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Rosepoint November Reviews Recap—Thanksgiving with Covid—I’d Rather Have Family

Rosepoint Publishing November Review Recap

Certainly was a quiet Thanksgiving this year! Almost nothing traditional about it, as just for the two of us, no sense in trying to have a turkey (or ham—not good for him). I must admit to getting very tired of turkey, turkey sandwiches, turkey salad and turkey soup. I do enjoy the cranberry, however, and that’s where the CE balks. So we opted instead for coconut shrimp and scallops and fruit salad with French fries—something we both agree on! But anytime is good for shrimp and scallops.

I usually use the long weekend following Thanksgiving to start decorating for Christmas. Well, that will be delayed this year as I’m not crazy about bringing out the same old tired decorations. Needed something a little more festive to fill the void this year.

Santa with mask Looking over decorations, it would appear Covid has played a large part in new and unique Christmas decoration ideas, with Santa wearing a face mask to ornaments with face masks and rolls of toilet paper. Oh, so, crafty. A not-so-subtle tongue-in-the cheek remembrance of Christmas 2020. Perhaps you’ve also noticed some VERY unusual tree ornaments this year?

So yes, December is upon us and I must admit to being one of those who never thought we’d still be fighting the pandemic at this time of year. Much less phase two or three. I’m doing a lot of shopping online this year and it’s actually fun getting packages. Our TV hit its designed obsolescence and out it went, so we ended up doing a Black Friday thing for a new one. Something in which we’ve not participated since 2004. Technology in a new TV now requires an engineering or programming degree to fully install.

There was a mix of sixteen books reviewed, blitzed, or toured in November, shared between the CE and I. If you missed any reviews, just click on the links below the graphic.

The Secret of Rosalita Flats by Tim W Jackson Parabellum by Greg Hickey Puzzling Ink by Becky Clark

Wine Tastings Are Murder by Libby Klein Leave No Trace by Sara Driscoll Hideaway by Nora Roberts

A Big Fat Greek Murder by Kate Collins In Her Tracks by Robert Dugoni Big Kibble by Shawn Buckley

House of Correction by Nicci French The Sky Worshipers by FM Deemyad Mystery at the Old Mill by Clare Chase

Ink and Shadows by Ellery Adams Hunting Season by Nevada Barr And the Devil Walks Away by Kevin R Doyle Irish Parade Murder by Leslie Meier

The Secret of Rosalita Flats by Tim W Jackson (5 stars)
Parabellum by Greg Hickey (CE review)
Puzzling Ink by Becky Clark
Wine Tastings are Murder by Libby Klein
Leave No Trace by Sara Driscoll (5 stars)
Hideaway by Nora Roberts (Audiobook)
A Big Fat Greek Murder by Kate Collins
Big Kibble by Shawn Buckley and Dr Oscar Chavez (CE review-5 stars)
In Her Tracks by Robert Dugoni
House of Correction by Nicci French (Audiobook)
The Sky Worshipers by F M Deemyad (CE review-5 stars)
Mystery at the Old Mill by Clare Chase
Ink and Shadows by Ellery Adams (5 stars)
Hunting Season by Nevada Barr (Audiobook)
And the Devil Walks Away by Kevin R Doyle (CE review)
Irish Parade Murder by Leslie Meier

Challenges:

Audiobooks – 23 of 10-15 challenge Achieved
Goodreads! 156 of 160—only four more. I’ve (we’ve) got this!
Historial Fiction: 13 of a goal of 10 Achieved
NetGalley: 79 of 75 review goal Achieved

Once again, struggling with the block editor interfering with the update to my (classic editored) Challenge page. If it looks weird—it is—and I’ve no clue how to fix. Still, you can check the page to see those challenges achieved.

In the meantime, lovely readers, followers, and authors, take care, stay safe. I do so appreciate your continued support.

