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Connor Westphal #5
Blind Side
Buford the Bullfrog is dead. And that's only the beginning. Connor Westphal, the feisty deaf publisher of the weekly Eureka!, jumps into the annual Jubilee festivities when her sidekick and main squeeze, private eye Dan Smith, is retained by Buford's jockey to find the murderer. With the help of Sheriff Elvis Mercer and the eccentric denizens of Flat Skunk, Connor and Dan think it'll be a snap, until the sheriff's son Jeremiah comes under suspicion and a human body surfaces in Critter's Creek, along with a lot more dead frogs. Connor, with the aid of a new blind friend, sets about finding out who is killing the frogs and people of Calaveras County.
213 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2001
5 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Penny Warner
142 books138 followersPenny Warner is an award-winning author of over sixty books, including DEAD BODY LANGUAGE mystery series (Macavity winner), HOW TO HOST A KILLER PARTY series, and the upcoming Food Festival series. Her middle-grade mystery, THE CODE BUSTERS CLUB, won the Agatha Award for Best Children's Mystery.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 22, 2022
It’s time for the annual frog jumping contest in nearby Angel’s Camp, and this year it seems to be a hotbed of controversy. A group is protesting the mistreatment of animals, and the reigning champ’s top entry turns up dead. He accuses Miah Mercer of the sabotage, but Connor Westphal is certain that her part time employee is innocent. However, the stakes are raised when Connor finds a bunch of dead frogs and a dead body in the creek near the contest grounds. Can she figure out what is going on?
I enjoyed being back in Connor’s presence again. I felt the plot went a bit away from the initial premise, and I’m not sure I felt it earned it. Meanwhile, the ending is a bit abrupt while still answering our questions. These are minor since I was pulled into the story and kept turning pages to see what Connor would uncover next. As usual for the series, the characters are wonderful. Unfortunately, the language continues to be a bit extreme for a cozy series as well. I read the paperback that was originally published in 2001, so keep in mind that some technology references are going to be outdated. I enjoyed the humor at the beginning of the book – I think we got every frog pun imaginable. Connor is deaf, and she makes a new friend who is blind in this book. I appreciate how both characters are portrayed and this look at how they are able to handle the things I take for granted. All told, I enjoyed this book in the series.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
I enjoyed being back in Connor’s presence again. I felt the plot went a bit away from the initial premise, and I’m not sure I felt it earned it. Meanwhile, the ending is a bit abrupt while still answering our questions. These are minor since I was pulled into the story and kept turning pages to see what Connor would uncover next. As usual for the series, the characters are wonderful. Unfortunately, the language continues to be a bit extreme for a cozy series as well. I read the paperback that was originally published in 2001, so keep in mind that some technology references are going to be outdated. I enjoyed the humor at the beginning of the book – I think we got every frog pun imaginable. Connor is deaf, and she makes a new friend who is blind in this book. I appreciate how both characters are portrayed and this look at how they are able to handle the things I take for granted. All told, I enjoyed this book in the series.
Read my full review at Carstairs Considers.
July 1, 2017
Another great mystery featuring deaf sleuth, Connor Westphal.
It's time for the annual jumping frog contest of Calaveras County, but somebody is poisoning frogs, and of course, murdering contestants. Connor investigates, and gets herself into a peck of trouble.
Quality cozy!
It's time for the annual jumping frog contest of Calaveras County, but somebody is poisoning frogs, and of course, murdering contestants. Connor investigates, and gets herself into a peck of trouble.
Quality cozy!
November 9, 2017
This the first Westphal novel I've read, and I liked it enough the read more of them. The mystery is tied to a Mark Twain tale, but the author does not rely on the connection for a good murder mystery. She wrote that all on her own.
The book is just old enough that technology has overcome some of the problems our deaf, deft heroine encounters, but it did not take me out of the story. Anyone reading it needs to keep that mind though if lack of the modern internet confuses you.
Read It!
The book is just old enough that technology has overcome some of the problems our deaf, deft heroine encounters, but it did not take me out of the story. Anyone reading it needs to keep that mind though if lack of the modern internet confuses you.
Read It!
March 31, 2019
A good, quick read. A series I would definitely continue here & there if I wanted a good mystery. Nicely written, basically a nice summer beach series to binge.
June 3, 2008
Blind Side by Penny Warner is a perfect example why I love BookCrossing. I snatched up the book based on the ties to the frog jumping contest and the fact that Penny Warner is a local author. What I hadn't expected, was that I'd end up finding a new favorite mystery author in the process. But that's exactly what happened!
