Book Review: Biscuits and Slashed Browns by Maddie Day (Country Store Mysteries #4)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong mystery, characters, and setting

Cons: One element that was fortunately dropped early on

The Bottom Line:

Maple festival

Brings murder to town.  Book filled

With fun, charm, puzzle

Maple Festival Brings a Killer Out of the Woodwork

While I love breakfast foods in general, one reason is that I love maple syrup.  It fits so well with so many different breakfast foods, too.  So, when I heard the premise of this book, I immediately thought a maple syrup festival makes a great setting for an entry in the Country Store Mysteries, and Biscuits and Slashed Browns proved me right.

Every March, Brown County, Indiana, hosts a maple syrup festival, and this year, Robbie Jordan is jumping at the opportunity to get some added publicity for her store.  Pans ‘n Pancakes is hosting a maple syrup cooking competition, and Robbie is hoping her maple syrup biscuits will be a hit.  However, there is drama with one of the judges.  Warren Connolly is in town for the parallel academic conference, but despite his knowledge of maple syrup, he is anything but sweet.  In fact, he has made multiple enemies.

The morning after the contest, Dr. Connolly turns up dead.  As the investigation beings, the police begin to question a chef friend of Robbie’s.  Then a local maple syrup farmer goes missing.  What is happening?  Can Robbie find the truth before something else happens?

I must say, this book got off to a bit of a rocky start.  When we are first introduced to the victim, it quickly comes up that Dr. Connolly is a climate change denier.  Honestly, I was afraid that might mean we’d be up for lectures on global warming.  While it was mentioned again a time or two and we get a mini lecture, that was dropped after the first couple of chapters.

In fact, even the suspects who brought that up quickly developed into characters with other motives for wanting Dr. Connolly dead.  He wasn’t a nice guy at all, so there are plenty of suspects.  There’s so much going on that there was never a dull moment, and I was kept guessing until we reached the logical and suspenseful climax.

I love this series because I love the setting and the cast of characters.  They were in fine form here, although one of my favorites was sidelined.  Still, I hardly missed her since the rest entertained like always.  As I mention, the suspects are strong, and I have a feeling we might have met a new series regular or two here.

And the book would not be complete without recipes.  We get five here, everything from maple curry biscuits to chocolate biscotti and roasted garlic hummus.  If your mouth isn’t already watering from reading the book, these will definitely put you over the edge.

This series continues to give us puzzling mysteries filled with delightful characters and a charming setting – exactly what a cozy mystery should have.  Pick up Biscuits and Slashed Browns today and get lost in the fun.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Country Store Mysteries.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

Check out the rest of the stops of the Biscuits and Slashed Browns tour.

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Ornament Review: Lego Batman - 2017 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Action shot of Lego Batman, even captures personality

Cons: Very black, so blends into tree (but this is Batman)

The Bottom Line:

Action ornament

Captures personality

Of Lego Batman

He is Batman for Your Tree

Of the three Lego movies that have hit the big screen, The Lego Batman Movie is by far my favorite, so when I saw that Hallmark was releasing a Lego Batman ornament in 2017, I knew I had to buy it.

We’ve caught Batman in action, which is how you should catch superheroes.  He’s got his right leg out and his left arm up with a batterang all ready to throw at some villain.  His right arm is out, and with the look on his face, it almost looks like he’s winking at someone off to the side as he saves the day.  That certainly fits the personality of the Lego version of this character.  He’s wearing a black cape that is flowing out behind him.

Unlike previous Lego ornaments, Batman isn’t standing on a Lego block.  However, his feet actually provide enough of a base that he will stand.  I was surprised when I saw that since he is in mid-step.  If he gets bumped, he’d tip over fairly easily, so you would want to make sure he is somewhere where that won’t happen if you set him out, but it is an option for displaying him.

Of course, an ornament is designed to be hung, and Lego Batman is no exception.  You’ll find the ring for hanging him on the back of his head.  He tips forward ever so slightly, but since this is a character in action, it’s hard to tell.  Really, when you go to hang him, you’ll be quite happy with how he looks.

And I’m happy with him overall.  While I don’t have very many superheroes in my ornament collection, I just had to get this one.  He does blend into the tree a bit since he’s almost all black, the exception being his logo and his utility belt.  But this is Batman.  He’s supposed to be all black, so it’s hard to complain too loudly about that.  The way they captured his personality is so much fun.  I can’t imagine a better ornament.

