Devi Nair
Disclaimer - my first book of this series was the 20th one. So coming from there to the first book felt like I was shown the future and now I have to build my present towards it. Not sure if I am making any sense here but that is how I felt after reading this book.
Melanie and Davey are so young and un-worldly in this book. They are just being introduced to the world of dogs and their competitions. Melanie is slowly learning from Peg about all the nuances of the competition while simultaneously solving the murder of her uncle, Max, Peg's husband. Although she is actually searching for the missing Poodle Beau, the story effectively is about that murder.
Normally after reading so much ahead of the series, when you come back to the debut of the author, you tend to expect some mistakes, some lapses in writing - something to blame. But Laurien has shown a steady hand right from the first book. The effortless flow of the experienced 20th book is not something which has gradually come. She has been effortless right from book 1. There was not a single attention lapse throughout the book. It is truly had to believe that this is a debut novel of hers - it seems so perfect.
I am so glad my library has her entire series. I am going to devour them all. Laurien Berenson - a huge fan of hers now!!
Dogs!! Who doesn't love them? And anyone who doesn't love dogs must have a mean bone in their body.
This book just proves that. Or maybe the author and I share the same feeling and the murderer just happened to fall in the same category. Whatever be the expression, reading this mystery felt very much like being cuddled by a ton of puppies all at once. It was a total cozy feeling with the detailed description of all the dogs, the very obvious author's love for dogs of all kinds and a very juicy mystery smacked right in the middle of all the mayhem.
This has been my first book in the Melanie Travis series, and I shall definitely try to go back and read the other series in the book. Nothing can surpass the love of dogs. Hands down!!
After reading the 11th Fortune mystery, I seriously think Godzilla should be the protagonist in the next book. He is more hilarious than Gertie, Ida Belle and Fortune. Only he managed to actually twist Celia's knickers.
Having said that, this one was the most intense book all through the series so far. With Ahmad being the core in the story line, every sentence, every chapter was an increase in heart beat. Towards the end, the writing style also turned such as to give a real life feel to the story. The story literally came to an end in flash of a moment just like it would in real life. The adrenaline rush while Carter was being aimed was too intense and downright scary. This book had a bigger role for Big and Little, and the respect for them increased ten fold with this development.
Francine's smaller mystery was the only breathe throughout the book, with all those funny droppings of clues and hints.
However, from the next book, we can expect a whole lot of changes in the equation Fortune has with all those around her. Sandy Sue character might just be replaced and it would be interesting to see how Fortune would “come out of the closet” with this series.
Totally looking forward to the next book in the series. If anyone has any idea when it would be released, please comment and let me know.
Stories with paranormal mysteries are really interesting to read. More so when there is a ghost involved. But this one is downright hilarious with the protagonist being a ghost-human who was a very mean person when alive. Martha and her conversation with the Satan is a unique idea and singular experience to read it through the story.
The story and writing is engaging. I found some typing errors which were slightly annoying while reading. If proper proof reading would be done, then I would recommend this to everyone who likes paranormal mysteries.
I shall start with the obvious - it is a very short read. It must have took me about 30 minutes or less to finish the book. And it was definitely an interesting read. Marlow and Sage are very interesting characters with some history about themselves (not each other).
Having said that, there is so much that is left unexplored in this book. After having read the story, it gives a feel that you have read a mystery novel but the background or the story building was left completely untouched. The story directly introduces us to our two main characters, Marlow and Sage, and puts them both straight into an adventure. In about 4 to 5 chapters, the adventure comes to an end and in about a couple of paragraphs, the story comes to an end. There is so much that is left un-said and so many questions left unanswered.
Therefore, this book should definitely not be the one to start with. This is supposed to be an in-between book betweek Book 1 and Book 2. Only reading this book would only leave you completely clueless and lost on the intention of the story.
However, in spite of being completely lost, the story in itself was wonderfully written and the flow was pretty smooth. It is definitely the work of an amazing writer. This is my first book of Lee Strauss and shall definitely not be the last one. Kudos, Lee. Keep writing.
The story took a lot of time to develop. Jaclyn is a kind of girl who can be easily disliked by anyone. She is arrogant, blunt, rude and everything else that a model is expected to be. But still Logan and Morgan put up with her and Logan should go to heaven just for that. For about 3/4th of the story goes with this feeling in mind while reading. It is only towards the end that a lot of things change and the book ends of a feel-good note.
The story is well written and the characters are given proper development and enough word-space. Even side characters like Jaclyn's boyfriend, Morgan's boyfriend and some other supporting ghosts are not only given page-space but also proper character development. It is very easy to imagine all the characters in vivid detail while reading the story.
The overall feel of the story is average. Because of the unnaturally slow start, there are parts in the book where the need to skip some pages get very tempting. Because of that and the story pace, it takes a lot of time to finish reading the book, although the story in itself is very short. The ending felt a like the allocated word count was getting over and so, all the loose ends are quickly tied up.
