Helpful Score: 1
Josie Giancola is known as a button expert for all kinds of buttons and has even worked in Hollywood. Today she is opening her new button shop, The Button Box, set up in a Chicago brownstone. She also has an appointment with a well known Hollywood starlet who wants to find the perfect buttons for her perfect wedding dress. Josie arrives extra early on her opening day to make sure everything is ready for her appointment only to find that her store has been broken into and ransacked. There are buttons everywhere. Buttons she had spent many days sorting and categorizing and displaying with flawless precision.
Things don't get any better when the next day the starlet is found dead right in the middle of The Button Box. The homicide detective seems to be looking for clues in all the wrong places and the murderer has now set his sights on Josie. She has no choice but to follow the clues she has and get this murderer all buttoned up before she finds herself "Button Holed"!
My Thoughts
This story could not have been more perfect. Wonderful characters, a delightful complex plot, and thoroughly engaging humor.
I fell for Josie on the very first page. I come from a family of seamstresses and they all had button bowls and boxes. As a child I spent hours sorting, stacking and separating my favorites. I have my own button box around here somewhere from my sewing days and I know there are some buttons in there from my ancestors as well. Button Holed (Button Box Mystery) and The Button Box brought back some wonderful memories. Thankfully none of my memories include a dead starlet.
There is also a very interesting thread throughout the story about some very special buttons that I really enjoyed.
I was truly entertained from the first page to the last! I am patiently waiting for Kill Button, the next book in The Button Box Mystery Series coming soon, but never soon enough!!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Berkley Prime Crime. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 : Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Things don't get any better when the next day the starlet is found dead right in the middle of The Button Box. The homicide detective seems to be looking for clues in all the wrong places and the murderer has now set his sights on Josie. She has no choice but to follow the clues she has and get this murderer all buttoned up before she finds herself "Button Holed"!
My Thoughts
This story could not have been more perfect. Wonderful characters, a delightful complex plot, and thoroughly engaging humor.
I fell for Josie on the very first page. I come from a family of seamstresses and they all had button bowls and boxes. As a child I spent hours sorting, stacking and separating my favorites. I have my own button box around here somewhere from my sewing days and I know there are some buttons in there from my ancestors as well. Button Holed (Button Box Mystery) and The Button Box brought back some wonderful memories. Thankfully none of my memories include a dead starlet.
There is also a very interesting thread throughout the story about some very special buttons that I really enjoyed.
I was truly entertained from the first page to the last! I am patiently waiting for Kill Button, the next book in The Button Box Mystery Series coming soon, but never soon enough!!
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Berkley Prime Crime. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 : Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Helpful Score: 1
I really liked this book. The main character is mostly delightful, though she does have an unaccountable weakness that I didn't like. Others have already mentioned the ex-husband Kaz. He doesn't ring true to me, and her reaction to him is also not quite right.
That said, I still liked the book. The story is a good one, with interesting complexities. It gives us a chance to learn a little about button collecting, but there really ought to be a little more info in there.
I have to tell you, however, that I figured out the central cause of all the unexplained and weird goings-on a bit before Josie hit upon it. I rarely do that. I just flow with the story and learn when the main character learns, but she was a bit dumber than I am this time.
Wow. I'm full of cavils and complaints in what I've written, but in spite of it all, I LIKED the book. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Go figure.
That said, I still liked the book. The story is a good one, with interesting complexities. It gives us a chance to learn a little about button collecting, but there really ought to be a little more info in there.
I have to tell you, however, that I figured out the central cause of all the unexplained and weird goings-on a bit before Josie hit upon it. I rarely do that. I just flow with the story and learn when the main character learns, but she was a bit dumber than I am this time.
Wow. I'm full of cavils and complaints in what I've written, but in spite of it all, I LIKED the book. I'm looking forward to the next one.
Go figure.
Helpful Score: 1
Good start to a new series. Solid information about buttons. Looking forward to a little more interactions between the characters. 3.5 stars
Helpful Score: 1
Decent book- I will read the next in the series, but not a page turner. The plot was good, but the first half of the book seemed to drag a bit. Then during the second half, once clues were revealed and investigating was being done, it got better. As many of the previous reviews said, the parts with the heroine's ex-husband were not needed and took up way too many pages of the book.
Helpful Score: 1
A fun and cute first in series. I did find myself skimming the parts with Kaz in them though. I found him a unlikable and unbelievable character. If it wasn't for his parts, this would be a 4 star book.
