Reading Between the Crimes
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4.7 • 10 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Perfect for fans of Ellery Adams and Kate Carlisle, the members of the Jane Doe Book Club are on the case as Kate Young's peachy-keen Georgia-set mystery series comes back for seconds.
What better time than Halloween to dig into a bracing discussion of a diabolical murder mystery? And what better choice for the Jane Doe Book Club than Agatha Christie's Crooked House? Lyla Moody and her friends are soon embroiled in debate over whether the heroine's actions are particularly believable. But not long after the meeting, sleepy Sweet Mountain, Georgia, is rocked by a murder that uncannily echoes the novel in question.
When Lyla and her grandmother arrive at the charity event that Lyla's mother is hosting, they barely have time to hang up their fall jackets before they stumble upon a body in the library. Leonard Richardson, it seems, was robbed and then hit over the head with a brass candlestick--which throws suspicion on Harper Richardson, his young widow and a friend of the Jane Does.
Lyla and the rest of the Jane Does pool their prodigious intellects to clear Harper's name. Peculiarly, all of the clues seem to have been lifted directly from the plot of Crooked House. But as Lyla probes the pages of Christie's classic whodunnit for hints on catching the killer, she uncovers secrets from her mother's past--secrets that suggest that Lyla's own house may be crooked as well.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Young's beguiling sequel to 2020's On Borrowed Crime finds Lyla Moody, who works as a receptionist and PI-in-training at her uncle's detective agency, and other members of the Jane Doe Book Club in Sweet Mountain, Ga., gathering for their monthly meeting to discuss Agatha Christie's Crooked House, about a poisoning murder in which suspicion falls on the victim's much younger second wife. Not at the meeting is librarian Harper Richardson, who's instead attending a black-tie charity party with her husband, Leonard, that Lyla's parents are hosting at their house that same evening. After the meeting, Lyla stops by her parents' house, where she sees Leonard and Lyla quarrel. A short time later, Lyla discovers Leonard dead in the library. The police suspect Harper, who was Leonard's much younger second wife, of poisoning Leonard, and in other respects the case resembles the one in Crooked House. In the efforts of the Jane Does to clear Harper, Lyla learns some disturbing secrets about her own family. Flawed, multilayered characters add depth to this cozy. Readers will eagerly await the next installment.
Customer Reviews
Mixed Feelings on this One
Excellent story with plenty of twists and turns. Lovable, multi-generational characters that I really enjoyed getting to know. Creep factor was high when it needed to be. I think I need to read the first book to catch up on a couple of the character dynamics but the upside is that there weren’t any spoilers from it. I will say that the main heroine comes across as a little cold in her personal relationships. It didn’t really fit with her overall personality and was somewhat off-putting.
One major dislike I had was regarding a line where the main PI is accused of being misogynistic which I didn’t see at all. I didn’t feel as though he was prejudiced against women, merely protective of his family in a given instance and he had previously shown support and confidence in the same character who made the accusation. On its own, it wouldn’t have stood out but adding it to the cold vibe I got in interactions with other characters, it left a sour taste in my mouth. I will definitely give the series more chances but it didn’t hit my must-read list.
There were a lot of typos and grammatical issues but I put that down to it being an ARC.
Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Kate Young for giving me the opportunity to read and share my honest thoughts and opinions about the story.