Review
For fans of: Joanne Fluke, Virginia Lowell
Stoneham, New Hampshire has seen more than its fair share of murder since mystery bookstore owner Tricia Miles moved to town; in fact, Tricia’s stumbled across so many dead bodies since opening Haven’t Got a Clue that she’s earned a bit of a reputation as the town jinx. Therefore, it’s only natural that the first thing to fall from her lips upon the discovery of a corpse at Stoneham’s newest B&B is not a scream, but the phrase: “Oh, no, not again!”
The victim is none other than the B&B’s new manager, Pippa Comfort. But the woman’s relatively new to the area, so who in Stoneham could have wanted her dead? Unfortunately for Tricia, it turns out she has a history with Pippa’s husband Tom (a man whom Tricia hasn’t seen in nearly 20 years and didn’t even realize was in town), making her Suspect Number One. Tricia knows one of the other guests must be responsible for Pippa’s murder – but which one?
Murder on the Half Shelf is the sixth of Lorna Barrett’s Booktown Mysteries. It’s the first I’ve read in the series, so it took a while for me to figure out why every business in town seems to have the word “book” in its name (apparently, specialty bookstores are the town’s bread and butter), but other than that, I was able to get into the flow of the story with relative ease. Barrett provides a decent amount of background information regarding each of her characters without making it feel like she’s simply rehashing the events of previous books, and she does a good job of making Stoneham feel like a real New England village.
Murder on the Half Shelf gets off to a strong start; the setup is unique, the mystery is intriguing, and the plot is solid. Tricia’s a likable enough heroine, her relationship with sister Angelica is nuanced and believable, and the book’s supporting characters, while not terribly compelling, all feel fully fleshed. Things start to go off the rails about three-quarters of the way through, though. The pace drops off, and while Barrett builds in some suspenseful moments early on, there’s little drama to be found in the tail end of the book. Characters start making moves and decisions that seem arbitrary, at best. And the entirety of the book’s ending, from the wrap-up of the more minor plot points to the resolution of the central mystery, is ridiculously convoluted, utterly preposterous, and completely unearned.
I likely would have rated this book a 4/5 had Barrett followed any part of her story to a logical conclusion, but as it stands, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. On the whole, Murder on the Half Shelf is a reasonably entertaining read, but if you’re looking for a fair-play mystery, this ain’t it.
Reviewed by Kat N.