Review: Great Mystery!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 22, 2012
So mystery novels are not my usual genre, however, I loved this mystery. To be honest, the main reason I don't normally read mysteries is because I usually figure out "who did it" well before it's declared in the story... kinda defeats the purpose of reading the novel.... The fact that it all starts about by finding out she stole money just to help out an email scammer is intriguing. I mean, how many of those stupid emails do we get in our inbox a year - some of those stories really want to pull you in and that's what happens to poor ole Vilma.Judy Nichols had me completely stumped!! I couldn't figure it out and it was driving me absolutely insane! At only 229, this read is relatively short but believe me when I say it didn't seem like it because you're constantly learning something new. Each chapter is pretty short but they're each almost individual key points in the mystery. You really come to care about poor Velma. The mean lady you thought she was is completely a misunderstanding. Vilma was judged as a mean ol' lady before we knew her background and what made her the way she was. Well, yes she's a little mean but you find out WHY she's the way she is and it completely changes your perception of her. The more you learn, the more you want to know who killed her and why! Of course I won't reveal the outcome but let me just say it's surprising.The cast of main characters is fitting. I enjoyed reading from Ian Dodge's (love that name btw) point of view. He's a great lead character that you grow comfortable with. He's not an over the top detective but when he needs to be, he's a mystery solving machine. I'd love to read more stories about the detective tales of Ian.Judy's writing style flows pretty smoothly. There's a lot of dialog that you read through - some of it gets a little boggy but I think if I read more of the mystery genre, the dialog wouldn't have bothered me as much. Lots of questioning and story telling... You learn alot of interesting new facts during the dialog and during the dialog is when you learn so much about Vilma.Even though this isn't my normal genre, I have to recommend this read to others whether you like mystery novels or not.