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git_r_read's review against another edition
5.0
Kylie Logan is one of my favorite writers whether writing as Kylie Logan or Casey Daniels. I love all of the series she's written that I've read so far. She had me with her Pepper Martin, the paranormal cozy series with the cemetery guide who reluctantly talks with ghosts. She's kept me with her Button Box series (who knew buttons could keep me enthralled) and now there's the League of Literary Ladies mystery series.
The premise is nifty: a group of women are court-ordered to join a book club. They need to stop bickering and the library needs patrons.
Each character makes me laugh and alternately want to hug or smack them. The mystery is super, the ladies needing to find the killer of the owner of their favorite Chinese restaurant. They are going to miss their orange peanut chicken. And there's more to it than meets the eye, especially with each of the ladies.
There are still tiffs among the group of ladies, each one has a distinct personality. The story is told through the eyes of Bea Cartwright, owner of the bed and breakfast on the small island of South Bass in Lake Erie, but the story is group driven.
I really look forward to more of this fun series. And anything else Kylie/Casey writes.
The premise is nifty: a group of women are court-ordered to join a book club. They need to stop bickering and the library needs patrons.
Each character makes me laugh and alternately want to hug or smack them. The mystery is super, the ladies needing to find the killer of the owner of their favorite Chinese restaurant. They are going to miss their orange peanut chicken. And there's more to it than meets the eye, especially with each of the ladies.
There are still tiffs among the group of ladies, each one has a distinct personality. The story is told through the eyes of Bea Cartwright, owner of the bed and breakfast on the small island of South Bass in Lake Erie, but the story is group driven.
I really look forward to more of this fun series. And anything else Kylie/Casey writes.
gasoline_allie's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this more than I anticipated, in part because it had some elements I don't often see in cozy mysteries. It was set in a small town (a picturesque tourist town, too), but didn't feel like a Norman Rockwell painting. It had an enemies-to-friends subplot that I enjoyed since too often everyone in a cozy seems to have known each other since birth and feels some sort of clannish devotion for each other. I liked how prickly and secretive Bea, the MC, was, and I want to know more of her story. All in all, 4 stars for keeping me entertained. I want more, and I'll look for other books in the series.
staticdisplay's review against another edition
4.0
first in the series, we meet main character Bea who's just opening a B&B on an island. her neighbors have been sniping at one another for weeks, so they ultimately end up in court and sentenced to participate in a book group together. it's not going well until someone gets murdered (ha ha). the literary ladies find a body and then decide to get involved in figuring out who's responsible. they also get snowed in, creating a situation similar to their book group reading material - Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express.
I wasn't keen on the Levi side plot; the interactions between Bea and Levi verged on hostile, with no apparent chemistry, so I couldn't figure out Bea's interest. I wish the cat played more of an active, cute role.
in any case, it's fun to have a group of women and the literary connection. as far as cozy mysteries go, it was fun to read about them all being stuck inside because of the winter storm. I read one of the later stories in the series and there are just a few more books, so I'm planning to read all of them.
I wasn't keen on the Levi side plot; the interactions between Bea and Levi verged on hostile, with no apparent chemistry, so I couldn't figure out Bea's interest.
Spoiler
the resolution was somewhat confusing to me; I couldn't remember at any point in the story Mariah being described as anything other than this flawless bougie lady, but then Chuck or whomever was repeatedly described as a big, sort of bulky dude with an ugly face. hard to envision such a total transformation, by which I mean, doesn't seem to be written consistently. I think first, from a character standpoint, way more interesting to explore this as a guy who's genuinely interested in drag rather than the boring characterization we're presented with, which is that he was a criminal who just became more criminal because duh he was in prison. also written in a kind of unreal way, we have somehow almost randomly found 3 people with a motive to kill this guy all in the same place at the same time. hmm!in any case, it's fun to have a group of women and the literary connection. as far as cozy mysteries go, it was fun to read about them all being stuck inside because of the winter storm. I read one of the later stories in the series and there are just a few more books, so I'm planning to read all of them.
kimsquatch's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
addy1991's review against another edition
3.0
The characters are fun but definitely not ones you'd put together, even though they're not friends from the get-go. Their attempts at sleuthing are a bit clumsy and I'm sure the killer was amused by watching them in action since they seemed to have no clue as to what they were doing. Seem being the 'keyword' because they certainly stumbled across plenty of motives and means. For a sleepy little island community, there seemed to be a lot of secrets ... mischief ... mayhem. Things someone wants not brought to the light of day.
rondabain's review against another edition
5.0
A nice first cozy in the series. I would recommend either having read Murder on the Orient Express before reading....a couple hours with Johnny Depp is not too much to ask. 😁
maggymags's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars. I have not read a cosy mystery in a while. A fun read and I will read the next in the series just to see how the characters and their friendship develop. I did not really get a "feel" for them in this book.
alissabar's review against another edition
3.0
What's not to enjoy? A cozy mystery set at a B&B on an island in Lake Erie that involves a book club. A great escape.
2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge #4 A book about a book club.
2020 Popsugar Reading Challenge #4 A book about a book club.
wildflowerz76's review against another edition
2.0
The first book in the League of Literary Ladies series has three neighbors in court airing their petty complaints of each other. This isn't a new occurence so, fed up, the judge orders them to start a book club at the library because the judge's wife barges into the proceedings, crying that they're going to lose a grant at the library because they don't have a book club. Yes, seriously. So, the women meet, along with another woman from the town who is just a big reader. When their next weekly meeting comes up, there's a massive snowstorm. Our four main characters leave book club and don't go home, but to the new local Chinese restaurant, where they're all obsessed with this one particular dish. There, they find the owner dead. After dealing with the police, they all go back to Bea's house, which happens to be a B&B and end up crashing there, along with half the town, because the snowstorm knocks out the power and Bea's the only one with a generator.
I'm not going to go on. This book was ridiculous, even for a cozy. The characters were idiots. There were too many people to keep track of and the cook and her daughters seemed to be added to the narrative to add a flimsy excuse for a plot point later in the book. I'm not going to read more of these.
I'm not going to go on. This book was ridiculous, even for a cozy. The characters were idiots. There were too many people to keep track of and the cook and her daughters seemed to be added to the narrative to add a flimsy excuse for a plot point later in the book. I'm not going to read more of these.