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sterling8 's review for:
Murder in G Major
by Alexia Gordon
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I haven't read a cozy mystery in a while, and it made a nice change of pace. Gethsemane Brown was also a refreshingly original character. She is a black violinist/conductor from a high achieving family who ends up in the middle of Irish nowhere after an offer to be a conductor goes south through no fault of hers. Gethsemane needs a win, and not to go home to the USA to her somewhat judgy family, so she takes a gig as an instructor of music for a boys' school. This in and of itself would be interesting enough without the haunted house that she moves into.
Gethsemane has some experience with the supernatural. Tschaikovsky plays in her head when she's about to get into trouble, some of her family members have claimed to see ghosts. So it's not long before she agrees to help her haunting housemate to solve the murder, committed 25 years ago, of him and his wife.
Gethsemane goes about this in a practical way- finding a posthumous alibi for Eamon. However, she stumbles into the sights of a murderer who is still very much alive.
I thought the strengths of this book lay in the snappy banter between Gethsemane and Eamon. In fact, I'd say dialogue in general is a strength of this author. Gethsemane interacts with quite a few of the villagers and her spunkiness impresses the most stone-hearted Irishman. I felt like she had a couple of possible options for romance after the book was over, but nothing was too obvious. I'm interested to see where her relationships go.
Gethsemane notices smells (the notes in perfume and cologne, mostly) more than others, and her perceptiveness also becomes part of the story.
The weaker aspect of the book was the actual plot. Gethsemane isn't exactly subtle, and neither was the murderer, although I didn't guess too early who it was. And the part of the book that interested me- the musical instruction and contest that would earn Gethsemane validation- seemed really sidelined by everything else that was going on. I really did want to read about her musical talent and how she worked with her difficult orchestra and I felt like that part got short shrift. The plot ran all over the place, and it didn't feel like it really settled down.
I haven't read a cozy mystery in a while, and it made a nice change of pace. Gethsemane Brown was also a refreshingly original character. She is a black violinist/conductor from a high achieving family who ends up in the middle of Irish nowhere after an offer to be a conductor goes south through no fault of hers. Gethsemane needs a win, and not to go home to the USA to her somewhat judgy family, so she takes a gig as an instructor of music for a boys' school. This in and of itself would be interesting enough without the haunted house that she moves into.
Gethsemane has some experience with the supernatural. Tschaikovsky plays in her head when she's about to get into trouble, some of her family members have claimed to see ghosts. So it's not long before she agrees to help her haunting housemate to solve the murder, committed 25 years ago, of him and his wife.
Gethsemane goes about this in a practical way- finding a posthumous alibi for Eamon. However, she stumbles into the sights of a murderer who is still very much alive.
I thought the strengths of this book lay in the snappy banter between Gethsemane and Eamon. In fact, I'd say dialogue in general is a strength of this author. Gethsemane interacts with quite a few of the villagers and her spunkiness impresses the most stone-hearted Irishman. I felt like she had a couple of possible options for romance after the book was over, but nothing was too obvious. I'm interested to see where her relationships go.
Gethsemane notices smells (the notes in perfume and cologne, mostly) more than others, and her perceptiveness also becomes part of the story.
The weaker aspect of the book was the actual plot. Gethsemane isn't exactly subtle, and neither was the murderer, although I didn't guess too early who it was. And the part of the book that interested me- the musical instruction and contest that would earn Gethsemane validation- seemed really sidelined by everything else that was going on. I really did want to read about her musical talent and how she worked with her difficult orchestra and I felt like that part got short shrift. The plot ran all over the place, and it didn't feel like it really settled down.