Sarah

Excellent. Tackles the evil, lasting pain of genocide and brightness of hope and art. I wish this mystery series was more widely available.

I am not a short story person, maybe because so often some stories resonate and others miss the mark, or maybe because I like to dissolve into a book for long stretches of time and short stories are...short. In any case, Novak's tales were alternately touching, hilarious, and heartfelt, (and occasionally meh). Four stars for the laughs, and I highly recommend the audiobook, which is filled with Office personalities and other celebs.

I think the publisher did Tsao a disservice by marketing this as a psychological thriller, because, as other reviewers have noted, it's a family drama. TBH, I found several sections very confusing, particularly the twin visits to Monterey. Disappointing.

This was published in 2015 and yet blackface and a somewhat lecherous detective (a 70-year-old man trapped in a 30-something body) who evaluates and describes all of the women he encounters through a sexual gaze are acceptable and applauded in this cozy mystery series. Do better.

This was good - certainly on par with C.J. Box, etc., but I wish Florio had complicated the predators/”bad guys” a little bit more. Yay for good writing, strong women, calling out prejudices, and showing women, especially Native American women, affected by the fracking boom and the justice system.

Ok, but why do so many (male) crime writers equate justice with death, or use death or murder to “solve” mysteries?

This was ok, but very similar to The Hunting Party. Once again, 30-something characters haunted by school-age relationships and traumas are isolated in a wild, remote place to celebrate something and it ends in murder.

I have no idea whether or not I liked this book. There were insightful, thought-provoking moments on the nature of humanity and evil, and I found Cloris (the older protagonist and sole survivor of a small plane crash) well-crafted. Many of the other characters were strange and unworldly, which is understandable in Montana (really, I live here) , but I struggled to connect with or see them as full people. I still think it's worth reading, but it is a very different book. Just don't expect a cookie-cutter plot or a neat package of a novel.

Both lighthearted and darkly funny (maybe not quite dark - dim? dusky?), I got a few good laughs out of the strong personalities populating the Heart of America Antique Mall. The audio is good, with a cast of readers capturing each personality.

Ambitious attempt to explore mystery tropes in a meta, wink-and-nod novel that ultimately fell flat for me. Among the pesky annoyances, Swanson repeatedly reminds the reader of the plot of these 8 murder mystery novels - once is necessary, twice is understandable, and any more looks like he wrote the book in separate sections and clumsily stitched it together, editor be damned. There was a plot hole involving the killer's timeline vs. his reading of these 8 mysteries that tripped me up, and I also detest death or suicide in lieu of justice. It's frustrating because it could have been an intricate sort of expose of classic mystery novels.

LOL, what?
There are some good things about this book - the historical research, the writing - and some crazy things, like the plot.

There's a reason Quartey's The Missing American is more popular than these earlier mysteries. There are way too many characters here, and every single description of a woman is sexualized- even the corpses. Is a character wearing or not wearing a bra an important plot point? No.

I'm not typically a fan of the paranormal, but I liked this mystery for the different, personal, and respectful take on the “dead girl” genre. The ending consequences seemed a little rushed, but overall well written and addictive.

DNF. This is good, but I'm not in a place to read contemporary fiction - it's too stressful. I need to stick to mysteries where there are solutions and justice, or transport myself to another time with historical fiction. Those are, apparently, my pandemic reading genres. <>

I'm a latecomer to this series and I look forward to continuing, but, to be perfectly honest, I thought this first mystery was a little overdone and predictable. Still, I like Ruth as a strong, intelligent, fallible character.

I appreciate the thoughtful talmudic process in these mysteries, but you know how your middle school English teacher instructed you to “show, don't tell”? Kemelman missed that lesson. The reliance on overly long and detailed explanations and back stories pulls the reader out of the story.

DNF

Historical fiction + a touch of magical realism = fabulous pandemic distraction.

Maybe 3.5, but 4 stars for distraction during quarantine!

DNF

There was some lovely language here, but by the end, the plot spiraled into absurdity.

While there are plenty of dated cultural references to cringe at/ignore (it was written in the '60s, after all), much of the hatred, ignorance, and intolerance remains disturbingly relevant. I also enjoyed solving the mystery on my own since I'm a little tired of some popular psychological suspense.

A good mystery that nearly escapes the genre to be a good novel. I like the rise in international mysteries and the light exposure to other countries and cultures, and look forward to the next in the series.

This was good (it will make you want to read/reread Doctor Zhivago) but I think it could have been really good with more careful character development. Or, perhaps not every character needed a POV chapter (I could have lived without hearing from Teddy).

Fun, fabulous, and well crafted