Not Exactly a Mystery
345943
I enjoyed reading Thorns of Rosewood even though I didn't really consider it a mystery.  A sentence at the beginning told me which thorn would be Gloria's birth mother.  Later in the novel there were things that made me question my early guess but it turned out I was right.
1479565
There wasn't too much mystery as to who the person was.  The real story centered more around the steps taken to find out who it was by way of finding out the reason why.  There was an added bonus of having another storyline thrown in just to complicate matters some.  All in all a good book to read, though I found the financial dealings hard to follow and a bit preachy.
4240593
This novel is an interesting mystery, and it is, for the most part, well-written.
The identity of the guilty party is predictable.
I thought it interesting that Ellie Kent seems to doubt the existence of God but she pauses beside a grave to ask the deceased woman's help.
Still, if you like mysteries, you'll probably like this book.
2942920
Some might see it coming, some might not. Some mystery stories are too easy, some are too difficult. I suspect this one is just right, since I figured out about half of it by the ending surprise. I was definitely wondering about some things.

It's a psychological mystery, less of a "whodunit" and more of a "whatsgoingon." If you like a story that keeps you guessing, this one is for you.
3784938
A contemporary mystery told by three people, one of whom blogs, so you read her blogs and her non-blog statements, which don't always match, and, of course, that's intentional.  (And not at all unusual.) There is little dialogue, although that picks up, and you wonder if the author is simply uncomfortable with advancing the story through dialogue.  The story will hold your attention, and I found myself more and more curious as to where the story would go.  Much of the story is neither plot-driven nor character driven.  Rather, the characters do what they need to do to make the thin plot work, rather than have their actions derive from their character.

Reason for two stars?  The book is thin, and thinly plotted.  Oh, there's an A story, to be sure. What happened to Emily?  But there really isn't any B or C plot line.  Stephanie, the principal protagonist and the blogger, is, to be nice, a dolt.  How she functions every day is a mystery.  She needs a caretaker.  Who reads her blog is a mystery as well.  If you tell her the sky is green, she will, in the middle of a field on a sunny day, believe you.  More because believing the sky is green is necessary for the plot to twist this way or that.  Sean, the husband, is a cardboard cut out of an Englishman.  And Emily, the missing person, is Stephanie's best, and perhaps only friend, whom is able to do whatever she needs to get the plot to move in her favor.  If she needs to get from here to there in an hour undetected, it will happen.  The rest of us will be stuck in traffic.
1358342
This is a a short novel and throughout the book I got the sense that the plot is somewhat hurried. Unlike that Ice Princess, that I read before this one, there aren't enough twists and turns, or enough questions that keep you guessing who might have been the murderer. An ok story, but not a lot of emotion to grab you.
4268953
Edith Caroline Rivett, aka ECR Lorac (Lorac is Carol spelled backwards in case you didn't notice) takes us on a journey to London in November 1944. Air raids are common and it is during a late night blackout that murder most foul occurs in a London park. A stranger walking along stops to light a cigarette and in the illumination of his match, another stranger standing behind him appears and it's curtains for the cigarette smoker (see....all those doctors were right, smoking can kill you!). The dead fellow is one John Ward, a mysterious chap whose real name may or may not be Timothy O'Farrel. Enter Inspector McDonald ( a fixture in the numerous mysteries written by Ms Lorac) who sifts through the clues, and of course gives us the solution. This is a brief novel, coming in at under 200 pages, making it a quick read. However, the trade off is the lack of any character development and some very skimpy background information that would help understand the suspects as well as the investigators. The solution is simple, but somewhat surprising. I would not necessarily classify this as a "fair play" mystery because the reader does not have all the information to formulate a solution, some of that is held back and revealed after the murderer is "unmasked" (you'll understand why I have that in quotes after you've read the book).  This is a pretty good, satisfying book written during the Golden Age of mystery writing by a prolific writer whose many books are somewhat difficult to obtain these days.
937893
An interesting blend of history and mystery
3309015
Almost but not quite a mystery.  Almost but not quite a suspense thriller.
The trustees of the Van Traylen fund start dying in peculiar circumstances.  These trustees are in charge of an orphanage on an island, cut off from the real world, left to their own devices, allowing no interference from anyone especially the police.  But the police are brought in when there is an accident involving a bus that the orphans are riding.  One girl is injured and taken to hospital.  A doctor becomes suspicious and involves the orphans real mother, a reporter, another doctor (Peter Cushing), and a police officer (Christopher Lee) who is becoming increasingly alarmed as the violence escalates and a seven year old orphan suddenly goes missing.  Who is killing off all the old geezers of the trust?  Why are all the children weird especially orphan Mary Valley (Gwyneth Strong)?  What are they hiding at this orphanage?

