Collection of Cozies #3

A Room With a Brew by Joyce Tremel
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.