Middle Sister's Mid-Month Review

There's No Murder Like Show Murder by M. S. Greene. ARC to be published this summer. Tasha Weaver is the manager of the costume department in the Eastbrook Playhouse in Connecticut. Since her mother died when she was a teenager, the playhouse, her coworkers, and the magic of the theater have been the center of her life. The playhouse's next production is Annie Get Your Gun, and Broadway star (although it's waning) Kurt Mozer is on board to play Frank Butler opposite rising star Olivia Grace. But suddenly, Kurt decides to back out of the show, jeopardizing the financial health of the playhouse and possibly setting it up to be closed permanently. Tasha manages to convince Kurt to not leave the show in a lurch, but moments later, Kurt is killed. But by whom? The police are zeroing in on one member of playhouse staff, but Tasha has her doubts as to their guilt. She decides to investigate to prove his innocence, and almost gets murdered herself in the process. The story is pretty goody although the focus on Tasha's stunted emotional growth was a little overdone; to me anyway, and I 'fess up that I'm all about the mystery and less about character development than most readers. I really dislike it when the amateur detective thinks they know better than the detective, and Tasha definitely falls into this category, despite not having ever had any interaction with the police before. I really dislike this ploy to get the character involved in the mystery; it just reads as lazy writing to me. The author provides an interesting backstage look at live theater which I enjoyed, as I did Tasha's interactions with her costume department colleagues. Overall, I'd grade this a slightly better than average debut novel. Although I figured out who had done it early on, I enjoyed most of the characters, the pace is perfect (not too fast and not too slow), and the setting was both unusual and interesting. This is a good vacation book, and I'll probably read the next in the series despite my minor quibbles. (Net Galley)

Middle Sister's January Reads

I thought for sure I'd read more in January than just two books, because I sprained my knee and was laid up for a week. I think in my pain-induced fog, I posted January reads in the December post, lol. I did listen to a lot of podcasts while laid up. Bad reader!

Irish Knit Murder by Peggy Ehrhart St. Patrick's Day is a popular holiday in New Jersey, and Pamela and some of her friends are attending a St. Patrick's Day luncheon at the senior center. The post-luncheon entertainment is Isobel Lister singing a selection of Irish tunes. But just moments later, she's found dead in her dressing room. Bettina Fraser, local newspaper reporter and Pamela's best friend and neighbor, is on the scene, and she and Pamela start investigating. There's always a lot of food in Knit and Nibble books: Pamela often eats at Bettina and Wilfred's and the Knit and Nibble crew have sweet nibbles on their knit nights. The repast food and dinner at an expensive French restaurant provide additional events for Ms. Ehrhart to describe in detail the foodstuffs, but she occasionally goes way overboard; e.g. the lengthy description of how to eat an oyster, and while we're talking g about food, why the heck did Pamela not immediately refrigerate the fish and beef she bought at the Co-op? I though for sure that there was going to be a food poisoning plot line. But despite the coziness of our regular Knit and Nibble friends, the yummy food, and the accurate description of spring weather in New Jersey, this entry in the series left me a little cold. The mystery itself was fine, but the execution was not up to previous books in the series. I'm not sure if the author was distracted by something, but there are certain phrases that reappeared so frequently I started taking note, e.g.,, Pamela's "serviceable compact car." Pamela is far too unimaginative a character (and I don't mean any insult by that) too be intrigued by tarot cards and to submit to a reading; that's just too out of character for the classic, elegant Pamela we have gotten to know. I also found the subplot of a potential romantic triangle for Pamela both welcome and yet unsettling. Welcome because I love reading about an almost 50-year-old woman finding romance,  and I want Pamela to find nice man, but unsettling because we're never certain Pete is divorced, and Pamela would never date a married man, even if he was separated from his wife. Pete Paterson is just too good to be true, even if married--fabulously wealthy but working as a humble handyman. Not believable at all. Some of Pamela's initial musings on motives are so flimsy they do not read as something anyone would take seriously, much less someone who has solved several murders by now. Overall, a weak entry in the series, but I always enjoy the Knit and Nibblers because I wish I knew a group like them and wish I'd lived in a place like Arborville when I lived in New Jersey. (Net Galley)

The Case of the Cryptic Crinoline by Nancy Springer After reading in late December that the State of Florida had banned over 1600 books, including the English dictionary, because of 'objectionable content," I decided to read a banned book a month in 2024. A number of the banned books are children's books, and I wanted to see what they found objectionable. I'd borrowed an Enola Holmes mystery from my local library but never read it, so I decided that since several on the list, I'd pick one that was an award winner or nomination. Enola Holmes books are written for a girls aged about 11 or 12 to 14 or 15, and I would have loved them at that age. Enola is spunky, and like a lot of children's book heroes, she's on her own tackling the world. I guess the objections were that she doesn't want to be a traditional female, that she's run away from her older brothers who want her to go to boarding school and become a traditional wife and mother, that her mother has disappeared and no one knows where she is. Or were the first few paragraphs, that described the accurate and documented filth and horrific conditions at Scutari during the Crimean War, too much of an indictment against war and war profiteers? I have no idea what they deemed objectionable nor could I find that information online anywhere. But it's a great book and I recommend it. This 58-year-old enjoyed it very much.