2009; 208 pages. New Author? : Yes. Book #4 in the Aggie Underhill Mysteries
series. Genre : Murder-Mystery; Cozy. Overall Rating : 5½*/10.
Palm
Springs, California is usually a quiet place, full of retirees playing golf,
shopping, and going to book clubs. So it
was rather unusual to have two bizarre deaths – one in a hot tub and one on a
tram car (literally) – within 24 hours.
Fortunately, the police have determined that both deaths were
accidental. A coincidence. But Aggie Underhill is not so sure. So she plans to do a little investigating on
her own.
Another word for it might be “snooping”.
But Aggie’s instincts have been reliable in the past.
What’s To Like...
There’s
a cast of characters at the beginning, which came in handy for squaring away
the various relationships of the recurring characters from the get-go. This is a standalone novel, as well as Book 4
in the series, and I didn’t feel I was missing much by not having read any of
the earlier books. It is also a “cozy”,
and I quite enjoy that sub-genre in Murder-Mysteries. As such, there’s very little blood, no sex
scenes, and only a smattering of mild cussing.
A Hardboiled Murder is short, light read. There’s a nice twist early on to get your
attention. Stylistically, it reminds me
of the old Angela Lansbury television series, Murder,
She Wrote. The main character is
a 53-year-old, widowed, well-off spinster, with the hots for one of the local
police officers. There’s no depth to any
of the characters, but they’re all
pleasant enough and quirky enough to be interesting.
This
isn’t really a whodunit. Aggie pokes and
prods, but frankly doesn’t discover much.
So if you try to solve the case alongside her, you will be frustrated by
the lack of progress. At the end, the
revealing of the baddie seemed arbitrary to me, although in retrospect, there
was one clue earlier that I should’ve picked up on. In this regard, it reminded me of Silence of the Hams (reviewed here), which I
read a long time ago, and was very unimpressed with.
Excerpts...
“I was stood up
for an appointment,” Roger reminded her.
“That stung a bit.”
“That’s hardly
her fault. She was dead. Remember?” Betty reminded him while having an
early dinner, late lunch, at a restaurant in the mall.
“Oh, yeah. I guess that’s excusable. Still hurts though. Rejection always does. It’s not easy to get over being stood up.”
“It’s not easy
getting over being dead.” (loc.
1788)
“What’s
wrong? Is the garage a mess, too?”
“That’s a ZR1!”
“What are you
talking about?” Betty stuffed her hands
on her hips. “You’re not making
sense. ZR1?”
“A Corvette,”
Roger said, letting out a long breath before continuing. “Aggie has a brand-spanking new Corvette in
her garage.”
“What?” Betty turned and looked at Aggie. “They ransacked your home and put a Corvette
in the garage?” (loc.
1969)
Kindle Details...
A
Hardboiled Murder sells for $3.99 at Amazon. There are 7 more books in the Aggie Underhill
series, if I counted correctly, and all of them are also $3.99. Michelle Ann Holstein has books in two other
series, as well as several “teach yourself to paint” books, and for the most
part, they too are $3.99.
Why would God make snails that could live underwater, but not
slugs? (loc. 1348)
If
you’re happy just to plod along with Aggie, enjoying her quaint life and quirky friends, and slightly strange in-laws, you will probably enjoy A
Hardboiled Murder.
But
as a Murder-Mystery, it has some serious weaknesses, especially with plotline
inconsistencies. The most egregious of these,
noted even by the author herself, involves Aggie’s now-deceased husband somehow
leaving a key clue in Palm Springs long before he died and she even contemplated relocating
there from Florida. Unless the author
plans to introduce time-travel into the series (which seems unlikely) this is a
glaring hole in the storyline which should’ve been resolved during the
“polishing” stage.
One of the murders seems pointlessly self-defeating for the baddie; while
later, the “telling all” to Aggie seems needlessly self-incriminating. Finally, the killer’s presence in Palm
Springs prior to the arrival of victim Number Two again screams of either
time-travel or sloppy storytelling.
5½ Stars. The pleasant hominess of Aggie’s life plus the
occasional wit and humor balance out the plotline issues and the repetitive
parts of the text. But just barely. Add 1 star if
you think Murder, She Wrote was a
fantastic series.
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