Lego Batman appeals to so many different audiences, it’s no surprise the ornament proved to be popular in 2017.  I’m glad I snagged my copy, and if you are interested, I suggest you snag yours soon.

Original Price: $15.95

Book Review: Too Big to Die by Sue Ann Jaffarian (Odelia Grey #12)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Great characters, fast moving mystery

Cons: None

The Bottom Line:

An act of kindness

Embroil in fast moving case

Will delight her fans

Odelia Gets Caught in a Big Case

Right place, wrong time.  You hear that phrase every so often, but it couldn’t be truer than in Too Big to Die, the twelfth Odelia Grey mystery.  It’s a wild ride that fans of the series will love.

Odelia and her husband Greg are out for a Saturday of running errands when they hear a dog trapped in a car.  Given that this is in the middle of a summer heat wave, the dog is in danger of dying from the heat.  Odelia and Greg, with the help of a man who happens to be walking by, break the car window and rescue the dog just as the owner shows up.  The owner happens to be Marla Kingston, former reality TV star turned wife of a rich and powerful businessman.

Unfortunately, Marla’s husband is a client of Odelia’s law firm, and he demands Odelia be fired when he finds out.  Then the man who helped Odelia and Greg is shot just outside of Greg’s business.  What have they stumbled into?

As any fan of the series will tell you, they’ve found another fast-moving case with plenty of twists and turns.  I never wanted to put the book down because I had to know what was going to happen next.  And since this book hits close to home for Odelia, the book has an extra pull to it.  She manages to uncover quite a few secrets before she puts all the pieces together.

One of the things Odelia uncovers involves a series regular’s past.  And yes, I’m being vague on purpose here.  Naturally, Odelia spends some time working on that aspect of the case.  If you jumped into the series here, you might not care as much.  However, long time fans of the series, and I am definitely one of them, will only find it more motivation to find out how this part of the book plays out.

Over the course of the series, we’ve gotten quite a group of series regulars, which means that Odelia seems to rotate sidekicks.  This time, her best friend Zee is along for the ride at times.  I always get a kick out of the two of them together.  Other regulars make appearances that I enjoyed.  The characters introduced for this story make a strong impression as well.

Time spent with Odelia is always enjoyable, and Too Big to Die is no exception.  The pages flew by all too quickly.  If you haven’t met Odelia yet, you really need to fix that today.

Looking for more?  Here are the Odelia Grey mysteries in order.

Movie Review: Mortal Mishaps - A Morning Show Mystery

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong mystery; fun cast

Cons: Usual Hallmark cheese

The Bottom Line:

Poisoned producer

Causes chaos for Billie

Starts fun new franchise

Wake Up to a New Mystery Franchise from Hallmark

January of 2018 brought us a new mystery movie franchise from Hallmark Movies and Mysteries – the Morning Show Mysteries based on books written by Al Roker.  We got to meet this new set of characters in Mortal Mishaps, and it was a fun introduction.

Our main character this time around is Billie Blessings (Holly Robinson Peete), who runs her late father’s restaurant and hosts a popular cooking segment on the morning show, Wake Up, West Coast.  For the last three months, she’s also been filling in as co-host since the former co-host accidentally dies from her nut allergy.  But that is about to change since the executive producer, Rudy (Ben Wilkinson) is about to name the new permanent co-host at a party that night at Billie’s restaurant.

However, tensions among the staff leading up to the dinner are running high.  Rudy arrives late and sick.  When he stands up to make his announcement, he collapses and dies.  One of the EMT’s that arrive on the scene notices the smell of bitter almonds, which leads to the conclusion that Rudy was poisoned.

When the police show up, they arrive in the form of Ian (Rick Fox), Billie’s high school sweet heart.  Ian isn’t inclined to think that Billie is guilty, but the police do focus on Maurice, Billie’s head chef at the restaurant.  That’s crazy since Maurice had no motive, so Billie begins digging in, hoping to find the truth.  Can she clear Maurice’s name?

For some reason, this movie took me a bit longer than normal to figure out all the characters and their relationships to each other.  Maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention early on or they weren’t as clearly defined early on.  Either way, that wasn’t an issue too long, and I was soon able to follow all the suspects and their motives.

And there were plenty, which makes for a good mystery.  I thought I had it figured out a little early, but they managed to throw in a twist that threw me off the scent.  Of course, Billie figures everything out and it makes perfect sense once she does.

