Review: Short But Sweet
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 18, 2014
This novella is set between the first and second book in J. J. Cook's (aka Joyce and Jim Lavene) Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade series. You don't need to read the first book in the series to take pleasure in this one. Just the opposite, it might provide a nice and easy introduction to the series.Amazon's introduction above gives a good summary of the book, so I'll just give you my general impression of the story:The mystery part of the book was surprisingly enjoyable. There's one really obvious suspect, and in the beginning I was thinking: "This is so predictable." But after a while a little doubt crept in, and I went like: "Maybe it's not him after all, but who could it be?" It really kept me guessing, something I like about a mystery. Putting all of this into a short novella, and making it look plausible, is quite an accomplishment by the author. The end seems a tiny little bit rushed though.The rest of the story is typical cozy mystery fare: a ghost, a cute dog, and a likable female protagonist. It's nothing particularly new, but it's well written and enjoyable.