25) Shards of Murder of Cheryl Hollon

The Blurb :

When a glass-making competition turns deadly, glass shop owner Savannah Webb must search for a window into a criminal's mind…

As the new proprietor of Webb's Glass Shop, Savannah has been appointed to fill her late father's shoes as a judge for the Spinnaker Arts Festival, held in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. With her innovative glass works, the clear winner is Megan Loyola, a student of Savannah's former mentor.

But when Megan doesn't show up to accept her $25,000 award, rumors start flying. And when Savannah discovers the woman's dead body on festival grounds, the police immediately suspect her of murder. To keep from appearing before a judge herself, Savannah sorts through the broken pieces of glass scattered around the victim for clues as to who took this killer competition too far…

My Thoughts :

I enjoyed the debut book in this series, Pane and Suffering, and was excited to get a hold of this second installment, Shards of Murder.  However I felt this newest book in the series wasn't as exciting and interesting as the first.  Or at least I remember being more impressed by the series the first time around.

At least one chapter was spent on Savannah training her dog and long explanations of glass techniques took up pages of space.  Now the concept and theme is the glass angle but this time around it just didn't feel as interesting as the first time around.  Also the one chapter from the Detective's perspective was nice but it was just a one time thing.  I found this a little peculiar and was always waiting for more.

The characters are nice enough and the author has definitely tried hard to make them all different and have a lot of variety.  Although some people may find she has tried too hard.  The location comes across as a small arty town but I constantly feel like it is bigger.  I am confused about how it should look and always get a surprised when I realise this is supposed to be based Florida.  The author just isn't convincing me.

As plots go, this was pretty poor.  The murder mystery was slightly boring and uninteresting.  I figured out who it was straight away but just didn't know why.  Actually the whole reveal was over so quickly you could have missed it if you blinked.  The motive a last minute paragraph not long before the book ended.  It was all quite anti-climatic and easy.

I am not sure if I will visit this series again.  If I see a third installment I may check it out but there are many other good cozies out there and I need more reading time for them.  I may be tempted...you never know.  This could be a nice series but there seems to be a few kinks to work out here and there.

99) Pane and Suffering by Cheryl Hollon

The Blurb :

To solve her father's murder and save the family-owned glass shop, Savannah Webb must shatter a killer's carefully constructed façade. . .
After Savannah's father dies unexpectedly of a heart attack, she drops everything to return home to St. Petersburg, Florida, to settle his affairs--including the fate of the beloved, family-owned glass shop. Savannah intends to hand over ownership to her father's trusted assistant and fellow glass expert, Hugh Trevor, but soon discovers the master craftsman also dead of an apparent heart attack.

As if the coincidence of the two deaths wasn't suspicious enough, Savannah discovers a note her father left for her in his shop, warning her that she is in danger. With the local police unconvinced, it's up to Savannah to piece together the encoded clues left behind by her father. And when her father's apprentice is accused of the murders, Savannah is more desperate than ever to crack the case before the killer seizes a window of opportunity to cut her out of the picture. . .

My Thoughts :

I have been trying desperately to stay away from debuts.  I have so much to read and taking on a new series is really not helping the upward struggle of my really high to be read mountain.  However there are just some books that catch your eye.  Pane and Suffering was one of those books.  Maybe I should try and stay away from Netgalley so I won't be tempted by the pretty covers that lead to interesting blurbs that lead to requesting books to review!

Anyway, Pane and Suffering looked promising and I decided to give it a chance.  There were a few aspects that made me click that 'review' button.  First were the references to Florida and Seattle.  I have read some pretty good books based in Florida and I have been to Seattle so my mind did a little dance.  Secondly the glass aspect was something new.  It is a pretty and different craft that I know very little about and reading all these cozies is a learning experience.  Thirdly the codes sounded like fun.  Not just your everyday normal mystery but something with a little more depth.

My reasons for picking up the book weren't the best reasons but they were ones that had me trying this new series.  The location didn't feel like Florida at any time in the book I often forgot about it.  Seattle was mentioned more than Florida but then again story was based in Florida.  The glass aspect was interesting but I don't think I learnt very much from this book.  The author did go into some depth about the process but I had no idea what it all really meant.  A glossary of some of the terms could be found at the end of the book but it was too little too late.  The codes were also very interesting and a very important part of the plot but it wasn't too impressive.

I liked Savannah and the other characters in the book and loved the idea of the glass shop and classes being taught.  The British style pub next door and the community feeling was nice and I hope the author expands on this in future books.  However on many aspects I think the author was trying too hard.  The Glass, the codes, teas, beers, geocaching etc there was just too much going on.  It felt a little like she was trying to show off....or at least Savannah was trying to show off.  It was all too much too soon.

The police side of the investigation was frustrating and I wonder why the author felt she had to have such a weird storyline to make things so slow.  It was annoying for Savannah and for the reader.  Also annoying was the 'will she or won't she stay' when it was pretty obvious from the first page that she was staying.  Otherwise this wouldn't have been the first in a new series about the Webb Glass Shop.  That mystery was solved easily.  The murder mystery wasn't and it kept you guessing till the codes were broken.

While I seem to be a little overly negative about Pane and Suffering, I am in fact happy I read it and will actually recommend it.  It had some faults but for a debut that is nothing unusual.  The series looks like it could be really good and I was left with the 'I want to try more' feeling. I would definitely give the next book a try and look forward to seeing what the author does with the series.  It is well worth giving this one a try and checking out what this new author has to offer.