Broken Debut
My grandma did ceramics for years, and I even joined her for a few months. With that connection, I was immediately interested when I spotted Kilned at the Ceramic Shop by Donna Clancy last year. I had to give it a chance. I should have passed.
Tammy Wright is returning to her hometown of Braddock, Maine, to help her aunt with her ceramics shop. It’s only supposed to be for the summer, but Tammy is lucky that as a bestselling mystery author, she can work from anywhere so even a few months isn’t really disrupting her life.
She’s only been in town for a few hours when she learns that her aunt is being harassed by one real estate agent who wants to buy her shop to tear it down and turn it into condos. Since Clara isn’t interested in selling, he’s getting nasty. But neither are expecting a dead body in the shop. The next day, someone vanishes. Can Tammy figure out what is going on?
It’s been decades since I did any ceramics, and I realize that ceramics isn’t the hook for this cozy series. These are the Braddock Mysteries, after all. Having said that, the details of the ceramics felt right to me. I was smiling as I read those scenes.
However, I struggled with much of the rest of the book. It starts with the writing, which was poor. There was some poor grammar (and yes, I realize I probably shouldn’t be criticizing that myself). But there were lots of other examples of just weak storytelling.
The mystery was decent, although events substituted for true plot advancement, leaving the pacing off. Then, things were resolved in a rush at the end.
It’s a shame because there is some promise with the characters. Yes, they needed some development to become truly real people, but I did like them.
I’ve often said that I felt like I was reading a first draft, and this is another case where that is true. There is certainly promise here, but it needed some more polish before it was published.
It’s a shame I didn’t enjoy Kilned at the Ceramic Shop more. I’ve seen others that liked it, but I won’t be moving on with the series.
That's a shame. Amber and I took a ceramics class last year, so the title grabbed my attention. Looks like I should maybe just pass on it.
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