Reviews

Books Can Be Deceiving by Jenn McKinlay

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bioniclib's review against another edition

3.0

Being a librarian it was fun to see the idiosyncrasies of the job on display; the pairing people with their favorite authors, the public internet access, and that time-honored threat "I'm a taxpayer, I pay your salary!" I like anything that highlights libraries. As far as the story itself goes, well, I liked that as well.

It wasn't a mind-bending mystery not was is a macabre one. I believe this genre is called "Cozy Mystery". The characters are fun but aren't all that complex. Yet, sometimes that hits the spot. The world building was solid, I could vividly see the sleepy little port town. It was, well, it was cozy. The pace was leisurely even though most of the chapters were cliffhangers.

One little critique, though: there was at least one instance of someone that wasn't in the scene asking a question about something those in the scene asked as a way of being introduced. It's a good device, but I felt it was overused.

If you're a fan of libraries (and why wouldn't you be?) you'll find this to be a good read. If you're fan of cozy mysteries, with nary a bad word and the bloody scenes happen off the page, this will be to your liking also.

stephs_bookshelf's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

impalalove's review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

sadeyes2's review against another edition

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4.0

librarianinperiwinkle's review against another edition

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2.0

Lindsay Norris is the director of a small town public library. Her best friend Beth is the children's librarian. Beth has spent the past five years dating a famous picture book author/illustrator who is a total jerk, and she breaks up with him the night before discovering he has plagiarized her work on a picture book she wrote and would like to get published. When she and Lindsay go to confront him, they discover he has already had a fatal confrontation with someone else, but the town's police chief is convinced he need look no further than the angry ex-girlfriend to close this murder case. Lindsay refuses to let her best friend be railroaded and sets out to solve the crime herself.

My favorite thing about this book were the snippets of library life--very very brief mentions of quirky questions and patrons. As a reference librarian, I can totally identify with those. Unfortunately, the characters and much of the story felt pretty one-dimensional and formulaic. It wasn't a terrible book. I just really wanted to like it more than I did, and I was hampered by the stereotypical characterizations and idiotic actions of the narrator, especially by the end of the novel. I mean, seriously, someone breaks into your apartment in the middle of the night, and once you chase the person out, you don't pick up the phone and call the detective?! Yeah, I can see not calling the idiotic chief of police, but to not pull out the intelligent detective's business card, even the next morning?? Oy.

I'm also confused by something that happened at the crucial climactic moment, but as talking about it would be even more spoiler-ish than my previous complaint, I will just rant to my mom, who read the book before she gave it to me. (Standard practice in our family.)

For readers' advisors: story doorway. No sex, on-screen violence, or swearing.