It's not exactly Alice's typical morning commute...
When Alice Calliope finds herself on the newly re-opened Oregon Express train at the same time as a local business owner is shot, she finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation once more.
Knowing tongues in town are beginning to wag about the newcomer to town who's been around for both murders, Alice recruits Cat to help her figure out exactly which one of the train passengers committed the crime.
Between Alice finding herself meeting with police chief Chase Griffin for all the wrong reasons, magic lessons with Grandma Cee that can politely be called unorthodox, and the discovery of a new ghost in town, Alice quickly realizes her life in Sapphire Village is far from the quiet, uneventful life she'd imagined when moving here.
But as Alice comes closer to finding the murderer, she also discovers there's a new, different threat in Sapphire Village. Will Alice be able to solve the murder and save her reputation before it's too late?
Murder on the Oregon Express is a full-length novel and the second book in the Magical Bookshop Mystery series of paranormal cozy mysteries.
Samantha Silver lives in British Columbia, Canada, along with her husband and seventeen-year-old dog named Terra.
When she's not writing cozy mysteries, Samantha loves travelling (she's most recently been to Egypt, Jordan and Florida) skiing, eating Dairy Queen, and complaining about how hard running is.
Alice is involved in another suspicious death, this time on the train.
What I enjoyed: * The setting - the magical town they travel to and learning witchcraft. * The ghost Archibald - he is so proper * I want to know more about The Others. Where did the come from, what makes them different, why do they steal souls?
What could have been better: * Editing issues. One character was called both Belinda and Felicia and it was very confusing. * The premise for solving the mystery, not to mention immediately going to confront suspected murderer
You see, I thoroughly enjoyed this book(and it's predecessor), until a certain point. I laughed, I was intrigued. And then, I started noticing errors. Sentence structure, spelling, grammar. Instead of writing "an avalanche of boulders" she wrote "a boulder of avalanches." Also, the main characters name is Alice, yet the author kept having her called Angela. I thought, ok, fine. I've read poorly edited books before, while annoying, it's tolerable to finish the mystery. But then things got really weird/bad. Chapter 18 ended upbruptly with this exact sentence: (insert stuff about Alice solving the mystery here) and jumped right into chapter 19 with Alice at the house of the murderer, which was a person never mentioned as a suspect, which never was explained how she deduced that this person was the killer. Furthermore, the book ended all of a sudden in the middle of a conversation. I'd like to read the 3rd installment, but I'm kinda nervous. If it's as poorly written and edited as this, I won't enjoy it.
I wanted to like these first two books, but gave up on #2, Murder on the Oregon Express. The books read like very rough first drafts from one of my grad writing students & desperately need editing. There are many plot errors, grammar errors, repetitive words & phrasing, and a clear lack of more sophisticated vocabulary. The books are over-written with lots of unnecessary verbiage & passages that contribute nothing to the plot. And seriously, since when do grown women constantly stick their tongues out at other??? The concept is clever, the characters have the potential to be engaging, but the author needs to understand that a good editor is every author's best friend. The numerous errors were both distracting and annoying. I have unfollowed this author & won't be reading her again until revised editions are released. There are too many good reads out there and never enough time.
This is an entertaining supernatural cozy mystery series. With a great cast of characters and an entertaining storyline. A young woman who was raised and grew up in Miami. Working for the most part getting jobs not really getting anywhere find out but her biological aunt has passed away and left her a book shop. She was adopted at a young age when her mother died in a car crash. At first she is a little bit reluctant to travel across the country to a small Town in the mountains of Oregon. This is where her biological family lives. She decides to give it a chance and see if she likes it. Once she arrives she soon finds out that she is actually a witch and her entire family is witches. As incredible as it sounds she soon start learning how to use her magic and easing her way into life in the small town. She has a knack for solving mysteries and with the help of her cousins helps to local police willingly or unwillingly solve crimes. Very entertaining with a few wacky members of the family a couple of ghosts and plenty of weird things going on. Entertaining from beginning to end. Check it out
It's a basic locked room style mystery, a death on a moving train with a very limited pool of suspects, she references Christie and The Blue Train enough times.
We also have frequent references to Rowling's opus magnum within the background plot of "The Others" dementor style creatures that initially can't be seen who suck the life force from their victims. Shame she couldn't come up with something more original. Bearing in mind Silver borrows plots and ideas liberally don't expect anything life-changing!
