Larkspur: A Mystery

Lark Dodge #1

by Sheila Simonson

A literary weekend at the mountain lodge of poet David Llewellyn involves Lark Dailey, owner of the Larkspur Books mystery bookstore, and her police officer lover, Jay Dodge, in murder, when their host suddenly turns up dead

Genres: Mystery, Fiction

234 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Ms. Simonson writes mysteries and romantic fiction, and lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Reviews

[Jamie Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I chose this because I enjoyed Simonson's quiet Regency romances.

This is a well-written contemporary mystery (published in 1990) set in California. There’s nothing wrong with it, except that I was a bit bored with the setting and the cast of characters.

The narrator, Lark, is a womens’ basketball coach who owns a small bookstore. Her boyfriend is a police detective. Her mother is a famous poet, so she knows a lot of writers, one of whom is murdered at a party. While the boyfriend detective investigates, Lark hangs around witnessing drama amongst the suspects.

The bookstore angle is always appealing to readers, but it’s not a significant part of the story. The mystery did not interest me at all, mostly because I didn’t care about any of the characters except perhaps the narrator, who is bland but likeable enough.

[Denise Spicer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Told in the first person, this mystery novel follows Lark Dailey who is busy running her new bookstore in a small northern California town. When she is invited to a house party by a famous poet he is dramatically poisoned and Lark and her boyfriend Jay( a local cop) have to figure out which of the wealthy man’s friends and relatives is the guilty one.

[Marjorie Brewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like how this author writes, the characters she brings to life are intelligent and interesting too. I’ll be reading the rest of the Lark series as I really enjoyed this first book.

[MB (What she read) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Re-read 3.5 *'s: Interesting to think that when this book was published (1991) owning an independent bookstore was still a viable career and it could survive with only 2 revolving stands of popular fiction!!! Also, no cell phones. Plus, since when is a librarian considered not "intelligent enough"? This is set in California. I assume she has a Masters. Witty? Maybe she's not, but not intelligent? (Probably not intended by the author to insult or to interrupt the flow, but this stuck out to me.)

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lark Dailey has always been the athletic one in her loving academic family, but now she's opened a bookstore and is living happily in Monte, CA. She is invited to bring a guest to a weekend party held by an old friend of her mother's, and fortunately her policeman boyfriend is free to come, since he's right on hand when there's a sudden death in the small group. Lark picks up bits of information, but it's Jay who does most of the detection.