Mystery Madness discussion

As mentioned in my announcement video here #Book1CoziesClub is returning to monthly status. This will be our discussion thread for this book. Please be sure to hide your spoilers if there is something that you would like to discuss. The best way to do this is to note what chapter you're on, then hide any spoilery parts.

If you do post your review on your favorite social media site, please tag it with #Book1CoziesClub so we can find it. Also, please feel free to link your review here!

I just put it on hold at the library.

Janelle wrote: "I just put it on hold at the library."

That's awesome Janelle! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

I finished this one today. I have not read the author's Flower Shop Mystery series so I don't have any experience with her writing outside of this book. My non-spoilery thoughts are here if you're interested.

I'm looking forward to discussing this with the group during our first in person #Book1CoziesClub meeting. If anyone else is reading/has read this one, I'd love to hear what you think as well!

Just started the audiobook for this yesterday. This one is a good one!

Rachel wrote: "Just started the audiobook for this yesterday. This one is a good one!"

Will be looking forward to your thoughts!

Rachel wrote: "Just started the audiobook for this yesterday. This one is a good one!"

Will be looking forward to your thoughts!

I finished Statue of Limitations last night. I haven't read anything by this author before. It was a pretty classic cozy - amateur sleuth moves back to their small home town and gets involved in a murder/investigation in order to help family/friends. I guessed the killer pretty early on.

Janelle wrote: "I finished Statue of Limitations last night. I haven't read anything by this author before. It was a pretty classic cozy - amateur sleuth moves back to their small home town and gets involved in a ..."

I've not read this author before either. It was super obvious to me who the killer was! Kind of disappointing, but I had other issues with this one on top of that which made this read even more disappointing to me.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts. What were some of the other issues you had.

Janelle wrote: "I'm curious to hear your thoughts. What were some of the other issues you had."

At least one more person is reading this so I don't want to openly discuss yet, but I do have a video going up on Saturday talking about my thoughts and issues I had with the story ^-^

I'll summarize for you though, hidden to not spoil things: (view spoiler)[Besides the fact that I figured out the killer really quickly, the lying to police really bothered me in escalating degrees each time she did it, I hated that she picked the most inappropriate time to make googly eyes at Case, I didn't enjoy that she chose investigating the murders over spending time with her son, and I really didn't like that she was so against her son trying to connect more with his Greek roots. (hide spoiler)]

I did really enjoy the blog posts though and her family's reactions to them. That was pretty entertaining, however the issues I mention above overtook that enjoyment from this story for me.

I would agree with you on all of those things. I often have a hard time with amateur sleuths. It's hard to write a realistic mystery where they are behaving in ways that make sense. I often am completely baffled by what amateur sleuths choose to do and how they justify it.

Janelle wrote: "I would agree with you on all of those things. I often have a hard time with amateur sleuths. It's hard to write a realistic mystery where they are behaving in ways that make sense. I often am comp..."

I don't know if it's just because I'm getting older or what, but I'm finding more and more, things are bothering me with some investigative styles of amateur sleuths - things that I know didn't bother me years ago and I know this sentiment applies to my thoughts on this book. I just don't understand why certain scenes play out the way they do I guess, especially since with amateur sleuths they are usually just people like you or me without having a profession linked to investigation.

I would think that the author could put themselves into the same situation and ask themselves what they would've done. That is a little scary if the scenes are written with what the author would've done in the same instance in mind, especially with the things that bothered me in this one....

Di, I get it. I dragged myself through the Fundraising the Dead because of the inaccuracies with places and things in Philadelphia and stupid stuff like "why would she go get off at suburban when 30th street would be closer?" I was hyper critical with the Hannah Swensen series as well.
My biggest problem right now is the fact that Athena is breaking the law and she just decided to help someone she doesn't know and it puzzles me. It's like "Hey random person, I have no idea who you are, you've trespassed but now I'm going to help you with no real motivation for me except that you are cute.

Rachel wrote: "Di, I get it. I dragged myself through the Fundraising the Dead because of the inaccuracies with places and things in Philadelphia and stupid stuff like "why would she go get off at suburban when 3..."

YES!!! I don't understand her initial reaction to Case at all. My first reaction would not have been to strike up a conversation with a guy hanging around my shop after hours, check him out (because there's no way he could be dangerous), and then agree to help him after he's implicated in a crime. The whole set up didn't make sense.

I'm still struggling through Fundraising the Dead....I'm not familiar with the area so I don't have the same issues as you, but let's just say I'm not having a great experience with that one either.....

I've read three Hannah Swenson books so far (with lots of time passing between them) and the last one I read is the one that really ticked off my not loving love triangles phase. I still don't enjoy love triangles, especially because they seem to be a part of a lot of cozy series but realistically, how often does a normal person find themselves in a love triangle? I think that's another problem I have with cozies is that I can't pull myself out of the stories enough not to compare things going on with reality?

I do enjoy seeing an average person like you or me crack a case though which is why I continue to read them ^-^

Now that I've finished it, I found this very easy to follow while coloring. My favorite part was the Greek that was snuck in here and there. What I didn't like was the ending. It wasn't very surprising and made me feel like there was a lot missing.