Tuesday, April 6, 2021

A fun cozy mystery...

 
Title & Author:  Mayhem at the Orient Express by Kylie Logan

Setting: South Bass Island (a small island twelve miles off the southern shore of Lake Erie)

First lines: If it weren't for Jerry Garcia peeing on my pansies, I never would have joined the League of Literary Ladies. No, not that Jerry Garcia! Jerry Garcia, Chandra Morrisey's cat.

The plot in brief:  Bea Cartwright and her two bickering neighbors, Kate and Chandra, can't seem to get along. Fed up with their arguing, the island's court magistrate sentences all three of them to join the library's book discussion group for one year. They reluctantly choose Murder on the Orient Express as their first book. When the owner of Orient Express, their favorite restaurant on the island, is murdered, they decide to emulate Hercule Poirot and investigate. Before they get very far, a sudden snowstorm knocks out power across the island, stranding everyone on the island, including the murderer. And all the main suspects are staying right there at Bea's bed and breakfast. 

My thoughts:  The humor, the combination of quirky island characters, and that snowy island setting are what I enjoyed most about this cozy mystery. Bea, Kate, Chandra, and Luella, the fourth member of their book club, aren't the best of investigators, but they did make me smile. And I liked the references to Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express and the unexpected twist at the end of the book. I actually don't read a lot of cozies, but I thought this one was a lot of fun.

Happy Reading!

35 comments:

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    1. I might even give the second one a try. :)

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  2. Cozies are more my style. This does sound fun.

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    1. It's well-written and humorous and the characters are fun.

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  3. This sounds fun. Would be a perfect back-to-back read with the Christie book!

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  4. Oh this sounds really fun! I love the island setting (bonus for being a great Lakes settings) and the Christie references sound great! :)

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  5. Aw, man...I was really hoping it was THAT Jerry Garcia. LOL

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  6. This sounds like a lot of fun! I loved Murder on the Orient Express so I like that's it's featured as a plot point.

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    1. I liked that, too! It's one of the reasons I checked this one out in the first place. :)

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  7. What a great opener, lol! This sounds like so much fun. It's been too long since I've read a cozy. I'm adding this one to my wishlist. :D

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    1. This was a fun one. It certainly made me smile.

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  8. I loved Murder on the Orient Express too and if I have a complaint about books centering around a book club its that they often never get around to discussing books but since this novel is devoted to one book my guess is they discuss it alot.

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    1. They do refer to it a lot, though never as a sit down official book club meeting. :)

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  9. This does sounds like great fun! I must warn others in my town of the dangers of not getting along. The local judge is a friend and might be persuaded to sentence offenders in a similar manner.

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    1. :D Being sentenced to join a book club isn't the worst punishment in the world.

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  10. Lark, this sounds like such a fun read. I LOVE cozy mysteries, so this is right up my alley. Thanks so much for sharing about it :)

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  11. This definitely sounds like a fun read. And I like it that there's an Agatha Christie vibe and not to mention the locked room mystery.

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    1. I think you would like this one, Melody, if you're ever in the mood for a cozy mystery. :)

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  12. This is a fun one. I like Kylie Logan's books, as you well know :)

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  13. I love that first line! LOL I am definitely going to read this. I love cozies so much.

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    1. Then you will definitely like this one. :D

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  15. I am not a big cozy mystery fan but this one sounds like fun! Not to mention the unusual setting.

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    1. I don't read a lot of cozies either, but I enjoyed this one. Probably for that island setting! And those quirky characters. :)

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  16. This sounds like such a fun read. I don't read cozies too often but this sounds like one I need to keep in mind for the next time I'm in the mood for one.

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    1. The writing and the characters elevate it. :)

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  17. I need to get back to this series! You reminded me how cute it was!

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