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cj_mo_2222's review
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The main character, Claire Harris, owns a candle shop in a small English village. I was disappointed that there weren't more scenes in the candle shop. This book is the 4th in the series, but the only one I've read so maybe others do take place there. In this book, a sci-fi convention comes to town. It's not really Claire's thing, but she accompanies her friend Damon and ends up investigating a crime. It took me a while to get to know who all the main characters were, so again I think I would have enjoyed the book more if I had read others in the series. However, it was still a fun, light cozy mystery and I enjoyed the ending in terms of the case and for a potential love interest for Claire.
ljwrites85's review
5.0
I'm slowly but surely catching up with this series.
This is the fourth book in this series, but I would highly recommend that you read the other books first as it usually gives a bit of a spoiler for the previous book.
An old board game that has been sitting in Claire's attic since the eighties turns out to be a word-of-mouth hit in the sci-fi community, much to her nerdy best friend Damon's delight. He ropes into attending a sci-fi convention for his birthday, asking her to dress up as one of the characters from the board game, along with friends he met online who also love the game. It's not her cup of tea, but she still goes for her friend. The celebration quickly turns into a nightmare when one of Damon's friends, Taron, is found stabbed. Claire is thrust into Damon's fractured friend group and must find out who stabbed Taron before anyone else gets hurt.
The setting for this book was very original. I haven't seen many mysteries, unless they've been on TV, that have a sci-fi convention as a backdrop. I also loved the fact it was cleverly combined with the mystery.
Claire was her usual lovable self, using logic and determination to solve the case. It was nice to see that she's getting a bit of romance on the side of solving these mysteries too.
I enjoyed the fact that the whodunnit completely stumped me in this book, almost until the end!
This series really is a must if you love British cozy mysteries!
This is the fourth book in this series, but I would highly recommend that you read the other books first as it usually gives a bit of a spoiler for the previous book.
An old board game that has been sitting in Claire's attic since the eighties turns out to be a word-of-mouth hit in the sci-fi community, much to her nerdy best friend Damon's delight. He ropes into attending a sci-fi convention for his birthday, asking her to dress up as one of the characters from the board game, along with friends he met online who also love the game. It's not her cup of tea, but she still goes for her friend. The celebration quickly turns into a nightmare when one of Damon's friends, Taron, is found stabbed. Claire is thrust into Damon's fractured friend group and must find out who stabbed Taron before anyone else gets hurt.
The setting for this book was very original. I haven't seen many mysteries, unless they've been on TV, that have a sci-fi convention as a backdrop. I also loved the fact it was cleverly combined with the mystery.
Claire was her usual lovable self, using logic and determination to solve the case. It was nice to see that she's getting a bit of romance on the side of solving these mysteries too.
I enjoyed the fact that the whodunnit completely stumped me in this book, almost until the end!
This series really is a must if you love British cozy mysteries!
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