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St. Claire's Blues
When old millionaire McKennen is found dead under suspicious circumstances, the town of St. Claire is left in shock. The investigation starts and sets in motion a bizarre chain of events that turn the community upside down.
St. Claire is a quiet picturesque town in the mountains of Pennsylvania. But behind a pretty facade, there are secrets, lies, and dark pasts. Peaceful St. Claire is not what it first seems. A vain lawyer, a greedy cleaning lady, a desperate out-of-towner, a crazy businessman-turned-preacher—everyone is at war with life and themselves. All of the characters are somehow connected with the death of the millionaire, and their lives get intertwined in the most peculiar way. While the investigation goes on, the town waits for the answers: what happened to the millionaire and who will inherit the fortune.
Thought-provoking, eerie and twisted, “St. Claire’s Blues” is a crime novel that explores the dark sides of humanity.
St. Claire is a quiet picturesque town in the mountains of Pennsylvania. But behind a pretty facade, there are secrets, lies, and dark pasts. Peaceful St. Claire is not what it first seems. A vain lawyer, a greedy cleaning lady, a desperate out-of-towner, a crazy businessman-turned-preacher—everyone is at war with life and themselves. All of the characters are somehow connected with the death of the millionaire, and their lives get intertwined in the most peculiar way. While the investigation goes on, the town waits for the answers: what happened to the millionaire and who will inherit the fortune.
Thought-provoking, eerie and twisted, “St. Claire’s Blues” is a crime novel that explores the dark sides of humanity.
- GenresMystery
320 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 9, 2019
112 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
August 6, 2020
I don’t easily rate a book 1 star, and I actually feel kinda guilty about it, but this just wasn’t a book for me. I think this is the kind of book I needed to read the reviews before I started instead of just the blurb. The book is about the murder of old millionaire McKennen, but the biggest part of the book is getting to know alot of people. You get 5 perspectives, and I first thought we’d slowly find out wich of the 5 did it, but it’s basically alot of lifelessons and then the reveal. I don’t think the book or story is bad, it jusn’t isn’t my kinda jam sadly enough. I like a book to work towards the story, and this was too much different character devolpment intertwined with each other to my liking.
*I voluntarily reviewed this book after receiving a free copy.
*I voluntarily reviewed this book after receiving a free copy.
October 7, 2019
Ili Mais lays out a compelling and complicated mystery in St. Claire’s Blues! When a millionaire shows up dead in his house, it upends the seemingly peaceful town of St. Claire. This is a novel with secrets around every corner, and Mais does a fantastic job of building in many great characters that complicate things. If you’re looking for something more akin to Murder on the Orient Express, check this one out!
June 14, 2020
This book was an amazing look at character-driven storytelling. Ostensibly, it's a mystery into the suspicious death of millionaire McKennen. Really, that plot is only to kick things off. We see the lives of the numerous (and there are many) suspects. To them, the death was a minor inconvenience or neat event of the day's news cycle. These stories, especially Pattie and Lushan, are were the true brilliance comes through. I highly recommend this book, especially for those who like a little melancholy. The rest of my review will contain spoilers.
The Good.
Pattie's glee at McKennen's death. She was his cleaning lady, so she knows where all the sweet "souvenirs" are. Extra points because she likes being the center of attention and got duped over a micro pig named Pickles.
The early chapters introducing the potential suspects and their motives.
The prose was great. So many unique sentences. One of my favorites was: "Likened it to the smell of his moldy soul."
Kenny looking at pictures, then using them to snitch on the devious people in St. Claires. I wish there had been more Kenny, but his scenes were fun.
I already said it, but I'll say it again; Pattie and Lushan were awesome characters! They both grew the most and had the best chapters. I consistently flipped between rooting for Pattie and enjoying her many setbacks.
Pattie and Pickles scenes were always fun. Even that last one. I didn't expect it (and it was a bit dubious, see below) but it felt right. RIP Pickles.
I kept waiting for Davidson to come back and bust Pattie. It was great when he commented on how poorly she acted while she thought she was getting away with everything (until she didn't).
The tension leading up to the Children of the Corn and Buck Boy confrontation. I had no idea where it would go. Would they kill a kid? Would a high adult run off a cliff. Would people not care? The buildup was superb.
The real cause of McKennen's death. The simplest answer is often the right one.
The Bad.
This is a small quibble, but why weren't there page breaks for each chapter? It always annoys me. I can't really explain why.
Kevin's AK shouldn't have been such a big deal. They are legal to own and cheap to buy. Full auto is a problem, but the Buck Boys reacted just from sight with awe. They would have known firearms. An AK is a piece of crap (reliable crap) but crap. I wanted a discussion on why they should care, which could have led to a full auto burst and true admiration.
