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Friday, April 18, 2014

37) A Deadly Grind by Victoria Hamilton

The Blurb :


A Hoosier to die for?

When vintage cookware and cookbook collector Jaymie Leighton spies an original 1920s Hoosier brand kitchen cabinet at an estate auction, it’s love at first sight. Despite the protests of her sister that the 19th-century yellow-brick house they share in Michigan is already too cluttered with Jaymie’s “junk,” she successfully outbids the other buyers and triumphantly takes home her Hoosier.

But that night on the summer porch where they’ve left the Hoosier to be cleaned up, a man is murdered, struck on the head with the steel meat grinder that is part of the cabinet. Who is this stranger—and what was he doing on their porch? Does his death have anything to do with the Hoosier?

As the police struggle to determine the man’s identity, Jaymie can’t help doing a little digging on her own, accompanied by her three-legged Yorkie Poo, Hopalong. But in her bid to uncover the truth about the hidden secrets of the Hoosier, Jaymie may be the one who ends up going, going…gone.

My Thoughts :

On my cozy mystery binge I decided to finally start this series.  I actually have book number three on my Kindle to review.  It has been there for a while but I didn't know when I accepted the book that it wasn't the first in the series (don't you just hate it when that happens?).  So now I am trying to get hold of the previous books so I can read and review the third installment.  I don't like reading books out of order.

I have already read another book by Victoria Hamilton so I knew she wasn't a cozy mystery newbie.  However I think this book was her first cozy mystery because I have to say it felt like it.  There were little signs of first time clue grabbing and trying to make the plot more complicated that it should be.  I enjoyed the book a lot but there were times when I felt myself speed reading through some of the 'boring' parts.

The theme was interesting enough.  I found myself looking up 'Hoosier' within a couple of chapters because I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about.  I have to admit I wouldn't mind having one myself and quite like the idea of one of these vintage items standing in my kitchen.  It actually made me wonder where the author takes this series in the upcoming books because I don't know what other vintage kitchen items could be mixed up murder mysteries.

As for the characters, they were nice enough.  I don't feel like I really got the chance to get to know anyone else very well other than Jaymie and I found it extremely hard to remember that she was a lot younger than she kept behaving/sounding.  There is a lot of potential regular characters that I think could turn out to be very likable and interesting.  I think the next couple of books will have to build up the other cast to make this series more readable.

All in all this wasn't bad and I am looking forward to part two.  The location, history and details were a nice touch and it was obvious that the author put a lot of thought into making it all believable and real. Hopefully I will get to book two as soon as possible so I can move on to the third installment and finally review the book.  I love a good cozy and I think I have found another one to add to the ever growing list of ones I enjoy reading.




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1 comment:

Aurian said...

Glad you enjoyed this one Amber, I have read this series, and her first Muffin book, and I liked them. They are not great but good, but perhaps in time they will be.