N. C. Lewis

Doris Cudlow just got a new job at a newspaper. Unfortunately, she can't make it to work on time, and that's when she finds out there are changes ahead in the newspaper she works for that may make changes for her. Not to mention she received a wedding invitation in the mail -- from her ex-husband. When her landlady invites herself as Doris's guest, she has no choice but to go, even if she doesn't want to. That leads to seeing a bride disappearing, and a murder soon following. Now her ex-husband Toby is on the suspect list, and when he asks Doris for help, all she can do is say yes...

This is the first book in the series, and I really wanted to like it. Especially since I did like the cover. Unfortunately, that's the best thing about the book. Doris is boring. So boring that I really didn't care much about her...which doesn't matter, since we don't know much anyway. How tall is she? Color hair, color eyes? Thin, heavy, in-between? We don't know any of that. Pretty or plain? All we know is she married Toby right after college, and they were married ten years, so she's hitting forty pretty soon. She also has an old car and no savings, living in a small studio, and is willing to work selling hot dogs, if that's what it takes. Quite an interesting person, right? Wrong.

When Toby's bride goes missing, the inept police inspector thinks he did it. Even though when the lights went out the bride entered from the back of the church and the groom was standing in the front. Even though when the lights came back on the groom was still standing in the front of the church. Even though he has an alibi from the rector and the fact that he couldn't have been guilty, but never let that stand in the way of the truth, right? The entire plot is lost somewhere along the way, and I couldn't find it anywhere.

Plus the newspaper where Doris works -- people who have been there over ten years are told they have 30 seconds to get everything from their office because they're fired. Then when Doris is working on the murder, she's told to put that story on the back burner and write one on a new flavor of hot dog someone is working on. Seriously?

Doris is a recovering alcoholic but keeps beer and liquor in her home? Nope. Not believing that one. Then there's the audition. She auditions for a part in Willie Wonka as a munchkin. Has the author seen Willie Wonka? I think they might be thinking of The Wizard of Oz.

Sad to say, this book could have been so much better if Doris had something -- anything -- going for her that made me want to read another in this series. But even though the murderer was found, as we knew they would be, the ending didn't leave a comforting feeling that Doris has a bright future in front of her. Therefore, I really can't give this book a great rating, and I normally do love British mysteries. I gave it two stars because I finished it. Sorry.… (más)

This was a fun story. I started reading it because I needed something light while I waited for various appointments, but it quickly drew me in with its many strange and zany characters. Set at a newsroom, theater, hot dog stand, and boarding house, to name a few of the locations, you could never tell where the story would go next. But in a small town, any news is big news, so when a bride vanishes from her wedding and is fished out of the lake the next day, everyone thinks they know what happened. It's fun to watch them put pieces together in surprising (and mostly inaccurate) ways until the very end. I also loved how the postmaster and many of the townsfolk would place bets on the mail (and anything else they could think of). It was a fun, easy read. I quite enjoyed it.… (más)