Customer Reviews

The Gourdmother (A Gourd Craft Mystery)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's been quite a while since I've read such a satisfying mystery. Nowadays I'm demanding more of them than just a puzzle with a dead body, and "The Gourdmother" delivers. Lili Martino, feeling her way in a new environment, remains steadfastly herself--loyal, generous and darn-near fearless. The tragedy of her best friend's husband's death spurs Lili into relationships and situations that uncover not only the mystery, but also Lili herself.

"The Gourdmother" is the perfect blend of characters and plot--and a riveting mystery as well. It's hard for me to believe that this is Maggie Bruce's first book. I'll certainly look for more from this talented author.

I really am enjoying the story line and characters of this book but am totally put-off by the absense of some of the prepositions and articles of normal writing. Is it the author or the proofers? I don't like having to inject words myself as I read. It breaks my concentration. Is the author a real person or is this a computer-generated story? I'm kind of put-off by all the "anonymous and pseudonym-type" authors today. Publishers, please proof-read and maybe you'll have a great series.

Former long time Brooklyn resident Lili Marion wonders how a city gal can be street smart when she lives in a place without streets when she earned the cottage as remittance from Tom Ford for developing a mutual fund perspective. Besides her philosophical musings, she enjoys living in Walden Corners, New York though most of the residents remain leery of a city slicker. She makes friends with Nora Johnson and likes the open space for her to convert gourds into works of art or useful pretty functions.

On the first day of hunting season, someone kills Nora's husband Coach. Lili fears she heard the scream of death, which she originally assumed was a nightmare. As she gathers her wits about her, Lili decides to investigate the homicide of the spouse of her only upstate friend not realizing she sets herself up as a prime target.

Though readers will question why Lili had to investigate the murder even with her best local pal involved and threatened, fans will appreciate this fine amateur sleuth who-done-it. Lili brings her Brooklynese into her inquiries that drive the local police crazy as she interferes in their investigation. Readers will appreciate this urban take no prisoner protagonist as she seeks to uncover the identity of the killer while providing the audience with a glimpse including making a pendant into the world of gourds.

Harriet Klausner

I found this book a very hopeful beginning of a new series. As for any series, there is a lot to introduce in the first one, and much gets glossed over, presumably to be fleshed out in later volumes. We meet the main character, Lili, a transplanted city gal now in a rural village, hoping to spend her time crafting beautiful objects from gourds. As a woodcarver and pyrographer myself, I found the references to gourds right on, and quite fascinating. We also meet Nora, whose husband is found dead early in the story.
Less well defined are three other woman friends of Nora's (and hopefully of Lili's), a mystery wheeler-dealer nobody has ever seen, a possible love-interest, and the local law enforcement contact - also a woman. I hope to see most of these characters given a lot more dimension in subsequent installments.
The mystery is a bit thin, and Lili does do a few really dumb things, but I don't read books like this for the mystery or for the great procedural accuracy - I leave those to other series actually dedicated to those sorts of things. I read these stories to enjoy a mild mystery and to enjoy getting to know the characters and their particular interests. For that, this little novel does just fine. I gave it only four stars, leaving somewhere to go for subsequent books.
I did find the proofreading distractingly lacking - wrong words, wrong tenses, missing words - all things an automatic spell checker would miss. I hereby volunteer to Ms. Bruce for her next installments, which I am eagerly anticipating.

As far as cozies go, this book is probably one of the better ones. I just don't think the book was for me. I didn't really take to the gourds, and I found it to be a peculiar theme for a cozy. I actually thought the mystery got a little lost in the book, and the end was predictable. As usual, the heroine comes face to face with the killer, and she has to find a way out or something of the sort. That theme is just too played out in this genre.

I will say that I appreciated the mentions of 9/11 and the very real depiction of grief from Nora. I found her friends' reaction to be quite refreshing, as they were authentic. Again, the book was pretty good, but it just wasn't my style.

My mind kept wandering and I had to force myself to finish.

Tom Ford couldn't make his payment to Lili Marino for a writing job she had done for him so she agreed to take his cottage in Walden Corners, N.Y. as payment. What does Lili know about country living? Very little, but she knows even less about solving the murder of Coach Johnson who she finds floating in a pond during the first day of hunting season.

Coachs' family, wife Nora and son Scooter, were the first family to accept Lili into their small town so she feels that she owes them. Unprepared for the rivalries and animosity in a small town Lili is quickly in over her head in trying to solve this murder, but thankfully she has her gourd art to keep her centered.

In this debut novel Bruce tries too hard to add too much to the plot; it would have been much better if she simplified and reduced the number of characters. I don't think I will continue with the author.