Pretty Is As Pretty Dies
Author: Elizabeth Spann Craig
As part of my quest to read more books off my own bookshelves, I finally got around to starting on the Myrtle Clover series. I've had most of the books on my shelf for more than two years. It was time to get busy reading!
Myrtle Clover is a feisty, intelligent octogenarian. She fills up her days by writing a helpful hints column for the local newspaper in Bradley, NC, making life a bit stressful for her Police Chief son, and sticking her nose into other people's business as she pleases. When a local property developer is found dead in the Bradley United Methodist Church, Myrtle puts her best snooping skills to work to ferret out the killer.
This story is entertaining and fun to read. Myrtle is so outspoken and feisty! And she does cute things to get back at her son....like filling her yard with garden gnomes when he's coming over to mow the lawn. He gets in a few jabs of his own like recording an obnoxious ringtone for her new cellphone that screeches a lovely message in his voice when he calls her, and threatening to put her into Greener Pastures Retirement Home.
The mystery moved along at a nice pace. There were plenty of suspects and quite a bit of amateur sleuthing. The plot had a balanced mix of humor and mystery.
There was only one thing that I didn't like about this book. Myrtle and a couple of other characters make some snide comments and jokes about other people's physical appearance and weight multiple times. I don't like that sort of thing in real life, and don't like it in books I read either. Not a major thing, but it did pull me out of the story when it kept happening.
Nice start to this series. I'm moving on to book 2! Can't wait to find out what sort of trouble Myrtle gets herself into!
No comments:
Post a Comment