Tag: mystery

Terror in Taffeta – REVIEW

Valerie @ Valerie's Musings1 Comment

3.5 out of 5 stars

Today, I’m reviewing Terror in Taffeta by Marla Cooper. Terror in Taffeta is the first book in the Destination Weddings series. It’s a solid beginning to the series and I’m looking forward to reading more from the author.

A mystery: Terror in Taffeta by Marla Cooper - book cover has blue background with stylized flowers and Day of the Dead skulls. There's a bride holding a bouquet with a few petals dropping

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Purchase Links: Amazon – B&N – Kobo

Brief Synopsis

Wedding planner Kelsey McKenna is just a few hours away from wrapping up her latest job: a destination wedding in the charming, colonial Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende. The reception is all set up, the tequila donkey is waiting outside, and the bride and groom are standing on the altar, pledging their eternal love. But just as the priest is about to pronounce them husband and wife, one of the bridesmaids upstages the couple by collapsing into a floral arrangement. Worst of all, Kelsey discovers that she hasn’t just fainted – she’s dead. The demanding mother of the bride, Mrs. Abernathy, insists Kelsey not tell the wedding party; she paid for a wedding after all, not a funeral.

Losing a bridesmaid is bad enough, but when the bride’s sister is arrested for murder, Mrs. Abernathy demands that Kelsey fix the matter at once. And although she’s pretty sure investigating a murder isn’t in her contract, crossing the well-connected mother of the bride could be a career-killer. Before she can leave Mexico and get back to planning weddings, Kelsey must deal with stubborn detectives, another dead body, and a rekindled romance in this smart, funny cozy debut perfect for fans of Carolyn Haines.

Mexican Day of the dead sugar skull with hot pink, neon blue, and orange flowersLine of sand, cactus & sunshineMexican Day of the dead sugar skull with hot pink, neon blue, and orange flowers
Sun/Cactus line © Country Clipart by Lisa

Review

For the most part, I enjoyed this book.

As far as the characters go, I liked Kelsey’s character a lot and Brody, her friend and often the photographer for the weddings she plans/coordinates. They’re both complex characters, though we haven’t perhaps seen all of their complexity yet given the fact that this is book one in the series!  The mother of the bride on the other hand, I just want to slap silly. Some of that I believe is by design. She’s supposed to be obnoxious and overbearing. However, there were times when she seemed a bit over the top to me and I really just wanted to give her a “Gibbs’ slap” (NCIS) to the back of the head!

I enjoyed the Mexican setting. I perhaps would’ve liked a little bit more description of the setting and the foods they were eating, but it wasn’t like it was overly sparse. It’s actually rare for me to say there’s not enough setting description, but I felt like that quite often in this book. I just couldn’t quite get the scenes to be vivid in my imagination as I usually can.

The story line, in my opinion, moved just a bit too slowly. Now that I’ve finished the book, I see why a particular character was so important, but up until the end of the book I just kept thinking, “What the heck has this character have to do with anything?!”. I was tempted to skip to the end a couple of times, but I managed to resist the temptation.

Overall, I did enjoy the story. I’m looking forward to reading the second one in the series, Dying on the Vine. I’ll be hosting a stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for it on March 28th!

** I received an ARC of this title from the author. I was not compensated for my review. All opinions and conclusions are my own. **

Teddy bear couple with hugging with hearts surrounding them  Stylized word   lovecl9
All three images are © Graphic Garden

About the Author

Author, Marla Cooper - Middle-aged white woman with reddish brown short hair, oval shaped face, no glasses, wearing a sleeveless navy blouse with white dotsMARLA COOPER is the author of the Kelsey McKenna Destination Wedding Mysteries. As a freelance writer, Marla has written all sorts of things, from advertising copy to travel guidebooks to the occasional haiku, and it was while ghostwriting a guide to destination weddings that she found inspiration for her series. Originally hailing from Texas, Marla lives in Oakland, California, with her husband and her polydactyl tuxedo cat.

Murder is Binding & Bookmarked For Death – REVIEWS

Valerie @ Valerie's MusingsLeave a comment

3 out of 5 stars for both

Purchase Links for Murder Is Binding: Amazon – B&N – Kobo

Purchase Links for Bookmarked for Death: Amazon – B&N – Kobo

line of books - some stacked, some standing, some leaning - books are blue, brown, red, green, and yellow
© Graphic Garden

Synopsis for Murder is Binding

The streets of Stoneham, New Hampshire, are lined with bookstores…and paved with murder.

When she moved to Stoneham, city slicker Tricia Miles met nothing but friendly faces. And when she opened her mystery bookstore, she met friendly competition. But when she finds Doris Gleason dead in her own cookbook store, killed by a carving knife, the atmosphere seems more cutthroat than cordial. Someone wanted to get their hands on the rare cookbook that Doris had recently purchased-and the locals think that someone is Tricia. To clear her name, Tricia will have to take a page out of one of her own mysteries-and hunt down someone who isn’t killing by the book.

 

Synopsis for Bookmarked for Death

What do a stone book and a stabbed cake have to do with Zoë Carter’s death?

Once a struggling town, Stoneham, New Hampshire is now enjoying a renaissance–thanks to booksellers like Tricia Miles, proprietor of Haven’t Got a Clue. It’s a great place to find a good mystery to read–or to solve ….

To celebrate her bookstore’s anniversary, Tricia Miles hosts a book signing for bestselling author Zoë Carter. But the event takes a terrible turn when the author is found dead in the washroom. Before long, both police and reporters are demanding the real story. So far, the author’s obnoxious assistant/niece is the only suspect. And with a sheriff who provides more obstacles than answers, Tricia will have to take matters into her own hands–and read between the lines to solve this mystery….

line of books - some stacked, some standing, some leaning - books are blue, brown, red, green, and yellow
© Graphic Garden

Review for both books

Murder is Binding & Bookmarked for Death both by Lorna Barrett are the first and second books in her Booktown Mystery series.  I’m doing them both together because I felt much the same about both so I figured I’d save people reading two posts with the same basic review.

These two books were okay. I really enjoy the main character of the series, but some of the characters are really annoying. The plots are not very complex and I figured out the villain fairly easily in both books.

I don’t know how I really feel about the series. I do like some of the characters, including the main character, but the plot line being so easy to figure out detracts from the enjoyment. I think I’ll keep reading the series for now and hope that they get better than these two.