We start the movie with the last few minutes of a broadcast of Wake Up, West Coast, and it is laughably cheesy, even by Hallmark standards.  Fortunately, as soon as that ends, the cheese factor really drops.  In fact, it seems a little less than normal Hallmark movies overall.

I had a lot of fun spotting Jesse Moss in the cast.  He plays a member of the crew, and he’s been in several of these mystery movies on Hallmark over the last couple of years.  I also really enjoyed Billie’s relationship with her aunt Casandra as played by Karen Robinson.  The rest of the cast was fine as well.

Hallmark mystery movie addicts can rejoice – this looks like a fun new franchise we will hopefully be enjoying for many more movies.  And if you’ve missed it, you’ll want to catch a rerun of Mortal Mishaps soon.

February 3rd's Weekly TV Thoughts

Yes, I dropped Black Lightning.  I just didn't feel like watching it this week.  That may change in a couple of weeks, and I'll hit on demand, but for now I'm done with that show.

The Amazing Race (1/24) – I was right – the basketball players weren’t long for the race.  It’s rare that the team that escaped elimination goes home in the next leg, but it happened this time.  The sailing looked rough.  I’d have a slight advantage since I took sailing as a kid, but it’s been a very long time.  I was sorry to see the competitive eaters go before we could have an eating challenge.  I wanted to see them deal with that before they went.

Supergirl – I’ve never watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, but I know enough about the show to love Alex’s shout out to the show, especially since the actress was on it for a while.  I’m surprised we haven’t learned anything about Sam yet.  I thought the tests would show something weird.  And really, did we have to discuss Edge being a Republican?  Couldn’t we have known he was a bad guy without bring politics into this?

The Flash – I caught one bad moment of CGI, but that was it in a show that must have taxed their resources.  It was fun having a couple of shrunken characters.  Not sure how I feel about having a mind reader, at least a temporary one.  More importantly, is this something that our villain planned on, or will this be the flaw that manages to bring him down.  And Barry is going to be in a world of trouble now that the wrong people know who he is.

Ellen’s Game of Games – I’m beginning to tire of the show already.  I went through the episode in about half the time.  There are still fun moments, but everyone over reacts to everything, and it gets tiring very quickly.  I’ll stick it out this season, but I may not be back next season.

The Amazing Race – I often find myself rooting for an underdog, so I was hoping that Well Strung would find a way to overcome their U-Turn.  I didn’t hold much hope.  The phone challenge didn’t seem as hard as in the past, but I’m sure that was the editing.  Oh, and why wouldn’t someone hold back until they figured it out before sharing it with the others.  It always bothers me that people get so upset over something like that.

The Librarians – That was weird.  And more than a bit creepy.  It set up a great season finale next week, but I didn’t like this episode by itself.  Frankly, the entire season has been a bit off, probably because we’ve had this tension within the team because there can only be one librarian.  Anyway, I have a feeling next week will resolve my issues (at least I hope so), but for right now this one left me very unsatisfied with things.  Oh, and I’m hoping part of bringing the library back will include resurrecting Jenkins.

The Big Bang Theory – Nothing super surprising in the episode, but I certainly found it amusing.  I honestly feel like that’s the case with much of this season.  It’s not especially original or funny, but it is still amusing and fun to spend time with the characters.  Sheldon being unpredictable was a hoot for sure.  And I liked Leonard’s realization about the character at the end.  Plus the scenes in the book were all very funny.

The Good Place – A disappointing season finale.  I mean, I can see where they will go next season, but it’s not the funniest, and the twist wasn’t the best.  Watching them all come together next season will certainly be interesting.  And yes, seeing Ted Danson behind a bar again was fun.

Arrow – You knew Vincent wasn’t going to be around for long.  They let us like him again so they could kill him off.  I don’t know that they could have been any more obvious about it.  And I’m about ready for the two halves to come back together.  This separation arc was okay as an idea, but the way they are bringing them together each week only to make them madder at each other only serves to make for repetitive TV.  Of course, they will only bring them together with a couple of episodes left in the season.

February 2nd's Book Beginnings and Friday 56

It may be Friday, but I almost forgot to do Book Beginnings and Friday 56.

This week, I'm highlighting Biscuits and Slashed Browns by Maddie Day.

