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A review by cody_crumley
A Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
"It's easy to get railroaded when it comes to murder investigations." He looked at me. "Especially here in the village. Especially when you're black. Our police don't have a lot of experience investigating murders. They might jump on any little stray clue and try to make a case out of it"
I chose the quote at the top of this review as look at the missed potential in my opinion of this book. This is a cozy mystery story about a woman named Win reopening her family's ice cream shop in a small village/town that then gets rocked with a murder.
This is the third or fourth cozy mystery that I have read and I think that this genre is just not for me. The premise of the book is fine, but really none of the characters see any major growth at all and are all extremely two-dimensional. Like most of them felt quirky not as a defining character trait, but just to be quirky.
For such a short book (less than 400 pages) there are big sections where nothing really happens. The writing style comes across as simplistic and repetitive. To me the best part of the book were the ice cream recipes at the back of the book (really want to make those lol)
I really wanted to like this. The reason why our book club picked this was for a story by an African-American author that was not about trauma or sadness. I stand by that decision, but I think something that the quote at the top of this review shows is that you could tackle important social/civic right issues without having to dip into trauma.
I think what this cozy mystery was missing was something that gave it depth. Maybe using the murder to help Win realize that this small town is not exactly perfect or that it is still effected by bigger social issues and not the small town utopia that it portrayed as, but then that becomes not a cozy mystery anymore. I think this just kinda cements that this is just not a genre for me, and that is okay because not everything is meant for everyone
I chose the quote at the top of this review as look at the missed potential in my opinion of this book. This is a cozy mystery story about a woman named Win reopening her family's ice cream shop in a small village/town that then gets rocked with a murder.
This is the third or fourth cozy mystery that I have read and I think that this genre is just not for me. The premise of the book is fine, but really none of the characters see any major growth at all and are all extremely two-dimensional. Like most of them felt quirky not as a defining character trait, but just to be quirky.
For such a short book (less than 400 pages) there are big sections where nothing really happens. The writing style comes across as simplistic and repetitive. To me the best part of the book were the ice cream recipes at the back of the book (really want to make those lol)
I really wanted to like this. The reason why our book club picked this was for a story by an African-American author that was not about trauma or sadness. I stand by that decision, but I think something that the quote at the top of this review shows is that you could tackle important social/civic right issues without having to dip into trauma.
I think what this cozy mystery was missing was something that gave it depth. Maybe using the murder to help Win realize that this small town is not exactly perfect or that it is still effected by bigger social issues and not the small town utopia that it portrayed as, but then that becomes not a cozy mystery anymore. I think this just kinda cements that this is just not a genre for me, and that is okay because not everything is meant for everyone