Well, it's technically not mid-month, but we're not going to split hairs here.
Sweet Tea and Secrets by Joy Avon Regular Gentle Readers of this blog know that I like to do theme reads and holiday reads periodically. I couldn't find a Memorial Day mystery, but I did find a new July 4th-centered mystery. It had a dog on the cover, and it was located in a book-themed tea room in Maine. I love dogs (see blog title)! I love tea (see blog title)! I've been wanting to visit Maine for years!
Well, it was a light read, and that's probably the best thing I can say about it. This is the second Callie Aspen mystery, and while there were references to her first visit to Heart's Harbor (could there be a worse town name than Heart's Harbor? The saccharine level is sky high.), I don't think it's necessary to have read the first to begin the series with this entry. So I give the author props for that; it's very annoying when there are so many references to the first in a series that the second makes no sense.
I found the book disappointing on several levels. The immediacy of some of the relationships (the handyman works on your house for an afternoon and is able to establish a rapport with your kids after 20 minutes of soccer such that you'll let him toss them in the air while playing alone with them? And then you say your kids "love him?"), the basic plot device that people would remember such minute details from a local event 30 years ago in which most of them had little involvement (and that a hotel would have registration information from 30 years ago readily available), and the unprofessionalism of the policeman/hero (he tells Callie to go ask the chief suspect to provide DNA because he can't leave the scene of a boat wreck--despite other officers being there; and then asks her to tell said suspect the DNA results because "I don't want to tell him myself as our relationship hasn't exactly been...friendly." Are you kidding me? That's your job, you idiot!) made the mystery of what happened to Monica Walker (which I figured out by Chapter 4) annoying as well as dull. And by the way, Ace, that final gesture to Callie? Much more suited to a housewarming party and not a fireworks display.
No great thought has to go into reading this book which, I guess, makes it perfect summer fare. The answer to the mystery is easily deduced by even a casual mystery reader, so aficionados who like complicated puzzles should steer clear. An uninspired mystery, juvenile relationships, and clear disregard for the intelligence of any reader who has ever read a mystery or watched a police drama means I can't really recommend this book unless the reader deliberately wants something they do not have to focus on, or lives in Maine and must read every book ever written that takes place there. As much as I dislike giving poor grades, I'd rate it a D. (NetGalley)
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