Book Review: Harm Not the Earth by Liz Milliron (Laurel Highlands Mysteries #4)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong mystery and characters who are growing

Cons: Some timeline issues that bugged me

The Bottom Line:

Body near River

Inquires under radar

Characters growing

Murder of Environmental Activists

While it can be frustrating to start a series when there are already multiple books published, the joy comes from being able to revisit the characters again soon after finishing the previous entry. That’s how I felt when I sat down to enjoy Harm Not the Earth, the fourth in Liz Milliron’s Laurel Highlands Mysteries. 

The series features an unlikely duo. Jim Duncan is a Pennsylvania State Trooper who has been given the latitude to pursue some of the cases he encounters while on patrol. Meanwhile, Sally Castle is an Assistant Public Defender. Not only are the duo friends who have solved some cases together, they have also recently started dating, which can make things tricky when their personal and professional lives collide. 

As this book opens, Jim and Sally follow up on a report and find a dead body in their off hours. Since the death is outside of Jim’s normal patrol area, the man who takes on the case doesn’t welcome his help. But Jim becomes even more determined to figure out what is going on when he realizes he knew the victim, having volunteered with his environmental organization. Then a second victim turns up. Sally jumps in to help, hoping to make sure things are resolved before Jim gets into too much trouble. Can they determine what is going on?

While I didn’t know who the victim would be when I picked up the book, I wasn’t surprised when the potential motives included environmental issues. The title of the book was a pretty big clue. I was very happy with how it was handled. We didn’t get lectures, and most of the characters professed to have a balanced view of things - wanting to use resources or let others enjoy without destroying nature. Of course, some might be lying and there is disagreement over what the best ideas are. This is a mystery, after all. But, again, we don’t get lectures, and this isn’t the only motive Jim and Sally uncover. 

All this to say the plot kept me engaged. We had some good, well-developed suspects and a few good twists that took me by surprise. I’d zeroed in on the culprit a little early, but not too early, and I was still intrigued to see if I was right and how they were going to prove it. 

Unfortunately, there were some timeline snags in this book. Nothing that impacted the logic of the story, but still things that bugged this timeline guy. 

This isn’t a cozy, and the content is a little beyond that sub-genre as a result. But as long as you keep that in mind, you’ll be fine. 

Since Jim and Sally have just started dating, they are still figuring out their relationship and how their professional lives are going to impact it. I appreciated the natural progression of things here and how that built on the previous book. And they both face some professional decisions, which I also enjoyed watching them work through. 

I already have the next in this series waiting for me to pick it up. I’m looking forward to seeing where the characters go after Harm Not the Earth. 

Enjoy the rest of the Laurel Highlands Mysteries. 

Movie Review: Best Served Cold - A Hannah Swensen Mystery

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Creative mystery for Hannah to solve

Cons: A few low budget moments

The Bottom Line:

Missing attorney

And case of fraud at trial

In this fun movie

“Maybe It’s a Mannequin.”  “It’s Never a Mannequin”

We’ve gotten two Hannah Swensen mystery movies in fairly quick succession on Hallmark this year.  Two months after we last checked in with them, we get Best Served Cold.  And yes, this is another fun mystery in the franchise.

After a brief prologue from six weeks ago, we check in with the characters as Hannah’s boyfriend, district attorney Chad Norton (Victor Webster), has just been given a big case.  The pawn shop in town was selling fake gold coins, and he’s prosecuting the owners.  He’s taken on the case at the last minute since the attorney assigned to it, Lucas, has gone missing. 

Hannah (Alison Sweeney) thinks something fishy is going on, so she starts trying to find Lucas.  Instead, she finds a dead body.  How will it impact the case?

This book is theoretically based on Triple Chocolate Cheesecake Murder, one of the more recent entries in the novel series.  I say theoretically because I don’t remember any of these elements in the book.  Granted, it has been five years since I read it.  But the teasers for the book don’t sound like anything in this movie.  As an aside, I think Hannah’s opening monologue explains a lot of what went wrong the one time I tried to make the title dessert.

But that’s no criticism of the mystery we got here.  I found it very creative and different in a good way.  I was engaged the entire way through, and I loved how the movie ended.  Very creative and well done if implausible in real life.

Hannah works with her mother, Delores (Barbara Niven) several times, and she gets some scenes to shine.  The rest of the usuals get only a very supporting part here, and there are some we don’t see.  I feel like we are dealing with some budget issues with these movies at this point, but I could be wrong.  While I missed seeing more of the regulars, I did like the story we got.

