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sophiarose1816's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
A vacation to Denmark leads a young publisher's assistant on a mystery with a favorite author's grumpy son in tow on a Scandinavian adventure. An Elizabeth Peters' standalone that harkens back to the 80's.
Elizabeth Jones is an American publisher's assistant now acting as tourist setting out on her dream vacation to Denmark. On the plane over, she is distracted when she spots her favorite author ever. She does a fan faux pas trying to drum up an accidental meeting near the author's seat by annoying said author's son. But, Margaret is nothing like the person Elizabeth expected from such a celebrated author. She's eccentric and impulsive- quite the opposite of her stern son, Christian.
Elizabeth gets her chance to stick close to Margaret when an incident at the airport creates an opening for Elizabeth to jump in and become Margaret's author assistant. Only, before they can start work researching Queen Margaret of Denmark, the present day Margaret vanishes. In an 'is she or isn't she' really missing or just given them the slip situation, Elizabeth and Christian rush around Copenhagen tracking clues to finding Margaret. The result puts them in the crosshairs of someone who doesn't want Margaret found or that they find out the mysterious reason Margaret disappeared.
The Copenhagen Connection starts out slow when it comes to the main plot thread. In fact, its not until well into the book before the reader-listener has confirmation there is a real mystery. Elizabeth has to slowly warm to Christian and respect that he truly has reason to be alarmed so the first third of the book is her tagging along and giving him the side-eye over his concerns. I was more taken with the Copenhagen setting descriptions than the plot.
But, then it got going and the situation becomes more clear- and the suspense along with 'caper' part is revealed much to my satisfaction. The opposites working together got much more interesting and I enjoyed their dive into Scandinavian historical matters as they hunted.
Grace Conlin does a bang up job narrating the book as she has all the other Elizabeth Peters' standalone stories I've been enjoying on audio lately.
So, its slow at the start, but stick around for the interesting part in this old-style romantic suspense.
Elizabeth Jones is an American publisher's assistant now acting as tourist setting out on her dream vacation to Denmark. On the plane over, she is distracted when she spots her favorite author ever. She does a fan faux pas trying to drum up an accidental meeting near the author's seat by annoying said author's son. But, Margaret is nothing like the person Elizabeth expected from such a celebrated author. She's eccentric and impulsive- quite the opposite of her stern son, Christian.
Elizabeth gets her chance to stick close to Margaret when an incident at the airport creates an opening for Elizabeth to jump in and become Margaret's author assistant. Only, before they can start work researching Queen Margaret of Denmark, the present day Margaret vanishes. In an 'is she or isn't she' really missing or just given them the slip situation, Elizabeth and Christian rush around Copenhagen tracking clues to finding Margaret. The result puts them in the crosshairs of someone who doesn't want Margaret found or that they find out the mysterious reason Margaret disappeared.
The Copenhagen Connection starts out slow when it comes to the main plot thread. In fact, its not until well into the book before the reader-listener has confirmation there is a real mystery. Elizabeth has to slowly warm to Christian and respect that he truly has reason to be alarmed so the first third of the book is her tagging along and giving him the side-eye over his concerns. I was more taken with the Copenhagen setting descriptions than the plot.
But, then it got going and the situation becomes more clear- and the suspense along with 'caper' part is revealed much to my satisfaction. The opposites working together got much more interesting and I enjoyed their dive into Scandinavian historical matters as they hunted.
Grace Conlin does a bang up job narrating the book as she has all the other Elizabeth Peters' standalone stories I've been enjoying on audio lately.
So, its slow at the start, but stick around for the interesting part in this old-style romantic suspense.
reneesmith's review against another edition
4.0
This oldie-but-goodie from the 90s translated well to audiobook. Lively dialogue, much humor, quirky characters. Enjoyable!
emertbyrne's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
eserafina42's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars - holds up better than some of the others.
thenovelbook's review against another edition
3.0
Entertaining, very quick read with the most memorable character being Margaret (the modern one, not the queen). Pretty likeable main characters. Fun but probably not long-lastingly memorable.
sjgochenour's review against another edition
3.0
Again, not her best effort. Christian is possibly the least charming of her heroes, and Peters wrote a grumpy hero or two.
quietjenn's review against another edition
3.0
Hm, of the Peters I've delved into lately, this was definitely my least favorite. Which is maybe my bad because it's not so different than some of the others. But, there's something that felt a little bit contrived and not quite as smart or witty. Nice setting, though.
bookhero6's review against another edition
4.0
My 125th book of the year, which completes this year's goal. Yay!
I think I read in another review of a different Elizabeth Peters book (Die for Love?) about how awful it was that Elizabeth Peters was making fun of the Romance genre so blatantly in the book. The reviewer seemed to take it amiss. Well, I've read a few of Peters' books and she makes fun of a lot of different genres. In this one she blatantly pokes fun at Mystery novel tropes, Mystery novels being something she's a bit famed for. So I really don't think it comes from a place of derision, more of a place of poking fun at oneself. I think it's just part of who she is as a writer. She has a wickedly wonderful sense of humor.
In this madcap little adventure mystery Elizabeth and Christian try to figure out what happened to Christian's missing mother and why the supposed kidnappers want her bathrobe as ransom. They galavant all over Copenhagen and unravel the mystery. Totally dig it.
I think I read in another review of a different Elizabeth Peters book (Die for Love?) about how awful it was that Elizabeth Peters was making fun of the Romance genre so blatantly in the book. The reviewer seemed to take it amiss. Well, I've read a few of Peters' books and she makes fun of a lot of different genres. In this one she blatantly pokes fun at Mystery novel tropes, Mystery novels being something she's a bit famed for. So I really don't think it comes from a place of derision, more of a place of poking fun at oneself. I think it's just part of who she is as a writer. She has a wickedly wonderful sense of humor.
In this madcap little adventure mystery Elizabeth and Christian try to figure out what happened to Christian's missing mother and why the supposed kidnappers want her bathrobe as ransom. They galavant all over Copenhagen and unravel the mystery. Totally dig it.
laurarlindsay's review against another edition
4.0
It's aight. Fun to read for the Copenhagen place-specific details. Boring characters. Am I getting too old for Elizabeth Peters?