Summary:
One in a series (the rest of which I have yet to read), we follow a woman named Sarah Booth Delaney, a woman who lives with a ghost of her ancestor in a small town in the south called Zinnia. Zinnia has the honor or getting a Broadway-caliber production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in its little local theater. Sarah Booth knows the cast and director from her stint in NYC trying to get on Broadway, and when the leading lady dies just moments before the show must go on, the finger of blame (and the lead role in the show) lands on Sarah Booth.
Thoughts:
First things first, I was annoyed the whole way through this book because the character goes by her first and middle names. Yes, very quaint and southern of her. But who gives their character such a name? Sarah Booth? That, to me, looks like a whole lot of word padding. Give your character a different name if you want her to sound very southern. Delilah. Scarlet. Tallulah. Jolene. Whatever. But Sarah Booth?? No. Now you're just upping your word count for NaNoWriMo. Cheater.
Anyway. I didn't particularly like this one. Sure, it was a good mystery in general. Who doesn't like a whodunnit? But the writing made me want to gag. And how many amateur sleuths don't wind up with a crush on the cop running the show? I'd be more interested in seeing that, thanks.
Haines may have many more books published than I ever will, but only because she writes the most generic crap that her books are more beach readers than anything else. Why "beach readers"? Because people only take cheesy crap novels that they don't really have to think about to the beach. They go for the mindless relaxation rather than actual substantial material. I'm glad I got this one free from the Book of the Month club registration instead of spending actual money on it.
Oh, and when you're writing a series, let's actually end the book that you're writing right now, rather than something that reads more like "for more on Sarah Booth, make sure you grab the next book, coming out in two months because I can bang out one of these in my sleep, and get more of your money this way!" than "the end." Boo, Carolyn Haines. Boo.
Pages: 275
Genre: Mystery
Grade: C
Would I Recommend?: Eh. Beach reading only. Or as a mindless jaunt after reading something good and heavy like The Book Thief.
Book 4 of 30 for the year
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