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A review by bella_and_the_bookstack
A Streetcar Named Murder by T.G. Herren
3.0
2.8 out of 5 stars (rounded up to 3 stars)
Widow and mother Valerie has recently come into a large inheritance from her late husband’s uncle. To her knowledge, her husband didn’t even have an uncle. Now, she’s dealing with the realization that she and her sons have inherited a fortune. But this newly inherited antique business may be just what Valerie needs in her life… that is, until she finds a dead body. As the new owner of the shop, Valerie must clear her name as a suspect in the murder.
~~
This book made me feel very conflicted. On one hand, I enjoyed the overall storyline. On the other hand, I had a difficult time connecting to the characters.
Valerie seemed to dwell on the same few things throughout the whole book. Here’s are some examples:
1. Her late husband. I know he was a big part of her life, and she is still grieving over him. BUT, as a reader, we didn’t need to be reminded of that every couple of pages.
2. She would also repeatedly mention that she is up every day at the same time, six in the morning. This was ok to mention a few times, but we definitely didn’t need to know that as many times as Valerie mentioned it.
There were a couple other things she kept on repeating, which started getting kind of irritating.
I also really hated her friend Lorna. Lorna really irritated me throughout the whole book. In fact, it was a bit shocking that Valerie decided to become her friend. Based off Valerie’s recounting of how they met, I was really stunned by Lorna’s behavior.
At the time that they first met, Valerie’s twin boys were toddlers. Of course, toddlers being toddlers, they were having a bit of a meltdown. Lorna (a complete stranger at the time) knocks on the door and somehow instantly can calm the boys down with a few words and a sharp stare. Armed with a bottle of wine and a charming smile, Lorna precedes to tell a stunned Valerie “you’ve got to tame the little beasts when they’re young or they’ll grow up to be monsters. Date rapists or something equally horrible.”
Um, what?! If a complete stranger knocked on my door, critiqued my parenting, and said that about my theoretical kids, I would be LIVID! Like ma’am, leave the bottle of wine and get out of my house. Because the twins were having a tantrum, all of a sudden they’ll become date rapists? What?! This was literally one tantrum that Lorna had seen, and she felt she had the right to say that? And to top it all off, Valerie seems to remember this memory with great fondness. I know it’s only a few pages of the book, but it really left a bad impression towards Lorna for the rest of the time.
~~
Despite my struggles with the characters, the book was still a cute cozy mystery! If you can ignore Lorna and get past Valerie’s tendency to dwell on stuff, the book is still quite interesting. Even though there wasn’t as much of a mystery as I would have liked, I would still want to read the next books in the series, as I did enjoy it overall.
Thanks to the author and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.
Widow and mother Valerie has recently come into a large inheritance from her late husband’s uncle. To her knowledge, her husband didn’t even have an uncle. Now, she’s dealing with the realization that she and her sons have inherited a fortune. But this newly inherited antique business may be just what Valerie needs in her life… that is, until she finds a dead body. As the new owner of the shop, Valerie must clear her name as a suspect in the murder.
~~
This book made me feel very conflicted. On one hand, I enjoyed the overall storyline. On the other hand, I had a difficult time connecting to the characters.
Valerie seemed to dwell on the same few things throughout the whole book. Here’s are some examples:
1. Her late husband. I know he was a big part of her life, and she is still grieving over him. BUT, as a reader, we didn’t need to be reminded of that every couple of pages.
2. She would also repeatedly mention that she is up every day at the same time, six in the morning. This was ok to mention a few times, but we definitely didn’t need to know that as many times as Valerie mentioned it.
There were a couple other things she kept on repeating, which started getting kind of irritating.
I also really hated her friend Lorna. Lorna really irritated me throughout the whole book. In fact, it was a bit shocking that Valerie decided to become her friend. Based off Valerie’s recounting of how they met, I was really stunned by Lorna’s behavior.
At the time that they first met, Valerie’s twin boys were toddlers. Of course, toddlers being toddlers, they were having a bit of a meltdown. Lorna (a complete stranger at the time) knocks on the door and somehow instantly can calm the boys down with a few words and a sharp stare. Armed with a bottle of wine and a charming smile, Lorna precedes to tell a stunned Valerie “you’ve got to tame the little beasts when they’re young or they’ll grow up to be monsters. Date rapists or something equally horrible.”
Um, what?! If a complete stranger knocked on my door, critiqued my parenting, and said that about my theoretical kids, I would be LIVID! Like ma’am, leave the bottle of wine and get out of my house. Because the twins were having a tantrum, all of a sudden they’ll become date rapists? What?! This was literally one tantrum that Lorna had seen, and she felt she had the right to say that? And to top it all off, Valerie seems to remember this memory with great fondness. I know it’s only a few pages of the book, but it really left a bad impression towards Lorna for the rest of the time.
~~
Despite my struggles with the characters, the book was still a cute cozy mystery! If you can ignore Lorna and get past Valerie’s tendency to dwell on stuff, the book is still quite interesting. Even though there wasn’t as much of a mystery as I would have liked, I would still want to read the next books in the series, as I did enjoy it overall.
Thanks to the author and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.