chez_jae

Birthday Cake and Burglary by Sue Hollowell

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



I finished Birthday Cake and Burglary last night. It's the third book by Sue Hollowell in her "Belle Harbor" mystery series, featuring novice baker Tilley Griffin.

Tilley and her Uncle Jack are busy getting Jack's antique shop ready for Belle Harbor's annual Arts Walk. While taking a break and enjoying a ride on the Ferris wheel, Tilley sees someone fall from the cliffs near the lighthouse. She learns it was another local shop keeper who died. Although Poppy's death is ruled an accident, Tilley feels it was murder. Will her sleuthing lead to a solution or to her own demise?

First of all, I take umbrage with the title. The story had absolutely nothing to do with burglary. I get that the author likes alliteration (so do I!), but make it make sense, please. Second was Tilley's (in)action right after witnessing Poppy's fall. Had you witnessed such an event would you:

A) Call 911 immediately
B) Wait until you disembarked from the Ferris wheel to call 911
C) Call your BFF first
D) Call your BFF first to go check it out with you and then (and only then) call 911 when you saw someone dead at the bottom of the cliff

If you chose D, congratulations! You suck, right along with Tilley. Honest to Pete, why in the world did she not call it in right away? Maybe Poppy could have been saved if EMS got to her sooner. We'll never know, because instead of summoning help as quickly as possible, Tilley and Fiona hiked up to the lighthouse for a look-see. That colored my impression of the entire rest of the story.

Favorite line: I was choosing myself for probably the first time in my life.

This was an average read, and I would have awarded it an average score, but the egregious stupidity Tilley displayed in not calling 911 instantly has me knocking the score down to a two.

Cupcakes and Catastrophe by Sue Hollowell

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I finished Cupcakes and Catastrophe last night. It's the first of the "Belle Harbor" cozy mystery series by Sue Hollowell. The main character is Tilly Griffin.

As soon as her divorce is finalized in Boston, Tilly hightails it to the west coast to reset her life. There, she is reunited with her Uncle Jack, and Tilly hopes to open a bakery like her grandma Luna did once upon a time. Jack clears a section of his antique shop for Tilly's bakery, but she hasn't gotten started yet when a man is found murdered in the empty store next door. It's a toss-up as to whether he was killed in conjunction with a cutthroat kite-flying competition or because of his own shady dealings. All Tilly knows is that she didn't expect to encounter a murder in such a quaint little town.

Um, yeah. This story was so lite it flirted with trite. Tilly and Jack were characterized well, but no one else was. One may expect that to change as the series progresses. The plot lacked any semblance of cohesion. It was mostly just a narrative of Tilly going about the business of opening a bakery, meeting new people, learning to ride a moped, and oh hey, there was a murder next door. There was no sleuthing at all; the police solved the crime. Actually, that was refreshing, but not what one expects when reading a cozy. The murder seemed like a subplot instead of the impetus for the main plot. Meh.

Favorite lines:
♦ My mind could go from zero to catastrophe in about two seconds.
♦ I went back to the kitchen and my happy place. Cupcakes never stole or murdered. The worst thing they did was add to my weight.

Frankly, this deserves two stars for how bland it was, but I'll put it to my...

( Trope Test )

Only three 'yes' answers. Astonishing! In my estimation, that bumps the score up to three.