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A review by mystereity
Paint the Town Dead by Sybil Johnson
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
This was our Book Club pick for February, picking up where book 1 left off. With all the introductions out of the way, this book flowed so much better and it wasn't long until I was caught up in it.
I loved the plot; a new hotel under protest from a fringe group, the death of Rory's friend, Jasmine, whose medical condition was largely known only to her friends and family. Rory is outraged when the police closes the case as a suicide and starts investigating. There were many suspects, no clear motive and lots of shenanigans to muddy the waters. I'll admit, I had a different suspect in mind, so when the killer was unmasked, I was surprised. I also liked the introduction of the previously unknown girlfriend of Rory's crush Martin the Dashing D. I loved how it threw Rory off her game a little bit, and I can't wait to see where it goes in book 3.
Here's what I don't getthere were a lot of people doing a lot of illegal things that were all seemingly swept under the carpet because apparently Jasmine's murder and an old hit and run were the only crimes anyone was interested in? What? Rory's friend admits to many acts of vandalism with their fringe group and Jasmine, Rory and Liz were like "meh, sounds good bruh we get it"? WHAT? Friend or not, I'd have blown them in to every law enforcement agency I could find. Not to mention Nixie. Embezzling, allowing someone else to be convicted for her crimes, absolutely no repentance other than "boo hoo my husband died and my son is an ass, so I did what I did" and everyone was like "awww omg I'm so sorry that's ok, it's fine" and yeah, that left a bad taste in my mouth. THERE WAS EVIDENCE why didn't anyone look into it? *throws hands up in disgust*
Overall, I liked this one more than the first, but every bit as good as the 4th (which I read last Halloween) and I know book 3, A Palette for Murder will be a lot of fun to read next month for Book Club.
I loved the plot; a new hotel under protest from a fringe group, the death of Rory's friend, Jasmine, whose medical condition was largely known only to her friends and family. Rory is outraged when the police closes the case as a suicide and starts investigating. There were many suspects, no clear motive and lots of shenanigans to muddy the waters. I'll admit, I had a different suspect in mind, so when the killer was unmasked, I was surprised. I also liked the introduction of the previously unknown girlfriend of Rory's crush Martin the Dashing D. I loved how it threw Rory off her game a little bit, and I can't wait to see where it goes in book 3.
Here's what I don't get
Overall, I liked this one more than the first, but every bit as good as the 4th (which I read last Halloween) and I know book 3, A Palette for Murder will be a lot of fun to read next month for Book Club.