Two Birds With One Stone (A Marsden-Lacey Cozy Mystery Book 1) - Sigrid Vansandt

See the full review (and more) at Mystereity Reviews on Wordpress.

 

Not a bad book.. You know that episode of the Golden Girls where they go to a murder mystery weekend? The book was kind of like that, only without Blanche and Rose, it just wasn't as funny. On one hand, it was a fun, quick read. On the other hand, the first half of the book was hard for me to get into and I nearly DNF'ed it. It was one of those where the story really didn't pick up until about halfway through the book. I'm glad I gave it a chance though, because the ending made up for it.

 

I really liked the plot; a man is found dead in a museum and American ex-pats and new BFFs Martha and Helen, both late middle aged, feel like they're lacking a little excitement in their lives, start snooping to find a killer. I had no idea who the culprit was until the end of the book. The main characters were likable, if not a little ditzy and foolhardy.

 

There were a few plot threads that pulled me out of the story, though. The two guys who stole the manuscript out of the chief's office was a bit much, as was Martha's flirtation with the chief. In one scene, they run into him at a pub and Martha takes a swig of his beer. Seriously, who does that?

 

Overall, Two Birds with One Stone was an entertaining read, and good enough that I'll read the next book in the series.