Graphic attributions: Santa mask by Amazon

Irish Parade Murder (A Lucy Stone Murder Book 27) by Leslie Meier – a #BookReview – #cozymystery

“’If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me.’ Alice Roosevelt Longworth, (Teddy’s daughter)”

Book Blurb:

Lucy Stone’s late-winter blues usually vanish by the time Tinker’s Cove goes green for its annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration. There’s just one wee problem that not even the luck of the Irish can fix—murder!

After returning from her father-in-law’s funeral in Florida, Lucy can almost hear the death knell of her part-time reporter job the instant she meets new hire Rob Callahan. He’s young, ambitious, and positioning himself to become the Pennysaver’s next star reporter. Adding insult to injury, Lucy only gets assigned the local St. Patrick’s Day parade once Rob passes on the story. But before beer flows and bagpipes sound, Rob becomes suspected of destroying more than other people’s careers . . .

It’s a shock when Rob is suddenly charged with sending a corrections officer from town to a fiery death. Contrary to the evidence, Lucy seriously doubts her office rival committed murder, and she’s willing to follow that nagging hunch into the darkest corners of the community if it means shedding light on the truth . . .

As an unnerving mystery unfolds, a strange woman reveals news that could change everything for Lucy and her family. Troubles in her personal and professional life are colliding, and Lucy comes to realize that she’ll sooner discover a four-leaf clover than confront a killer with the gift of the gab and live to tell about it . . .

My Review:

Yikes! There have already been twenty-six books in this series, and this is my first experience with either the author or the series. Well, I know you’ve heard that before, not often I have the chance to start a series with Book 1.

This one, however, regards a small town journalist with the local weekly. Just when the few others in the office assume the owner is going to throw in the towel, they are astounded to learn the owner has partnered with the adjacent town’s paper and they will now cover twice the territory. And, icing on the cake, the owner has brought in a whiz-bang kid to really “get the story.”

And, somehow, I thought the novel would be about Lucy writing her stories, discovering a murder victim and she would go investigating.

Nope.

This cozy mystery centers on family. Protagonist Lucy Stone is married (also unusual for a cozy mystery) with four children. Two events occur about the same time—her father-in-law has passed away and Grandma Edna will come to live with them (her husband being an only child). About the same time, they get a letter proclaiming shared DNA by a woman they know nothing about.

St. Patrick’s Day is coming and Tinkers Cove is gearing up for their big annual parade followed by a newly instituted festival in adjacent Gilead. AND, Lucy is assigned to getting the school budget and parade master stories. In the meantime, she is fielding family matters, including her daughter’s “step-dancing” with which history I found interesting.

It’s not until about 50% into the book that an accident occurs deemed not to be an accident, and not unusually, the new kid on the paper is blamed for the murder. This sets off an interesting search into the possible corruption of the local sheriff’s department.

I don’t know whether it was because I was coming into the series at Book 27 and finding more of a family drama than a cozy that was off-putting, but I had a problem becoming engaged in the narrative and couldn’t connect with the characters—which, at this point, character development has pretty much ended. Her husband Bill is wonderfully supportive, but the storyline just dragged for me. I didn’t really care what the school board was going to vote for or against. The conclusion only mildly increased attention—at that point, just happy for the conclusion. More focus on the murder investigation, contact with more appropriate individuals, interviews, something…would have added some tension. On pre-order now.

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Three of Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Cozy Mystery, Amateur Sleuth
Publisher: Kensington Books

ASIN : B087YSPKVC

Print Length: 283 pages
Publication Date: To be released January 26, 2021
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: [Leslie Meier] I started writing in the late ’80s when I was attending graduate classes at Bridgewater State College. I wanted to become certified to teach high school English and one of the required courses was Writing and the Teaching of Writing. My professor suggested that one of the papers I wrote for that course was good enough to be published and I sent it off to Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine’s Department of First Stories. I got $100 for the story and I’ve been writing ever since. The teaching, however, didn’t work out.

