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A review by teatimewtrisha
Sell Low, Sweet Harriet by Sherry Harris
The protagonist of our mystery, Sarah Winston, is a former military wife and current garage sale extraordinaire. “Garage sale” doesn’t really describe the productions that Sarah put on – she prices items and plans and conducts sales for people, and in this case, she handles everything inside of a home that a couple bequeathed to their children upon their death. Winston prices designer dresses and artifacts from all over the world, making this not-your-mother’s yard sale. It’s a full-blown estate sale. Needless to say, the underlying hook of this series had me… hooked. Harris even provides tips for holding a garage sale during the winter.
The layout of the book was a little different than other cozy mysteries. The victim of the story is already dead as the book begins, and very little backstory is provided about the circumstances around her death. Generally, our brave heroine stumbles across the body, and receives a weary reprimand from the cute detective who is the subject a of a “will they, won’t they?” storyline as well as curious questions from every nosy citizen in the small town.
Harris also creates a different take on the cast of characters. I’ve seen “new girl in town,” where all the characters are each introduced to our amateur sleuth, and “pillar of the community,” where our heroine knows everyone and anyone as well as all the dirt. Sarah Winston sits somewhere in the middle. As a former military wife, she knows a lot of the people on the military base where the mystery occurs, but others are strangers to her, having moved to the base after her divorce and departure. We find Sarah living in a nearby town, and only tied to the base by the thrift store where she volunteers. (Side note: shout out and a thank you to my own base thrift shop, they gave me a small scholarship for college years ago.) This seems fairly more realistic than our “new girl” and “pillar” stereotypes, but I did find the base culture Harris described fascinating and somewhat unsettling. Sarah is seen as a bit of a misfit and outcast since she still comes to the base despite her lack of familial ties, and the military wives seem to be clique-y and at times, gossipy and vicious.
Despite having these interesting draws that make Garage Sale Mysteries stand out in the cozy mystery world, I was not a huge fan of the character development. Namely, the lack luster approach to development. Cozy mysteries have a lot to pack into a story, so it’s understandable that there won’t be elaborate development, but the characters were so vanilla I had a hard time keep track of them. Sarah’s assistants stood out and were memorable, but I had trouble differentiating between the military wives, Sarah’s friends, and other side characters.
The layout of the book was a little different than other cozy mysteries. The victim of the story is already dead as the book begins, and very little backstory is provided about the circumstances around her death. Generally, our brave heroine stumbles across the body, and receives a weary reprimand from the cute detective who is the subject a of a “will they, won’t they?” storyline as well as curious questions from every nosy citizen in the small town.
Harris also creates a different take on the cast of characters. I’ve seen “new girl in town,” where all the characters are each introduced to our amateur sleuth, and “pillar of the community,” where our heroine knows everyone and anyone as well as all the dirt. Sarah Winston sits somewhere in the middle. As a former military wife, she knows a lot of the people on the military base where the mystery occurs, but others are strangers to her, having moved to the base after her divorce and departure. We find Sarah living in a nearby town, and only tied to the base by the thrift store where she volunteers. (Side note: shout out and a thank you to my own base thrift shop, they gave me a small scholarship for college years ago.) This seems fairly more realistic than our “new girl” and “pillar” stereotypes, but I did find the base culture Harris described fascinating and somewhat unsettling. Sarah is seen as a bit of a misfit and outcast since she still comes to the base despite her lack of familial ties, and the military wives seem to be clique-y and at times, gossipy and vicious.
Despite having these interesting draws that make Garage Sale Mysteries stand out in the cozy mystery world, I was not a huge fan of the character development. Namely, the lack luster approach to development. Cozy mysteries have a lot to pack into a story, so it’s understandable that there won’t be elaborate development, but the characters were so vanilla I had a hard time keep track of them. Sarah’s assistants stood out and were memorable, but I had trouble differentiating between the military wives, Sarah’s friends, and other side characters.