                                                   


This is the fourth book in the Country Store Mysteries and just came out on Tuesday.  I'll be reviewing it this coming Thursday as part of a blog tour.
Here's how the book begins:

The banner outside Pans 'N Pancakes proclaimed "JOIN MAPLE MANIA!"  The Brown County Maple Festival's logo of a grinning bottle of syrup beamed its invitation.  But the look on Professor Sonia Genest's face would have frozen butter on a tall stack of hot flapjacks.

Since I was reading an eARC, we will jump ahead to 56% into the book.  We've got this nice little bit to end a chapter:

After she left I realized she'd never told me when she'd missed the knife.

I really do enjoy this series.  I hope you'll come back on Thursday to see what I thought of this latest entry.

Book Review: The Phantom of Oz by Cindy Brown (Ivy Meadows #5)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters, creative mystery, lots of fun

Cons: All cons swept away to Oz

The Bottom Line:

Friend in town, trouble

At a troubled production

Delightful story

Go Off to Meet This Phantom

One thing I have come to appreciate about the Ivy Meadows Mysteries is the strange mashups that actress Ivy finds herself involved in.  As you can guess from the title of book five in the series, The Phantom of Oz, we are getting elements of The Wizard of Oz and The Phantom of the Opera in this book, and the result is pure fun.

It’s been a couple of books since we’ve seen much of Ivy’s friend Candy.  Candy is a fellow actress who moved from Phoenix to Los Angeles in order to pursue her career.  Ivy is surprised when Candy calls her out of the blue to announce that she is back in Phoenix because she’s part of the national tour for The Wizard of OZpera, a take on The Wizard of Oz set in space.  Candy wants to get together, and the first time that works is that night during notes for the cast.

As soon as Ivy sees Candy, she is concerned for her friend.  Candy has lost a lot of weight, and doesn’t look healthy, but Candy just laughs it off.  Then there is an accident before the cast notes can even begin.  With rumors of a haunted theater and more accidents, Ivy begins to wonder what is going on with Candy’s tour.  Can she figure it out and help her friend?

Now if you are thinking this doesn’t sound like a typical mystery, you’d be completely correct.  Yes, there is a murder, but it happens rather late in the book.  But please don’t let that keep you from picking up this book.  There is plenty of keep your interest before that happens.  I’ve just scratched the surface of what is happening in this book.

After all, I haven’t really discussed The Phantom of the Opera angle to the story.  There are tunnels below the theater, and Ivy winds up exploring those over the course of the book.  I’m sure if I knew that story better, I’d see even more parallels between it and the story here.

A new cast in a play means a new cast of characters for Ivy to meet and us to get to know.  I found them fun as always.  Some were stronger than others, but that is a reflection of how much page time they had.

And I love how Ivy and her relationships are progressing.  While this is a comedic novel, the characters are not shallow, and Ivy struggles with some very real issues before we reach the climax.  Obviously, there are some discussions about body image, but they take some different directions, which I appreciated.  The growth we see in Ivy is outstanding.

But this isn’t to take away from the humor.  As always, the play is a riot, and Ivy finds herself in some pretty strange circumstances before everything is over.

And yes, everything does come together for a fantastic climax that wraps things up.

I do want to issue a language warning.  There are more four-letter words than in the typical cozies I read, but this is nothing new to the series, and if you’ve read the others, you know exactly what to expect here.

I started this series because I love live theater, and I still appreciate that about the books.  But I’ve kept reading them because they are fantastic mysteries.  The Phantom of Oz is another great entry that will leave fans with a ghost of a smile on their face.

Here are Ivy’s other performances, I mean cases.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

I'm reviewing this book as part of a blog tour.  Check out the rest of the stops.

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January 2018's Monthly Reading Summary

We've already reached the final day of January 2018.  Can you believe it?  Obviously, with everything going on and my emphasis on reading books I'd already agreed to review, the number of books on this list in lower than normal.  However, I've almost finished all the books I've agreed to review for February, so I'm sure this number will be higher next month.

Time for a monthly reading summary as a result.  The Index didn't wind up getting updated - I'll get to it next month.

All ratings are on a scale of 1 (bad) to 5 (great).

Dial M for Mousse by Laura Bradford (Emergency Dessert Squad Mysteries #3) – 4

When Winnie gets an advance order for the people staying at the retreat out of town, she gladly spends the weekend thinking up fun desserts to encourage these artists.  However, when she goes to deliver them, she arrives just as the owner of the retreat center dies.  Only later, Winnie begins to question what she saw.  Was someone trying to deceive her at the time?  Can she figure out what really happened?

