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Showing posts from May, 2016

Book Review: Murder at the PTA (Maya and Sandra Mystery, #1) by Lee Hollis

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Murder at the PTA (Maya and Sandra Mystery, #1) by Lee Hollis is the first installment in the Maya and Sandra Mystery series, a cozy mystery series centered on private investigators. The story follows Sandra Wallage , the wife of a U.S. senator and the newly elected president of Portland High School’s PTA, who becomes the latest target of a vicious gossip website called Dirty Laundry . After a heated PTA meeting, Sandra crosses paths with Maya Kendrick , a private investigator who has uncovered the identity of the person behind the gossip site. When the two women attempt to confront the culprit, they instead discover a dead body. Was it really a suicide, or did someone have a motive for murder? I’m a longtime fan of books by Lee Hollis , which is actually the pen name for sibling writing duo Rick Copp and Holly Simason . They’ve written several cozy mystery series, and what I appreciate most about their books is that they aren’t overly kitschy, unlike some other cozy mysteries I’ve ...

Book Review: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

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It seems as though  The Girl on the Train  by Paula Hawkins was the smash hit in 2015. Everywhere I turned, someone was recommending it, and several book lists recommended it to those who enjoyed  Gone Girl  by Gillian Flynn. Much of  The Girl on the Train  takes place on a commuter train that goes into London and where we meet one of the main characters, Rachel, who is an unemployed, drunken mess who is concealing she is unemployed from her flatmate. While taking the train into London every day, Rachel passes her old townhouse, where her ex-husband, his wife, and their baby still live. A few doors down from Rachel's ex-husband reside a married couple, who are relatively new to the neighborhood. Rachel distracts herself on the train ride by making up stories of the seemingly happy couple, but when the wife of the happy couple Megan goes missing, Rachel is sure she has some clues to what may have happened but isn't taken seriously by the police. ...