Although I love crime thrillers and murder mysteries that allow me to “solve the crime” alongside the detectives, every once in awhile it’s nice to be able to just “follow along.” This was a light, quick murder mystery that was quite enjoyable.
The setting of a movie festival Provincetown allows for the author to maintain a surface veneer throughout the story. That sounds like it might be a bad thing, but it really isn’t. The author focuses on the glamour of both P’town and the movies, even as bad things are occurring. And murder is definitely bad.
As with any other murder mystery, I’m not going to go into details because it would be too easy to give something away. I did like the characters and how the author worked everything together, both the regulars and the visitors in town, to create a plot that was entertaining and easy to read.
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I have found that I really enjoy the “accidental detective” trope. There is something satisfying about a “normal” person putting clues together to solve the crime. I suppose this is also considered a cozy mystery series, although I didn’t consider it so, possibly because of my own opinion that P’town doesn’t strike me as cozy. It’s more fun than cozy.
But I digress.
This is the sixth book in the Sydney Riley series, but the first one that I have read. Although I was never lost in the plot, it was obvious that there was a lot of backstory with the characters. I did feel like I missed some important things due to not knowing that backstory. It wasn’t so much with the crime at hand, rather the personal connections between Sydney and the others.
That didn’t stop me from enjoying the book, however, and I will definitely be looking for the previous books.
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About Jeannette de Beauvoir:
Award-winning author Jeannette de Beauvoir writes mystery and historical fiction that’s been translated into 12 languages. A Booksense Book-of-the-Year finalist, she’s a member of the Authors Guild, the Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the National Writers Union.
All her novels are firmly rooted in a sense of place, and her delight is to find characters true to the spaces in which they live. She herself lives and writes in a cottage in Provincetown, on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and loves the collection of people who assemble at a place like land’s end.
Find out more (and read her blog and sign up for her newsletter) at jeannettedebeauvoir.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Instagram, Patreon, Medium, and Goodreads.