My books draw heavily on my experience as a mother of three and my work as a reporter for various weekly newspapers on Cape Cod. My heroine, Lucy Stone, is a reporter in the fictional town of Tinker’s Cove, Maine, where she lives in an old farmhouse (quite similar to mine on Cape Cod!) with her restoration carpenter husband Bill and four children. As the series has progressed the kids have grown older, roughly paralleling my own family. We seem to have reached a point beyond which Lucy cannot age — my editor seems to want her to remain forty-something forever — though I have to admit I am dying to write “Menopause is Murder”!

I usually write one Lucy Stone mystery every year and as you can see, my editor likes me to feature the holidays in my books. Of course Christmas is one of my favorite times of year and my newest mystery {released September 2013} is called “Christmas Carol Murder.” I have always loved the Alistair Sims movie version of Charles Dicken’s ,”The Christmas Carol,” so I was excited to be able to have Lucy encounter some modern day versions of Dicken’s classic characters. In addition to the recent holiday mysteries I have written such as “Chocolate Covered Murder” {Valentine’s Day} and “Easter Bunny Murder”, I have written one travel mystery in which Lucy and her friends ,travel to London,”English Tea Murder”. Since I love to travel I can only hope that Lucy will be able to solve some mysteries in some other cities and countries also. My husband and I did stay in an apartment in Paris this past year {big hint!}

My books are classified as cozies but a good friend insists they are really “comedies of manners” and I do enjoy expressing my view of contemporary American life.

Now that the kids are grown — I now have four grandchildren — my husband and I are enjoying our empty nest on Cape Cod which we share with our new very frisky kitty, Sylvester. I am busy writing the next Lucy Stone Mystery which is due out this Spring. I do hope you will enjoy it!

#BookBlitz – Lily Fairchild by Don Gutteridge – #historicalfiction – @RABTBookTours

Yes! You know I’m always happy to host a Book Blitz post for a historical fiction novel (being one of my favorite genres), this one called Lily Fairchild by Don Gutteridge. “Lily Fairchild is a novel about a remarkable woman, born in the backwoods of Lambton County, Ontario in 1840.”

Historical Fiction

Lily Fairchild follows the life of a pioneer woman on the Canadian frontier over 77 years of her long life. She is witness to and a pawn of the great historical events of that period: the Underground Railroad, the clearing of the forest, the coming of the railroads, the discovery of oil, the two Riel Rebellions in the West and the flu pandemic of 1918. A story of love and survival.

KIRKUS REVIEW

Long-haul, multigenerational historical fiction such as this is often a victim of skewed perspective, as authors, deeply ensconced in often years of research, often overestimate how much detail their readers will want to endure. Gutteridge’s narrative is prodigiously researched (and includes a bibliography), but he never overloads his audience; instead, he seamlessly works the historical grounding into what is, first and foremost, an intensely personal story. The book’s large and varied cast is uniformly well drawn, but Lily towers over the rest; from her earliest scenes, she’s by far the most compelling figure in the narrative. Gutteridge believably and effectively captures her youthful exuberance, as well as her resilience, even in the face of a heartbreaking tragedy in the book’s final pages. He combines his character study with beautifully evocative prose; at one point, for instance, after sunset, “Lily was sure she could hear the River tuning up for its nightsong”; at another, a character’s skin is described as having “the pallor and touch of gray-white mushrooms too long in the rain.” Overall, the author does an excellent job of giving his narrative the feel of a life as it is lived. Readers of such books as Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove (1985) or Anna Waldo’s Sacajawea (1978) will see a similar kind of storytelling here; it’s a difficult feat to manage, but Gutteridge does so. A long but intensely involving tale of a tempestuous life.

About the Author

Don Gutteridge is the author of 71 books, including 22 novels and 39 books of poetry. He is a graduate of Western University, where he is currently Professor Emeritus. He lives in London, Ontario.

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