book reviews Archives — Mostly Mystery Reviews

09/11/202309/11/2023

Trouble on Treasure Island

An easy-going romance-mystery, Trouble on Treasure Island: A Beach House Mystery is a lighthearted read with an undercurrent of sinister. Seth Sjostrom establishes the right tone for a mystery-romance set at a beach house on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

Kate Harper, a well-to-do realtor, works for a real estate management company specializing in high-end rentals, mostly on beaches throughout the United States. As she inspects a house on Treasure Island near St. Petersburg, FL, her foot goes through a rotten board on one of the decks facing the ocean. A surfer using the beach access easement next to the property, comes to her aid. Turns out, he’s a handyman. So, Kate hires him. Nick Mason, the surfer-handyman, becomes friendly with Kate as she finds more jobs for him to do.

One night, Kate witnesses some unusual activity on the beach—two shadowy figures, one chasing the other—she hears a scream before the figures disappear along the shoreline. Kate exits the house to give chase but finds nothing but an engagement ring along the path the figures had taken. What follows is the discovery of Joann Marrs murdered further along the beach. The police investigation, with much input from Kate and a reluctant Nick, consumes the rest of the novel.

Lighthearted Romance-Mystery

I enjoyed this lighthearted read. Sharp-eyed and perceptive describe Kate. She easily interprets what she sees and hears concerning the murder and the police investigation. She puts herself out there to move the investigation along. Nick, it turns out, is a non-practicing lawyer as well as surfer and handyman. He is no slouch as a handyman, who can put together an intricate alarm system in the beach house for Kate. He’s a gentleman, who also knows the best local places to have great food. But he could be more well-rounded, not just a love interest for Kate.

And that’s another thing—to a large extent, Kate seems a little oblivious to the effect she’s having on Nick. Kate is also unaware of the effect she has on Detective Connolly, the policeman in charge of Joann Marrs’ murder investigation. All in all, more could be made of this emergent love triangle than what happens throughout the book. That might be a missed opportunity to ramp up the novel’s tension in a different direction.

Another potential shortcoming is that it takes about one-third of the book before it begins to ramp up. The beginning encompasses a lot of stealthy, creeping intruders who slink around Kate’s beach house, but don’t do much to move the plot along. Nor do they create the brooding atmosphere for which Sjostrom strove.

Sjostrom does do a great job of characterizing Frank Driscoll. Driscoll, a private investigator hired by someone in Charleston with an interest in the murder of Joann Marrs. Assigned to keep an eye on Kate, Driscoll uses various not very effective disguises to do so. He adds a delightful air to the mystery.

All things considered, Trouble on Treasure Island: A Beach House Mystery is a great romp on the gulf coast. The scenery, the restaurants, the marinas and the house at the center of this mystery all delight the reader as do the main characters: Kate Harper, Nick Mason and Detective Connolly.

If you want to purchase a copy of this book, click here. I receive a small commission if this product is purchased.

I received a copy of Trouble on Treasure Island: A Beach House Mystery and gave a fair review.

Trouble on Treasure Island: A Beach House Mystery
by Seth Sjostrom
© 2023
wolfprintMedia, LLC

03/06/202302/17/2023

In Bleak Midwinter

Who would expect a former Army helicopter pilot to become an Episcopalian priest? Who would expect that priest to also be a female? And one who jumps into possibly dangerous situations first and asks questions later? These are some of the plot twists in Julia Spencer-Fleming’s In the Bleak Midwinter, first in the Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne series.

A baby abandoned behind St. Alban’s demands Reverend Clare Fergusson dive right into the thick of things assisting Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne. They begin piecing clues together, first the identity of the baby’s mother, then the father. Deaths mount up as quickly as clues – first the baby’s mother, then the baby’s conniving, ne’re-do-well grandfather. All during a bleak Adirondack winter.

As the mystery thickens, so does the attraction between the priest and the married chief. Needless to say, feelings deepen between Russ and Clare as they work towards the denouement with the murderer.

Clare and Russ are well-drawn characters. However, some of the secondary characters are rather stereotypical, such as the vestry members and congregation at St. Alban’s – white and definitely WASP-ish. Any hint from Reverend Clare about helping young, unwed mothers to improve their lives gets her congregation all aflutter. Linda Van Alstyne, Russ’s wife, is a virtual nonentity, always in the background. All that’s mentioned about her is that she runs a business dealing with draperies and curtains. But still, her presence (or lack thereof) is like the silent sword of Damocles hanging over Russ and Clare and their budding friendship.

Similarly, the family of the baby’s mother are distinctly described as overweight and white trash from the wrong side of the tracks. So, of course, the family of the baby’s father look down their long, thin, patrician noses and attempt to distance themselves from baby Cody, his mother, and her family.

Overall, I liked this mystery with romance sprinkled in. In the future, I’ll gradually read the rest of this series. I’ll read at least one more helping of Clare and Russ this year – A Fountain Filled with Blood.

