Category: Book Review

Book Review: Knit One, Kill Two

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I just got back from vaca. Of course I downloaded 15 books before I left to make sure I had enough to read. 15 day vaca equals 15 books. A lot of choices were research. Either more about cold case investigative techniques or cozy mysteries to check out the genre.

Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton is a cozy. The first in a rather long New York Times Best Selling series.

Basic Summary (Courtesy of Amazon):

Kelly Flynn never picked up a pair of knitting needles she liked—until she strolled into House of Lambspun. Now, in the first in a brand-new series, she learns how to knit one, purl two, and untangle the mystery behind her aunt’s murder.

My Thoughts:

Yup, that about covers it. I found myself scanning past many cliches. There were type errors, missing letters, extra punctuation. No one ever said anything. In one page alone, the characters declared, challenged, reassured, observed, and spoke up.

I stumbled hard on a major forensic gaffe. I want to explain it but it would give away the killer if I did. And you might read this, on the beach, with a cocktail. I certainly did. Let’s just say I hope the author did some research before the rest of the series, because she made a doozy of a dilly.

Over all it was a reasonable read. There were a few red herrings as to the killer, but no tension. It was very predictable. I also had a hard time accepting people’s behavior as natural human.

Book Review: A Burglar’s Guide To The City

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I’ve been doing rather a lot of research lately. Yes, I know this doesn’t completely apply to my topic of serial murder/cold case but I’m also fascinated by how people look at things. A Burglar’s Guide to the City by Geoff Manaugh is exactly that. A complicated look at how most of view a city and how those who don’t view it the same way can use those differences for their own nefarious plans.

This is a pure geek book. Total non fiction in the best way. All the stories he tells are from police, feds, retired burglars themselves. How they did it – generically, why it worked, or why it didn’t.

On the other hand the book is long on theory and Manaugh’s thoughts but short of details of how. And I do like my how. I like to know.

He quotes a lot from one of my favorite books on burglary. A book that was vastly more entertaining than this one. LOL

I’m not sure exactly what the issue is, but the book reads like a philosophy text. Not criminology or even architecture.  I read it, I took notes, I didn’t LOVE it. At no point did I excitedly share bits with those around me like some educational turrets disease, as I usually do.

Book Review: Delayed Justice

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As I mentioned last week, I am in research mode. Delayed Justice: Inside Stories From America’s Best Cold Case Investigators by Jack and Mary Branson is less story and more how to. They use examples from solved cold case files handled by different police and federal agencies to suggest an appropriate method of solving cold cases.

The book itself was a touch repetitive outside of the things said by the detectives and agents they interviewed. This was definitively written for the arm chair detective who’s retired and got caught up in the true crime channel.

On the other hand, I took some really good notes for my novel. It’s a solid book that fills a very small niche. This is not popular reading in my opinion.

Book Review: Who Killed These Girls?

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I’ve been doing some research lately. The second book in my cozy procedural trilogy is set in the cold case squad, and I realized while I knew a lot about standard police practice, forensics, and detective work – cold cases might be a new breed. I better buff up. I hate putting out a book where I just make all the cool stuff up. Truth is so much more interesting.

And Who Killed These Girls: Cold Case: The Yogurt Shop Murders by Beverly Lowry was fascinating. The hubs was working from a lot of the days I was reading this, especially the day I finished the second half of the book because it was so incredible I couldn’t put it down. I kept going into the room he was in to interrupt him and tell him the next shocking thing that happened in the investigation and trial. The info so good enough he didn’t even complain.

Four teenage girls are murdered. Brutally. In a yogurt shop. Then set on fire. Heinous crime by any standards. But as years roll by and they have no one to blame. Things get worse.

Lowry interviewed everyone, she read whatever she could get her hands on, including trial transcripts. She put together a very balanced look at the case. At no point does she make any interjections on the guilt or blame. She attempts to really show how the case impacted everyone involved.

Except the guy I think did it. Yup, I have a theory from reading the evidence, such as it was. But what do I know, I’m just an author.

Fascinating look at how investigation go wrong. Where tiny little mistakes pile up into big holes, leaving enough room for a killer to escape.

 

Book Review: Cremains of the Day

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I know, I know. Another cozy. But the thing is, now that I’m writing some cozy procedurals, it’s kind of research, right?

Cremains of the Day by Misty Simon is the first in a new series about a youngish woman who moves back home to the family funeral home after her divorce.

