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.
girlonthecsaw's review against another edition
4.0
Excellent debut! I was invested by the end of chapter one. The characters are believable and the development of their relationships was fun. I enjoy any book related cozy but the reading selection tie-in to the murder is a clever, fresh approach. I already bought the next two installments in the series.
bookish_yelena11's review against another edition
5.0
This, this is what a cozy mystery is supposed to be. From the first sentence I was hooked, and I actually didn’t guess the ending. Fun characters that kept your interest plus Agatha Christie references done they way the should be. I don’t dish out 5 stars easily or often, but this one definitely earned it!
diannel_04's review against another edition
3.0
Chandra, Kate and Bea are neighbours who ae at each others throats for silly neighbour complaints. A frustrated judge sees the perfect way to get them to work together, and to save the funding for the village library, he orders them to form a book club. The League of Literary Ladies is born. Luella joins them because she loves to read and off we go.
The first book the ladies read is Murder on the Orient Express. In the midst of a blizzard they make their way, separately, to the new Chinese restaurant in town, you guessed it, The Orient Express. There they find the owner murdered.
This and the blizzard bring all the ladies together along with other sundry characters, most of whom had a reason to want Peter Chan dead.
My main quibble with this book is that there is no way I believe that someone as supposedly worldly and New York as Bea did not pick up that one of her characters was a man in drag. Sorry but even RuPaul doesn't do it that well.
I thought this book was fun and want to read the next in the series.
The first book the ladies read is Murder on the Orient Express. In the midst of a blizzard they make their way, separately, to the new Chinese restaurant in town, you guessed it, The Orient Express. There they find the owner murdered.
This and the blizzard bring all the ladies together along with other sundry characters, most of whom had a reason to want Peter Chan dead.
My main quibble with this book is that there is no way I believe that someone as supposedly worldly and New York as Bea did not pick up that one of her characters was a man in drag. Sorry but even RuPaul doesn't do it that well.
I thought this book was fun and want to read the next in the series.
quietjenn's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted this to be slightly better than it actually was, although it's a pretty promising First in a Series and I'll probably look for others. It probably didn't help that one of the "suspects" motivation was exactly the same situation as in another cozy that I just read. Perils of the genre, I suppose (or of not breaking one's reading of cozies up a little more).
gotoboston's review
4.0
This was surprisingly more fun than I was expecting. I loved that this was about a group of women solving a mystery together through mostly just talking things out and being nosy. And using copious amounts of literary tropes.
Overall, really cute. And I'm super curious about our main character. I want to know more about her life in New York. I'll definitely be continuing the series.
Overall, really cute. And I'm super curious about our main character. I want to know more about her life in New York. I'll definitely be continuing the series.
lunifur's review against another edition
5.0
This is an absolutely hilarious start to the series. I actually read And Then There Were Nuns before this, but I am so glad that I decided to read this one. All of the comparing the murder to Murder on the Orient Express is hilarious, especially the imitating Poirot bits. I absolutely loved seeing Bea, Kate, and Chandra try to get along. Or at least try not to bicker constantly.