Past Resort

Minerva Biggs Mysteries #3

by Cordelia Rook

Flapper dresses, sidecar cocktails, and what more could a girl and her dog want?

Minerva is thrilled at the chance to spend a week at the resort, managing a Gatsby-themed role-play event—and chilled when one of the players turns up dead. With a killer on the loose, everyone from the police chief to her overprotective boyfriend wants her to back off and go home.

But Minerva can never resist the call of the past. When she hears the haunting echoes of not one but two long-forgotten crimes, she’s more determined than ever not to abandon her guests. Unfortunately for her, someone else has joined the effort to discourage interference.

And unlike the others, the murderer is not asking nicely.

Genres: Cozy Mystery

222 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 31, 2022

Reviews

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun series which improves with each new mystery.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

CHARACTERS
🔲 mary-sue party
🔲 mostly 2D
🔲 great main cast, forgettable side characters
✅ well-written
🔲 complex and fascinating
🔲 hard to believe they are fictional

PLOT
🔲 you've already heard this exact story a thousand times
🔲 nothing memorable
✅ gripping
🔲 exceptional
🔲 mind=blown

WORLDBUILDING
✅ takes place in our world
🔲 incoherent
🔲 OK
🔲 nicely detailed
🔲 meticulous
🔲 even the last tree in the forest has its own story

ATMOSPHERE
🔲 nonexistent
🔲 fine
🔲 immersive
✅ you forget you are reading a book

PACING
🔲 dragging
🔲 inconsistent
🔲 picks up with time
✅ page-turner
🔲 impossible to put down

[J.J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

People start dying at a 1920s theme LARPing weekend. Plus a big dog. Fun cozy read.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A LARP gone wrong

A LARP weekend goes terribly wrong when the organizer winds up dead. Minerva who has organized the event gets an itch to investigate when she spots some similarities between a historic crime and a death in the family of the victim. Percy gets involved because where she is he is. Their relationship now being serious. Faithful Plant on hand to be adorable as well as protect and detect alongside his mistress.
Enjoyable read. However when I pick up a new book in this series I feel as if I’ve skipped one. I feel that so much in the personal lives of that characters has happened off page in between books and I’m missing out in something. I did enjoy the LARPing aspect I thought it was quite a clever way for Minerva to become involved. All in all a good read.

[Kye Campbell-fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually thought this one was better than the first two because the main character has become markedly less annoying since the first book. However, it committed my pet peeve, which is that it acted like strangulation was this very difficult thing that requires a lot of power - it really doesn't. The amount of pressure used to open a can of pop is how much pressure it takes to kill someone via strangulation, so as a method of murder/attempted murder, that really only rules out children and people with arthritis. (I used to train cops on domestic violence, including how to tell if someone has been strangled/how to respond to it. It also often doesn't show bruising (if the person isn't dead) - you're more likely to see petechiae than bruising.)

[Nancy Browne · Rating 5 out of 5]

1924 has never been more deadly

Minerva Biggs, her enormous dog, Plant, and her mansion/hotel owner boss turned boyfriend, Percy, host the Carolinas Gatsby League. The 1924 love roleplaying event is all fun and games until someone gets murdered, for real.

When is the killer not the killer? What happened to the antique hair comb? Who is still roleplaying? How do these relate to 1924 and 1988 murders?

I throughly enjoyed this third book in the Minerva Biggs Mystery Series. Hints of other mystery novels and true crime stories caught my avid reader’s eyes.

Cordelia Rook, I’m looking forward to the next adventures. Also, Agatha Christie would be proud!

[Kav · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have thoroughly enjoyed this cozy mystery series and am sad to see that it ends here. A nice mix of mystery and romance and the cozy details are well done. I listened to all three books in quick succession and really enjoyed Amy Tallmadge's narration. So disappointed that there won't be more Minerva Biggs in my reading future.

[Gerri Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read

I like Minerva, she seems very real and fun. I like a book where the main character isn't perfect, and you want to say to them, "No, don't do that, this isn't a good idea!" But of course they do it anyway.

[Lori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it

[Benny Dodge]

great series sincerely for for more. Ms Rook is great author

[Mare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun installment. Just keeps getting better.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

another great read

Another great read, murder and who done it in the third Minerva Biggs book, another page turner till the end

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good sequel to others in the series. Amusing characters and plot. Satisfying romantic development.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Fun Cozy Mystery Series

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute easy fun read. Nothing life changing but a good way to pass the afternoon.