Elizabeth Logan

This was on the sale shelf at the library. I didn't know what book it was in the series until I came to review it. I did not read book 1 so it can be read as a stand alone. The only (small) point may be in how some of the characters know or relate to each other.

The pacing seemed a bit off in the book. There were times I put the book down and wouldn't pick it up again for a couple days--usually as the mystery builds I want to keep reading to find out whodunit.

The parts about Alaska were good, but I wasn't overly interested in the fishing industry and that might have been part of why I felt the story lagged.

As always, I wonder if this was real life how long the diner would survive with its owner doing as much investigating that takes her away from the business as Charlie does.… (altro)

I did not like the author's writing style. Dull. Boring. Bland. Slow. Like eating scrambled eggs with no salt. It didn't help that it was also very repetitive: diner, search for clues, cat ad nauseum. The whole story dragged throughout; I wanted to just cut my losses and stop numerous times but pressed on hoping it would pick up. It only finally did the last 25 or so pages. Too little. Too late.

A pity because the mystery was quite good and the book had all the cozy mystery tropes which I am a sucker for but it was told in such a slow, boring, bland matter. Meh. This was tedious reading.… (altro)

This book fits so tightly into the standard cozy mystery formula it squeaks.

In the contemporary cozy formula we inevitably get a thirty-something female with a failed track record at romance settling into a picturesque small town after a dysfunctional life in the big city, taking a job as an owner/manager of a quaint small business while pursuing a romance with a high-profile local guy (usually the sheriff or police inspector) & living in a charming little abode with her all-too-adorable pet(s). With her neighbor/best friend and a motley crew of quirky family &/or friends, she solves any random murder(s) that come along because local law enforcement is just too bumbling and inept to be depended upon to do it themselves.

In Mousse and Murder we get culinary school-trained, thirty-something chef Charlotte ‘Charlie’ Cooke, in crisis after being unceremoniously dumped by her fiancé, who returns to her picturesque hometown of Elkview, Alaska after a dysfunctional few years in San Francisco, & assumes ownership of her family’s quaint, old diner. She pursues a fledgling romance with the local newspaper reporter while living in a charming little home with her all-too-adorable cat, Eggs Benedict (an ill-chosen name that can only provoke a gag reflex). With her best friend Annie—who runs the inn down the street—& her ragamuffin posse of Mom, newspaperman boyfriend, & feline breakfast food, Charlie must solve the murder of the diner’s head chef because the local sheriff is seriously understaffed and, quite frankly, just plain stupid and lazy.

The writing quality is typical, but not good. For instance, the author uses the phrase “more noble” instead of the correct word 'nobler'. And “Ya think.” is indicative of the quality of dialogue you can expect throughout the book. I understand this is throwaway reading, but it is still pretty grim to realize this is what tends to pass for acceptable written English nowadays. Even if you are not a stellar writing talent, if you are going to pursue a career as a professional writer, you should have a basic mastery of the written word…even just for mass market fiction.

Aside from the writing, quite a few elements in the storyline made this a less than pleasurable read.

The murderer is glaringly obvious from the moment he makes an appearance. Whether it was intentional or not, the author basically puts a neon sign over the character’s head that says, “This is the murderer.” The killer’s motive is equally apparent. The only real mystery to be had is wondering when the clueless heroine is ever going to figure out what is going on; she eventually does, but only after the solution falls into her lap & the killer shows up & says ”Yup, I am indeed the murderer.”

Charlie is clearly not very shrewd. She is also not a very endearing character; in fact, she is quite annoying. Like so many contemporary cozy mystery heroines, she is described as a skilled, confident professional; however, this is not how she behaves. She owns & operates a diner, but her employees are the ones running the show. Oliver, the murder victim, makes all of the decisions for the diner; when Charlie dares to make a suggestion, Oliver throws temper tantrums until he gets his own way. It’s hard to imagine a real business owner of any kind making ‘suggestions’ about how her own business should be run …don’t most business owners command and tell their employees what to do, rather than the other way round? Not in this case, apparently. Even after Oliver is murdered, his sous chef and eventual replacement, Victor, takes over where Oliver left off, making decisions for the business—he even hires someone without consulting Charlie! Unbelievable. The fact that everyone in town, from her mother to the sheriff, talks to her like she is a half-witted child doesn’t help the appeal of her character.

Of course, the murder victim himself isn’t very appealing either. Everything he does in the story portrays him as a decidedly loathsome character; as his past is revealed, he becomes even more abhorrent. It’s pretty clear that nobody, including the reader, is going to miss this guy. Yet, Charlie just can’t stop whining about his death. It makes no sense whatsoever, and it gets quite tiresome after a while.

As does the behavior of Trooper Graham, Elkview’s local lawman. Does he ever do anything but eat free food and fake-deputize everybody--including the cat? Not only does this guy mooch free meals from the diner on a daily basis, he even shows up to a potluck empty-handed expecting endless servings & boxes of leftovers. Trooper Graham could be every college writing class’ poster child for characters that alienate readers. Yuck.

For those readers who are absolutely fascinated by steering wheels, you are in luck. Charlie’s SUV has a heated steering wheel, and her boyfriend’s obsessive fixation with it is featured prominently throughout the entire story…and I do mean the ENTIRE story. If at any time you feel you have not been subjected to enough steering wheel chatter, don’t panic; the glorious steering wheel will be making another appearance shortly. I wonder if the steering wheel is going to be accompanying the author on a book signing tour?

Having a high tolerance for weak-minded, female protagonists who just have to have some kind of boyfriend in tow will certainly make it easier to get through this book; if you are sick to death of those types of characters in cozy mysteries, this title will be a lot harder to stomach. Readers who enjoy predictability and cookie-cutter plots and characters will probably rate this book more highly than those bookworms who enjoy original plotlines, novel characters, and clever twists. This certainly isn’t the worst cozy mystery you can find on the shelves nowadays, but surely to heaven there must be something better lurking out there somewhere.… (altro)

Alaskan diner owner Charlie Cookie and a couple of her friends, deputized by "Trooper," the town's own law enforcement official, gets another chance to investigate when a vendor and former childhood friend is murdered at the fairgrounds. This one doesn't work quite as well as the previous installment, and we see that Trooper is able to call in back-up from other places so it makes their deputization seem unnecessary although no one ever suggests it as such. There's not enough diner or cat in this installment and too much imagination to stretch when it comes to believing Charlie and her friends are serving as official deputies.… (altro)