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wslockard 's review for:
Crowned and Moldering
by Kate Carlisle
A cozy mystery! I'm in a really good spot to judge this book because of my self-assigned study of every Nancy Drew book I can get my hands on.
Not sure if this really counts as a "mystery," because following the pattern of Nancy Drew, readers can easily find the "bad guy" because he's the mean, nasty, cranky one who isn't dead by the end.
Yes, we do see hints at a gruesome death, and murders and horrible things do happen, unlike in Nancy land, but in this land, let's call it Shannon land, after the protagonist, when the horrible things happen, they're told secondhand via dialogue between characters. To keep readers safe, the author decides to politely tell, instead of show.
And yes, our protagonist's name is Shannon. Shannon Hammer, to be specific. Appropriately to her name, Shannon owns a construction business that was handed down to her by her father. Throughout the novel, half of Shannon's friends and acquaintances call her Shannon, and the other half call her nicknames like "Red" or "Irish." However, half the people in Shannon's town (somewhere in coastal northern California, I think) could receive these nicknames. All the character names are Scottish or Irish influenced, and red hair is really a big deal. St Patrick's day is a big deal.
One particular scene, unrelated to the murder plot, puts a fine point on the cute-ness yet insular ways of this town. Shannon and a group of her town-planning "girlfriends" are planning a St Patrick Day parade, with a menu to recommend to the food vendors and townsfolk. All the food is green, because Scottish and Irish people apparently love having green poo for 48 hours. Also, the delicate ladies have some trouble deciding who should be marching behind whom in this parade. One lady does not want the local group of "skateboarders" to be marching, or rolling, behind the cheerleaders. Yes, as far as counter culture goes, the best this town can do is "skateboarders," who apparently don't comb their hair and are a danger to cheerleaders. Honestly, it seems like author has never met a skateboarder nor a cheerleader in her life. The average skateboarder would never want to be in a parade. And the average cheerleader, if looked at the wrong way by said skateboarder, could dropkick the dude across town and back.
While this book DOES pass the Bechdel test with flying colors, our author is old, so she needs to brush up on current issues. Sure, it's empowering that Shannon is tough and smart, and her two love interests are burly law-enforcement types of guys with nurturing tendencies, but I'm just not convinced everything is peachy keen in this world. It's like they killed off everyone who was remotely different or left-leaning (except the skateboarders.)
Also, some more editing could have been useful in this book. The writing was a little lazy. Author's favorite verb is "grab." Characters are constantly "grabbing" things: sandwiches, tools, utensils, each other's arms and hands... It's cartoonish, grabby grabby grabby.
Not sure if this really counts as a "mystery," because following the pattern of Nancy Drew, readers can easily find the "bad guy" because he's the mean, nasty, cranky one who isn't dead by the end.
Yes, we do see hints at a gruesome death, and murders and horrible things do happen, unlike in Nancy land, but in this land, let's call it Shannon land, after the protagonist, when the horrible things happen, they're told secondhand via dialogue between characters. To keep readers safe, the author decides to politely tell, instead of show.
And yes, our protagonist's name is Shannon. Shannon Hammer, to be specific. Appropriately to her name, Shannon owns a construction business that was handed down to her by her father. Throughout the novel, half of Shannon's friends and acquaintances call her Shannon, and the other half call her nicknames like "Red" or "Irish." However, half the people in Shannon's town (somewhere in coastal northern California, I think) could receive these nicknames. All the character names are Scottish or Irish influenced, and red hair is really a big deal. St Patrick's day is a big deal.
One particular scene, unrelated to the murder plot, puts a fine point on the cute-ness yet insular ways of this town. Shannon and a group of her town-planning "girlfriends" are planning a St Patrick Day parade, with a menu to recommend to the food vendors and townsfolk. All the food is green, because Scottish and Irish people apparently love having green poo for 48 hours. Also, the delicate ladies have some trouble deciding who should be marching behind whom in this parade. One lady does not want the local group of "skateboarders" to be marching, or rolling, behind the cheerleaders. Yes, as far as counter culture goes, the best this town can do is "skateboarders," who apparently don't comb their hair and are a danger to cheerleaders. Honestly, it seems like author has never met a skateboarder nor a cheerleader in her life. The average skateboarder would never want to be in a parade. And the average cheerleader, if looked at the wrong way by said skateboarder, could dropkick the dude across town and back.
While this book DOES pass the Bechdel test with flying colors, our author is old, so she needs to brush up on current issues. Sure, it's empowering that Shannon is tough and smart, and her two love interests are burly law-enforcement types of guys with nurturing tendencies, but I'm just not convinced everything is peachy keen in this world. It's like they killed off everyone who was remotely different or left-leaning (except the skateboarders.)
Also, some more editing could have been useful in this book. The writing was a little lazy. Author's favorite verb is "grab." Characters are constantly "grabbing" things: sandwiches, tools, utensils, each other's arms and hands... It's cartoonish, grabby grabby grabby.