Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book; Audiobook
ISBN: 9780451419941;
Berkley Obsidian Mystery
336 Pages
$7.89; $7.99 Amazon (Also available in Audio CD)
April 1, 2014
⭐⭐
Sarah Grayson is the happy proprietor of Second Chance, a charming shop in the oceanfront town of North Harbor, Maine. At the shop, she sells used items that she has lovingly refurbished and repurposed. But her favorite pet project so far has been adopting a stray cat she names Elvis.
Elvis has seen nine lives - and then some. The big black cat with a scar across his nose turned up a local bar when the band was playing the King of Rock and Roll's music, and he hopped into Sarah's truck. Since then, he's been her constant companion and the furry favorite of everyone who comes into the store.
But when Sarah's elderly friend Maddie is found with the body of a dead man in her garden, the kindly old lady becomes the prime suspect in the murder. Even Sarah's old high school flame, investigator Nick Elliot, seems convinced that Maddie was up to no good. So it's up to Sarah and Elvis to clear her friend's name and make sure the real murderer doesn't get a second chance.
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
When Sarah Grayson returned home after her radio show was cancelled she decided to open a second-hand shop, and seems to be doing pretty well. On one morning she's giving a class at the local retirement home, and her friend Maddie doesn't show up - which isn't like her. So after the class Sarah and her elderly friend Charlotte go to Maddie's home and find her sitting in her backyard alongside her boyfriend Arthur Fenety...who happens to be dead. When the police suspect Maddie of the murder, none of the women can believe it. Since the three elderly friends - Charlotte, Rose, and Liz - are determined to find the killer, all Sarah can do is stick by them and hope for the best...
First off, I'm going to say that I absolutely love cats. I have several of my own, and they are indeed quirky characters with a mind of their own. However, since my cats aren't magical, and Sarah's cat Elvis isn't either, I have to wonder why he watches Jeopardy. Cats aren't big on television. They'd rather eat, sleep, and play. They aren't too fond of being unable to move, so I can't imagine that any cat would take kindly to being carried around in a duffel bag tied up to their neck with only their head poking out. There would be a fight about that one. So no, I didn't get the feeling that Elvis was "real."
Then, I am honestly really, really, tired of protagonists proclaiming they can't cook. It's not that hard to make basic food and no one has to be a gourmet cook, but it's pretty easy to make a hamburger, chicken breast, or even salmon. Personally, I think Sarah is just lazy and would rather eat out. Making scrambled eggs isn't even worth cleaning the pan. If you're setting off fire alarms, you're not paying attention, which brings me to another another thing: (and proves Sarah just doesn't want to learn to cook).
Mac remarks that Sarah pays more attention to detail than he does. No, she doesn't, or she'd be able to cook. That statement was just blown out of the water. Also, if he's going to build a boat of his own, shouldn't he be paying attention to details himself and be able to paint those details. Also, why would you paint a beautiful wood table? Varnish it to its original color. I wouldn't buy a wood table from a second hand store that I'd eventually have to strip the paint from to return it to its original glory. Just sayin'
I also didn't understand why Sarah spent her time hanging around with three elderly women. Yes, I get they were trying to solve a murder together, but from conversations it's apparent that these ladies are probably most of her social life. Who hangs around with someone who's nearly sixty years older than you are? Yes, be fond of your grandparents by all means; but their friends shouldn't be your social life.
Also, the book was more centered on Rose, Liz, and Charlotte, who seemed to blend into each other and they're just not that interesting. If this book had been labeled as being about senior sleuths we would have been forewarned, because honestly, it really is about them in the long run. Sarah's love interest just floats in and out of the book when he's needed to make an appearance, as does her friend Jess. I also didn't get why Sarah would allow the three women to 'create an office' at her place of business.
The murder investigation itself didn't really begin until almost half of the book, around page 190, and by then I'd already lost interest in the book. When I did get to the end it felt forced and as if the author just needed to find someone as the murderer. We weren't really given clues so it wasn't pointing toward anyone at all, which was disappointing.
The book would have been better, in my opinion, if Sarah actually had a reason to investigate instead of just keeping an eye on the three women (and, I have to wonder, since Maddie was the one suspected of murder, why wasn't she helping find the killer? - after all, it would have been her head in the noose, not her friends'). I also would have liked to have more descriptions of the town and the harbor, which were practically non-existent here. This one, unfortunately, was a letdown, but I will perhaps try the second in the series as many times the author hones the characters and the books. Hopefully this will be the case in this series.
https://smile.amazon.com/Whole-Caboodle-Second-Chance-Mystery/dp/0451419944/ref
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2946638215
More on Sofie Ryan's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/sofie-ryan/
No comments:
Post a Comment