Blind Side takes place in Flat Skunk, a fictional California town in Calaveras county with a name typical of the old mining sites. This little town, though, survived boom and bust of the gold rush era and is clunking along like so many of the small mountain towns. In the days before the annual frog jumping contest inspired by Mark Twain's story, frogs and then a frog trainer are found dead.
Connor Westphal's friend and coworker Miah is accused of the murder. Refusing to believe that he'd be capable of killing a rival and to seek out a story for the Eureka! paper, Westphal sets out to find the true killer.
Blind Side could easily have been like any of a number of cozy mysteries. It has all the usual trappings: a small town, a civilian sleuth, quirky characters and a relatively short page count. The book though, goes beyond the cozy subgenre at the strength of its lead character. Connor Westphal is deaf and her deafness tosses out many of the typical mystery conventions (like the overheard conversation). Instead, the cliches are replaced interesting details about deafness: nuances of ASL, TTY etiquette, misunderstanding spoken slang, and the pitfalls of lip reading.
As this book is the fifth in the series, Warner mixes things up a bit by introducing a blind character, Del Oro, who forces Connor to rethink her own preconceptions of the world. The two women, though, hit it off and end up making a good sleuthing team.
I've actually purposely skipped over the secondary mystery. I want to save some of the mystery for anyone who hasn't read the book yet. If you're looking for a new mystery series to try, I highly recommend Blind Side. I will be looking for earlier books in the series to read.
The Connor Westphal series so far is as follows:
* Dead Body Language (1997)
* Sign of Foul Play (1998)
* Right to Remain Silent (1999)
* A Quiet Undertaking (2000)
* Blind Side (2001)
* Silence is Golden (2003)
* Dead Man's Hand (2007)
Blind Side takes place in Flat Skunk, a fictional California town in Calaveras county with a name typical of the old mining sites. This little town, though, survived boom and bust of the gold rush era and is clunking along like so many of the small mountain towns. In the days before the annual frog jumping contest inspired by Mark Twain's story, frogs and then a frog trainer are found dead.
Connor Westphal's friend and coworker Miah is accused of the murder. Refusing to believe that he'd be capable of killing a rival and to seek out a story for the Eureka! paper, Westphal sets out to find the true killer.
Blind Side could easily have been like any of a number of cozy mysteries. It has all the usual trappings: a small town, a civilian sleuth, quirky characters and a relatively short page count. The book though, goes beyond the cozy subgenre at the strength of its lead character. Connor Westphal is deaf and her deafness tosses out many of the typical mystery conventions (like the overheard conversation). Instead, the cliches are replaced interesting details about deafness: nuances of ASL, TTY etiquette, misunderstanding spoken slang, and the pitfalls of lip reading.
As this book is the fifth in the series, Warner mixes things up a bit by introducing a blind character, Del Oro, who forces Connor to rethink her own preconceptions of the world. The two women, though, hit it off and end up making a good sleuthing team.
I've actually purposely skipped over the secondary mystery. I want to save some of the mystery for anyone who hasn't read the book yet. If you're looking for a new mystery series to try, I highly recommend Blind Side. I will be looking for earlier books in the series to read.
The Connor Westphal series so far is as follows:
* Dead Body Language (1997)
* Sign of Foul Play (1998)
* Right to Remain Silent (1999)
* A Quiet Undertaking (2000)
* Blind Side (2001)
* Silence is Golden (2003)
* Dead Man's Hand (2007)
August 23, 2007
Not one of the author's best. Kept me turning the pages, but the story really wasn't that great. I think it could have been fleshed out more, because it all seemed to wrap up too neatly and quickly at the end. It was on the shorter side of most of Warner's books too.
For me, personally, there was an awful lot of "after-school-special"-y vibes hanging around the whole "blind" thing. And Connor's magical lipreading abilities do nothing short of amaze me. :-P
For me, personally, there was an awful lot of "after-school-special"-y vibes hanging around the whole "blind" thing. And Connor's magical lipreading abilities do nothing short of amaze me. :-P
May 25, 2016
Love this series, loved Blind Side. Penny Warner has a wonderful sense of humor, really interesting stories. She also gives a great view of the world of the deaf. This is one series I wish wouldn't end.
April 13, 2015
I didn't expect to like this book as the premise seemed...odd...to say the least. Well, I was pleasantly surprised! Fun little mystery with a glimpse into what it might be like to live with being deaf or blind. I'm planning to read others in the series after reading Blind Side.
May 15, 2010
It's interesting to read about a deaf person and a blind person meeting each other. Once again, Penny Warner does a terrific job of making you think about things.
March 31, 2011
preachy, clich
December 24, 2012
The story line was alright (but not the best of the series); however, the editing in the Kindle edition was really bad, making it almost not even worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews