It’s the same old story. A cozy mystery seems to always be either abysmal or really good, with very few landing in the middle. The bad seem to outnumber the good – but the good ones are so enjoyable that I keep trying. And this one was one that made me glad I keep trying.
The author can turn a phrase like a prima ballerina’s pirouette. (I have my doubts about THAT phrase, but time’s a-wastin’.) “…The gossip wire in Eastport worked so fast and accurately that if you got a bee sting at one end of the island, minutes later
somebody was getting a pair of tweezers and some baking soda out for you at the other.” (Also – baking soda on a splinter? Interesting.) “…You could have run your tongue over any surface in the place and it would come up tasting like rainbows.” And two on the woes of telephony in the modern age: “Now any fool can start a phone company and provide the kind of high-class personal communication service once offered only by two tin cans and a length of string.” Followed by “When I tried calling back, I got the kind of fast busy signal that can only mean one of the tin cans has fallen off the string.” If deft writing is all there is in a book, that still makes it miles better than a lot of the stuff I’ve tried to read.
But the characters are wonderfully drawn too. This alone would put me on our heroine Jake’s side forever:
“You hit that dog,” I yelled, shaking Wade’s hand off my shoulder, “and I’ll break every damned bone in your stupid—”
I was so mad, I’d have grabbed that damned gun and threaded our attacker onto its barrel the long way, if I could …
Atta girl.
Also, the story is fun to read and holds interest as the plot unspools merrily. AND there’s a recipe. Best yet? Sarah Graves is pretty prolific. There’s lots of fun to look forward to.
The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.
Stewartry 