Murder in the Village

Title: Murder in the Village
Author: Lisa Cutts
Published: August 21st 2021 by Bookouture
Format: Kindle, 252 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: A Belinda Penshurst Mystery #1

First Sentence: Prologue: The naviety of the middle classes always meant a healhy profit.

From the Publisher: Nothing ever happens in Little Challham… until the local pub owner is drowned in his own ale. Belinda Penshurst, owner of Challham Castle, is on the case!

Belinda Penshurst loves her home village Little Challham, with its shady lanes, two pubs and weekly market, and she’s determined to keep it peaceful. She may live in Challham Castle but she knows almost everything that goes on under her nose. So when irritable pub landlord Tipper is found dead in his cellar, she’s perfectly placed to investigate.

Retired detective Harry Powell moved to Little Challham for a quiet life. He didn’t expect to be dragged into a murder investigation. But the police don’t seem half as enthusiastic as Belinda about the case, and there are strange things happening in the village. Particularly the number of dogs that have disappeared lately…

Is there a dognapper snaffling schnauzers and luring away Labradors? Is Belinda barking mad to be worried that her brother Marcus was arguing with Tipper on the day he died? Belinda and Harry track down the suspects: the rival landlord, the outraged barmaid, the mysterious man in the black car following dogwalkers around. But are the dogged detectives running out of time to sniff out the killer, before he starts hounding them? (Goodreads)

My Opinion: After a rough start with showy vocabulary and a brief chuckle over a bartender using a tea towel to clear the bar top, things started to settle down a bit, with the characters capturing my attention. By midway, I wondered why I continued only to conclude that I had invested this much time, so why quit now. By the end, I should have listened to my inner critic and stopped after the first chapter.

Coached in the Act

Title: Coached in the Act
Author: Victoria Laurie
Published: August 31st 2021 by Kensington Publishing Corporation
Format: Kindle, Hardcover, 304 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: The Life Coach Mysteries #3

First Sentence: I found Gilley in the kitchen, tearfully sniffing as he stared at his laptom screen.

From the Publisher: Wild rumors are swirling in the Hamptons over "Twelve Angry Men," a ruthlessly revealing one-woman show written and performed by Yelena Galanis. The well-known socialite dated her way through some of the East End's most eligible bachelors, and now she's sparing few details while spilling their humiliating secrets to scandalized crowds. It's a mean-spirited spectacle that urges Cat to make a beeline for the theater exit during the first act--only to later discover that Yelena was found stabbed to death during intermission that same evening...

Adding to the disturbing news, Cat realizes she may have had a close encounter with the murderer. But when the one lead gives way to another violent death, her newest client--romantically linked to Yelena--gets tagged as the prime suspect. Believing eleven other barely-anonymous men had reasons to kill the thespian for playing a cruel game of kiss and tell, Cat teams up with her sidekick, Gilley, to track down Yelena's list of rejected lovers and identify the vengeful culprit stalking around the seaside community, lingering frighteningly close to home.(Kensington)

My Opinion: Finally!! Gilley has grown up and isn’t nearly as annoying and childish as his previous iterations in Victoria Laurie’s books. He has turned into a deeply caring and thoughtful person.

No matter how hard Cat tries to keep her head down and her life coaching business afloat, murder finds her. Not only does it arrive in the form of a man stumbling into her table at a coffee shop, but there was also the slight issue of a one-woman show which was set to name names. Including a name that hits too close to home leaving Cat and her detective boyfriend reeling from the implications.

Victoria Laurie’s books are perfect for a weekend. There is humor and compassion and just enough mystery to keep the reader turning the pages.

Gone for Good

Title: Gone for Good
Author: Joanna Schaffhausen
Published: August 10th 2021 by Minotaur Books
Format: Kindle, Hardcover, 304 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Detective Annalisa Vega #1

First Sentence: Do you remember the moment you realized you were going to die?

From the Publisher: The Lovelorn Killer murdered seven women, ritually binding them and leaving them for dead before penning them gruesome love letters in the local papers. Then he disappeared, and after twenty years with no trace of him, many believe that he’s gone for good.

Not Grace Harper. A grocery store manager by day, at night Grace uses her snooping skills as part of an amateur sleuth group. She believes the Lovelorn Killer is still living in the same neighborhoods that he hunted in, and if she can figure out how he selected his victims, she will have the key to his identity.

Detective Annalisa Vega lost someone she loved to the killer. Now she’s at a murder scene with the worst kind of déjà vu: Grace Harper lies bound and dead on the floor, surrounded by clues to the biggest murder case that Chicago homicide never solved. Annalisa has the chance to make it right and to heal her family, but first, she has to figure out what Grace knew—how to see a killer who may be standing right in front of you. This means tracing his steps back to her childhood, peering into dark corners she hadn’t acknowledged before, and learning that despite everything the killer took, she has still so much more to lose. (Minotaur)

My Opinion: The first two-thirds of the book was a disappointing muddle, then suddenly, the intensity picked up, leading to a mad scramble to the killer's identity -- which was too quick and abrupt. But with still ten percent of the book left, it did not make sense. Where was Joanna Schaffhausen going next?

An author shouldn't need that much time for family and boyfriend issues, so what did she have up her sleeve. Well, that would be a part I had figured all along was nothing but filler, a forgotten case the Grave Diggers were working. Which that too was tied up too quickly. Then there was one last thing. What was her father trying to tell her before his surgery? What was that one thing which will now upend her life, her family, and her career?

21st Birthday

Title: 21st Birthday
Author: James Patterson, Maxine Paetro
Published: May 3rd 2021 by Little, Brown and Company
Format: Hardcover, 416 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Women's Murder Club #21

First Sentence: Prologue: Cindy Thomas followed Robert Barnett’s assistant down the long corridor at the low firm of Barnett and Associates in Washington, DC.

From the Publisher: When young wife and mother Tara Burke goes missing with her baby girl, all eyes are on her husband, Lucas. He paints her not as a missing person but a wayward wife—until a gruesome piece of evidence turns the investigation criminal.

While Chronicle reporter Cindy Thomas pursues the story and M.E. Claire Washburn harbors theories that run counter to the SFPD’s, ADA Yuki Castellano sizes Lucas up as a textbook domestic offender . . . who suddenly puts forward an unexpected suspect. If what Lucas tells law enforcement has even a grain of truth, there isn't a woman in the state of California who's safe from the reach of an unspeakable threat. (Goodreads)

My Opinion: For me, Patterson’s books rarely live up to expectations, and 21st Birthday was no different. Even the title was a misnomer since nothing in the book, other than one of the victims was twenty and not going to see their 21st Birthday made the number significant.

All was going according to the usual pace until two-thirds of the way, the pivotal courtroom scene, was nothing more than a retelling of the previous 250-plus pages. The thriller/suspense climax culminated in an ending that was dry and felt like the familiar we hit our contractual page count, let’s call it a day scenario.

So why do I continue with this series - a good question. The best I can come up with is --I have invested time, the characters are familiar, and hope. Hopeful that one day all the pieces will fall in place, and the writing team of Patterson and Paetro will shock and surprise me.

As a funny note, in the author note section, Patterson gets a full page showing off his accolades while Maxine Paetro gets two sentences.