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laneyofthenight 's review for:
Mockingbird Court
by Juneau Black
Thank you NetGalley for giving me the next book in my fave mystery series, but also how could you because now I have nothing else to look forward to. The love I have for these books is truly unmatched. I sigh in relief every time I see another one is coming and impatiently wait for one after that.
We finally returned to Shady Hollow in this one! Huge! Two of the last three books have taken place outside of Shady Hollow, and while they’ve all been great I was so excited to come back to the setting I enjoyed the most. It was also an opportunity to reacquaint readers with the side characters (who will presumably be fodder for future books) and the writers did a marvelous job with both of those things.
That said, while I enjoyed this immensely this was not my favorite of the series. I don’t like flashbacks in series/stories that otherwise don’t have them; it’s always come across as a bit lazy to me, and the flashback here doesn’t really add anything for me that more effort in the dialogue scenes couldn’t have given.
The dialogue needed more work anyway. This story really centers on Vera’s backstory which we haven’t gotten before, and I think it’s coming way too late in the series with not enough foreshadowing. There was lots of info dumping about her life that probably should’ve come up earlier if the authors weren’t just inventing it now for this book, and the new characters felt sprung on me when we could’ve and probably should’ve set them up earlier.
The plot was fine, but I’m also incredibly biased against every time a cozy mystery makes the MC civilian detective the main suspect. I hate that trope, so my view on it is pretty subjective and some people will probably love it. For being a trope I hate, it was executed well. Though the final reveal was a little forced and predictable.
In sum, I love these books. I have thoughts on what I’d like to see in future, but I’d honestly read anything these authors put out in this series. Give me a thousand more. The setting and the characters are always wonderful, and I eat them up every time.
(Also. Leftie is still the best character. I would like to formally request that if there is another short story, it be from his perspective, preferably solving a crime while committing a crime.)
We finally returned to Shady Hollow in this one! Huge! Two of the last three books have taken place outside of Shady Hollow, and while they’ve all been great I was so excited to come back to the setting I enjoyed the most. It was also an opportunity to reacquaint readers with the side characters (who will presumably be fodder for future books) and the writers did a marvelous job with both of those things.
That said, while I enjoyed this immensely this was not my favorite of the series. I don’t like flashbacks in series/stories that otherwise don’t have them; it’s always come across as a bit lazy to me, and the flashback here doesn’t really add anything for me that more effort in the dialogue scenes couldn’t have given.
The dialogue needed more work anyway. This story really centers on Vera’s backstory which we haven’t gotten before, and I think it’s coming way too late in the series with not enough foreshadowing. There was lots of info dumping about her life that probably should’ve come up earlier if the authors weren’t just inventing it now for this book, and the new characters felt sprung on me when we could’ve and probably should’ve set them up earlier.
The plot was fine, but I’m also incredibly biased against every time a cozy mystery makes the MC civilian detective the main suspect. I hate that trope, so my view on it is pretty subjective and some people will probably love it. For being a trope I hate, it was executed well. Though the final reveal was a little forced and predictable.
In sum, I love these books. I have thoughts on what I’d like to see in future, but I’d honestly read anything these authors put out in this series. Give me a thousand more. The setting and the characters are always wonderful, and I eat them up every time.
(Also. Leftie is still the best character. I would like to formally request that if there is another short story, it be from his perspective, preferably solving a crime while committing a crime.)