Janneke > Recent Status Updates

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Death in the Tropics - Nizrana Farook
A nice and very classic murder mystery. I loved the cast of characters in this. I also thought it was a nice way to end the collection

DNF: Mistlight - Dominique Valente
A very sudden shift into a fantasy story that I feel doesn't fit into this collection at all. I only read a few pages of this, so can't judge the story itself. It's not what I am looking for in an anthology centered around murder mysteries

⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Berry Juicy Murder - Annabelle Sami
This was a fun one, though a bit predictable. I think it also suffers from its placing in this anthology. After a while, these stories start to feel a bit too similar and really need something special to make them stand out, which I think this one is lacking. If it was one of the first stories in the anthology, I would probably have rated it higher

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Deadly Departure - Serena Patel
This was a fine story, but it just didn't stand out for me in any way

I really dislike the parts where the camp leaders blame/judge Luca based on what his dad did though. It is made clear they're in the wrong, but at some parts it still just reads like an adult bullying a kid. I feel like the author could have (and should have) showed Marc having complicated feelings about being around Luca, without him being so nasty to Luca.Or at least include a scene at the end where Marc apologizes

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Summertime and the Killing is Easy - E.L. Norry
I'm a bit divided on how I feel about this story. I liked the mystery part of it, as well as Luca and his friends. I definitely feel like the characters that were picked to return from the Very Merry Murder Club book are some of my favorites, so I'm happy about that. (1/2)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Say I Dunnit - Elle McNicoll
I loved this story. I'm so glad Briar came back in this collection. I missed the little autistic detective. I still really want Elle McNicoll to write a full book about her. I did figure out the culprit almost immediately, but it was still really fun

⭐️⭐️ Behind the Screams in the Museum - Patrice Lawrence
I appreciate that something different was tried for this story, but it just didn't really work for me

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Window Pain - Sharna Jackson
This was a surprising stand out to me. At the beginning, I didn't think I was going to like it much, but it ended up being really amazing. This felt like a real detective. There were theories going around, sleuthing to be done, an interrogation and the main character outwitting the bad guy. I loved it

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Poison Playtime: A Midsummer Night's Murder Mystery - Roopa Farooki
I liked this one a lot. The twins and their grandmother were my favorite in the Christmas anthology, so was very happy to see they were back in this one. I loved the set up of this story. My main issue was that the reveal felt very sudden and the twins didn't really end up doing any real sleuthing

⭐️⭐️ The Thief Who Stole Summer - Benjamin Dean
I really enjoyed the first half or so of this story, but very much disliked the second half. The thing I like most about mysteries is that it raises a lot of questions and makes you think, but also answers them before the end of the story. This one definitely did not do that. I also didn't like the horror-y twist or unhappy ending

The Treetop Trials - Maisie Chen ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This one was really fun. I loved the characters and the mystery. I would be interested in reading more of this.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Murder on the Dance Floor - Abiola Bella
I didn't like this one as much. It was fine, but it just didn't grip my attention. I didn't feel like there were many clues to follow and I wasn't speculating the way I was in the previous story

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Murder at Mystery and Mayhem- Robin Stevens

This was such a fun story. I absolutely adored it. I loved Gracie and Why and the humor in this one. The mystery was great too. Very impressive that the author managed to get a mystery that felt solvable by the reader, but also not completely obvious into such a short story