Seven Deadly Zins

Book Review: Seven Deadly Zins by Nancy J Parra (A Wine County Mystery #2)

I needed a book with a Z in the title for a challenge, so I thought I’d give this little cosy a go. Set in a vineyard, it sounded cute enough. But…

My first bit of advice would be if you are thinking of reading this book is not to read the blurb. It’s full of spoilers. I’m not sure what they were thinking there.

The blurb/book cover also announces that recipes are included. I’m not sure why [they included them]. There is no food porn in this book. Oh, a character whips up a salad in one scene but I wouldn’t call it a new and unique recipe. Unfortunately there isn’t really anything much about wine either. A couple of things here and there about stirring vats etc, but nothing that made me want to pour a glass to enjoy whilst reading.

The way the first body was discovered was actually a good idea but the way the scene was written wasn’t. It didn’t capture any of the characters’ shock at all. The murderer, I must say, was pretty obvious from the beginning. There is a plethora of red herrings — maybe too many — but Parra seemed to go off track with her plot sometimes. The inclusion of a self-help guru and his admiring cult was simply odd. And then there was a seance and a psychic talking to the dead…

I had the same issue I often have with these type of books – the heroine doesn’t actually solve the murder. Pretty much everyone just tells her what happened in a giant information dump near the end. And I must whinge that there were a couple of plot points that Parra never bothered explaining at all. (They weren’t the type of thing that would be used again in a third book either.)

The characters all ran into each other a bit. As in, they’re all very similar. The heroine is forgettable and her love interest hardly says two words, so I didn’t really form an opinion. He might have been more prominent in the first book but, on that, I don’t think you’d need to read the first for any of this second one to make sense. To be cruel, it’s not that complex.

Another big issue I had with the book is that there was too much dialogue, meaning there was a distinct lack of descriptive passages. At least it saved me from too many thinky thoughts, I guess!

Obviously from the above, I wasn’t overly keen on Parra’s writing. I think 2 out of 5 sounds fair.

Beautiful Death

Book Review: Beautiful Death by Fiona McIntosh (Jack Hawksworth #2)

I rated the first book in this series (Bye Bye Baby) as average, a 3 out of 5. But I decided, considering as there’s only two books in the series, to give Beautiful Death a go. Well, truthfully, I wish I hadn’t bothered.

I’ll start with Jack, our ‘hero’ (in inverted commas). What a prat. Seriously, I can’t think of a book hero who is more unlikeable than Jack at the moment. He wasn’t great in book one, but he reaches new lows in this outing. I just wanted to slap him and his pretty face silly. Yes, I know he has a pretty face because McIntosh reminds us that he is movie star handsome EVERY FIVE MINUTES. As such, every female character wants him, even randoms like flight attendants. (Oh, and in one ‘memorable’ scene a potential witness decides she will only offer up a testimony if he’s as attractive in the flesh as she’s been led to believe by the other detectives. W.T.Actual.)

I was about to say his lovelife was complicated but I’m not sure that’s the correct description It’s more like he just lets his little policeman lead him around and to hell with the consequences. In the beginning of the book we meet the new love of his life, Lily. Soon, however, poor Lily (who is also the female diversity card character) must be killed by a serial killer to give Jack (the handsome white hero) some depth (don’t get me started on this rant). Jack’s grief lasts approximately 1.20729385 seconds because he begins to get all tingly around the psychiatrist he’s been forced to see due to his relationship with the serial killer from book one. Yeah, okay, more stupid than complicated.

Of course it’s not only Jack who is fickle. His fellow detective, Kate, is also on the hunt for any man with a pulse. Jack, of course, is the OH SO HANDSOME love of her life and she’s set to wallow in her unrequited love alone forever. But wait… There is the attractive surgeon who might be available for dinner. Or Jack’s policeman mate, Geoff, who tells her she’s a twit to her face on their first meeting, but nevermind he’s not bad looking….

And don’t go thinking that putting a ring on it changes anything when it comes to Jack and Kate’s relationships with the opposite sex. Lily was engaged, the surgeon is engaged, the shrink is married, Geoff was about to spend a week or so away with another woman and Kate’s bed is barely cold after calling off her engagement.

Besides the inappropriateness due to cheating aspect, there’s also the huge lack of professionalism portrayed by the characters. Yes, Jack, the lead detective on the case was in a sexual relationship with one of the victims. I think I could write a thesis on the inappropriateness of this but McIntosh probably did it for me. Characters thinking or talking about how Jack shouldn’t be leading up the team takes up half the book, I swear. And yet no one ever follows through and removes him from the case. Obviously he’s just so vital to the case and so clever and so nice and so charming and, oh, did McIntosh mention he’s so handsome and I CAN’T EVEN.

If this wasn’t far-fetched enough, there’s also the inappropriate relationship that Jack starts with his shrink. Forget being treated in her offices, they’ll be meeting for his sessions at cafes and pubs and her house… I guess Jack is just so gosh-darn handsome, the doc just can’t help herself.

