Helpful Score: 1
Nice cozy mystery centered around a book club. All members of book clubs should enjoy the back drop of the book discussions and reading lists. Overall very enjoyable and everything wrapped up nice and neat in the end. My only complaint is that Lizzie, the main character is a little too insecure for my taste.
Cathy C. (cathyskye) -
First Line: "Lizzie Turner, you'd like a signed copy of Derek Alton's award-winning book, wouldn't you?"
Lizzie Turner makes a trip to her local bookstore, and before she knows what's hit her, she's agreed that one-hit wonder author Derek Alton will appear at the next Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straw Society meeting. Under the guise of learning more about the book club's members, Alton proceeds to make moves on Lizzie-- which she most definitely does not appreciate. But what she really doesn't appreciate is when Alton is murdered in her own home and she's the number one suspect. Lizzie's beau (and the local police chief) Mark Dreyfus not only has to go where the circumstantial evidence is leading him, he's not thrilled about the dead man putting the moves on his girlfriend. This is one case that the Ashton Corners book club has to solve... fast!
This second book in the Ashton Corners series is a light, fun read, and sure to please cozy mystery readers. Due to the events in the first book, A Killer Read, the characters are evolving, and I'm still enjoying the information Chase shares about Lizzie's job as a literacy specialist for the local school board. Lizzie has managed to get a young teenage girl interested in reading by starting her out on Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mysteries. As this book club group of sleuths begin investigating, I got several chuckles from young Andie applying what she's learned from Stephanie to the case they're all trying to solve. Another feature that I enjoy is at the very end: a list of recommended books by each member of the book club. Since this is a mystery readers' book club, it's easy to gather several good titles to read in those last two pages alone. If you're like me and have read many of the recommendations, it's easy to use the list to see which member's reading tastes are most like your own.
Probably due to all the crime fiction I read, I'm becoming rather adept at identifying the killers in books rather quickly. I did so in this case, but I wasn't bothered by it at all. As in most books, it's not so much who did it as why. (And I have to admit that I'm not nearly as good at guessing the Eternal Why!)
Read and Buried is light, fun, and quick to read. I know I'm not the only one looking forward to book number three!
Lizzie Turner makes a trip to her local bookstore, and before she knows what's hit her, she's agreed that one-hit wonder author Derek Alton will appear at the next Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straw Society meeting. Under the guise of learning more about the book club's members, Alton proceeds to make moves on Lizzie-- which she most definitely does not appreciate. But what she really doesn't appreciate is when Alton is murdered in her own home and she's the number one suspect. Lizzie's beau (and the local police chief) Mark Dreyfus not only has to go where the circumstantial evidence is leading him, he's not thrilled about the dead man putting the moves on his girlfriend. This is one case that the Ashton Corners book club has to solve... fast!
This second book in the Ashton Corners series is a light, fun read, and sure to please cozy mystery readers. Due to the events in the first book, A Killer Read, the characters are evolving, and I'm still enjoying the information Chase shares about Lizzie's job as a literacy specialist for the local school board. Lizzie has managed to get a young teenage girl interested in reading by starting her out on Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mysteries. As this book club group of sleuths begin investigating, I got several chuckles from young Andie applying what she's learned from Stephanie to the case they're all trying to solve. Another feature that I enjoy is at the very end: a list of recommended books by each member of the book club. Since this is a mystery readers' book club, it's easy to gather several good titles to read in those last two pages alone. If you're like me and have read many of the recommendations, it's easy to use the list to see which member's reading tastes are most like your own.
Probably due to all the crime fiction I read, I'm becoming rather adept at identifying the killers in books rather quickly. I did so in this case, but I wasn't bothered by it at all. As in most books, it's not so much who did it as why. (And I have to admit that I'm not nearly as good at guessing the Eternal Why!)
Read and Buried is light, fun, and quick to read. I know I'm not the only one looking forward to book number three!
LecClier K. (SierraK) -
Second book in the Ashton Corners series. This one is set just before Christmas and would definitely be a great book to get the reader in the mood for the holidays. Our main character, Lizzy Turner, is a reading specialist at the Ashton Corner, Alabama elementary school and also runs a literacy class to help teens pass the GED test. She's in a book club, too, one which reads mysteries. So, naturally, when a murder occurs in town, the book club members try to solve the murder. This time, an award-winning author is shot right as he is visiting Lizzy's house to finalize details for him appearing at the book club as a guest speaker. I enjoyed the characters very much, although the mystery was a bit easy to figure out. Looking forward to another visit to Ashton Corners soon!