This is such a fun idea and fun series, and this book was no exception.  I did feel the emphasis was on the series regulars and their sub-plots, but I didn’t mind too much since I do like these characters.  And that’s not to say we didn’t get some twists along the way to the climax.  The suspects add to the fun as they are a very unique group of people.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book.

The Forgotten Man by Robert Crais (Elvis Cole and Joe Pike #10) – 4

Normally, a man shot in an alley in downtown Los Angeles wouldn’t cross Elvis Cole’s radar.  However, this man claimed that he was the PI’s long-lost father in town to make up for lost time with his son.  Could it be true?  If so, what was he doing in the alley when he got shot?

At some point, this part of Cole’s past had to come into the foreground in the series, and this book does a great job of using that hook to springboard us into a great mystery.  As you’d expect, there are some good twists and an exciting climax.  I did feel that a flashback to Elvis as an early teen really didn’t do much for the story other than slow it down.  We don’t get to see much of Joe Pike, Elvis’ partner.  Instead, the sidekick role is filled with Carol Starkey, but I hated how she came across here.  Definitely a step down for her character.

The Linking Rings by John Gaspard (Eli Marks #4) – 4

Eli Marks, his girlfriend Megan, and his uncle Harry are in London so that Harry can participate in a week-long series of performances honoring Harry and a circle of his magician friends.  However, the week gets off to a bad start when the curtain opens to find Harry standing next to his fellow performer Oskar.  The problem is Oskar has been stabbed in the back.  Naturally, the police consider Harry a strong suspect, but Harry has another question – was Oskar the intended victim, or what is Harry?

The book gets off to a quick start and the pace never falters over the course of the story.  I did find that Eli spends more time reacting to everything going on instead of actually investigating, but he does put the pieces together at the end.  And I was having so much fun I didn’t care.  While we don’t see the rest of the series regulars in this book, the new characters more than make up for it.  The glimpse into the world of magic is wonderful once again, and I couldn’t help but laugh at some of Eli’s observations and one couple we meet here.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book.

Class Reunions are Murder by Libby Klein (Poppy McAllister #1) – 4

Recent widow Poppy McAllister isn’t planning to go to her 25th high school reunion until some friends talk her into it.  She is definitely not excited about seeing popular girl Barbie, who has requested a meeting with Poppy and her friends.  Barbie hasn’t changed since high school, and Poppy and her friends have a run in with their former nemesis.  A few minutes later, Poppy finds Barbie dead outside Poppy’s old locker.  With the police certain that Poppy is the killer, she leaps into action to find the truth.

The pacing of the book is uneven, but it gets better as it goes along.  As the mystery build, the suspects keep us guessing until the end.  It’s a little hard to keep them straight early on, but that gets better as the mystery progresses as well.  Poppy’s great aunt Tilly is a riot.  I laughed multiple times while reading this book, and Aunt Tilly was the reason for many of them.  This is a promising first mystery in what looks to be a fun series.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

Curses, Boiled Again! by Shari Randall (Lobster Shack Mysteries #1) – 4

Allie Larkin is back home in Mystic Bay, Connecticut, recuperating from a broken ankle and helping her aunt Gully with her new Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack.  Aunt Gully has only had her business open for a few months, but it’s attracted enough attention to land her a spot as a finalist in the YUM! Network’s lobster roll contest.  However, after sampling the first contestant’s entry, the judges start to collapse.  Someone poisoned the rolls, but who was the target?  And why?

This book opens the morning of the contest, so things get off to a strong start.  It does seem to slow down a little in the second quarter, but it picks up again as Allie tries to figure out who the target of the poison was.  This added twist was very welcome and helps the book stand out.  There is room for the characters to grow as the series progresses, but we get to know several of them well here.  The suspects are great at keeping us guessing until the end.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book.

Book Review: Curses, Boiled Again! by Shari Randall (Lobster Shack Mysteries #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Complex mystery; fun characters

Cons: Pace slows down a little at one point

The Bottom Line:

Poisoned lobster rolls

Multiple targets, motives

Make complex debut

No Curses in this Debut

I’ve been looking forward to Curses, Boiled Again! for almost two years now.  You see, I met author Shari Randall when I attended my first Malice Domestic in 2016 when she was working on it, so I’ve been following the book’s journey to publication.  Naturally, I was thrilled when I was offered an ARC of the book.

