2024.06.24 Meeting Notes

In case you only read the beginning of my messages, I want to talk about a few things before I get into the book discussion.
Escape Room: the final email has been sent to sign up to come to the escape room on August 24. You must RSVP to this last email, even if you already weighed in on the two dates.
The 2 plays and 2 games I sent out will be planned as the dates get closer. It looks something like this:
Clue: A Walking Mystery - TBD, coming soon to Denver
2025/24 Oct-Jan: Monopoly game at DCPA
2025 March-May: Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder at Arvada Theater
2025 April: Baskerville at Lone Tree Arts Center
We have chosen our books for the rest of the year, but I neglected to see if anyone wants to lead and/or bring snacks. Please REPLY and let me know if you want to LEAD for a specific book or bring SNACKS for a specific month.
* July 22: Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly
* August 26: End of Story by AJ Finn
* September 23: Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
* October 28: The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose
* November 25: The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
On to the June book discussion!
We met in June to discuss Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon.
I was worried coming into the meeting because I didn't love the book and I thought I might be the only one. I think it's safe to say that this book got mostly "meh" scores.
The majority of scores were between 4 & 6, right down the middle. We had a 3 and a few higher than 6, but not many. Here's how it broke down:
One 3, four 4s, six 5s, seven 6s, two 7s, and one 8. That's 21 scores and an average of 5.38 (that's the only decimal you're going to see). Right in the middle, for sure. Feel free to check my math!
I normally say what the people who liked the book said, and then what those who didn't like it said. But since were were down the middle, I'll just say what the comments were. 
The book was stereotypical, like a Hallmark movie, trite, predictable, the red herrings weren't good, not surprising, middle if the road, boring, nothing special, didn't care for it, author over explained everything, horrible, fine, not great, bad dialogue, simple, took way longer than it should have, just didn't care. 
Ok, that's a lot of bad. We did say a few good things. The relationships among the characters were better than the plot. The scenery seemed nice, we liked the bay area. It wasn't the worst book we've read (Cathy Martin was mentioned, no surprise). The prologue was good, it was pleasant enough. We liked that Jack called her Gramma Prima and why. We also liked that Prima didn't take any crap. Jack was a great character. 
We liked the reason the author wrote the book more than the book itself. For those who didn't watch the interviews, the author's mother was diagnosed with cancer and they always had murder mysteries in common, so the author wrote a mystery and her mom edited and read as she wrote. It helped them bond and it helped her mom get her mind off the cancer. 
And here are my favorite comments:
"This book was two cats shy of a cozy" - Amy
"It just kept going, it was like driving through Kansas" - Claudia
When asked if she liked the book, "Well, until I got here I liked it" - Cindy
"It was like eating stale, day old bread" - sorry, I didn't write down who said this. 
(Jose met the day old bread and upped it to rancid Oreos - yuck.)
I want to point out that Susan provided snacks, so we weren't hungry at all. And they were really tasty, so not sure why the comparisons to icky food. Thanks Susan! 
This month we will meet on July 22 to discuss Resurrection Walk by Michael Connelly (PLEASE NOTE: this is the 4th Monday, not the last Monday).
I will lead and bring snacks unless I hear from a volunteer.
Kerry