While Jack is walking around brooding about sex with Lily and potential sex with the doc and never having sex with Kate and the great sex he had with his girlfriend from book one, his underlings figure out 80% of the mystery plot. The other 20% is resolved by Jack and Kate stumbling over the truth without ever carrying out any real police work/detecting. For the reader, everything is pretty obvious within the first few chapters (or so it seemed — I certainly don’t remember a moment in the book I didn’t know who would be kidnapped next, who would be the killer, and who would be the red herring).

I’m trying to think of one positive out of this book and I’m really struggling. The characters are obviously annoying as hell, the plot was stupid, and the big twist at the end was just annoyingly stupid (and, typically, had something to do with Jack and sex). The descriptive passages were nothing special and the dialogue rambling and repetitive. I wouldn’t have continued with this series even if McIntosh hadn’t given it up. It doesn’t make me want to rush out and buy one of her historical offerings, that’s for sure.

1 ½ to 2. More deathly boring than beautiful.

The Postscript Murders

Book Review: The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths (Harbinder Kaur #2)

The Stranger Diaries was one of my top 5 books last year so I was very excited to get my hands on its follow up book, The Postscript Murders (thanks Net Galley and Quercus Books). I was a little surprised, however, how different this second book turned out to be.

The biggest difference between the two books, for me, was the tone. The Stranger Diaries had a very gothic thriller feel to it. In fact, I’d almost class it as a horror in places. The Postscript Murders instead was a cosy mystery with a colourful cast of characters playing amateur detectives.

One theme which does run through both books is appreciation for writing. The Stranger Diaries featured an English tutor and her love for a classic horror novel. This time nearly all the characters are involved in the writing industry and there are a lot of fun references to famous writers, such as Agatha Christie and Wilkie Collins. In fact, the whole thing is obviously a homage to the Golden Age writers and some of the plot devices they often favoured.

The first murder victim is a classic cliche from many of those older books. Peggy is 90, a cryptic crossword fan who keeps dates, times and descriptions of everyone she observes going past her flat. Upon her death, her friends learn that not only was she a spy in the war but that she also lived a secret life as a ‘murder consultant’ for writers.

The other link between the two books is DI Harbinder Kaur. As in the first book The Postscript Murders features Harbinder’s point of view, along with three other new characters. There’s Edwin, Peggy’s friend and neighbour; Natalka, Peggy’s Ukraine carer; and Benedict, an ex-Monk who owns the local coffee shop.

I remember loving Harbinder in the first book but I didn’t think she had the chance to shine enough in this outing. She sort of had the same issues as in the first book and I thought her development lacked any real forward momentum. Out of the new main characters, I found Natalka a little annoying but both Benedict and Edwin were cute.

There was a lot of humour in the book, which was great. And there’s a plethora of supporting characters lining up to become further victims, red herrings, or the murderer.

I always find I connect with Griffiths’s writing and, for the most, I felt this way again whilst reading The Postscript Murders. I was flying through the book, having a whale of a time, ready to give it 5 out of 5, until I thought everything fell a little flat around the 75% mark. I mean, this really should have been when the action ramped up, and instead I felt like the action plateaued and the characters cruised towards solving the mystery a little too easily. I think this was more noticeable too as Griffiths had placed her characters in precarious positions, using the isolated location and locked in together trope, but then she just wasted the opportunity, letting the characters go about their sleuthing without any great tension or heart thumping moments.

Overall, I felt Griffiths perhaps went too far in ensuring she followed the rules of the classic cosy mystery and the book would have benefited from a couple of edgier touches. There’s still lots to love though and Griffiths definitely remains as one of my favourite authors out there. 4 out of 5

Diplomatic Immunity

Book Review: Diplomatic Immunity by Lois McMaster Bujold (Vorkosigan Saga)

I’ve actually read nine books since the last Vorkosigan book, and I must admit I had an attack of the warm and fuzzies when I started Diplomatic Immunity.

Miles is returning from his honeymoon when he receives a request from Emperor Gregor to detour to Graf Station to use his diplomatic wiles to peacefully resolve a dispute involving a Barrayaran military escort. Upon arriving at the station, Miles finds a missing crewman who’s presumed dead, another who wants to desert, and several more cooling their heels in the station cells, facing a variety of charges. Then, just when he thinks he’s getting somewhere in sorting out this mess, he becomes the victim of an assassination attempt, finds evidence of biochemical weapons, and learns that Barrayar and Cetaganda are on the brink of war.

Graf Station is Quaddiespace which was great. I loved Falling Free and it was lovely to see how far Quaddie society had grown in the couple of hundred years since that book was set. If this didn’t make me feel sentimental enough, there is also the unexpected addition of one of my favourite characters from the earlier books (won’t spoil by saying who because it was luckily a surprise to me).

Fans of the more space based books should be happy with Diplomatic Immunity. Unlike the last few Barrayar based books, this one is set entirely in space. LMB takes advantage and makes good use of the whole isolated and claustrophobic atmosphere space ships can provide. In fact, there were a few tense moments in this book. One time in particular was really scary. I don’t usually expect this type of horror-like scenes in Vorkosigan books but it was a really enjoyable change up.

Not to say that LMB doesn’t include her usual trademark humour. Miles’s snappy thoughts always make me laugh. And now, we get the addition of Ekaterin who is just as skilled when it comes to regaling the readers with her dry wit. (They continue to be sooo Harriet/Lord Peter like.)

