A review by pghreader
The Alpine Advocate: An Emma Lord Mystery by Mary Daheim

1.0

This book is what I consider unreadable. The grammar is awful from the first page. I made it through one chapter before moving on to something else.

”“The town thrived, if that’s the word, from the pre-World War I era until the Depression when it should have folded and disappeared, like other railroad semaphore spots along the old Great Northern route, such as Tonga and Korea.”

What is she even trying to say? Why do we care about Euro-Asian railroads in Seattle?

“Orientals” is not a term used to describe Chinese immigrants. I am normally not offended by the misuse- but this is a journalist who knows that being PC is critical.

I have a fondness for any author willing to seek out obscure words, but shudder when the author of a book written at a 4-6th grade level intersperses these words at random. It’s unnecessary and obvious. This actually stops the reader’s flow and may cause them to misunderstand or look up the words.

I was disappointed in this book, because it was exactly what I was looking for. I won’t be finishing the series, nor could I recommend it to another reader.