A Poisonous Page
It’s summer festival time in Confection, Oregon, and that means a barrage of tourists making cash registers ring at Sweet Fiction Bookshop. But what should be bookseller Lexi’s most lucrative time of year turns disturbing when a member of the chamber of commerce suddenly dies of a heart attack. Not entirely unexpected—considering her family history—but it’s a different story when another chamber member dies just one week later…also, presumably, of natural causes.
A Poisonous Page by Kitt Crowe is the second novel in A Sweet Fiction Bookshop Mysteries. It can be read as a standalone for those new to the series. In Confection, Oregon two chamber of commerce members are killed. When one of Lexi’s frenemies is accused of the crime, Lexi and the Macaroons (the book club at the bookstore Lexi manages for her parents) set out to discover the identity of the killer. There are quite a few characters to keep track of in this series. It can be hard to keep everyone straight especially those who are friends and those who are not (nasty neighbors, frenemies, and adversaries). I love Lexi’s dog, Cookie. She is indeed a smart cookie. It seems like she understands what people are saying.
I am not a fan
of Detective Chad Berg who feels the need to constantly issue tickets, fines,
and warning to Lexi (it’s like he needs to prove he follows the letter of the
law). I do not understand why there is a
budding romance between these two characters (I would want to stay as far away
from Chad as I could—or, since it is a cozy mystery series, hope that he will
be the next victim). The death of the
two chamber of commerce members is straightforward. I identified the killer long before the
second body turned up. Lexi and her book
group were hoping the first death was a murder so they could investigate since
they enjoyed solving the last murder. Lexi
and her friends speculate on which person they know could have done the
deeds. They are a direct bunch. I would have liked more investigating (little
sleuthing by Lexi). I found the dialogue
to be off and there is a lot of repetition.
I would have preferred less romance and a more complex mystery. I did not like the scene where women were
slapping each other. I felt that many of
the characters were not realistic (nor is their dialogue) and more than a few
are unlikeable. While I liked Cookie,
she does dominate the book (a scene stealer). Lexi walks the dog, talks to the
dog, feeds the dog, etc. I wanted to give
this series a second chance (which I did), but I learned that it is not for
me. A Poisonous Page is a lighthearted
whodunit with a clever Cookie, fun festivals, a busy bar, a deceased chamber of
commerce member, a ticket happy detective, the meddling Macaroons, and a
sleuthing Lexi.
Kris
The
Avid Reader
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