Middle Sister's Mid-Month Review

Last Wool and Testament by Peggy Ehrhart This has been one series I always returned to fondly, largely because it's set in a New Jersey town like the one I grew up in. The main character, Pamela Peterson, is almost too perfect, although I find her hands-off relationship with her own daughter a little weird. She never asks Penny about her date, or her plans; their relationship seems quite unaffectionate and distant. Pamerla's house sounds lovely, and she has an envious job. Her best friend and next door neighbor, Bettina Fraser, is overall a relatable character, and her husband Wilfred is a delight. I wish we saw more of him in the stories, and a little less of the overbearing Bettina we have in this story. If my best friend was as pushy about my dating life as Bettina is with Pamela, I'd tell her to back off.

But the author has a few peccadilloes that are usually annoying but bearable. This time, however, those peccadillos are downright irritating. Before I go into details, a summary. I absolutely loved how the book began, with the murder already having taken place, an unusual plot device that worked well. How many times can our amateur detective find a body? And as amateurs, it gets difficult trying to find new ways to get them involved so they can solve the mystery. However, I found the involvement of Pamela and Bettina In this mystery just too contrived this time. It felt forced and didn't ring true. Coco's instant reliance on Bettina and Pamela as her best confidants just felt weird. The coincidence of Ingrid's planner being right there for Pamela to see was also a bit contrived and it's never addressed in the ending. A simple sentence that Ingrid must have taken the planner out when talking to Nestor would have sufficed, but as it read, it was just odd that a 1985 planner was the only planner in Ingrid's house. And honestly, would anyone really tell strangers that they could just take whatever they wanted from her dead mother's house? They didn't even know her mother. 

The murderer and the reason why the murder took place were easy to figure out early on in the book, but I usually enjoy visiting Arborville, so I continued reading. And that's when the author's reliance on repetition really started bothering me. In past books, she has overused phrases like "wedding china cup" or "Pamela's serviceable compact car" far too many times throughout the story. This time, the same sentence and situation that are used over and over and over is Pamela looking through the lace curtain on the oval window of her front door to see Bettina's crimson hair. That same situation with almost the exact same wording must appear about half a dozen times in the book. Why not try "Pamela opened the door to see Bettina waiting impatiently" or "Pamela lightly ran downstairs to answer the door. Bettina sailed into the house carrying a pastry box high like a prize," or something, anything, else. 

But the reason I have to pan the book is because the author spent 6.5 pages describing exactly how Pamela made her dessert for the Knit and Nibble night she hosted at her house. Six and a half pages! This is not a cookbook, it's supposed to be a murder mystery. Literally every step was described in excruciating and needless detail. I could not believe that this scene went on as long as it did. Where was the editor? I recommended this series to someone last month as a comfort read, and if they pick up this latest book to read, they will probably never ask me for a book recommendation again. 

There were other things that irritated: Roland has become distinctly unlikeable, and you'd never get me over for knit night no matter how scrumptious the desert Wilfred made if he's coming. And for the first time, other family members are mentioned offhandedly, and with just one sentence. Pamela reads an email from her mother; we didn't even know she had a mother who was still living, and then a sister is mentioned. With Penny moving to grad school near where Pamela grew up out of state, the author is clearly setting up the next book to take place there, with secondary characters to replace Bettina, Wilfred, and the knitters. But it was a surprise to see those characters mentioned in just one sentence each, with no previous mentions in earlier books. Pamela has always been a lone person, and for me, that's been a little bit of her appeal. 

I'll read the next book in the series, I'm sure, but the publisher really needs to get an editor involved. And Roland needs to lighten up. (Net Galley)

Middle Sister's July Reads

July begins my first month of unemployment. So while I desperately try to find a new job, I am trying to tackle some housekeeping. In order to remain sane, I'm reading, but mostly comfort reads to help me de-stress. 

Simple Designs for Meditative Knitting by Barbara Breen There have been several mindfulness knitting books published over the years; it seems anew one is published every four years or so. Simple Designs for Meditative Knitting is the latest such book, and like the other, it's well designed to help novice knitters and experienced knitters alike. For many knitters, the online world is full of people who shout proudly that they read and knit at the same time, or knit movie theaters, or at concerts--the list is endless. This might be off-putting to a novice knitter who has to pay attention to their needles so they don't get lost. Ms. Breen reminds them, and experienced crafters, that the meditative qualities such mindfulness produces are worthy goals in and of themselves. She presents several basic patterns for contemplative knitting. Nicely produced, with a variety of projects. (Net Galley)

Midwinter Murders by Agatha Christie There is no greater comfort read than Agatha Christie for me. I have loved mysteries since I was a child. I remember borrowing from my aunt's collection of Agatha Christies at her summer bungalow when I was just ten or eleven. And since mid-July temperatures are now well into the 110s F here in the desert, I read mysteries set in the winter. This short story collection features Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Parker Pyne. It's the perfect summer or winter read for a mystery lover.  

O Deadly Night (A Year-Round Christmas Mystery) by Vicky Delaney Vicki Delaney is one of my favorite  contemporary cosy mystery authors. Her main characters are relatable and real, people you'd want to be friends with in real life. They have jobs they have to do--they can't just go off detecting. They had quirky relatives or friends. I worried that this Christmas-themed series would be too cutesy for me and for it to last, but I'm delighted to say that after reading three of them, Ms. Delaney is doing a great job of keeping an unusual premise going realistically. In this soon-to be-published book, Merry is juggling getting her shop's holiday float ready for the Rudolph town parade and gearing up for the December retail extravaganza when she makes the majority of her sales, so when her landlady, the quirky Mrs. D'Angelo, starts pestering her about mysterious goings on at the house across the street, Merry is too overwhelmed to pay much attention. Until Mrs. D'Angelo disappears. I loved this premise--Merry reacts as any one of us would to the situation, with a little guilt and determination. We find out a little bit more about how Merry's father, the Mayor, helped revitalize a dying town by turning it into a Christmas destination that celebrates all year. Because we see more of Mrs. D'Angelo in this entry, we see less of Allen, Marry's boyfriend, but he and the other regular secondary characters appear, add drama (the store scene brought to mind retail incidents from my own past as a store clerk; yes, they do happen!), add spice, and generally make this an enjoyable series. O Deadly Night will be published in October 2025, and will be a great diversion for mystery lovers who need a little escape from the holiday craziness. (Net Galley)

One Final Turn (An Electra McDonnell Mystery) by Ashley Weaver It's become quite fashionable for series to end nowadays, rather than just go on and on and on, with authors tiring of their main characters, slipping in their attention to details and probably becoming uninterested in the stories and people they created but have been living with for year. This is the gift Electra McDonnell World War II mystery, but it was the first I read in the series. Electra's cousin Toby, working with the resistance, has disappeared in Europe, and she and Ramsey go to Portugal to see if they can find his trail on one of the escape routes from Nazi-controlled territory. This final entry has to finish two competing story lines: whether Toby is alive, and if he is, can he be rescued, and the relationship between Ramsey and Electra, apparently over at the end of the previous book, still has embers threatening to reignite. I will admit this was not a favorite of mine. There was a lot more romance than I care for in my mysteries (a personal preference, of course), but more importantly, our spies are probably the worst spies ever. They talk about plans in lobbies full of people, they draw attention to themselves when setting out on midnight reconnaissance missions by walking through the lobby--it all reads as very amateurish. If you've been reading the series all along, this book provides a satisfactory end to Electra's story. If you haven't been reading this series, I can't recommend you start based on this book. (Net Galley)