21. The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths

#2 Harbinder Kaur

listened on Libby (I think)
315 pgs. (9;09)
2020
Adult Murder Mystery

Finished 3/18/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.93
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary Britain

My comments: 3.5  Mystery writers are being murdered, beginning with a 90-year-old woman who is a whiz at figuring out "who dunnit."  An interesting group of characters gather together to figure out what's going on.  Definitely not as good as Ruth Galloway, which I was a bit hopeful for, but entertaining.

Goodreads synopsis:  Murder leaps off the page when crime novelists begin to turn up dead in this intricate new novel by internationally best-selling author Elly Griffiths, a literary mystery perfect for fans of Anthony Horowitz and Agatha Christie.

The death of a ninety-year-old woman with a heart condition should not be suspicious. Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur certainly sees nothing out of the ordinary when Peggy’s caretaker, Natalka, begins to recount Peggy Smith’s passing.

But Natalka had a reason to be at the police station: while clearing out Peggy’s flat, she noticed an unusual number of crime novels, all dedicated to Peggy. And each psychological thriller included a mysterious postscript: PS: for PS. When a gunman breaks into the flat to steal a book and its author is found dead shortly thereafter—Detective Kaur begins to think that perhaps there is no such thing as an unsuspicious death after all.

And then things escalate: from an Aberdeen literary festival to the streets of Edinburgh, writers are being targeted. DS Kaur embarks on a road trip across Europe and reckons with how exactly authors can think up such realistic crimes . . .

33. Frame 232 - Wil Mara

Looks like this might be the first in a series about billionaire amateur sleuth Jason Hammond

2013, Tyndale House Publishers

424 pgs.

Adult Mystery

Finished 8/27/13

Goodreads Rating: 4.21

My Rating: It was okay (2)

TPPL

Setting: Prologue (28 pgs. long) is in Dallas on that fateful day in November, 1963 (50 years ago!), but the rest of the book is contemporary - Dallas, Cuba, DC.....

1^st sentence/s:  "Margaret Baker felt more than a little foolish in her makeshift disguise - an overcoat she'd found n a box of her late mother's things, the prescription glasses she never wore, and a pink headscarf she'd borrowed from a friend."

My comments:  I wanted to like this book more than I did.  The premise was pretty cool, but I found the characters either unbelievable, or lacking .... something. There was a bond between the two protagonists that was just "there" and I couldn't quite understand it.  I loved the foray into Cuba, and I liked the way that chapters skipped around and showed point-of-view of different characters.  But my overall reaction....the story was okay.  That's all.

Goodreads Review:  During the reading of her mother’s will, Sheila Baker discovers that she has inherited everything her parents ever possessed, including their secrets. A mysterious safe deposit box key leads her to the answers to one of history’s greatest conspiracies: who killed John F. Kennedy? Not only does she have the missing film, revealing her mother as the infamous babushka lady, but she has proof that there was more than one shooter.

On the run from people who would stop at nothing to keep secrets buried, Shelia turns to billionaire sleuth Jason Hammond for help. Having lost his own family in a tragic plane crash, Jason knows a thing or two about running from the past. With a target on their backs, can Jason uncover the truth in time, or will this shooter finally make their mark?