Yes, this is a Hallmark movie, so we get more of the low budget issues, but they are kept to a minimum.  Most of the acting and writing are well done.  Alison Sweeney once again wrote this movie, as she’s done with the last several.  I’m sure that’s one reason the dialogue is so strong.

Best Served Cold is another hot movie in the Hannah Swensen franchise.  Fans will be delighted watching these characters back in action.

Book Review: Reckoning at the Riviera Royale by P.J. Fitzsimmons (Anty Boisjoly Mysteries #5)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Anty, laughs, and a puzzling mystery

Cons: Sometimes the humor could be toned down a little

The Bottom Line:

Clearing big suspect

Circus of alternatives

Laughs and clues combine

The Elephant in the Case

I juggle various series and sometimes that means I don’t get back to series as quickly as I’d like to. But when I sat down to read Reckoning at the Riviera Royale, I was already smiling. This being the fifth Anty Boisjoly Mystery from P.J. Fitzsimmons, it was exactly the fun locked room case I was expecting. 

Anty is a man in the upper classes in British society in 1929. He’s recently found himself getting involved in some rather impossible crimes and finding his way to the solution. All of that is served with a heavy dose of dry wit since these books are accurately described as a cross between P.G. Wodehouse and Dorothy L. Sayer. 

This book finds Anty off to the French Riviera at the invitation of his mother. They have a strained relationship, but Anty goes because he thinks this will be a good chance to confront his mother over a nagging question about his father’s death.

But when he arrives, he discovers there’s been a more recent death. There’s a floating circus on the island where Anty is, but the headliner has been killed, trampled to death by his elephant. The animal is set to be executed for this crime, but Anty isn’t buying it. Can he find the real culprit in time to spare the beast?

While this is the wildest case Anty has tackled yet (pun always intended), it feels perfectly at home in the series.  And, yes, the story takes the mystery completely seriously.  Anty is working to solve a real crime with real motives, no matter how outlandish the main suspect might seem.  The solution fits perfectly with this series, and I found it satisfying.

This series has very few returning characters.  In addition to Anty, there’s his valet, Vickers, who is a character all by himself.  Since this book is set in France, we don’t see the inspector that Anty has dealt with in the past, making it just these two.  The series isn’t strong on story arcs, meaning you can read the books in any order.  I pick up this series because I enjoy Anty’s antics and the way he pulls out solutions to impossible crimes.

Now, this isn’t the say the characters are bad.  They are created for their comedic abilities, but they still feel real for this universe.  And they make me care about the outcome while keeping me confused as to who might have done it.

Have you gotten the feeling that the comedy is front and center with this series?  Because it most definitely is.  At times, I do feel like it is a little too clever for its own good, but most of the time, I’m laughing at the wit and word play.

If you are looking for something that is equal parts locked room mystery and comedy, you need to give this series a try.  Reckoning at the Riviera Royale is a circus in the best way possible.

Laugh and puzzle over the rest of the Anty Boisjoly Mysteries.

Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Action and acting

Cons: Pacing in mostly predictable story

The Bottom Line:

Guardians are back

Fighting to save one of them

Predictable film

Quest to Save Rocket

Somewhere along the way, I got behind on Marvel movies again (and newer movies in general).  Part of it is the cable movies I’ve been watching.  But part of it is pure laziness.  I wasn’t going to see stuff in the theater and I wasn’t even trying to catch it on streaming.  But I’m trying to catch up now.  We’ll see how long it lasts, right?

All of that to say that I finally sat down to watch Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3.  And I may have found another reason why I let myself get behind.

When this movie opens, it finds the Guardians on a planet, trying to recover from a recent, devastating loss that has hit their leader, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), especially hard.  But when an outside force attacks, leaving Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) fighting for his life, Peter and the rest jump into action to try to find a way to save him.  But the only way forward is going to put them on the radar of a truly evil man.  Will this mission cost all of them their lives?

As I was watching this movie, the biggest thing I struggled with was the fact that I didn’t care.  I mean, you know where the story is going to go, the only question is the how.  Now, I will confess that a couple of things along the way did surprise me, but most of the big questions fell into this predictability.

It also didn’t help that we had extended flashbacks finally filling us in on how Rocket became the racoon we all know and love.  I will give them this, it was definitely relevant to this story.  But I still felt like we could have gotten that same information in less time.  Considering the movie is two and a half hours long, finding something to leave on the cutting room floor would have been nice.  Then again, it wouldn’t have given Bradley Cooper as much to voice in the movie.  I feel like one purpose of these many flashback scenes was to show how truly evil the villain was, but we got that from the modern storyline.  We really didn’t need to devote as much time to the flashbacks as we got.

