Customer Reviews

A Case of Bad Taste (A Morning Shade Mystery #1)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

Maude Diamond is a struggling novelist who has never made the best seller list. She has recently lost her husband and has a serious case of writer's block. Her elderly mother-in-law moves in with her, followed by her daughter, reeling from a disastrous marriage. So life is looking pretty bleak with nothing to pique Maude's interest until--

Well, you'd never guess. A mysterious burglar is knocking over homes in the little town of Morning Shade, Arkansas--a burglar who never steals anything, but comes in to rearrange the furniture and redecorate. Who could it be? And why is he (or she) doing this?

It is a pretty far-fetched plot, to be sure, and it takes a while for author Copeland to hit her stride. I wasn't sure I could finish this book, but I'm glad I did. It gradually draws you in to the warm-hearted ambience of the little town and its quirky characters. The story takes off and I found myself enjoying it in spite of myself.

Bad Taste is not great literature. The plot is absurd, the dialogue is awkward, the characters are all too quirky and lovable. More serious, the author is not subtle about her Christian faith, and sometimes comes perilously close to preaching. Still, the book was fun and easy to read and I enjoyed it for what it is. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber.

In this first of a series (I can't wait to read the rest) Ms. Copeland gives us new friends and some mystery to unfold. The setting is perfect, the characters are great, and the plot is a perfect balance of laughs and reflection. Imagine a break-in artist who...redecorates! And, that, is just the beginning.

Do yourself a favor and pick this one up!!

This book was so poorly written I had to get to the end to see if it had any redeeming qualities. Unfortunately, what could have been a great concept for a mystery was wasted. The characters spend time moaning about their lives with little or no character development. Interpersonal relationships change spontaneously and unaccountably, surely not as a result of their dull, flat conversations.

As for the mystery, no actual investigation occurs. Developments in the mystery simply happen and are briefly repeated as gossip so the characters can return to moaning. The revelation of the mystery is not accomplished by any of the main characters and occurs mostly by accident because the culprit foolishly gets caught by THE POLICE. The denouement takes a couple of paragraphs at most and the explanation of the perps motive turns out to be infantile, improbable and uninteresting.

About the only thing I can say in it's favor is that it isn't foul. It is just bad writing, bad plot development and bad character development. Too bad, it was a good idea.

I can't believe anyone gave this book a good review. What is it you enjoyed? The Repetitious dialog? She keep saying the same thing over & over. Like I was to stupid to understand it the first time. After the first time Stella disappeared I would not be concerned on the 2nd & 3rd times. What was up with the cat, & the dog that died. Was I supose to cry over a dog that I never got to know? I always try to find something redeming in a book, after all I am not a writer. But if this is all it takes to write a book, maybe I will try it. I could not even care for the characters they were so flat. I only finished it to see if it got better. which it did not & I was stuck with only this book on my MP3 player while walking.

Lori Copeland writes a light humorous mystery about a burgular who doesn't take anything. Instead, the burgular rearranges furniture, adds accents, and replaces outdated household items. For Maude, a writer with writer's block, it's book material. She just needs to solve the mystery so she'll have the ending to her book.

The downside of this book was the ending. I won't say why I don't like it because I don't want to give anything away, but I'll say that I don't like the who did part and the conclusions that Maude comes to about her own motives in writing about this peculiar mystery.

If you want light mystery reading, this is for you. If not, pick up something by Terri Blackstock or Dee Henderson for a more in depth Christian suspense book.

One last note, I had the chance to talk to Lori Copeland personally and she's a very friendly and witty Christian lady.

Ugh, this was one of the worst books I have ever listened to. I listened for about about 30 minutes and just could not bear the whiney poor pitiful me tone of the main character Maude-more like Moaning Maude. Deleted immediately from my Ipod and threw away the disk.

This is a fun read. Not exactly exciting, but fun, nonetheless. Barely a year after her own husband dies, Maude's mother-in-law, Stella and Maude's daughter CeeCee move into her house. Stella was in a nursing home but the funds are no longer available to keep her there. CeeCee's young husband died, leaving Cee with more than surprise bills. Her house is on the market and she moves in along with her 3 dogs. Cee spends her time eating chips and dip, crying and crooning. In the meantime, Maude must work on writing her book but ideas are slow in coming and there are many interruptions.

Stella spends her morning at the local Citgo sleuthing. Seems someone entered Lucille's house and rearranged her furniture, of all things. That was right after Pansy's complaint over Lucille's setup of her furniture being just plain boring, lined up along the walls just so, making Pansy feel as though she's sitting in a subway car.

Maude's agent called asking her to ghostwrite a book for a popular evangelist. Might be the thing to do considering Maude is having writer's block with her present book.

Some repetition throughout but overall a good book. My favorite characters: probably Stella and Maude; both are witty.

I am an avid reader! When I saw this book at a used bookstore I became excited! I had heard wonderful things about the author and I was looking forward to reading this story. What a sad, disappointing, slow, and overall awful book! The main character is so shallow and flat it was hard to get through the pages. I don't know a mother who would let her 30-year-old daughter come home and waste her life away eating. Oh and well I'm am on the subject of eating, why did the author put so much into what the characters ate. She even described in great detail the kinds of cereal. Also there was a lot of talk about the pets. I didn't care about a dog that died or a cat that decided to run the household. I was saddened by how lonely Maude was at first until I realized that it was her own fault. At least Stella had a bridge club to attend. I will not be finishing this series, and I am not sure if I ever want to pick up another story by this author again.

I didn't get past the first few chapters. The character was just too whiney for me. She whines about her husband dying and not leaving her insurance money, she whines that her mother-in-law (who only has to take 1/2 a blook pressure pill a day and is completely physically independent and intellectually intact)lives with her, she whines that her adult daughter who has just become a widow is coming home, she whines because she can't make the best-seller list. Maybe later in the book she learned to appreciate the blessings she has but I couldn't take any more of her pity party to find out how it all ended.

A very funny and endearing book. Highly recommend it.