Tallie, the main character was fairly well drawn. I get a solid feeling about who she was and how she came to change which is nice. Unfortunately, the back story was delved out with a bit of a heavy hand in my opinion, think large spoon slapping down clotted cream, rather than sprinkles. But I have a soft spot for characters who do what needs to be done, especially when it’s vastly unpleasant.

There is of course a ex in the back ground making things icky. Old friends who are new bosses and extra icky. And a love interest who came across as a little overly possessive.

Toss in a couple of dead bodies, a chief of police who wants to hang them around Tallie’s neck and she’s off to the races investigating and stumbling across many, many clues.

It was a solidly decent book. Some issues with her time line. A few procedural mistakes. I will probably check out the next one though, see if the author hits her stride.

Book Review: Hidden Figures

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I heard so many great things about Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly. I figured I would get around to it one of these days. Then one of the kids in my history class asked if he could do his second half project on this book. He’d seen the movie and wanted to know more. Well sure, why not.

So I ordered it from Amazon. It came and I started reading because I won’t assign my kids anything I haven’t read myself.

I like non fiction. Let’s get that right out there. Well researched non fiction is in fact my preferred genre of reading. The non fiction nature of this book was a not a problem for me.

I am a historian by training. I research tirelessly. So the setting of the novel was not unfamiliar to me.

Where I ran into issue, was the first 2/3rds of the book. Extremely short on actual details of the “incredible contributions” they made. And extremely long on preaching about racism in the south.

I get it, the south was heinously racist. If your book is in fact about racism in the south, bill it that way. Don’t pay lip service to the “incredible things they accomplished” and go on at infinitum and often repetitively, entire paragraphs repeated almost verbatim, about racism.

If your book is about the amazing things these women accomplished, show the goods. Show what they did at least in equal proportion to the amount of time you spend talking about what they over came to do the amazing.

The last third of the book she gets it right. The odds and accomplishments are both showcased in detail and in almost balance. Which made both for a compelling and emotional read.

I haven’t seen the movie. I might. I am undecided. While I applaud the real accomplishments of the women, I wish they had had a better biographer.

Book Review: Dial Meow for Murder

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A while back I reviewed Death by Chocolate Lab. Dial Meow for Murder is the amusing second book in that series by Bethany Blake.

Poor Daphne, once again she finds a dead body. That girl should never go anywhere alone. She finds bodies every time she does. She says she is trying to stay out of this investigation, but she’s not. LOL.

The murder felt super low key in this book. The focus seemed more on the complications in everyone’s lives, which I can’t say made the book any less enjoyable.I’m kind of invested now and I want to see where things are going.

The series also makes me think I’d like to live in a small town. Just maybe not Sylvan Creek, people keep dying there. LOL.

℘℘℘℘ – Four Pages. I can’t wait to get my hands on Pawprints and Predicaments.

Book Review: Writing Jane Austen

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After my mad experience last fall, this was a bit of a natural read. I’ve read it before of course, I adore Elizabeth Aston’s books. She does a delicious series on the Darcy women and then this one, Writing Jane Austen, set in modern times.

The protag, Georgina, has been commissioned by her agent and her editor to write a pastiche of Jane Austen based on a recently discovered first handwritten chapter by Jane. Wow. For some writers that might be a nightmare – sully the memory of one of the most amazing writers in history? Or a dream come true – pay homage to one of the most amazing writers in history.

The kicker of course is A) they want the book ready for PUBLICATION in 12 weeks.

and B)

Georgina’s never read an Austen novel in her life. Gasp. Shock. Horror.

But a series of unfortunate events convinces Georgina she must try. And try she does.

It’s a fun adventure following Georgina around England as she tries to avoid her publisher and her agent and anything to do with Jane Austen while looking as though she’s doing research. LOL

℘℘℘℘ – Four Pages. Amusing. Fun. A titch predictable if you read Austen but a good time none the less.

Fourth Quarter 2018 – One Page Reviews

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The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, Mackenzi Lee

I remember reading a review of this book that highlighted all the “amazing” sex scenes. sigh. 143 pages in and no one has had sex. Yes, there were two groping scenes but only one was even slightly titillating.  Worse the main character is such an ass I don’t want him to get laid. I want him to get shot. Maybe he redeems himself later in the book, I’m sure that’s the point but he’s so nasty and self deluded 143 pages in that I just can’t believe any meaningful transformation can occur.

