Some recent mysteries ...

I have been reading quite a few mysteries lately and wanted to briefly share reactions to some that I had started, put down for various reasons, and picked up again. I may have originally chosen a title because of the favorable professional reviews, setting and description, availability as an audiobook, or author (one I knew or one who gave me a chance to experiment with a debut). None of these will make my favorites list, but other readers may feel differently, and these titles are worth a look.

THE LIBRARIANS by Sherry Thomas was a LibraryReads selection for September and received starred reviews from Booklist (“enhanced with several subplots”) and Kirkus (“crime-solving librarians solve double murder mysteries while guarding their own secrets”). Yes, the plot is quite intricate (possible kidnapping, missing heirs, fraudulent activities) with jumps in time and multiple romances, plus several deaths after a Game Night at a local public library… Whew! More than one member of the staff comes under suspicion and they all (somewhat improbably) band together to try to find the real killer. Readers will need patience to appreciate the complexity. THE LIBRARIANS is set in Austin and it is fun to see a local reviewer’s perspective: Kim’s Bookstack post. 4 stars. 

A MATTER OF PEDIGREE by Leslie Meier is a light and very fluffy whodunit from the author of the Lucy Stone series. This is the start of the Carole and Poopsie series in which Carole’s somewhat uncouth husband is indicted for murder. She sets out to investigate and clear his name. Overall, I thought this was a little “too” cute and the dog, Poopsie, is obnoxious but an obvious shtick which will be back in future series entries. An entertaining, undemanding beach read. 3.5 stars 

A KILLER WEDDING is a debut mystery written by Joan O'Leary, with an audiobook narrated by Amanda Dolan. The over-the-top society wedding between Jane Murphy and Dr. Graham Ripton (grandson and heir to a beauty company CEO, Gloria Beaufort) is about to take place in a lavish Irish setting. The glitzy celebration is to be chronicled by journalist Christine Russo who works for Bespoke Weddings magazine and is excited about this big career boost. Sadly, I found the story to be VERY slow to start, with almost a fourth of the book devoted to background and character introductions before someone dies. Also, there are numerous family members, spanning several generations, and since they all acted in a selfish and privileged manner, it was difficult to keep track of their relationships or care about them. Christine is relatively young and naïve so she is surprised when the family chooses to not report the death and instead go ahead with the wedding. Library Journal called this “a fast-paced, funny whodunit” and Publishers Weekly praised O’Leary’s ability to “juggle perspectives and timelines.” I simply could not get interested and clearly missed some of the subtleties - maybe reading the text would have worked better than listening to the story? 3 stars

I felt similarly about THE DEAD COME TO STAY by Brandy Schillace which offers a mystery set in Yorkshire and is the second one to feature Jo Jones, an American on the autism spectrum. There are numerous references to the earlier tale in this series and once again Jones pairs up with a local police officer to find a murderer. This time their sleuthing involves missing teens as well. I found the audiobook which is narrated by Imogen Church (she also narrates Ruth Ware titles) unenjoyable. Church attempts several strange voices and accents, particularly for detective James MacAdams, but sadly, the voices are both difficult to understand and quite distracting from the story. I did try reading an ebook preview, but the story did not keep me interested. Maybe my attention span was too short? Kirkus called THE DEAD COME TO STAY “a superior puzzle” and Booklist said, “engaging and full of twists.” 3.5 stars  Do give these titles a try and decide for yourself.