I think another part of the problem was that we just had too much randomness in the film.  Some of the stops along the way felt weird just to be weird.  Maybe these stops served a purpose, but it just felt like a chance to visit another alien planet.

Now, I will give the film this – the effects looked good to me.  Sadly, we can’t always say that about modern special effects.  And the acting was all good.

And this isn’t to say that the film was bad.  I did get drawn in.  I found the action scenes lots of fun.  And a few moments of humor made me smile and chuckle.  But it wasn’t enough to really make me feel like I’ve missed anything by waiting this long to watch the movie.

Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 definitely continues the struggles that Mavel has had in the post Endgame era.  It’s not that this is a bad film.  But I’m also not sorry I haven’t watched it sooner.

May 17th's Sunday/Monday Post

Welcome to this week's Sunday/Monday Post, where I will be linking up to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
Mailbox Monday
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Another quiet week around here.  Nothing outside of work.  The temps have been mostly in the 70's, which is pretty standard for this time of the year, to be honest.  As much as I'm ready for summer heat, this is what we often get.

The exception to that was Saturday, when I went down to Knott's Berry Farm.  I hadn't been in decades (like since I was a kid).  It's included with my season pass for Six Flags.  I was going to go last year and never got around to it, but with a free weekend and perfect temps, I headed down this weekend.

It was definitely more crowded than I was expecting.  And I'm not sure how trustworthy their line estimates are.  But I have fun.  I hit three of the biggest coasters there.  But two of them were at the end of the day, and one was the first thing I did when I got there.  It was a little weird being at a theme park I'm not super familiar with since I usually go to Disneyland or Six Flags Magic Mountain, both of which I know extremely well.  I might have done more walking/exploring than anything else, especially when I would turn somewhere and go "Now, what's down here?"  I was in a long line when the park closed, so I got home early Sunday morning.  I should be in bed by now, so shall we get to it?

Joke of the Week:

What happens when you throw books into the ocean?

You get a title wave.

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: The Flash

Tuesday - Book Review: Murder, She Wrote - Murder Most Trivial by Jessica Fletcher and Barbara Early

Wednesday - Movie Review: Avatar - The Way of Water

Thursday - Book Review: Murder on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood

Friday - Friday Post featuring Reckoning at the Riviera Royale

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3

Tuesday - Book Review: Reckoning at the Riviera Royale by P.J. Fitzsimmons

Wednesday - Movie Review: Best Served Cold - A Hannah Swensen Mystery

Thursday - Book Review: Harm Not the Earth by Liz Milliron

Friday - Friday Post featuring My Nightmare is Yours

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

Strap in.  I've been very bad this week buying Kindle sale books.  (Or good, if you like to get books at a steal.)

Up first is Killer Brownies, which had just crossed my radar.  A culinary cozy set on the California coast?  I'm there.  This is the first in a series from Amelia Pine.  Looks like it is currently still on sale, but no idea how long it will be 99 cents.

Sadly, this next isn't on sale still.  Crooked Lane doesn't seem to leave their books on sale for very long.  Anyway, I've heard great things about A Field Guide to Murder by Michelle L. Cullen.  The main character is a retired man who tries to find out what happened to his neighbor, helped by his caretaker.  Sounds like it could be lots of un.

Outline for Murder by Anthony J. Pucci has been on my radar for a little while.  The main character is a high school English teacher.  It came out a while ago, so if I like it, I've got quite a few more books to go.  As of my typing this, it looks like it is still free, but I don't know how much longer that will last.

I was looking at the attendees at a convention this week, and one author I hadn't heard of before was Kim Griswell.  Her series is set along the Oregon coast, which caught my attention.  I don't find as many cozies set on the west coast to begin with, and Oregon and Washington are usually overlooked.  And, since the first book was 99 cents, I decided to give it a shot.  Again, as of right now, Murder at Last Chance Cove is currently still on sale, but no idea how long that will last.

Finally comes On the Rocks by Mia Gold.  I got this one from author Julie Mulhern's weekly freebie newsletter.  A bartender in the Bahamas as the main character was pretty much all it took to get me to download it.  I mean, at free, it's risk free, right?

What I'm Currently Reading:

Heading to a theme park by myself.  You can guess what my plan to do in line was, right?  I read on the Kindle app on my phone.  Of course, to do that, I will be pushing things around a little.  Jumping into the gap will be Hot Stuff by Don Bruns.  It's book six in a series about two twenty-something best friends who get dragged into cases.  There are seven in the series, so I'm hoping to finish it this year.  

I have a feeling by Monday, I will be working on One Final Turn by Ashley Weaver.  I just talked about getting this book last week.  I told you I was planning to read it soon!  I'm looking forward to seeing how this series about a lock picker in London during World War II ends.

