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Jul. 31st, 2010 02:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennariaGROUNDS FOR MURDER, by Sandra Balzo.
Cover copy: At a scaldingly competitive trade show in Milwaukee for the coffee industry, egos and tempers are steaming over such burning issues as store rivalries, product quality and employee-poaching. But events reach a head when coffee-house owner Maggy Thorsen discovers a body under a table at the conference centre. As the reluctant conference coordinator - and a potential suspect - Maggy must track the murderer, save her coffeehouse, and - hopefully - put some froth into her love life...
Gender of detective: female
Oy. Save me from Wacky Hijinx.
I freely admit: I grew up on Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, Miss Marple, Lord Peter Wimsey, et alia. These are clever people, intelligent people, people who do not bumble unless they're damn well doing it deliberately (see Campion, a few posts previous). But there is a trend, more common with female detectives than male, to have her sort of bumble her way to the solution, Lucy Ramirez as girl detective*. A murder happens! Detective chases around trying to figure stuff out! Wacky Hijinx ensue! And somehow, usually by the detective practically tripping over the solution, she manages to solve the case.
To be fair to this book in particular, once the murder actually happens, about halfway through, the heroine remembers she has a head on her shoulders and behaves accordingly. She even manages to figure out whodunnit on her own, rather than it all being her boyfriend the cop. But the first half is all Wacky Hijinx, with the focus being on the heroine's coffee shop and attempts to make it actually profitable, not helped at all by it being first person. By the time the heroine stopped being a moron, my teeth were ground to a nub and I had very little patience left.
Not worth it. Unless you really, really find coffeeshops fascinating, I suppose.
*Or, for those who know AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER, Ty Lee, except with at least 95% less kick-ass-ness.
*
Stef is talking with her sister on Skype, while Kris tries to persuade LJ to cooperate. Me, I'm just chilling with my Cherry Coke and bucket of numbers.
Cover copy: At a scaldingly competitive trade show in Milwaukee for the coffee industry, egos and tempers are steaming over such burning issues as store rivalries, product quality and employee-poaching. But events reach a head when coffee-house owner Maggy Thorsen discovers a body under a table at the conference centre. As the reluctant conference coordinator - and a potential suspect - Maggy must track the murderer, save her coffeehouse, and - hopefully - put some froth into her love life...
Gender of detective: female
Oy. Save me from Wacky Hijinx.
I freely admit: I grew up on Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, Miss Marple, Lord Peter Wimsey, et alia. These are clever people, intelligent people, people who do not bumble unless they're damn well doing it deliberately (see Campion, a few posts previous). But there is a trend, more common with female detectives than male, to have her sort of bumble her way to the solution, Lucy Ramirez as girl detective*. A murder happens! Detective chases around trying to figure stuff out! Wacky Hijinx ensue! And somehow, usually by the detective practically tripping over the solution, she manages to solve the case.
To be fair to this book in particular, once the murder actually happens, about halfway through, the heroine remembers she has a head on her shoulders and behaves accordingly. She even manages to figure out whodunnit on her own, rather than it all being her boyfriend the cop. But the first half is all Wacky Hijinx, with the focus being on the heroine's coffee shop and attempts to make it actually profitable, not helped at all by it being first person. By the time the heroine stopped being a moron, my teeth were ground to a nub and I had very little patience left.
Not worth it. Unless you really, really find coffeeshops fascinating, I suppose.
*Or, for those who know AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER, Ty Lee, except with at least 95% less kick-ass-ness.
*
Stef is talking with her sister on Skype, while Kris tries to persuade LJ to cooperate. Me, I'm just chilling with my Cherry Coke and bucket of numbers.