's got two boyfriends who don't know about each other. Upon getting a phone call from one of the men she's dating while the other gentleman is with her at home, she feels "ridiculously awkward with Robin in my place. Why should I? I asked myself. I could see two men at one time if I chose." Which is exciting news.
It seems like we'll often have to deal with a faint queasiness any time we pick up a book published before the most immediate modern period, with its rapidly changing views of gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. Do we just wince when we see casual racism or internalized misogyny and move on? Like many people, I've been thinking about this for a while. What do we do will all of the literature, all of the media created in the past that's rife with the blatant prejudices that colored so many minds?
For example, Ray Bradbury's otherwise beautifully told Dandelion Wine makes casual use of the lesser N word: "[buffalo] heads like N*gro fists," though admittedly it was published in 1956. But what do we do with it? Do we throw the whole thing out? Note the issue but keep reading? I love Ray Bradbury but what do we do with him, and the other works like his?
Certainly I haven't always read so critically. I seem to recall enjoying this author's more recent work, but does that signify her growth as a writer and as a person, or my own growth as a reader and as a person?
What I'm saying is, this isn't a good book.
The author, Charlaine Harris, went on to write the wildly popular Sookie Stackhouse books, which inspired the HBO show True Blood. This book feels pretty far from those, though. In this book she includes a gay character, a character with mental illness, and a character of color, all of whom are poorly represented, so she's batting 0 for 3 in that regard. She manages to let slip revealing things like:
When [Gifford] brought Reynaldo, we didn't know how to treat him. Was Reynaldo a guest, or Gifford's date? A shade of difference there, and one which had us all a little anxious.Not to mention:
At least this would be a unifying election for Lawrenceton. None of the candidates was black, which always made for a tense campaign and a divisive one.Indeed. Another thing I'm fascinated by is that I've never in my life experienced social relationships in the way the main character does, especially with other women. This is her description of a female police officer who is interviewing her:
Lynn Liggett seemed to be evaluating me as a fellow woman, and she found me wanting. She looked down at me and found me smaller than her...I conjectured that since being tall must have given Detective Liggett problems, she automatically assumed I felt superior to her as a woman, since I was so short and therefore more "feminine." Since she couldn't compete with me on that level, Liggett figured she'd be tougher, more suspicious, coldly professional. A strong frontier woman as opposed to me, the namby-pamby, useless stay-back-in-the-effete-east toy woman.She made all of that up! All of that was happening only and entirely in her head. Do other women think like this? Is this just a Southern lady thing? What else of the feminine experience am I missing out on?
That last question, at least, the main character can answer for me, as she's got two boyfriends who don't know about each other. Upon getting a phone call from one of the men she's dating while the other gentleman is with her at home, she feels "ridiculously awkward with Robin in my place. Why should I? I asked myself. I could see two men at one time if I chose." Which is exciting news.
It seems like we'll often have to deal with a faint queasiness any time we pick up a book published before the most immediate modern period, with its rapidly changing views of gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. Do we just wince when we see casual racism or internalized misogyny and move on? Like many people, I've been thinking about this for a while. What do we do will all of the literature, all of the media created in the past that's rife with the blatant prejudices that colored so many minds?
For example, Ray Bradbury's otherwise beautifully told Dandelion Wine makes casual use of the lesser N word: "[buffalo] heads like N*gro fists," though admittedly it was published in 1956. But what do we do with it? Do we throw the whole thing out? Note the issue but keep reading? I love Ray Bradbury but what do we do with him, and the other works like his?
Certainly I haven't always read so critically. I seem to recall enjoying this author's more recent work, but does that signify her growth as a writer and as a person, or my own growth as a reader and as a person?
What I'm saying is, this isn't a good book.
I really enjoy the Hallmark M&M Series movies. The books are more intense and a little to much for me personally.
Librarian in a Murder Club turns sleigh after discovering a body. Small town with interesting characters. Some abrupt shifts and details weirdly out of order.
This is a solid cozy mystery. I enjoyed that the main character was a librarian. There is a tv show on the hallmark movies and mysteries channel based on the books. There are a number of differences which I think made the book more intriguing. All in all this is great for someone looking to enjoy a light book with a strong murder mystery to solve.
This book has been on my Want To Read list for a very long time. As soon as I started reading it, I was chiding myself for not picking it up sooner. I love Charlaine Harris books. Reading this was like meeting up with an old friend. Familiar and comfortable. This book falls into the Cozy Mystery genre and it was both cozy and mysterious. I really enjoyed it.
This book isn’t without it’s faults though. It was first published in 1990 and I’ve read an ebook version. There were many spelling and formatting errors. I wonder if it’s because it was early in Charlaine’s career and perhaps not as famous and therefore not as rigorous an editing process? Or perhaps conversion into ebook format was done later but very sloppily? I wonder if the errors are in the paperback format. The most annoying part was the spacing around the dialogue was off. It made it difficult to sometimes understand who was saying what.
A signature of Charlaine’s writing is a large cast of side characters. I think she uses it as a distraction technique to make it harder to check who the culprit of the murder is. I’ve always found it hard to keep track of who’s who in the zoo. However this time, being an ebook, I was able to use the search feature to lookup peoples names so I could check who they were. Very helpful. Still didn’t guess who the murderer was though lol
Aurora, the main character, seems to have a fair bit in common with Lily Bard from Charlaine’s Shakespeare series. I love Lily to bits. But I felt like Charlaine could have been more original. She’s a librarian, and as an ex library officer, I can confirm that the boring library scenes were pretty spot on lol
This series had all the elements I like about Charlaine’s mysteries. And if you’ve read her other books and wondering about this series, I’d recommend it for people who like Charlaine for her mysteries, not her paranormal romance which she’s more known for through True Blood.
Overall an enjoyable quick read and will definitely continuing on with this series.
This book isn’t without it’s faults though. It was first published in 1990 and I’ve read an ebook version. There were many spelling and formatting errors. I wonder if it’s because it was early in Charlaine’s career and perhaps not as famous and therefore not as rigorous an editing process? Or perhaps conversion into ebook format was done later but very sloppily? I wonder if the errors are in the paperback format. The most annoying part was the spacing around the dialogue was off. It made it difficult to sometimes understand who was saying what.
A signature of Charlaine’s writing is a large cast of side characters. I think she uses it as a distraction technique to make it harder to check who the culprit of the murder is. I’ve always found it hard to keep track of who’s who in the zoo. However this time, being an ebook, I was able to use the search feature to lookup peoples names so I could check who they were. Very helpful. Still didn’t guess who the murderer was though lol
Aurora, the main character, seems to have a fair bit in common with Lily Bard from Charlaine’s Shakespeare series. I love Lily to bits. But I felt like Charlaine could have been more original. She’s a librarian, and as an ex library officer, I can confirm that the boring library scenes were pretty spot on lol
This series had all the elements I like about Charlaine’s mysteries. And if you’ve read her other books and wondering about this series, I’d recommend it for people who like Charlaine for her mysteries, not her paranormal romance which she’s more known for through True Blood.
Overall an enjoyable quick read and will definitely continuing on with this series.