Have a great week!

May 16th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Just one show this week.  Feels a little weird to be saying that in May since I'm still used to this being sweeps month, which doesn't seem to be the case any more.  Anyway....

Survivor – I was expecting two people to go home tonight, so I was surprised when Jeff didn’t announce it was going to happen.  But then when I realized how early they were going to tribal, it made sense.  Essentially, we had two episodes.  Neither person going home was too big a surprise.  Rick was all over the place, which is going to drive people crazy.  And Cirie would have been too hard to beat.  Same argument as Tiff.  I suspect Rizzo makes it to the end, unfortunately.  But I don’t think he’s going to win.  We’ll find out next week, I guess.

May 15th's Friday Post

We've made it through another week!  Time for this week's Friday Post, where I will be linking up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

This week, my teasers for the first three will be coming from Reckoning at the Riviera Royale by P.J. Fitzsimmons.

This is the fifth book in a series set in 1929.  And the first time we are leaving England behind for the French Riviera.  Yes, it's a mystery series, but it is highly comedic as well.  And I think these quotes really capture the tone of the book.

Here's how it begins:

It had been a little over a year since I’d seen my mother and, I assumed at the time, slightly longer since she’d last committed murder.

That's a beginning that will capture your attention, right?

Meanwhile, at 56% into the ebook, we find this quote:

“It’s not stealing, Mister Boisjoly…” claimed Mimpley.

“...it’s only cheating,” completed Biddicomb.

“You do yourselves a disservice, ladies,” I countered. “It’s both.”

I always enjoy this series, and this book was no exception.  I'll have my full review up on Tuesday, so I hope you'll come back to read it.

For now, let's move on to this week's Book Blogger Hop.  The question is:

Are you team dog-eared pages or strictly no creases? 

I bet if you looked at most of my books, you couldn't tell which ones I'd read and which ones I hadn't.  I don't bend spines back.  I don't dog-ear pages.  I don't mind buying a used book that is clearly used, but anything I buy new, I try to keep in as good as shape as I can for as long as I can.

Have a great weekend!

Book Review: Murder on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood (Marlow Murder Club #4)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: The main characters in an entertaining mystery

Cons: Climax a bit of a stretch

The Bottom Line:

Deadly River cruise

Trip track down the killer

Play adding to fun

Murder is Dramatic

It wasn’t conscious at the beginning of the year, but I seem to be focusing on reading series I’ve already started this year instead of being distracted by every shiny new book that comes along. That’s one reason why I returned to Robert Thorogood’s Marlow Murder Club for their fourth case - Murder on the Marlow Belle. 

The first book showed us how these three women formed an unlikely friendship over a string of murders in the town of Marlow. There’s Judith Potts, an older woman who generally likes to be alone constructing crossword puzzles. There’s Becks Starling, the vicar’s wife. And there’s Susie Harris, dog walker and host of a local radio program. This is now the fourth time they’ve found themselves looking into a suspicious death in their community. 

This time, Verity Beresford seeks out Judith. Verity’s husband, Oliver, never returned from the maiden voyage of the Marlow Belle. The boat had been rented by the Marlow Amateur Dramatic Society, which Oliver heads. But then Oliver’s body turns up, and Judith can’t help but wonder if Verity was trying to divert suspicion from herself by asking for help. Can Judith and her friends figure out what really happened?

Yes, Judith is the real star of the books, although each of the ladies contribute a little toward the solution, as always. I did feel that Susie took more of a back seat in this book, while Becks does get a subplot that allows her to shine. Still, their personalities come through the page, and I can’t help but laugh at their antics and conversations. 

On the other hand, I am bugged by some of the comments that seemed to lean toward male bashing. I’m not sure if they were intended as a joke or not, but they certainly didn’t come across that way. 

The mystery was good. The suspects were strong and there were enough twists to keep me guessing. However, I found the climax a bit of a stretch. It does makes sense, at least. 

Since the victim was part of the local drama society, we spent some time behind the scenes at their current production. As a fan of the stage, I had a lot of fun reading about that. 

And that ending? I’m glad the next is due here in the states in a couple of months. 

Murder on the Marlow Belle might not be the strongest mystery in the series, but it is still fun. Fans of these ladies will still be glad they read it. 

Enjoy the rest of the Marlow Murder Club novels. 

Movie Review: Avatar - The Way of Water

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Visuals are cool

Cons: Movie is slow and relies too much of the cool visuals

The Bottom Line:

The old threat returns

Movie too long and plodding

Not a much watch film

Sequel Does Little to Change My Mind on the Franchise

I wasn’t one of those who feel under the spell of the original Avatar.  I didn’t watch it in theaters and waited until I could record it on TV.  I wasn’t planning to watch the first sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, but when I spotted in on TV, I changed my mind.  It did little to change my mind on the franchise, however.

