I'm on a cozy mystery tear so far this year, and I'm going with it, hoping to get through a huge backlog of mysteries while also getting my now annual cozy cull underway.
I'm a huge fan of Kate Carlisle's Bibliophile series, and while I like this one, I can't say I like it quite as much. I'm enjoying the characters a lot and the setting is gorgeous (can you ever go wrong with northern California?). But she's set up a f*^king love triangle between Shannon, the police chief and the famous novelist living in Shannon's backyard. Shannon is single, so it's not the kind of triangle that screws with an established relationship, and there's a definite absence of male posturing, thank the stars, but it's still tedious. And here's the thing: she's described the police chief as looking like Thor. Done! Why are we wasting our time with the man who does not look like Thor?!?! Honestly, I find the whole thing a waste of time.
The story was probably a bit more drawn out that it could have been; it didn't flow as smoothly as it could and lagged a bit in the middle (probably because there wasn't enough Thor), but the mystery plotting was pretty inspired. The author leads the reader through the story by the nose and then tweaks it a bit towards the end by having the author-who-does-not-look-like-Thor discuss the mystery writing process, specifically how to plot a murder, with Shannon. So just when I thought it couldn't possibly be anybody but X and why am I still reading this? (right, Thor) new clues emerge and suddenly the whole thing goes off in a different direction. Well played Kate Carlisle.
So, giving an extra star for seriously yanking my chain (in a good way) and taking away 1/2 a star because in my world, Thor has no rivals.