Pickles death came out of no where. Bears mostly eat fruit and nuts (something like 85%), so Fuzzy going full carnivore felt unlikely. If earlier scenes had commented on Fuzzy be abnormal beyond just his appearance, fine. Those details weren't given, so the attack (although technically possible) made me scoff.
There are some typos, specifically with names. I recall Abbey and O'Donnel instead of Abby and O'Donnell.
The Technical.
The book is third person omniscient. You hop around a lot.
There is a ton of passive voice use.
There are sexual situations.
There is profanity.
There is violent death.
There is suicide.
Basically, a lot of potential "triggers."
The Good.
Pattie's glee at McKennen's death. She was his cleaning lady, so she knows where all the sweet "souvenirs" are. Extra points because she likes being the center of attention and got duped over a micro pig named Pickles.
The early chapters introducing the potential suspects and their motives.
The prose was great. So many unique sentences. One of my favorites was: "Likened it to the smell of his moldy soul."
Kenny looking at pictures, then using them to snitch on the devious people in St. Claires. I wish there had been more Kenny, but his scenes were fun.
I already said it, but I'll say it again; Pattie and Lushan were awesome characters! They both grew the most and had the best chapters. I consistently flipped between rooting for Pattie and enjoying her many setbacks.
Pattie and Pickles scenes were always fun. Even that last one. I didn't expect it (and it was a bit dubious, see below) but it felt right. RIP Pickles.
I kept waiting for Davidson to come back and bust Pattie. It was great when he commented on how poorly she acted while she thought she was getting away with everything (until she didn't).
The tension leading up to the Children of the Corn and Buck Boy confrontation. I had no idea where it would go. Would they kill a kid? Would a high adult run off a cliff. Would people not care? The buildup was superb.
The real cause of McKennen's death. The simplest answer is often the right one.
The Bad.
This is a small quibble, but why weren't there page breaks for each chapter? It always annoys me. I can't really explain why.
Kevin's AK shouldn't have been such a big deal. They are legal to own and cheap to buy. Full auto is a problem, but the Buck Boys reacted just from sight with awe. They would have known firearms. An AK is a piece of crap (reliable crap) but crap. I wanted a discussion on why they should care, which could have led to a full auto burst and true admiration.
Pickles death came out of no where. Bears mostly eat fruit and nuts (something like 85%), so Fuzzy going full carnivore felt unlikely. If earlier scenes had commented on Fuzzy be abnormal beyond just his appearance, fine. Those details weren't given, so the attack (although technically possible) made me scoff.
There are some typos, specifically with names. I recall Abbey and O'Donnel instead of Abby and O'Donnell.
The Technical.
The book is third person omniscient. You hop around a lot.
There is a ton of passive voice use.
There are sexual situations.
There is profanity.
There is violent death.
There is suicide.
Basically, a lot of potential "triggers."
August 13, 2020
A very different book. This story is about its characters. When a very rich man in town is murdered, it has an effect on a variety of townspeople. Understanding these people is how the story progresses. Not your typical murder mystery. But I enjoyed it much more than I expected in the beginning. The characters are interesting and their life motives are equally interesting. If you like something unique and character driven, you will enjoy this book.
August 4, 2019
Too many characters
It took a long time for me to figure out who the protagonist was in this story. Too many inter stories about people I didn't give a hoot about. At one point I thought the detective was going to emerge as a main character, but that didn't happen. After half the book, the story started to get better and the ending and epilogue details were cute and clever.
It took a long time for me to figure out who the protagonist was in this story. Too many inter stories about people I didn't give a hoot about. At one point I thought the detective was going to emerge as a main character, but that didn't happen. After half the book, the story started to get better and the ending and epilogue details were cute and clever.
June 20, 2020
A well-written book with quirky, interesting characters.
“St. Claire’s Blues” by Ili Mais relates multiple stories involving a boatload of quirky and interesting characters – a scheming cleaning woman and her pet pig, a confused and lost young man trying to find meaning in life, an aging hippie determined to speak to God, a clique of teenage bullies and the bike-riding misfits (the “Children of the Corn”) they delight in harassing, the long-serving sheriff and his fawning deputy, and a huge, deformed bear, just to name a few. Even the town of St. Claire, PA, is a well-written character in this engaging tale.
Initially, the book unfolds as a whodunit mystery involving the death of the town’s wealthiest resident, old man McKennen. As the characters were introduced randomly in chapter after chapter, I thought they were all supposed to be murder suspects. However, while McKennen serves as a thread to tie some of the stories together, investigating and solving a murder is not the point at all. I didn’t really get drawn in until I realized that the diverse characters are the heart and soul of the book, but once I got to that point, I could not put it down.
