Author: Julia Buckley
Published: May 2nd 2017 by Berkley
Format: Paperback; 304 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: A Writer's Apprentice Mystery Book Series #2
Running parallel to quotes at the beginning of each chapter from the fictional novel Death on the Danube written, I believe, by the main characters of the book - Camille Graham and her personal assistant and collaborator, Lena London. The reader is given a slight taste as to what will unfold in the subsequent pages and will open the door to the body that is found and the upheaval that is brought to them all.
Continuing from the last book ‘A Dark and Stormy Murder’, Sam West, their semi reclusive next door neighbor, continues to be under suspicion since his once thought to be dead wife has been spotted and Lena is using her research talents to find her.
Taylor Branch, the best friend of the missing Victoria has used her blog to disparage Sam at every turn, but had sent a message that she would like to meet up with him and apologize in person. When her body is found on his property, the tabloids are after him once again to prove that he is a murderer. It might not have been his wife Victoria, but with Taylor’s body being discovered on his property, he obviously had a hand in this one.
Many characters are thrown in throughout this book and the reader needs to analyze each and decided if they are important or just thrown in for distraction. I cannot understand why a few of them were mentioned, but then again, that is what a mystery is about. The infamous red herrings that keep the reader engaged. Then there is Grace Palmer who throws this whole thing wide open.
Winter in Blue Lake, Indiana, gives a very heavy hand to this pseudo-gothic novel. The atmosphere is heavy, gray, and oppressive, yet at the same time, there are modern day features such as the determined paparazzi and cozy mystery features using the ever present German Sheppards named Rochester and Heathcliff and a cat named Lestrade. Of course, Julia Buckley throws in touches of romance so when it comes to classifying this genre, it is all over the place.
The end of the book leads to a very large opening for the next book in the series with an orchestrated abduction and Sam ever present in the center of the drama.
Continuing from the last book ‘A Dark and Stormy Murder’, Sam West, their semi reclusive next door neighbor, continues to be under suspicion since his once thought to be dead wife has been spotted and Lena is using her research talents to find her.
Taylor Branch, the best friend of the missing Victoria has used her blog to disparage Sam at every turn, but had sent a message that she would like to meet up with him and apologize in person. When her body is found on his property, the tabloids are after him once again to prove that he is a murderer. It might not have been his wife Victoria, but with Taylor’s body being discovered on his property, he obviously had a hand in this one.
Many characters are thrown in throughout this book and the reader needs to analyze each and decided if they are important or just thrown in for distraction. I cannot understand why a few of them were mentioned, but then again, that is what a mystery is about. The infamous red herrings that keep the reader engaged. Then there is Grace Palmer who throws this whole thing wide open.
Winter in Blue Lake, Indiana, gives a very heavy hand to this pseudo-gothic novel. The atmosphere is heavy, gray, and oppressive, yet at the same time, there are modern day features such as the determined paparazzi and cozy mystery features using the ever present German Sheppards named Rochester and Heathcliff and a cat named Lestrade. Of course, Julia Buckley throws in touches of romance so when it comes to classifying this genre, it is all over the place.
The end of the book leads to a very large opening for the next book in the series with an orchestrated abduction and Sam ever present in the center of the drama.
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