The House of The Spirits, Isabel Allende

This was a gift from my sister in law a few years back. I tried to read it. I tried to like it. Yawn, yawn, yawn. It’s literary but that shouldn’t be an excuse for page upon page of back story each time a new character is introduced. I should care about them first.

 

Side Note: I have decided this will be the last One Page Quarterly Round Up. You don’t need to know which books I don’t like. I think originally I felt I should justify by rating system by posting one pagers when I found them but now I think you should trust me. Smiles. Plus I want to put less negativity in the world.

 

Kindness Challenge Day 11, plus Allie Potts’ New Book, The Watch & Wand

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Day 11: Do an act of kindness to help someone.

Ok the chart said someone older but I promised this to Allie and it would have been unkind of me to break my word on a kindness challenge.

The Watch & Wand by Allie Potts

A few months back I got an email from Allie saying she loved my short in The Box Under the Bed. Why thank you! She also wondered if I would like to read her new book, the second in Project Gene AssistThe-Watch-and-Wand_02.

Lucky for her I have a secret love of YA Dystopia. LOL.

The Watch and Wand. The title alone is a super fun play on the basic idea of the book. It said magic to me, silly me. So I was expecting a bad Harry Potter knock off. So NOT what I got. Woot.

YA Dystopia, I told you that much already. There is two real main characters. A cast of supporting characters who vary in just how supportive they really are. LOL. Don’t trust anyone. Very good advice.

The Magic, however, is technology with a really big dose of how much is really good for us. Can we ever go too far? I don’t want to give away too much.

This was a fast paced and fun read. I slid right through it in one day without any effort.

Here’s Allie…..

Where did the idea come from for the book?
This one is all my mom’s fault. The Project Gene Assist series was originally supposed to center entirely on the protagonist from the first book, Juliane Faris, but one day my mom and I were out walking and she asked me about how I thought a particular side character briefly mentioned in the first book might turn out. The next thing I know, I’m 20,000 words into a completely different novel. Juliane will be back for the next book in the series.
 
I wish that would happen to me. When people ask what I think my characters are doing, I’m always tempted to snark as Agatha Christie did, “You think they send me postcards?” Maybe I should snark less. Which is the more important of these two: write drunk, edit sober?
 
That is one of my absolute favorite Hemingway quotes and fantastic advice! I’m going with writing drunk because in some cases that’s the only way to keep your confidence up enough to finish that first draft and without that first draft, no amount of sober editing will help you.
Laughing. Touche. So how long were you drunk then? I mean how long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?
A solid agonizing and hair pulling year. Note to other writers out there contemplating setting their novel, not in the immediate present, but not in the far-flung future either, that setting is tough! You have to have technology that is somewhat advanced by our standards, but not too advanced, and there is always a risk that technology you choose will be out of date well before you finish the writing. By contrast, I have been able to write the first draft for an entirely different story, currently sitting in my work in progress folder, in less than three months.
Now you know why all my stories take place in the past. There’s no changing that. Except, well, that’s kind of what I do. LOL. Bet you’d never guess what I majored in? What’s something most readers would never guess about you?
 
I am as vertically challenged as I say I am on the about me section of my blog. People always seem to act surprised by how short I am when I meet them in real life for the first time even though I’ve never treated my height, or lack thereof, as a secret. Apparently, I have a larger than life personality.
Of course you. All authors do. It’s how we survive the process. Each book we choose takes a little. How did you choose the genre you write in? Or did it choose you?
 
I love how you worded that. The Watch & Wand and the Project Gene Assist Series is a blend of science fiction and fantasy with a smidgeon of post-apocalypse thrown in there for fun. It’s all the elements I grew up reading, however my first book, An Uncertain Faith is a mix of women’s fiction and cozy mystery, which is a genre mash-up that chose me.
 
It sounds like there might be a story behind that story. Too bad, it’s just about time to wrap this up. So leave us with some words of wisdom. What’s a good writing secret or time management secret?
One of the best tips I ever came across was to schedule fifteen-minute writing sprints rather than hour-long blocks of time. Not only is it easier to fit into the average day craziness of my regular life, I find my bottom is much more willing to stay seated and my brain willing to dream up words if I know I will only be in front of a screen for a short period of time. It also relieves a lot of pressure on me. If I the ideas just aren’t flowing during a session, I know I will have the opportunity to try again later without feeling like I’ve wasted a day.

Want more Allie? You can catch her on social media:

Twitter: @alliepottswrite

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alliepottswrites/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/alliepottswrite

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alliepottswrites