Our main character here is Allie Larkin, who is taking a sabbatical from her dream of being a dancer thanks to a fall and a broken ankle.  While she is home in Mystic Bay, Connecticut, healing, she is helping her aunt Gully in her new business, The Lazy Mermaid Lobster Shack.  While Aunt Gully has only had it opened a few months, it’s already gathered national attention, and Aunt Gully has been chosen to be part of the YUM! Network’s lobster roll competition.

The competition is happening Memorial Day weekend, the start of tourist season in Mystic Bay, and corresponding with a food festival in town.  That means the event is well attended.  However, things go badly almost right away when the judges react negatively to the lobster rolls from Ernie Moss, Aunt Gully’s chief competition in town.  Then they start dropping over and have to be rushed to the hospital.  Did someone poison the lobster rolls?  Allie will have to do some fast dancing to find out and save her aunt’s reputation.

The book opens the morning of the festival, so we are thrust into the action right away.  I did feel the plot stalled out a little in the second quarter, but we were gathering some information without us or Allie realizing it.  There are a variety of suspects, motives, and even potential targets that keep us guessing until the very end.  I had a strong suspicion what was going on, but I wasn’t completely sure until Allie put it all together for us.

The characters are off to a strong start in this debut.  There is room for them to grow as the series progresses, but I felt we got to know Allie, Aunt Gully, and a few others.  I’m not completely certain who will be series regulars yet, although I have a feeling quite a few of the characters we meet here could pop in for a scene or two in future books.  I certainly wouldn’t complain if that were the case.  And the suspects?  They were strong enough to keep my guessing who was really behind everything happening in Mystic Bay.

Since this was a culinary themed cozy, I was expecting a recipe or two in the back, but I guess Aunt Gully wants to keep her secret recipes confidential.  Not that I mind too much since I only ever drool over these recipes; I haven’t made one in years.

Curses, Boiled Again! gets the new Lobster Shack mystery series off to a fun start.  You’ll gobble this one down and be ready to visit Mystic Bay again soon for seconds.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

Movie Review: Lethal Weapon 3

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Action, laughs, story, fun

Cons: Characters could be stronger

The Bottom Line:

Action comedy

Combine for this fun movie

Light, enjoyable

“Trust Me.”  “That’s Usually My First Mistake.”

When I rewatched the first Lethal Weapon movie a few months back, I was struck by it being funnier than I remembered.  However, I definitely remember the films getting lighter in tone as the series progressed, and rewatching Lethal Weapon 3 confirmed that for me.

8 days.  That’s how long Captain Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) has until he retires.  And, afraid of all the clichés about cops dying before he retires, Roger is determined to play it safe.  Unfortunately, he is still partnered with extreme risk taker Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson).  In fact, thanks to Riggs’s risk taking, the pair find themselves busted back to street cops.

But that just gets them in the right place and time to watch an armored car being robbed.  They then find themselves put on the case much to the annoyance of Lorna Cole (Renee Russo), an internal affairs cop who thinks it should be hers.  Meanwhile, the Murtaugh family is trying to sell their home with Leo Getz (Joe Pesci) as their realtor.  Will he sell the house despite all that has happened there?  Where will this armored car robbery lead?  Will Roger really retire?

The budgets for these films keep getting higher, and as a result, we get more action in this film.  The movie begins and ends with the biggest scenes, but there are some fun action sequences all the way through.  In fact, I found that a scene near the middle was actually one I remembered from the promos back in the day than the bigger scenes that bookend the movie.

Unlike some action films, the story holds together very well here.  We know what is going on before the main characters do, but the path they follow to get there is logical.  Knowing the villains isn’t a problem at all; in fact, it adds to the tension since we know what they are planning.

I mentioned the humor before.  We get plenty of barbs between characters over the course of the film.  The story itself is deadly serious, but the humor really helps to lighten things up.

The cast is all outstanding again.  They bring their characters to life without missing a beat.  Renee Russo jumps in without missing a beat.  While Joe Pesci is fun, I did feel he was a little forced into the film, but fortunately his scenes are limited.

My only real complaint is one that often comes in action movies – the characters could have used a bit more development.  We get a couple of good scenes that do this, but for the most part they feel like the characters are there to support the plot.  But I’m having so much fun it’s a minor issue.

And fun is the operative word for Lethal Weapon 3.  There’s nothing deep here, but if you are looking for some fun, sit back and enjoy this movie.