Customer Reviews

Murder Past Due (Reading Group Mysteries)

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

 

 

When Dr. Megan Clark and the Murder by the Yard Reading Circle decided to do a mystery tour in Amarillo, her best friend, Ryan Stevens, could only hope that this would keep the petite redhead out of trouble. He should have known better. Before Ryan knows it, Megan has been asked to investigate a 20 year old murder by the victim's grandfather-in-law, Bruce Gorman. Ryan struggles with his hidden love for Megan, a childhood friend of his own children, while trying to keep her out of danger.

This series has it all, mystery, budding romance, quotes from old mysteries (in this book, from old mystery films), and great characterizations. I was a fan of the Lydia Fairchild mysteries by this author and missed them when Ms. Meredith switched to her Sheriff series. I am pleased to see her return to a similiar style with the Clark series. I can't wait for the next one!

There is not much demand for the services of a physical anthropologist or a palepathologist in Amarillo, Texas. As such, Dr. Megan Elizabeth Clark resides in her mother's home to keep expenses down. To supplement her income, Megan works at local library. She loves mystery novels and belongs to a reading group, Murder by the Yard, who meet at the Time and Again bookstore. The group currently celebrates its six-month anniversary with Megan creating a tour of famous murder sites in which the group reenacts the homicides of famous murders.

Millionaire and patriarch of a local dysfunctional family, Bruce Gorman joins one of the tours. Twenty years ago, the wife of Bruce's grandson was found murdered in a gazebo with her husband covered in her blood holding the murder weapon. Not too long afterward, he committed suicide, closing the nasty chapter for everyone but Bruce. He has doubts and hires Megan and her cohorts to investigate the homicide even knowing that another family member might be the killer.

MURDER PAST DUE is a delightful installment in a well-written, sweet amateur sleuth series. The book appeals to Christie fans and anyone who prefers a non-violent novel. Megan remains an appealing lead character, who belongs in the world yet still seems to rise above it. D.R. Meredith's five Clark books are all quite good, but leave too much of a gap between their releases to satiate us fans.

Harriet Klausner

Megan, Ryan and their mystery reading group are back in another great adventure. A fun mix of real life and fictional murder stories and chapters that alternate between Megan's and Ryan's points of view keep the story moving.

If you enjoy mysteries with quirky characters and amateur detectives, read this one!

Doris Meredith's understanding of human nature, and her grasp of the difficulties of detection and prosecution of crime, add up to a splendid mystery which absorbed me and kept me guessing. She has assembled some marvelous characters, all bookish by nature, who end up doing some amateur sleuthing that shames the cops. This is a tender story, filled with empathy toward people in trouble. I cherish these books, and believe mystery readers will love them too.

This is a very interesting series. I love the characters. I love Ryan and Megan. I definitely wish those two would get it together and tell each other that they like each other!

I liked the book. The plot was the kind I like, with a nice
Agatha Christie type venue & almost no violence. But my one
ongoing annoyance with the book (I haven't read any others in
this series) was the boyfriend. Somehow he didn't fit in,
& I would have much preferred to have more of the women in the
book club (who seem to almost disappear) and less of the boyfriend who was as unappealing as he believed himself to be.

I agreee with a prior reviewer - enough already of Ryan! He's the middle-aged "hero" who lusts after Megan, the main character in the book. The creepy factor? Ryan is the father of Megan's best friend - and Megan "grew up in his house along with his daughter." Ick.

The story itself is very interesting with appealing minor characters. The frequent references to other mystery writers and old Bogart films gets really annoying. Yes, we've all read those books. No, this is not a Bogart/Bacall romance. Bogart met Bacall when she was a woman, albeit a very young woman, he was not a father figure to her while she was growing up. Again, ick.

I loved this book. It's full of cute banter and it's a great read. The eaudiobook is even better (with 2 readers). Dive in! Read it! Listen to it! You won't regret it.

There is something about this series that I just can not connect with.

Megan is too overly enthusiastic about everything and Ryan makes me squirm. He acts more like her father than a man who truly loves a woman for herself. Enough with the 'protection'.

All the other reading group characters are stereotypes: the lawyer, the professor, the older women, the book store owner, the grad student. Is there anyone else? If so, the character hasn't made an impression.

Berkeley Crime also needs a good editor. I keep finding errors in punctuation and grammar usage and, in this book, the author, talking about the OJ Simpson case, refers to Ron Goldman and his family as GOLDBERG.

Gee, a true crime that was in every newspaper and on the TV every day for months and she can't get a murder victim's name right?

This is the third of this series I've read & feel I've given it a chance. I won't be buying any more.

I'm much more enamored of the books by Alice Kimberley beginning with The Ghost and Mrs. McClure, also set in a book store. You might want to give them a try.

How this author can come up with such fine plots, but write so poorly is the biggest mystery here! The monotonous mentioning of Megan's diminutive stature and cute appearance, along with the endless peervy musings of Ryan, are enough to distract from the interesting central mystery and film noir allusions.