I am frustrated with the number of errors; spelling especially when it's so easily checked, and then weird things like a "boulder of avalanches" when quite obviously it should be "an avalanche of boulders" this isn't the only muddled sentence either, we also once again have characters confused for each other or given completely different names randomly.
Churning out quantity doesn't mean quality is unimportant.. get a proofreader!
This is shaping up to be such a fun series! The book pun titles are cute for a bookstore owner. Alice is a real charmer, and her interactions with her newfound cousins add comedic elements. Cat is more of the hellraiser who blithely leads Alice into mischief, and Peaches' wonky magic is a hoot! Numerous well-placed secrets and surprises are revealed throughout the story, only one of which directly relates to the mystery; however, opportunities to interact with Chase are plentiful, and I appreciate Alice's refreshingly level-headed response to the handsome lawman. The murder mystery is fine, but the overriding background mystery is really heating up and steadily piques the reader's attention. However, while I'm loving the characters and the plot, I'm not loving the disappointingly lax proofreading. Fortunately, this series has far more pluses than minuses, and I look forward to the next story.
This is the second in the series of cozy mysteries of the "girl finds out she's a witch and inherits" variety. Although there is nothing unique about the plot, they are well written and fun to read.
There editing failures in this book that are similar to the type of errors in book one. Our heroine is talking to Cat and then she explains to "Sophie" who becomes Cat again. Again they are entering the accountant's office and we are with Cat who suddenly is Sophie and then Cat again. Who is Sophie? I assume Cat underwent name changes during the writing of the book or maybe her name is Sophie and Cat is a nickname and I'm supposed to remember from book one. This type of error drives me as mad as a hatter. Please, please get an editor or at least a GOOD beta reader.
Alice Calliope joins her cousin on the Oregon Express train to view another cousin's artwork in a gallery. Coming back home, Alice overhears a heated discussion of two passengers. However, the train suddenly stops...one of the passengers has been murdered.
Alice is worried that the small town is beginning to think how there were never any bodies until she moved into town.
This story has some magical aspects which I think should have been more employed in this tale.
First I have to say I wish I had a Grandma Cee. She is so crazy and cool! Alice is a great character, she is confident and I think she would be a great friend. She gets I evolved in another mystery, when a !oval is shot on the train. Since this is her second murder since coming to the town, she knows everyone is taking about it. She jumps right in to solve it!
Flying, the Others and a dead body. How is Alice going to get out of that. Another great read and it would have got a 5* rating but for the ending (why did it stop so abruptly) and the editing. Seriously please get the editing sorted as it does detract from the story.
This is a fun little series. I like the heroine, she's got good balance in terms of her knowledge and skills --she's not a bumbling idiot, but she's also not the end-all-be-all. There’s good humor, a decently crafted mystery --a lot of threads woven together nicely. The writing is solid, some minor editing issues, but overall nothing that impacts readability.
I really enjoy Alice and her family. I love the portals showing up in places and all the rest of the magical community. Hope that a relationship is building between Alice and Chase. Please keep this going for a long time.
A bookselling witch deals with solving murders, 2 resident ghosts, a supernatural threat, getting to know long lost family and learning about the reality of magic.
I love a good murder mystery. This is well written, an enjoyable story. I did guess whodunit. Never go to a murderers home alone. Ever!!! Okay, I finished my rant. Read and enjoy!
There were problems with this book --notes for the author to add things; it just ended without a real ending; some incomplete thoughts, etc. Maybe I got a bad download or a draft copy?
I love this series especially the ghost and the book store. Granny is the most interesting in the book and so serious about the lesson that she’s teaching. Recommend it to anyone who loves mysteries
I enjoy the characters and the story but I find some of their, the mc and her relations, actions highly questionable. I felt like sometimes logic was handwaved in favor of moving the plot along.
I really enjoy reading this series.. all the characters are are lovable and i love the interaction between the cousins.. I really enjoyed this book and hope to continue the series.
Segundo volumen de la serie Magical Bookshop Mystery.
Al igual que el anterior libro, éste también ha sido una lectura fácil y muy ligera. De esta serie de libros me gusta que no sólo hay la trama principal, sino que la historia de la protagonista continúa en los diferentes libros de forma paralela (la cual me tiene muy intrigado).
Para mi sorpresa este libro me ha hecho no querer soltarlo hasta acabarlo. Ha cumplido muy decentemente: me ha entretenido y me ha gustado.
Tal vez los libros cozy sean un nuevo género a añadir a mi lista de favoritos.