Death in a Mood Indigo

Rating:
Summary: Gives a good sense of place; filled out characters
Review: I purchased this in a Nantucket bookstore because I wanted to read a mystery with a local setting while on vacation. It rewarded me with well-drawn characters, a good sense of the seasonal changes on Nantucket and an interesting plot. I lowered the rating one star because I thought the killer's motivations were not sufficiently developed--maybe to prolong the suspense of who was the killer. Nevertheless, I would like to read the author's other titles including the Jane Austen mysteries.

Rating:
Summary: A Definite Page Turner
Review: Reading is not my favorite pastime. I tend to shy away from reading as much as I can, until I found Death In A Mood Indigo by Francine Mathews. Sitting all alone on a shelf at my work I thought I'd pick it up and read it - I did. Right from the beginning, Mathews enlightened me with excellent vocabulary and in-depth descriptions of the current happenings. Throughout the book, Mathews displays excellent character construction and well thought out scenes with bone-chilling suspense - a logical novel that needs brain power to conjure the twists and turns written on each page. Death In A Mood Indigo is defintely a page turner that will keep you reading and reading and reading and reading...

Rating:
Summary: A Definite Page Turner
Review: Reading is not my favorite pastime. I tend to shy away from reading as much as I can, until I found Death In A Mood Indigo by Francine Mathews. Sitting all alone on a shelf at my work I thought I'd pick it up and read it - I did. Right from the beginning, Mathews enlightened me with excellent vocabulary and in-depth descriptions of the current happenings. Throughout the book, Mathews displays excellent character construction and well thought out scenes with bone-chilling suspense - a logical novel that needs brain power to conjure the twists and turns written on each page. Death In A Mood Indigo is defintely a page turner that will keep you reading and reading and reading and reading...

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable in spite of its faults
Review: The Nantucket setting is fresh and appealing, and the lead character Merry is likeable enough. Some of the professional choices she makes, however, are so unlikely and so obviously wrongheaded that they interrupted the flow of the reading for me -- I kept finding myself thinking "a police detective wouldn't do that!" I enjoy flawed and outspoken characters -- Kinsey Millhone comes to mind -- but a character's actions should be believable. Also, Merry's friends and family seem a little one-dimensional to me (the patient boyfriend, the stern but loving father, etc.); I hope these characters get more fleshed out as this series continues. As for the mystery itself, I figured out "whodunit" early in the book, which is always a bit disappointing. Still, I like Merry and the Nantucket setting and will take a chance on another book in this series. Hopefully, the author will choose to have Merry make more believable professional decisions next time.

Rating:
Summary: Another Winner from Mathews
Review: This series is set on Nantucket Island and the author is skilled at capturing the ambience of island life so much so that you may find yourself thinking about packing your bags. In this outing, a skeleton is found buried on the beach. Detective Merry Folger takes this as a personal affront since it's her territory and dead bodies, even if they are old, shouldn't be turning up on her beaches. The only thing the crime lab can tell Merry is that the skeleton is a woman who was strangled between two and ten years earlier. Not much to go on, but something. This series is as cozy as they come and deserves a wide audience of cozy readers. Suprisingly, non-cozy lovers can enjoy this series because it is also an excellent procedural - especially since Merry doesn't have access to many experts like city cops do, and must solve the crimes on her island with brains and deduction.

Rating:
Summary: Another Winner from Mathews
Review: This series is set on Nantucket Island and the author is skilled at capturing the ambience of island life so much so that you may find yourself thinking about packing your bags. In this outing, a skeleton is found buried on the beach. Detective Merry Folger takes this as a personal affront since it's her territory and dead bodies, even if they are old, shouldn't be turning up on her beaches. The only thing the crime lab can tell Merry is that the skeleton is a woman who was strangled between two and ten years earlier. Not much to go on, but something. This series is as cozy as they come and deserves a wide audience of cozy readers. Suprisingly, non-cozy lovers can enjoy this series because it is also an excellent procedural - especially since Merry doesn't have access to many experts like city cops do, and must solve the crimes on her island with brains and deduction.