There is only one reason I didn’t give it a five-star rating, and that relates to uneven writing. Many passages are beautifully written, but the overall effort is marred by periodic typos and odd sentence structure. English is clearly not the author’s first language, and in telling the story she has a tendency to revert to an eastern European style of English in which articles (particularly that annoying word “the”) are omitted. The characters also frequently revert to a similar style of speaking. As one of many examples, the same woman who says, “Are you trying to correct our mistakes? … Is that what it’s all about?” immediately follows with “… you think we just gonna get …” While it’s not really fair to find fault with the author’s use of language in this way, her flawless writing throughout most of the book makes it clear that these lapses are either a conscious choice or a result of incomplete editing. Like it or not, indie writers are responsible for the entirety of their product, and if they choose not to engage professional editors, they bear the responsibility for editing lapses. (One final note relates to the name of the town. Is St. Claire a fictionalized version of the real town of St. Clair, PA, or is that another editing issue?)
All things considered, this is an excellent book and well worth a read. I highly recommend it.
“St. Claire’s Blues” by Ili Mais relates multiple stories involving a boatload of quirky and interesting characters – a scheming cleaning woman and her pet pig, a confused and lost young man trying to find meaning in life, an aging hippie determined to speak to God, a clique of teenage bullies and the bike-riding misfits (the “Children of the Corn”) they delight in harassing, the long-serving sheriff and his fawning deputy, and a huge, deformed bear, just to name a few. Even the town of St. Claire, PA, is a well-written character in this engaging tale.
Initially, the book unfolds as a whodunit mystery involving the death of the town’s wealthiest resident, old man McKennen. As the characters were introduced randomly in chapter after chapter, I thought they were all supposed to be murder suspects. However, while McKennen serves as a thread to tie some of the stories together, investigating and solving a murder is not the point at all. I didn’t really get drawn in until I realized that the diverse characters are the heart and soul of the book, but once I got to that point, I could not put it down.
There is only one reason I didn’t give it a five-star rating, and that relates to uneven writing. Many passages are beautifully written, but the overall effort is marred by periodic typos and odd sentence structure. English is clearly not the author’s first language, and in telling the story she has a tendency to revert to an eastern European style of English in which articles (particularly that annoying word “the”) are omitted. The characters also frequently revert to a similar style of speaking. As one of many examples, the same woman who says, “Are you trying to correct our mistakes? … Is that what it’s all about?” immediately follows with “… you think we just gonna get …” While it’s not really fair to find fault with the author’s use of language in this way, her flawless writing throughout most of the book makes it clear that these lapses are either a conscious choice or a result of incomplete editing. Like it or not, indie writers are responsible for the entirety of their product, and if they choose not to engage professional editors, they bear the responsibility for editing lapses. (One final note relates to the name of the town. Is St. Claire a fictionalized version of the real town of St. Clair, PA, or is that another editing issue?)
All things considered, this is an excellent book and well worth a read. I highly recommend it.
August 18, 2020
I received a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
This book (and the other I read by this author right before, The Influencers) both have the same problem - they both set up a tantalizing, suspenseful mystery right in the beginning (a murder, in both cases) and then dither around for 200+ pages doing slow character development/growth without any actual movement of the plot.
Is a character-driven book inherently bad? No, but when you introduce a murder in the very beginning of a novel, you naturally expect the rest of the novel to have something to do with it (at least some sort of investigaiton or something, right?) but unfortunately, neither of these do.
That being said, this novel is isn't an unenjoyable experience. We're introduced to a colorful cast and follow them through their ups and downs. It does capture the weird charm of small-town life, both the good and the bad, and I liked most of the characters enough to be invested in what happened to them. It has the same moments of beauty and insight scattered throughout The Influencers, too. For the most part, it's a satisfying story in its way, just not at all what it tries to pass itself off as. The novel "hooks" the reader with the murder, and does nothing with it, which I'm not a fan of.
If you want something character-driven and slow, you might like this. But don't go into either novel expecting actual mystery or intrigue - they're not that kind of story.
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
This book (and the other I read by this author right before, The Influencers) both have the same problem - they both set up a tantalizing, suspenseful mystery right in the beginning (a murder, in both cases) and then dither around for 200+ pages doing slow character development/growth without any actual movement of the plot.
Is a character-driven book inherently bad? No, but when you introduce a murder in the very beginning of a novel, you naturally expect the rest of the novel to have something to do with it (at least some sort of investigaiton or something, right?) but unfortunately, neither of these do.
