Death at Lavender Bay: An Allison O'Neil Mystery (Allison O'Neil Mysteries)

Rating:
Summary: Pleasant afternoon reading
Review: This book doesn't show the greatest plot or characterization skills you'll ever see, but it's a pleasantly lazy read. It has a mildly interesting if improbable plot and mildly interesting if improbable people. The protagonist is a wishy washy sort of person, but you can see flashes of interest there. There's a sort of pseudo love-interest character that ends up being more interesting than anyone else in the book -- I hope there'll be more about her in future books. It's unusual that in this book the protagonist -- a book order service person who inherits a boarding house from a possibly murdered aunt -- is not a detective herself and yet still manages to be friendly with someone who is -- the maybe future love interest. For anyone who isn't familiar with this author, both are women. Unfortunately, you could give this book to your ten year-old daughter without any fear of awkward questions. It isn't the greatest, but it's fine if you have nothing better to do, and it seems likely that the future ones will be better. I thought when I first read it that there was a spark of absurd humor here that's worth looking for in other books by this author, and I found after I read a few more that she does improve, although she still loves the really improbably situations. Still, how many books can we find that have lesbian characters that aren't villains or freaky friends that are just comic relief?