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A review by paperbackstash
The Book Club Murders by Leslie Nagel
3.0
Mysteries are fun, and cozy mysteries fit the sleuthing mood most of the time when I’m not in the mood for dark/ morbid thrillers or psychological whodunnits who make me feel like my mind has been put through a blender. There are certain cozies I enjoy more than others – and book club or bookish themes are one of those.
Right away The Book Club Murders starts out on a different note compared to some cozies. The book club group doesn’t trust each other with a few exceptions – and the heroine is only involved because of creative marketing for her used clothing store. Some of the characters are downright foul and bitchy, which the character notes since this is a cozy that thankfully doesn’t shy away from colorful language or circumstances.
Speaking of characters, that’s the shining note of this story. Charlie’s friends are fun and make the best supportive characters for this kind of book – loyal but quirky. The suspects are many and it’s hard to pin down the actual culprit since motives remain sketchy and there is a local balding stud who many of the groupies flock to (ewww, yeah didn't get it)
On the downside, while I liked Marc as the cop well enough, the romantic relationship felt false and flighty. The author sometimes shifted to his point of view, which didn’t fit this story. Their relationship was a little too high polished romance type. The emphasis on their relationship made this one half mystery/half romance, not just a mystery book that has a romance as part of the character’s life. Some of the romantic areas were a little sappy.
The second thing that irked me was how unrealistic it is the heroine was so highly praised by the police force, especially Marc and his partner. In most cozies people don't sit in admiration of amateur sleuths. She didn't have a genius IQ and I figured out a lot of what she did - the only question remains, what's with these poor cops and actual detectives? It was unrealistic how much Marc let her in on the investigation too - there are laws forbidding some of that, after all.
Overall a fun mystery that kept losing steam, but I dug the murder angle creativity tied in with books and many of the characters not being fully one-dimensional and typical of run-of-the-mill cozy mysteries.
Right away The Book Club Murders starts out on a different note compared to some cozies. The book club group doesn’t trust each other with a few exceptions – and the heroine is only involved because of creative marketing for her used clothing store. Some of the characters are downright foul and bitchy, which the character notes since this is a cozy that thankfully doesn’t shy away from colorful language or circumstances.
Speaking of characters, that’s the shining note of this story. Charlie’s friends are fun and make the best supportive characters for this kind of book – loyal but quirky. The suspects are many and it’s hard to pin down the actual culprit since motives remain sketchy and there is a local balding stud who many of the groupies flock to (ewww, yeah didn't get it)
On the downside, while I liked Marc as the cop well enough, the romantic relationship felt false and flighty. The author sometimes shifted to his point of view, which didn’t fit this story. Their relationship was a little too high polished romance type. The emphasis on their relationship made this one half mystery/half romance, not just a mystery book that has a romance as part of the character’s life. Some of the romantic areas were a little sappy.
The second thing that irked me was how unrealistic it is the heroine was so highly praised by the police force, especially Marc and his partner. In most cozies people don't sit in admiration of amateur sleuths. She didn't have a genius IQ and I figured out a lot of what she did - the only question remains, what's with these poor cops and actual detectives? It was unrealistic how much Marc let her in on the investigation too - there are laws forbidding some of that, after all.
Overall a fun mystery that kept losing steam, but I dug the murder angle creativity tied in with books and many of the characters not being fully one-dimensional and typical of run-of-the-mill cozy mysteries.