That being said, this novel is isn't an unenjoyable experience. We're introduced to a colorful cast and follow them through their ups and downs. It does capture the weird charm of small-town life, both the good and the bad, and I liked most of the characters enough to be invested in what happened to them. It has the same moments of beauty and insight scattered throughout The Influencers, too. For the most part, it's a satisfying story in its way, just not at all what it tries to pass itself off as. The novel "hooks" the reader with the murder, and does nothing with it, which I'm not a fan of.
If you want something character-driven and slow, you might like this. But don't go into either novel expecting actual mystery or intrigue - they're not that kind of story.
July 17, 2020
Overall, I enjoyed this book. The characters were well written and engaging, and I liked the love stories, especially the chief and his wife, and Lushan and Maya. However, the central mystery wasn't particularly interesting. What's more, while many of the characters were great, there were so many points of view, sometimes it got confusing. I felt the book was more of a slice of small town life than a mystery for sure. And it may have been better if it had focused on a couple of characters, instead of having so many.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes contemporary fiction or light mystery.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes contemporary fiction or light mystery.
June 19, 2020
A clever and unusual read.
It opens with the sudden death of a lonely billionaire. Several characters have an interest in the old man's death and my assumption was the mystery would centre around which of the town's locals was the killer. My interest waned a little before I realised this wasn't what the book was about at all. The unfolding story raised deeper issues of humanity, how the various characters were changed by the death and time itself.
Interesting read.
It opens with the sudden death of a lonely billionaire. Several characters have an interest in the old man's death and my assumption was the mystery would centre around which of the town's locals was the killer. My interest waned a little before I realised this wasn't what the book was about at all. The unfolding story raised deeper issues of humanity, how the various characters were changed by the death and time itself.
Interesting read.
March 13, 2023
2 stars because the digital copy I was provided with was not complete. You had to go to Amazon to finish it. What a waste of time. Otherwise it seemed that the story was coming to a conclusion. Needed editing too.
August 14, 2020
This is a book I will think about for years to come. It's a hauntingly true description of my childhood.
July 7, 2023
An engrossing book with many hurting characters. But the author really needs to spell "grief" the proper way.
August 19, 2023
I really liked the way this book was written through all the different characters points of view. The author really kept me guessing until the end. I will definitely be reading more from them.
December 19, 2019
A small town
A story about characters in a small New England town and their interactions with each other. The characters are well defined and interesting with their interactions comical, sad,and loving.there is the wealthy landowner who is found dead, his housekeeper who dreams of obtaining wealth from his death, the detective with his stroke victim wife, the drug dealer and a reformed druggie who still dabbles in dealing, the town eccentric, the bullies, the “children of the corn” kids and of course the star crossed lovers. It was a very enjoyable novel.
A story about characters in a small New England town and their interactions with each other. The characters are well defined and interesting with their interactions comical, sad,and loving.there is the wealthy landowner who is found dead, his housekeeper who dreams of obtaining wealth from his death, the detective with his stroke victim wife, the drug dealer and a reformed druggie who still dabbles in dealing, the town eccentric, the bullies, the “children of the corn” kids and of course the star crossed lovers. It was a very enjoyable novel.
November 4, 2019
Well written...Ili could have grown up in Pennsylvania. I'm waiting for her next book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 20, 2019
Quick, fun read.
I read the book over two nights. I do a lot of reading but this one was hard to put down. Very fast-paced, quirky, with multiple characters that are easy to keep track of as they are all connected and are very well developed. Different from what I normally read but highly recommended.
I read the book over two nights. I do a lot of reading but this one was hard to put down. Very fast-paced, quirky, with multiple characters that are easy to keep track of as they are all connected and are very well developed. Different from what I normally read but highly recommended.
August 15, 2019
Different
It was difficult to stay focused. At first I had to go back and forth because I had trouble remembering when a character had been introduced. Because of this it was hard for me to follow the different plots. I did like the way the author wrapped everything up at the end though.
It was difficult to stay focused. At first I had to go back and forth because I had trouble remembering when a character had been introduced. Because of this it was hard for me to follow the different plots. I did like the way the author wrapped everything up at the end though.
July 10, 2019
Good read.
An enjoyable novel, an all around fun read with interesting characters and small-town setting. Recommended. And looking forward to another book.
An enjoyable novel, an all around fun read with interesting characters and small-town setting. Recommended. And looking forward to another book.
August 17, 2019
.
Wow... This book was good. It reminded me very much of Stephen Kings "Needful Things".The characters are so alive and human they keep you reading. Absolutely fabulous.
Wow... This book was good. It reminded me very much of Stephen Kings "Needful Things".The characters are so alive and human they keep you reading. Absolutely fabulous.
August 28, 2019
I just couldn't get into this book. It was supposed to be a mystery...showing the many people who might have done it. The ending was a little rushed and anti-climatic. Just not for me.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews