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2.8 AVERAGE
2.8 AVERAGE
readermaggie's review
DNF, TSTL. When the little old ladies go under police tape, find letters pertinent to the crime, remove them and tell the sheriff they found nothing, then find secret passages allowing a murderer exit and entry - and again lie to the sheriff rather than reveal their findings, it’s just bloody stupid. Interferes with the police investigation and the cozies could most likely be written without their ‘heroines’ subverting the police at every move. Was recommended to me - argh!
kabamango22's review
1.0
I think these three were part of a free eBook from BookBub at one point. The premise was interesting and it is what originally grabbed my attention. However, reading the books themselves, I feel like the execution might not have been as successful as it could have been.
The main issue I had is one that other reviewers also had. The characters are early 70s and early 80s. It's mentioned at one point that Agnes' friend, Eleanor, is about 82. They're both engaged to elderly gentlemen. Yet during their adventures, no one seems to be worse for wear and they all bounce back as if they were decades younger than they really are. If I remember correctly, even, at one point, Agnes finds herself in a mine shaft but makes it out unscathed (physically, at least)! Mannerisms, also, don't seem to be that of what I would perceive from a 70+ year old woman.
Moving on from that, though, the writing is a little off for me, too. I can't explain it very well, unfortunately, but with some formatting issues, grammar, phrasing, etc., I found myself getting very bored, even frustrated with how dialogue was being presented. Further, in one of the stories, there's a malevolent ghost called "The Cutter" whom everyone says will come charging at you with his knife. The two main characters go where he is located, he does exactly what they were told he would do, and then a couple of chapters later, he's suddenly this sweet, benevolent, lonely man ghost. It felt to me that he only became that way so that the story could have an easy out when Agnes is robbed at gunpoint.
Another issue I had was in the first book, there is talk of previous investigations that revealed different supernatural creatures (i.e. werewolves). Yet we never see them in this set. I did a little digging and there are many other books with Agnes Barton that include their other adventures with werewolves and a Bigfoot, but I am disappointed because this seemed to be the beginning of the series. I wish that I had known it wasn't, because I prefer to start at the beginning so I don't get confused early on over allusions to previous stories.
The main issue I had is one that other reviewers also had. The characters are early 70s and early 80s. It's mentioned at one point that Agnes' friend, Eleanor, is about 82. They're both engaged to elderly gentlemen. Yet during their adventures, no one seems to be worse for wear and they all bounce back as if they were decades younger than they really are. If I remember correctly, even, at one point, Agnes finds herself in a mine shaft but makes it out unscathed (physically, at least)! Mannerisms, also, don't seem to be that of what I would perceive from a 70+ year old woman.
Moving on from that, though, the writing is a little off for me, too. I can't explain it very well, unfortunately, but with some formatting issues, grammar, phrasing, etc., I found myself getting very bored, even frustrated with how dialogue was being presented. Further, in one of the stories, there's a malevolent ghost called "The Cutter" whom everyone says will come charging at you with his knife. The two main characters go where he is located, he does exactly what they were told he would do, and then a couple of chapters later, he's suddenly this sweet, benevolent, lonely man ghost. It felt to me that he only became that way so that the story could have an easy out when Agnes is robbed at gunpoint.
Another issue I had was in the first book, there is talk of previous investigations that revealed different supernatural creatures (i.e. werewolves). Yet we never see them in this set. I did a little digging and there are many other books with Agnes Barton that include their other adventures with werewolves and a Bigfoot, but I am disappointed because this seemed to be the beginning of the series. I wish that I had known it wasn't, because I prefer to start at the beginning so I don't get confused early on over allusions to previous stories.