A Study in Sherlock (Stories Inspired by the Holmes Canon)
- Miscellaneous
Its quite a mixed bag of stories, set over a range of time frames, some featuring Holmes, many featuring people inspired by Holmes. Some of the stories were nice, while others were insipid. In fact, after reading the first story, I considered abandoning it (even though I loved the Flavia de Luce series by the Author Alan Bradley). There were a few murder mysteries written in the style of Doyle or Christie, I enjoyed those though I was able to figure out the solution - something that does not usually happen with either canon. Overall, I would rate it between 2.5 to 3 stars.
Andy Carpenter #5 (Dead Center)
- David Rosenfelt
I had enjoyed the series so far, but looks like its time to part ways.
This installment had a setting that was too far-fetched, and the rest of the story has become to sound formulaic (but perhaps that's the norm and the selling point for series like this). After leading through obvious red-herrings (because when the murderer is too obvious from the start, you can be assured that it will not turn out to be the right solution), it appeared that the author was in a hurry to conclude.
The writing style is also not holding me any more. The humorous asides, that were entertaining earlier in the series, are now getting to me - too much of a good thing? I am no fan of high literature, I prefer engaging stories, related in a straightforward manner, but the language in this one has started feeling too juvenile even for me.
The Diva Runs out of Thyme
- Krista Davis
About 30% into the book, I was fully inclined to abandon it. The author just tried too hard to tell us how mean and shallow Natasha is - every alternate chapter she gives useless and entitled advice to the readers in her column (how many people can afford to rent a limo for their guests to roam about the city in style?!) ... she is exactly a diva, throwing tantrums all around and expecting people to fawn over her. In contrast, the main character is too saccharine (or maybe a doormat) who lets everyone impose over her, and who can prepare a formal meal for 14 people without batting an eyelid. Her mother and sister are unbearable, the only likeable characters have a very minor role.
Eventually, since I cant not know who the killer was, I skimmed through it, skipping the advice columns and lengthy descriptions of food preps, through irrelevant sidetracks (what was that about the colonel and hearse!) to reach a convoluted solution.
Cant figure out why is it ranked so high on the GR cozy mystery lists.
PS: I don't remember why I started numbering these "mini reviews" collections in roman numerals. I hope I won't write so many of them to not be able to annotate the roman number easily :D
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