In the Bleak Midwinter
by Julia Spencer-Fleming
© 2002
Minotaur Books

01/30/202301/26/2023

The Reluctant Detective

Why would a guy with advanced degrees in computer science, and who had been a hacker in Hong Kong, want to be a private investigator after he got out of Chinese prison and came home? And how good would he be in his chosen profession? Such is the premise of The Reluctant Detective? And why would a guy in his late 20s or early 30s be dependent on his wealthy parents to subsidize his first case with a gift of $50,000 if he succeeded?

Coningsby Trent (CT) Ferguson is smart, but rather unmotivated as The Reluctant Detective by Tom Fowler begins its steady roll towards a denouement. But beginnings can be deceiving. CT exercises his smarts throughout the novel, even surprising his cousin, Rich Ferguson, a member of the Baltimore Police Department, with his deductions.

CT’s first case supposedly involves adultery. Alice Fisher believes her husband, Paul, is playing around. But CT soon realizes that Alice has a problem, not her husband. And it’s gambling, not adultery. Nonetheless, he sticks with the case.

Gangsters, both small time and overlords, as well as their “goons” threaten CT with harm if he steps on their toes or hurts their business. The goons are the ones who get hurt when they think CT is an easy target.

Good characterization, especially of CT. I’ll read the rest of the CT Ferguson series, including the novella prequel, Hong Kong Dangerous.

Stay tuned for a review of Tom Fowler’s second series featuring John Tyler.

The Reluctant Detective
by Tom Fowler
© 2017
Widening Gyre Media, LLC

02/03/201903/26/2019

Mystery-Review Website Roundup

Here we go with a mystery-review website roundup, These websites review mystery, crime, thriller, spy and suspense books. Some of them also incorporate author interviews and book lists.

The Real Book Spy

According to Ryan Steck, owner of The Real Book Spy, the site presents “full coverage of all your favorite thriller authors, and their characters, unlike anywhere else on the web!”

A few of the book reviews currently offered on the site are Daughter of War by Brad Taylor, Crucible by James Rollins, New Iberia Blues by James Lee Burke and The Night Agent by Matthew Quirk. Steck also offers author interviews with such luminaries as Brad Thor, Sean Parnell, and Brad Taylor, among others.

Continue reading “Mystery-Review Website Roundup”

10/31/201811/28/2018

Cruise the Mediterranean

Cruise the Mediterranean, looking out at the warm blue waters of the Aegean and Ionian Seas. Visit the Palace of Knossos on Crete with no other tourists around. Stroll on the Promenade in Corfu. Eat well on a mega yacht owned by a Greek mogul. All in the name of catching a cagey art collector who is not always on the up-and-up when selling paintings from his collection.

Along for the ride on this floating dreamboat, Alix London is the eyes and ears of the FBI until she gets help from Ted Ellesworth, her FBI contact, who comes aboard as an investor later in the cruise. The second installment of the Alix London series, A Cruise to Die For finds London knocked unconscious on the floor of the yacht’s music room and, later, in the middle of a standoff between the police and art thieves in Albania.

Continue reading “Cruise the Mediterranean”

10/17/2018

Book Blogging – Guest blog post

Book blogging takes time—time to read, ruminate and write. Then it’s time to find a jpeg or graphic of the front cover, edit what you’ve written and boost the SEO. I recently wrote a guest post on book blogging for Mary Fiacco, owner of Filles Vertes Publishing (FVP), a traditional independent publisher. Her first book, Using Curse Words: Finding Unusual Solutions to Life’s “Worst” Problems, will be published in the near future.

My short post speaks about what I like about being a book blogger. Although reading the book, forming an opinion and writing the review take time, it’s not all hardship. As publishers produce more and more books each year, plenty of candidates from many genres vie for my attention. Currently, I deal mainly with mystery novels. In the future, I plan to include some literary fiction, poetry and nonfiction. I frequently request Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) through www.netgalley.com, www.librarything.com and www.goodreads.com.

I foresee myself book blogging for quite a while into the future. Here’s to meeting new literary friends in real life and through the pages of their books.

09/03/201809/03/2018

Book Blogger Platform

For anyone new to blogging and who wants to blog about and review books, The Book Blogger Platform, by Barb Drozdowich, gives a solid overview of the main blogging platforms. The book is aimed at those who are not totally tech savvy. Ms. Drozdowich discusses WordPress and Blogger, the two most popular blogging platforms. She discusses the posts, plugins, gadgets, widgets and sidebars that are part of every blog. Also discussed are backing up your blog and monetizing it.

Since this book focuses on book blogging, Ms. Drozdowich discusses where and how to get books about which to blog. Netgalley and Edelweiss are mentioned as prime sources from which to request advanced reader copies (ARCs) and as places to post reviews.

Book bloggers can also guest post on blogs of other book reviewers/bloggers. Other sites to post book reviews are GoodReads, LibraryThing, and Booklike. Ms. Drozdowich is also a proponent of posting to the major social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube and Instagram.

Overall, this book is a good overview of how blogging software works, where book bloggers can find ARCs and suggestions for other places to review books and get your name out there.

The author can be found online at:
http://barbdrozdowich.com
http://bakerviewconsulting.com
http://sugarbeatsbooks.com/