Addressed to Kill (A Postmistress Mystery #3)

Author:  Jean Flowers
Genre:  Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN:  9780425279120
Berkley Publishing
304 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
July 25, 2017

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Love is in the air for postmaster Cassie Miller and the residents of North Ashcot, Massachusetts.  Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and the town is gearing up for a special dinner dance at the senior center.  Since the local musical group performing at the dance has been displaced from their regular practice location, Cassie is all too happy to host them during off-hours at the post office.

But not everything is coming up roses.  When one of the musicians, Dennis Somerville, is found shot in his home, rumors swirl over who might have wanted him dead.  Cassie must determine if there is a link between a string of recent break-ins and Dennis's murder before another victim winds up with more than a broken heart.

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As the third book in the Postmistress series, I really wanted to like it better than the first two.  But there are so many things wrong with this book, beginning with buildings changing locations and growing larger.  That's right - growing larger.  In the last book, the drawings showed the post office, then buildings 1201 Main and 1203 Main on the corner facing the bank.  In this book, it's 1203 Main, 1201 Main, and a much larger post office (now transposed to the corner and facing the bank) - attached to a community center that didn't exist before.  Maybe others don't pay attention to details, but I do.  And these details most certainly weren't in the previous book.  You can't just change locations of buildings and make them larger on a whim.  Not to mention I've never heard of a post office having a community center.  That's just odd.

Secondly, supposedly there are three thousand people in the town of North Ashcot, but only one postal employee.  They don't deliver mail, and we're supposed to believe that everyone goes to the post office to get it.  Even if half are children, that's a lot of post boxes they'd need.  This post office must be the biggest in the country to accommodate that many.  Plus, can you imagine the lines of people picking up/mailing packages at Christmas?  In fact, she wouldn't have time to investigate murders.  She'd spend all her time sorting mail and putting it in the boxes.  I check my mail every day, as do most people.  I thought this was a town of about 100 people up until now.  Now I understand some towns don't do home delivery - but with this many people you'd have to have more than one person and keep the post office open a lot longer to accommodate those that work during the day, not to mention disabled people would need their mail delivered.  Also, when does she sort the mail?  Is it done by elves in the middle of the night?  Because Cassie never mentions sorting, yet with all these people, that would take a lot of time.  So, a town this size, with everyone coming into the post office every day to get their mail would take up an awful lot of time - and again, need more than ONE employee to do so.

When a professor is murdered Cassie blames herself because he wanted her to investigate threatening letters (which he should have taken to the police department if he thought his life was threatened) so nosy Cassie needs to investigate - again.  While Cassie's in the perfect job for her, since she thinks post offices are fascinating, they're not.  I really tried to like it, but sorry, I am so done with this series.

https://www.amazon.com/Addressed-Kill-Postmistress-Mystery-Flowers/dp/042527912X/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2214323005

More on Jean Flowers's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/f/jean-flowers/

Cancelled by Murder (A Postmistress Mystery #2)

Author:  Jean Flowers
Genre:  Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780425279113
Berkley Publishing
304 Pages
September 6, 2016

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Cassie Miller returned to her sleepy hometown in the Berkshires to start over as the new postmistress.  But she soon finds that dead letters are nothing compared to murder victims...

With a massive storm about to hit North Ashcot, Massachusetts, floods and widespread wind damage, Cassie is forced to close up the post office, while the rest of the local business owners and residents batten down the hatches and brace themselves for the worst.

Although the storm proves to be not as bad as predicted, fabric shop owner Daisy Harmon is found dead, seemingly killed by a fallen branch.  But the police quickly determine that her death has nothing to do with foul weather and everything to do with foul play.  After Daisy's widowed husband approaches Cassie to help solve his wife's murder, she vows to find the killer before another innocent victim is taken by storm.

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It's the end of summer in North Ashcot, Massachusetts, and Cassie Miller has been postmistress for a year now, with a new boyfriend, Quinn, and a best friend in the local police chief.  She's even become a member of the local quilting group.

There's been a bad storm, and Cassie has just learned that one of the quilters has been a casualty...only she wasn't.  It seems that Daisy Harmon was murdered, and now there's a killer on the loose.  When Daisy's husband Cliff asks for Cassie's help, she feels she just can't turn away from him, even though she knows Sunni will be mad that she won't let the police department handle it.  So even though it's a reluctant decision, she agrees to help Cliff figure out who wanted his wife dead and why.  With little to go on, the police warning her away, and someone sending her warning notes, Cassie may be in over her head, but she;s not going to let a killer stay free; especially one who may have her targeted as the next victim...

This is the second book in the series, and I really, really wanted to like it better than the first.  I know that it's about the postmistress in a small town, but the endless chatter about everyone's mail and everybody's personal business (even though Cassie doesn't gossip, she sure was doing a lot to the reader) was bogging down the story.  So much so that I couldn't even stay interested for long periods of time.  Not to mention the cover has a cat in the post office...but there really aren't any cats in the story.  Hmm...

At any rate, the story just didn't grab me enough to seem like much of a mystery.  Yes, we have a murdered woman; but when it came right down to it, the reason she was killed didn't seem like any reason to kill her at all; and I didn't think the way Cassie escaped from the killer was believable enough; but I guess any port in a storm - just my own opinion.  Cassie also overthinks everything (we hear a lot of her thoughts) and seems to be bad at questioning people (they always know).  She just doesn't have any skill in doing this; it makes her seem nosy and inept.

The bottom line is this:  while the protagonist being a postmistress is mildly interesting, her constant telling us about everyone's mail, stamps, and the reasons people are on stamps seemed like fillers and unnecessary (nor interesting) to the story.  I also couldn't understand why she was still friends with Linda, who mocked small-town life every chance she got.  Who'd want a friend who made fun of your life choices?  I was also beginning to wonder if Quinn was on the up-and-up with her since he was on one really long business trip; but came to the conclusion that by being away, there was no reason to create any romantic involvement between him and Cassie.  At the last, you can't re-home Genets.  Once the Raleys had possession of them, there is where they would stay if they didn't want to harm them in any way.

So unfortunately, even though I have the third book in this series, right now it's a toss up as to whether I'll continue reading it.  I had high hopes, but I don't know how much more I can take reading about who's getting what mail from someone, or how busy her post office is on a daily basis.

https://www.amazon.com/Cancelled-Murder-Postmistress-Mystery-Flowers/dp/0425279111/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2208389933

More on Jean Flower's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/f/jean-flowers/