Murder with Peacocks

Murder with Peacocks  

  - Donna Andrews

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

After a five-month hiatus from reading, I got back with an intense and action-packed Daevabad trilogy, after which I felt a need to slow down the pace and find a comfort read. So I went back to cozy mysteries with this series which sounded promising, only to be reminded why I had sworn off the genre.

The mystery part was alright (even though I had a hunch who the murderer would turn out to be), and there were some witty exchanges scattered through the book, which I found amusing. It was also funny to see Michael (rumored to be gay, but obviously, not so) keep trying to tell a (surprisingly) oblivious Meg about his feelings but always getting interrupted.

On the downside, all the characters were more like caricatures, with every single action of theirs emphasizing whatever quality the author wanted to attribute to them. It almost feels like an insult to readers' intelligence - the facts must be hammered on their heads before they grasp it.
A character who visits a small town for the first time, and goes about antagonizing everyone, talking to people just so she can be mean to them, and for no apparent reason - oh, how vile, everyone has a reason to hate her? A scheming bride who is superficial down to the core and demonstrates it in every action and word - oh, how shallow, taking undue advantage of Meg and her poor little brother? The heroine, Meg, who is so nice that she lets three brides walk all over her with their unreasonable demands while being uncooperative themselves, and she always bends over backward to accommodate additional chores and last-minute changes instead of telling a firm no - oh, such a goody-goody girl! And of course, Michael, the quintessential hero - intellectual, gorgeous, and always there to help! And the crazy antics of the entire Langslow family (though many of them were amusing).

The wedding planning took a lot of real estate in the book and the unreasonable behavior of everyone involved was a big pain to read through. I will give another one a try, hoping for more content than bridezilla shenanigans.