I got the sense that LMB might have written this book with the idea of ending Miles’s story and the series with it. I know there are now a couple more additions to the series, but I did get the feeling of real resolution at the book’s conclusion. (I’ll have to wait and see if I think she should have left it here until I read the last couple of books.)

The reason I shaved off half a star from my rating was that there’s probably not as many deep and thought provoking moments in this book as there were in the more recent Vorkosigan books. Still, compared to many other books, it was extremely entertaining. 4 1/2 out of 5

The Survivors

Book Review: The Survivors by Jane Harper

Harper’s previous books have all been huge hits so I was super excited to pick up a copy of her new novel, The Survivors (thanks Netgalley and Pan Macmillan Australia).

Kieran has avoided returning to his hometown due to his involvement in the death of his brother and his brother’s friend during a storm when he was younger. During this same storm a young girl, Gabby, went missing. Now though, he returns to help his parents who are in the process of packing up their house and moving because of Kieran’s father’s declining health due to dementia. And also now, just after Kieran arrives in town, another body washes up on the local beach, obviously murdered.

Harper has created an interesting cast of locals for Kiernan’s hometown. I liked how they were all very realistic and she avoided the ‘crazy log lady’ type of quirky characters. (I’ve also got to mention how realistic the police acted and communicated with the other characters in this book. I’ve read a couple of books of late where the police and the public’s interactions have been kind of ridiculous. Well, ridiculous for Australia anyway.)

Harper also did a great job of casting suspicion over every single character in the book. I’m sure I had my doubts about all of them at one time or another, including the local policeman, Kieran’s parents, and even his partner and mother of his child. And not only does Harper keep you guessing about the current murder, she makes you wonder about just how it, Gabby’s disappearance, and Kieran’s incident during the storm are connected.

I find Harper’s style of writing extremely easy to read and I flew through the book in a couple of nights. She makes the story flow with a real ‘show not tell’ way that is really quite rare. She uses a lot of dialogue and yet the book feels very descriptive and it’s always easy to differentiate between the characters and get a sense of mood.

This is the third book I’ve read recently which has been set in Tasmania and, in my mind, Harper basically made this place setting another character. The fictional town of Evelyn Bay is a typical coastal small town of Australia where everyone knows everyone’s business, and yet everyone still manages to have secrets. The locals spend their evenings at the local pub/restaurant, sharing gossip and stirring up a general mistrust of visitors to the town.

Harper takes full advantage of the natural beauty and danger of the locale. Upon his return, Kieran is constantly drawn to the water, the beach, and the caves at the base of the cliff top walking track. To add a bit more drama, the ‘survivors’ is not only a valid description of the characters in the book but also a set of three statues/sculptures placed at the site of a local shipwreck. These sculptures are a focal point for the characters to establish how far the tide has come in when traversing the caves and their inclusion somehow gives the book a haunting gothic feel.

It’s a joy to read such a well written Aussie novel. Strongly recommend. One of my top 5 reads for the year. 5 out of 5

Daughter of the Murray

Book Review: Daughter of the Murray by Darry Fraser

For author ‘F’ in my A-Z romance book challenge, I picked Darry Fraser’s Daughter of the Murray, an Aussie historical romance, which turned out to be a little bit of an odd read.

Given its title, I was expecting the main setting to be in and around the Murray River. And yes, some parts of the novel were set there in towns where, during this time setting of 1890, paddle steamers ruled. Fraser, I think, should have stuck with that. Paddle steamers are such a romantic ideal for me (blame All the Rivers Run!) so I think I would have been satisfied with that. Instead, she threw in other places, such as Port Fairy (on the Great Ocean Road) and Melbourne. It stopped me from immersing myself in the setting completely.

Our heroine, Georgie, is not the most likeable character. Her contrariness did my head in. She’s interested in women’s suffrage, riding horses, and working instead of marrying and having babies, and yet she seems to make no inroads when it comes to women’s rights or independence in the end. And, oh she hates her two suitors but she’s willing to marry them for security and sex. I can’t even…

Yes, there’s two potential suitors and they’re both annoying. There’s Dane, the prodigal son returning to the property where Georgina lives with his mother, her aunt by marriage. And there’s Conor, a rich businessman who has recently secretly won the family property from Dane’s father in a game of poker. Pretty much Conor and Dane bully and treat Georgie like a doormat, but want her for her hot body. *rolling eyes*

Just to add to this, almost all of the supporting characters are also horrid, even Dane’s parents and sister. There also seemed to be a lot of them. I wondered if some of them were featured in other Fraser books but, just glancing at the blurbs of her other titles, I can’t see that they were.

Fraser threw in a lot of conflict that was completely unnecessary too and often it didn’t even make sense. The narrative flow of the book jumped around to keep up and nearly all of the outcomes were glaringly obvious and predictable.

The other weird thing about the book was the secksy times. I was not expecting so many graphic scenes. It made me confused as to who the intended audience was. (Certainly I don’t think the cover hinted at a book with such sex scenes.)

Mmm… I would probably give this 2 ½