Not quite as absorbing as it should have been.  The main problem with this movie is the slow pace.  That, and the way they stingily dole out the necessary information required to piece the puzzle together.  Things don't become apparent until the final few minutes.  In between theres a lot of chatter, a few odd incidents, a lot of suspicious people acting suspicious, and some minor violence.  If not for the presence of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing this would have been just another humdrum pseudo-crime flick.  They made it watchable.
1780990
The mystery itself was pretty good but there was something missing.  Not as much humor as in past stories, much more of a routine investigation.  And, the solution was a bit obvious about halfway in, so it really needed that little extra her other books had.  That said it's still better than the newer "cozies" I've read lately.
3925173
I  found it rather slow starting and quite confusing as to how the narrator arrived at certain conclusions on very flimsy evidence. I was almost certain from 1/3 of the book who the main suspect aught to be and the motive behind it. It was an ok read.
4020102
A good mystery that I did not solve until it was revealed.  I was expecting more ghost/paranormal story and less politics.  I prefer not to read about politics, current or historical, so I probably wouldn't have chosen this book had I known it would be based on political parties.  I did not toss it aside though because the story was good enough to keep me interested.
3241763
Hi -- An enjoyable enough read, but there weren't enough "twists" in the mystery/plot for me this time, nor was there very much suspense, etc.
3613971
Not one of my favorite books - would rate a 3.5 if we had the option.  The mystery is fairly good and the characters are fairly well developed, just nothing that stands out.  As another reviewer has commented the mystery wavered into a hot romance novel and back again to a mystery any number of times.  The reading is quick and smooth, but you keep expecting more somehow.  Only a so-so recommendation on this one.
1797257
Two murders, one in England and one in the United States, seem to have been commited by the same person. What connection do the vice president of the United States have to the murders, who is the mysterious person who was recently released from an asylum, and why does the government seem to want to stop the investigation? These are some of the questions that Tweed and his team must find an answer to in "The Vorpal Blade".

Colin Forbes takes our protagonists to Maine and Switzerland, but there is little action; most of the time is spent talking and following up obscure leads. Most of the time, Tweed and his team feel like amateurs, relying more on luck than skill to find the murderer. There are also some rather strange continuity errors. For example, Monica, their assistant do research into the Arbogast family and tell Tweed that the vice president is Roman Arbogast's cousin, and yet Tweed and his colleagues go on talking about how they don't know what the vice president's connection to the Arbogast family is. And they mention how they don't remember who it was that they were told liked to go sailing, when in fact they weren't told until the next chapter. This seemed to be very important but later, when Paula is told who it was, she doesn't reflect about it at all but again the next day she mentions she can't remember who it was. I got the feeling Forbes himself didn't remember several key elements in the story, because there were so many strange errors like this.

Still, there are a few (short) sequences that are almost (but not quite) suspenseful, but most of the time the story is not very interesting at all.
1144425
This mystery is set in 1930's England and revolves around an inherited country home of Peter, Celia, and Margaret. They decide to make a stay there to see if the country life suits them. There is a rumored ghost on the property, "The Monk", strange sounds in the night and a mysterious stranger who may have darker motives. While the characterization was not particularly strong, the story has some charm, even though the mystery is less difficult to solve with a modern perspective. Some of the character's behavior is sterotypical (the slightly inept country policeman, for example) and some of actions of the characters, while probably fitting with the time period, are a bit jarring to modern sensibilities. It was an enjoyable, if not overly involving story.
873719
A nice mystery but a bit boring at times and convoluted.  Not a clear "hero" in my eyes, so it was hard to be invested in the story.