Book obtained from: Library New Books shelf, Audio book
Description: Tricia Miles, a city slicker, moves to a small town and opens a book store selling mystery books. The town is a tourist stop for book lovers, with a LOT of specialty bookstores. This is the first book in a series.
Plot: Tricia has landlord troubles, sister troubles, and love life troubles. One day Tricia finds Doris, her business neighbor and the resident curmudgeon, dead in her cook book store. The Sheriff believes Tricia killed Doris and that she's the town jinx. Tricia has to clear her good name.
Characterization: Some of the minor characters were a little flat, but the major characters [Tricia, her sister, and her employees] were reasonably well developed and had their own personalities.
Setting: Stoneham, New Hampshire. This is the first book I've ever read from that area of the country. The descriptions were good, I was able to picture every scene without it being over-described.
Other: The who-done-it kept me guessing, and guessing wrong, until the end. Very well done.
Overall: A good, light mystery. The audio book is read by Cassandra Campbell, who read it well with different voices for the different characters altho some did sound very similar.
Grade: B+
Book obtained from: Library New Books shelf, Audio book
Description: Stephanie Plum, the protagonist, is an inept but very lucky bounty-hunter. She also moonlights for her friend Ranger, a security expert and also bounty-hunter. In this 22nd book in the series, she's searching for a fraternity member who was arrested for beating up the dean of students at Kiltman College, and missed his court date.
Plot: Stephanie is searching for a fraternity brother, who is apparently “the supreme exalted zookeeper” [leader] of an Animal House type fraternity. A secondary story line intersects, with a terrorism angle. The plot is somewhat improbable, but it does hang together. One of the things I really like about Janet Evanovich is she can weave together several seemingly-unrelated plots which all come together at the end.
Characterization: The characters are reasonably well developed and had their own personalities. Stephanie is still inept, extremely lucky, and very funny. She really hasn't changed over 22 books, which is disappointing to many readers but I still find her funny. The two main male characters, Morelli and Ranger, don't have much role in this book. Lula and Stephanie's mother have larger roles, which is a nice change.
Setting: Trenton, New Jersey. The descriptions were good, I was able to picture every scene without it being over-described.
Other: There are several “facts” in this book which are inconsistent with “facts” from previous books [like the description of Ranger's headquarters], which makes me wonder if Evanovich either didn't write this book, or is having memory issues. They don't detract from the story if you haven't read others in the series, but for fans like me who have read all the books, it did throw me out of the story, which was disappointing. Some of the scenes are almost identical to scenes from previous books, just a few changes but definitely recognizable. For example, this is at least the second book which begins with a lady threatening to jump from a high location.
Overall: A good, light mystery. Funny. The audio book is read by Lorelei King and she's awesome, a unique and appropriate voice for each character. This book is significantly shorter than the other books in this series.
Grade: B-
Today is the day we report on our A to Z experience.
Last year, I signed up approximately 3 days before the challenge started, and I wrote my posts as they came due [this was nightmare-ish]. This year I signed up in January and wrote my posts in advance. They were finished in March. This made my experience MUCH easier, altho I still didn't have as much time as I wanted for visiting the other A to Z bloggers.
Here's a list of the blogs I enjoyed the most for this challenge:
KD James wrote a 40,000 word story, and it's awesome
John Frain wrote amazing 6-sentence stories
Colin Smith wrote 100-word flash stories based on Paul McCartney songs
Julie Weathers wrote information on the Civil War and included excerpts of her novel-in-progress
Kate Larkindale with New Zealand Films
K.Ridwyn with Lessons from God's Metaphors, complete with needlework
EM Goldsmith with Musings and Short Stories
Life in Dogs wrote on the A to Z of Dog Rescue
Insecure Writer's Support Group wrote on Writing Resources
Stats from my own blog:
Letters with more than 50 views:
B, E, F, G, N
Countries with the most views:
USA, Russia, Australia
Themes:
2015 Legal Definitions
2016 Military Definitions
2017 ?? [If you have a suggestion, please post it in the comments]
Thank you all for visiting, and congratulations to all my fellow A to Z Challenge bloggers!
The AtoZ Challenge for the month of April is over! I hope you enjoyed reading my military definitions.
Congrats to all of my AtoZ co-laborers. We made it!
My AtoZ Reflections will be posted on Monday May 9.
This blog will resume its regularly scheduled programming on May 16.
Thanks for your patience.
