Title: A Deadly GrindAuthors: Victoria Hamilton
Publisher: Berkley (May 1, 2012)
Format: Paperback
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: Library
Series: A Vintage Kitchen Mystery #1
I know that cozy mysteries are designed to revolve around the people and the community with the dead body being a secondary image. In my person opinion, I think that Victoria Hamilton has gone too far with the description of the town and their festivities, has too many characters to keep straight and a heroine, if you can call her that, which is neither memorable nor unique.
My first turn off on the book is the cover, the dog’s head is completely out of proportion to the body and when you read the story, you find out that the dog has a missing front leg due to an accident when still a puppy. Yet, the cover shows both front paws. Was this an error by a newbie writer? I do not think so since Victoria Hamilton is a pseudonym for Donna Lea Simpson, a romance writer that is now branching into the cozy market.
Ok, maybe I am being overly fussy, so let us move onto the plot.
Jaymie Leighton loves vintage kitchenware and when an original Hoosier comes up for auction, she is there. Midway through the bidding, a fist-a-cuffs breaks out between to competing bidders and Jaymie walks away with her dream purchase.
As the cabinet sets out on her summer porch overnight, a crash-bang-kapowee is heard and Jaymie stumbles onto the dead body of an intruder. Come to find out, the Hoosier is holding a very important secret and now Jaymie must protect life and home to return this treasure to its rightful owner.
There are so many characters in this book that from time to time it is difficult to keep them straight. Jaymie is a dimwit that does not put “clues” together that leaves the reader scratching their head. Two characters even have the same last name, though not related and Ms Hamilton waited until the book was two-thirds of the way through the book to unravel that coincidence.
This book was not for me due to the overly descriptive surroundings and the long drawn out conclusion to a very simple mystery.
My first turn off on the book is the cover, the dog’s head is completely out of proportion to the body and when you read the story, you find out that the dog has a missing front leg due to an accident when still a puppy. Yet, the cover shows both front paws. Was this an error by a newbie writer? I do not think so since Victoria Hamilton is a pseudonym for Donna Lea Simpson, a romance writer that is now branching into the cozy market.
Ok, maybe I am being overly fussy, so let us move onto the plot.
Jaymie Leighton loves vintage kitchenware and when an original Hoosier comes up for auction, she is there. Midway through the bidding, a fist-a-cuffs breaks out between to competing bidders and Jaymie walks away with her dream purchase.
As the cabinet sets out on her summer porch overnight, a crash-bang-kapowee is heard and Jaymie stumbles onto the dead body of an intruder. Come to find out, the Hoosier is holding a very important secret and now Jaymie must protect life and home to return this treasure to its rightful owner.
There are so many characters in this book that from time to time it is difficult to keep them straight. Jaymie is a dimwit that does not put “clues” together that leaves the reader scratching their head. Two characters even have the same last name, though not related and Ms Hamilton waited until the book was two-thirds of the way through the book to unravel that coincidence.
This book was not for me due to the overly descriptive surroundings and the long drawn out conclusion to a very simple mystery.
1 comment:
Thank you for warning me off this one! I do not read things with animals who get hurt or sad things about animals. Call me weird, but that is a promise I have made to my own readers: no children or pets will be harmed. It's a fantasy world, but it's MY world. LOL.
Post a Comment