[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
When Arlo and the book club laides helped solve the murder of author, Wally Harrison, Arlo assumed that was the first and LAST of their sleuthing. And of Wally. But the Books and More shop’s book club wasn’t done with Wally quite yet. They were reading Wally’s best seller, Missing Girl. And they are convinced he based his book on a 50 year old cold case – the disappearance of Mary Kennedy from right there in Sugar Springs.
Mary was last seen at Lillyfield, an historic mansion in town. As Arlo has to go out there to pick up a book donation for the store, the book club ladies insist on going, too, to snoop. None of them expected to witness the death of a young woman who had such a bright future ahead of her. Now the seniors want to help solve this new murder as well as the cold case. Arlo would rather leave the detecting to actual detectives, but the book club ladies are a force to be reckoned with!
Review
This is book 2 in the Main Street Book Club Mystery series after Can’t Judge a Book by Its Murder. Sadly, I did not enjoy this one as much as I did the first. For the longest time, nothing seemed to happen. The first third or more of the book felt like it just kept rehashing opinions on whether or not the book was about Mary Kennedy and what the book club ladies knew – or suspected or guessed – about the case. They did their “sleuthing” at the hairdresser’s, off page, gathering gossip. There was no movement or progress made for the longest time. I was disappointed. Then, when the new murder happened, it didn’t feel like it made much difference; it was just sort of “there” until the end.
The book club ladies were a LOT to take in this one. They have no self-control; they don’t listen to anyone who gives them a boundary or a suggestion for their own safety. Also, they have no regard for law enforcement, private property, etc. Only for their own whims. Some of that comes with the territory in a cozy with amateur sleuths, but this felt over the top for me. I also felt like Arlo was an ineffectual parent trying to corral a group of willful three year olds. She went along with things because she felt powerless to do anything else. She seemed to be there mostly for crowd control – without much control – rather than for sleuthing or digging into a mystery.
In the second half, the mystery started to pull together. And I enjoyed the romance thread for one of the book club ladies, but otherwise I didn’t click with the characters or the love triangle for Arlo. The ending of the mystery was satisfying, but the road to get there was frustrating. I don’t know that I will move forward with this series.
Readers who get a kick out of these feisty octogenarians should definitely pick this one up. The ladies are in rare form in this book. They were just too much for me. (Includes some dated references about homosexuality including a slur from the older characters that Arlo doesn’t address. This is keeping with her resignation that these ladies are going to do and say what they want no matter what she does, but it might offend some readers.)
Rating: ♥♥½*
*♥♥½ = Mostly solid to solid, some issues but overall okay