For this movie, we are back on the planet Pandora.  Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) has fully embraced his new life living with the Na’vi.  He and his wife, Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) have several children, and he is happy. 

That is, until the old commanders return to the planet.  Earth is still trying to colonize it.  But the leader is a clone of Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), and he is out to personally get Jake.  So Jake takes his family and flees to the islands.  Will they make their new realm their home?  Or will the Sea People reject them?  What will happen when Miles tracks him down?

Now, I fully admit that part of my issue with the film was the fact that it had been five years since I saw the original.  I was hazy on the details of the characters and their relationships.  That backstory might have helped me connect with what happened here.

But that wasn’t the only issue.

Most of the characters are blue aliens brought to life by motion capture CGI.  It might just be me, but I have a hard time telling them all apart.  When you are spending much of the film going “Wait, is that…?” it makes caring about the outcome harder.

Not that I’m blaming the actors.  They do a good enough job of bringing their characters to life.

There is a lot of debate right now about villains.  Do they need backstory, especially something that shows how they became evil?  While I subscribe to the view that we don’t, I really felt like the villains in this film were very one dimensional.  I had to wonder why everyone was going along with some of what they were being told to do.  There just seemed so little point.  So, some backstory here would definitely have helped.

Visually, the movie looks good.  It’s a lot of CGI.  I’d say the movie is more animated than real.  Most of it looks great, including the fanciful sea creatures we meet along the way.  Yeah, my eye starts to get more critical the further I go, but even so, there are some shots that are just outstanding.

But here’s the biggest issue I have with the movie.  It’s long.  Too long.  The movie clocks in at over 3 hours, and I could easily get 30 minutes cut without too much effort.  There’s an entire sub-plot that could have been trimmed.  And, I’m sure some other cuts could have been made to tighten things.  Having said that, there is a lot going on here, story wise.  It is complex, so trimming things further might have meant a major rewrite.  It certainly does seem like we have one more storyline than we need, especially when things slow down in the middle.

Yes, I’ll probably wind up watching the third Avatar movie at some point.  But I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to watch it.  The Way of Water has too many flaws to make me want to jump right into more of the franchise.

Book Review: Murder Most Trivial by Jessica Fletcher and Barbara Early (Murder She Wrote #63)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Familiar faces in a fun mystery

Cons: Pacing a little off early on

The Bottom Line:

Filming a game show

Hunting a killer on set

Characters we love

Can Jessica Answer the Killer Question Correctly?

My favorite episodes of Murder, She Wrote were always the ones set in Cabot Cove because I enjoyed the relationships that Jessica Fletcher had with her friends, but especially Seth Hazlitt and Mort Metzger. So, seeing that they were going to play a starring role in Murder Most Trivial, even if the book takes our characters to Los Angeles, made me anxious to read it.

When Jessica, Seth, Mort, and Mort’s wife, Maureen, take part in a trivia contest at the grand opening of an Irish themed pub in Cabot Cove, they never expect to win, much less that the prize will be a trip to Los Angeles to be contestants on Trivia Pub Live, a new live trivia game show. However, things take a deadly turn when one of the crew is found dead after the first day of tapping. Will the team be able to find a killer and stay in the competition?

The main mystery takes a little while to get going, but the time is spent on a few subplots and setting up the main mystery. Once the mystery gets going, the book kicks into high gear, and I was never disappointed. There are plenty of suspects and lots going on, which means everyone has to sort through what is and isn’t important to solving the mystery. I was satisfied with the resolution to the mystery. And I liked how the subplots played out as well. 

We really do get lots of the other Cabot Cove characters in this book, and I enjoyed getting to see Seth and Mort off the clock. Well, mostly off the clock since they were unofficially getting involved in the case. I even laughed a couple of times at their interactions. 

And those aren’t the only familiar faces we see. We also get one of Jessica’s nieces and her husband. I immediately remember who they were, too, which made it extra fun. 

There are a lot of suspects here, but I was able to keep them straight. Some come alive more than others, but that’s mostly a factor of how much page time they get. 

We also get a tour of Los Angeles via filming locations for various mystery TV shows. I’ve got to admit, I haven’t sought many of these places out, so I enjoyed this tourism via the page in my local area. Don’t worry, these scenes lead into discussions of the happenings in the mystery so they don’t slow things down. 

Once again, we are treated to a fun mystery with a fantastic sleuth. Fans of the show or the books will enjoy Murder Most Trivial. 

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.