Instead of providing a lot of back story to everything in a lot of detail, the story could have been more evenly paced and distributed. 3.5 stars for the story
This is one of those very few Victorian set up suspense story which engages the reader and gives a beautiful pictorial representation of the set up. The story is not a mystery as the mystery writer's identity is given out in the initial few chapters itself.
However, the story delves more on how the lives of all the people in a village are interlinked and how one person's activity can affect and completely the change the lives of their fellow villagers. The human interactions and emotions are intrinsically woven into a beautiful interconnected web. Every tug of a thread in the web disrupts and creates a wave which can make or break the web.
Anthea has created a delicate masterpiece with this story. The way a person thinks in perspective to self and their surrounding gives a delightful insight to the working of small pocket villages where everyone knows everyone and their relatives. How people manipulate their circumstances to create a favorable image of themselves in the society and how far are they willing to go to maintain this image is the crux of the story. It is truly a master writing and a delightful read. Nothing short of 5 stars
This is one of those very few Sherlock Holmes books that gives the feel like that of the original series. The writing, story set up, Sherlock and Watson, the language - everything reflected Sir Doyle's style. The story was full bodied and rich with enough humor and class to enjoy the Sherlockian once again.
One particular thing I have noticed in many Sherlock re-writers is that phrases like “Elementary, my dear Watson!” and “The game's afoot” are very frequently used, as is the case in this book. However, I am sure it is common knowledge that Sir Doyle himself never used those phrases in the entire series even once. These phrases were brought about by others beside him and all the writers after him have taken it upon themselves to make it a point to include those phrases.
Well, this point does not disrupt the story, though. This is a must read for all those who like a good, clean Sherlock mystery. An absolute delight.
Love Doodle and his antics. But this time, with him being dog-nabbed, I really was worried with every passing chapter...
This was the most tensed book in the series so far. I never ever want to read about Doodle being snatched away from his family ever again. He is far too lovely to be away from Molly and Josh Hunter
Any book which gives a story from a dog's perspective is always wonderful to read. But Susan really gave an experience very different from other such books. While reading Bed-bugged, I really started relating these thoughts which Doodle had to any dogs I had met - “Do they also think like this?”, “What must they have thought about me?”
A wonderful who-dunnit with enough humour to keep the reader engaged. Amazing story.
Unlike Meluha series, this series has a lot of repetition. Part I and part II has several parts which are repeated and therefore, feels the book is being stretched. Meluha series kept the readers interested in the story. With this series, it is difficult to keep up in all the places. I felt myself rushing through many pages to go ahead.
The concept of adapting to change is explained in a very simple manner in this book. Here, change is symbolized by cheese and there are four characters who are subjected to the change of the location of cheese. Sniff, Scurry, Haw and Hem represents 4 different types of people who handle change in 4 different manners.
While reading the book, it is very easy to identify yourself with any one, or at times, even two of the characters. The way these characters progress through the movement of cheese through the maze and how it gives them their results indicate how our life would move when we are behaving like those characters.
It is not only inspirational, it is also an eye opener to various concepts which can be used not only in our professional lives but also in our personal lives.
I would recommend this book to everyone who can spare 30 minutes of their lives to this book. It is bound to leave a very long lasting impression in your mind and might just change the way you look at change in particular, and life in general.
Original Review can be found on my Review Blog Views She Writes
Before I started the book, I went through some of the reviews in GoodReads. They were mixed ones with some negative current underlying. But having liked the blurb of the book, I thought of going ahead with it anyway. And that happened to be a wonderful choice for me.
There is nothing not to love in this book. Miranda Steele is a very believable character. The things that she has gone through in her past has only motivated her to get stronger and bolder in her attitude towards life. The “Steele” she has in her is only further enforced by her incessant liking for very hot peppers. She gets the break of her life by getting noticed by Wade Parker, who is a PI. The attraction between them is natural and goes well with the story.
The story is wholly focused on Miranda, with Wade getting some POVs in between. The central female character gives the story a better feel. The male character is also written in such a way as to give enough importance to him but not having him overshadow Miranda. This gives a very woman-centric theme to the book, which makes it enthralling.
The actual murder on which the mystery is based is also nicely scripted, although at times I felt the author wants the readers to figure out the killer way before the final reveal. I could guess the killer about 60% into the book and was proved right at the end, albeit in a very surprising way.
Linsay is a wonderful writer. She added enough witty comments in the book to make the reader literally laugh out loud in certain situations, thereby ensuring the story does not turn boring or monotonous. Her style of writing ensures that you cannot keep the book down till you reach the very end. I am looking forward to more wonderful cases with Miranda and Wade. They make a wonderful couple and are in perfect sync to solve mysteries.