My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The 3rd installment of this series about a brewer in Pittsburg who keeps getting mixed up in murders. This one was pretty far-fetched and the G-rated romance with the hunky hockey-player chef is also hard to believe.
Death of a Fool by Ngaio Marsh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Ritual dancing at the winter solstice provides the backdrop for this tale of murder from one of the queens of crime.
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax
by Dorothy Gilman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This might stretch the definition of mystery a bit, but it is definitely a cozy spy novel.
Kansas Troubles by Earlene Fowler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Would have liked more quilting info in this one.
Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Reread of a classic. Lots of interesting info about spiritualism. I love the ending of this novel. The actual last lines are great (total spoiler though so I won't quote them).
A Shot in the Dark by Lynne Truss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The tone of this novel reminded me of Josephine Tey's work. This one is comic though (think Keystone cops). Now and then the grammarian in Lynne Truss pops up in a charming way and the language was delightful:
"It's an aspect of old-school Variety that is often overlooked in respectful academic accounts of the genre's sad and lonely death-by-television in the 1950s--that what made the weak comedy routines sound so funny in the halls (and the tawdry 'glamour' even passable), was the audience's prior consumption of alcohol in quantities that would nowadays be considered catastrophically injurious to health." (p. 77)This novel has been on my shelf for ages and so counts toward the Mount TBR challenge.
All of these books count toward the Cruisin Through the Cozies Challenge.
I loved The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax when I read it (probably over 40 years ago) and I read many others in the series. But then I am a fan of spy fiction. I also loved Strong Poison, although there are others in the series that I did not care for.
ReplyDeleteI had not heard of A Shot in the Dark by Lynne Truss. I will look into that.