A Sinister Sense: A Raven's Nest Bookstore Mystery (Raven's Nest Bookstore Mysteries, #2)

by Allison Kingsley

Visions of the future and turning into people's thoughts come naturally to Clara Quinn thanks to her inherited Quinn Sense. Unfortunately, it offers no insight into her love life—or lack thereof—especially where hardware store owner Rick Sanders is concerned. But even though she's still nursing a broken heart, Clara offers Rick a home for his troublesome dog, Tatters.

But Tatters is the least of Rick's problems when a dead body is discovered in the back of his truck. The victim was seen in the hardware store—and bludgeoned to death with a hammer stolen from there. Clara believes Rick is innocent, but she's not sure whether that belief comes from the Quinn Sense in her head or simply from a desire in her heart...

• ISBN10: 0425251411
• ISBN13: 9780425251416
• Publish Date: 3 July 2012 (first published 1 July 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Penguin USA
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 288
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780425251416

Reviews

[Mystereity Reviews]

1.5 stars. If you took out all the "I knooooooooow he's innocent!" and the "OMG everyone saaaays he's guilllty!" the book would be about 5 pages long. I mean, JFC, even Molly is first on the HE DID IT bandwagon, so apparently her ordeal in the first book is long forgotten. There's humility for you. Clara is a prime candidate for Dr. Phil. I get it, you got dumped, but the continued harping on lack of trust in the opposite sex isn't endearing, it's just annoying.

I thought there was too much inner dialogue and I found myself flipping through several pages at a time. Half of every chapter was taken up with the MC's anguish over her "Sense". Jesus, get over it already. The rest of the characters, despite the ample descriptions, still manage to lack depth.

Underneath all the claptrap, there's a good story in there, which saved the book from being completely terrible. So, my rating is halfway between hate it and didn't piss me off.

[MurderByDeath]

I was disappointed by the first book in this series, but I'm often left ambivalent about first books in a new series - sometimes an author just needs to find the groove for both themselves and their characters. Sadly, I did *not* find this book to be an improvement, merely more of the same.

The main character, Clara, spends the entire time throughout the book being a coward - she constantly anguishes over her psychic gift, calling it a curse, constantly talks about how she's never going to love anyone so they can hurt her again. She lives with her mother who drives her crazy with her smothering ways, yet does very little to nothing about it - she's 31 and she is still interacting with her mother like she's a rebellious teenager. Her interactions with her cousin and friend Stephanie throughout the book seem to be primarily focused on 'remember when...'. All in all, Clara comes across as someone who is beaten down and depressed and sees no reason to take control of her own life in any way - *not* the kind of character I want to curl up with when I pick up a cozy mystery. I want a strong character who takes adversity and uses it to make herself stronger, not weaker. I want a character with spine and a sense of humour.

The mystery plot itself I found weak as well. The murderer was screamingly obvious to me from the moment the character had their first interaction with Clara. Clara's attempts to investigate felt bumbling and obvious and juvenile.

I love cozy mysteries with a paranormal aspect and I love mysteries that centre around a bookstore. That this one is both and still falls so short makes the disappointment that much more bitter - I *want* to like this series, but unless things drastically change, I'll not be reading the third book.