Review: Entertaining Cozy Mystery
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 26, 2012
Truth to tell, when listening to the book (which was about 75% of the time), any of the editing errors mentioned by reviewers disappear in the flow of words from the Amazon male robot reader (whom I should give a name, I guess, to make "him" more human) and when reading myself, I pass over them as I would in a personal letter from a friend. As to the more substantive errors, how long the heroine has been a widow type of thing and whether the white dress changes to black as she moves from the first floor to the second, I just 'pass on by' without noticing, or caring if I do notice. For me, this is light entertainment, pure escapism, if you will, at a bargain price, made possible, in part, by the absence of careful scrutiny which would add to the cost of the product. My advice to any reader who is bothered by these things, is to purchase only books issued by main-line publishing houses and pay the extra dollars for the salaries of professional editors and proof readers.All of which is simply to say, my review is not a guide to be relied on by someone for whom these things matter in reading this kind of book.As to the book itself, I found it to be pleasingly diverting from the cares of the day, sufficiently entertaining to maintain my interest throughout. It is not Ellery Queen or Agatha Christie, not innovative in plot or setting, but quite competitive with the average cozy appearing on Kindle. The heroine, a widow, is in the first week of opening a new lodge set up with a mystery writing theme; the first group of guests is comprised of mystery book writers, with the host being their agent. In a not exactly novel plot device, there occurs a major snowstorm which brings with it murder and a major need for the heroine to call upon her extended family and her friends to manage the emergency and to cope with the crime (her brother is the Sheriff). With the guests, the permanent and temporary staff, and the police, to work with, the author is able to construct an interesting set of interrelationships and a sufficiency of clues to keep us involved to the end. Not complex, not a deep study of human motivations, but a tidy little "entertainment",as some heavyweight authors have said of their mysteries, which should please many regular readers of the cozies.