Books I Unfinished:
What's it about: 1930s Britain, clubs, writers, maybe murder
Quit at: 27%
Reading the synopsis created expectations and real people also created expectations I didn't know I had. This book didn't fulfill them or at least it didn't for me for the bits I read. I expected an intellectual mystery with tidbits about the authors' lives instead of authors getting together and doing a lot of talking. So yes, in solving a mystery, there is a need to discuss things but if the talking is annoying and the characters are annoying, why continue reading? But maybe this book wasn't written for an audience like me. I expected the writing to be more English, not Americanized, since the characters (J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Agatha Christie) are English. I really like the idea of famous authors getting together to solve a murder but I just couldn't get into this book.
What's it about: starting over, housing, motherhood, poverty, maybe murder
Quit at: 40%
Mostly I didn't care for the main character and her problems or her obstinate daughter or the mystery of a previous tenant's death. And there's a reporter who the main character hates at the beginning and I know he'll get together with the main character (which they did judging from reading spoilers) and blab, blab, mystery solved, romance happened, whatever, nothing made me care to continue.
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Books I finished:
What's it about: insanity, husbands & wives, murders
Sort of a mystery but in reverse, started with someone who might be a murderer and then you'll found if that was true or not. It's a slight change in format from previous books so maybe it's why I didn't like it as much.
I counted this as finishing the series (with 27 books) since the author had passed away but book #28 mighe be continued by the author's daughter or so said the website last month (https://victoriathompson.com - which now doesn't seem to be working properly so I couldn't check). I haven't decided if I want to read it or not yet.
What's it about: a woman takes a vacation, maybe stolen artifacts, maybe a murder
I had put this book on hold at the library so when I got to read about a couple of months later, I forgot what's it about so I thought I was reading a murder mystery so I was expecting Mrs. Blossom (the main character) either was going to get murdered or become the sleuth to solve a murder. Mrs. Blossom blindly trusted a man (Allan) who she just met at the airport. He was extremely kind to her and she just accepted his help and even took a pill (or a gummy as said in the book) he gave her. But when Allan died (not a spoiler since this was in the synopsis), it didn't become a murder mystery - Mrs. Blossom simply continued her vacation but she did think of him a time or two.
The book mostly revolved around Mrs. Blossom and her vacation (and plans) and what she was thinking and reminiscing, which is mostly her husband, her past and her constant mentions of her weight (she is plus-sized) and age (she's in her 60's). And she was always referred to as Mrs. Blossoms even by her. I neither like nor hate Mrs. Blossom but I sort of lean toward hating her for being so insensible in the beginning - who go about accepting help from a strange man you only know a few minutes? Mrs. Blossom's sleuthing skills, if she had any, was absent while she goes on vacation which was pretty much the entire book. This is more of a biography of Mrs. Blossom like the author said in the afterward - with a very slow moving mystery that got summed up in the last two chapters which was when Mrs. Blossom showed any signs of sleuthing skills. They mentioned her great skill at following people without them knowing but she didn't' know she was being followed for a long time.
I only liked a bit of this book but mostly because the way the cover taglines (Eight days. Seven nights. One dead body.) made me expect something that wasn't true. The dead body (Allan) was barely significant for the plot. And he wasn't even near a boat when he died. And Mrs. Blossom didn't get on a boat until a while later. But there was a moment when Mrs. Blossom heard someone on the boat who was removed because he/she might had been sick or died but that turned out to be nothing. Also, the mentions of her husband's last message to her which she didn't read for 10 years and then she got to read it but she didn't share with the reader - how annoying is that?
I want to say I was duped by this book but it's not entirely true because there was a murder but it wasn't the focus and there was a mystery but it was subdue and there was a boat trip but it's mostly a woman taking a vacation.
What's it about: K-9, human & drug trafficking, murders, dogs, PTSD
I didn't really like this as much as the previous books. It just seems like there's too much going on (a crime that involved FBI, Homeland Security, etc, means tons of side characters) and then paired with people getting over PTSD - there is not much humor or happy things. We get bothered by characters getting over trauma without any help but it's not much fun to read about people actually getting help - therapy sessions, frank discussions - it's depressing to read. But I still like Robo, the K-9, and Mattie but somehow in this book, they're all in a depressing mood so it makes a depressing book.
What's it about: trains, planes, buses, murder, suicide
The ending of a bit of a letdown mostly because there is no real conclusion, we get the answers but no justice, no way to prove with certainty of what really happened and the final solution was written in a letter which I kind of don't like. The two detectives (Torigai and Mihara) only met once and didn't really work together - they exchanged letters, exchanging thoughts and suppositions and ideas. I did guess what happened and I was right but maybe because I read one too many murder mysteries. If you want a short mystery (less than 150 pages), maybe you'll like this even if it's a bit predictable but there's a bit of brilliance in there with the train bit.
What's it about: adventure, endangered animal trafficking and recuses, family, Gilded Age Florida
The actions moved just as quick as the details of the characters - you sort of have their history but not much which is fine because if they stopped to tell elongated backstories, it would move too slow.
Each book is told in the perspectives of one of the three main characters, Algie, Lulu and Frankie and in the bonus short story by two side characters. Maybe I sort of didn't get all the animals described - sometimes it does seemed like there are endless mentions of animals I had no clue about.
Lots of danger for the children but they are alright even with serious injuries. Maybe in the third book, it's a bit outrageous that a 13-year-old would do such stunts as lassoing trains and flying in the air and such but these are fantasies. These three books are quick, pleasant, entertaining reads.
Have you read any good books lately?
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