Customer Reviews

Murder Under A Mystic Moon

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wouldn't say that this is the best installment yet, but it was pretty entertaining...but probably not for the reasons you think.

After finishing my reading of this novel I realized something about the Chintz 'n China mysteries....they're not really about the mystery, they're about the characters. To be honest, the characters are the only reason I enjoyed this book. I didn't really care about the Klakatat monster or even the murder "mystery" (which falls flat on its face, by the way).

Now, I have to complain about the sex scenes again. They were just a bit too graphic and they seemed out of place in a novel like this. I don't know about the other readers, but I really don't care about Emerald's sex life. Now, don't get me wrong; I'm not uptight about this stuff. I've read novels (Michael Cunningham's come to mind) which can be very graphic in that department, but at least those kinds of scenes belonged there and went right along with character development. In the Chintz 'n China novels, they're just an annoying distraction.

All in all, don't expect a good (or even decent) mystery, but read it for the characters. Some stuff is even left unexplained: Like, what happened to Jimbo's fence?

The fourth book is titled 'A Harvest of Bones' and is due out December 2005.

-Ater

3rd in the Chintz'N China series featuring Emerald O'Brien, this is a series I buy off the shelf. Emerald, a medium, is a down-to-earth single mom raising her nerdy, star-gazing daughter and precocious son, who is also a medium while trying to run her china/tea shop where she also gives Tarot readings. Emerald gets drawn into the investigation of a body found in the woods when her friend asks her to check it out for anything supernatural. Emerald and her friends - and family - end up stumbling across a much greater mystery than anyone can imagine, while also laying the groundwork for future stories. Most of you know how much I love my psychic stories, and this author is one of my favorites in the paranormal mysteries. She can't seem to write quickly enough for me. The first 2 are Ghost of a Chance and Legend of the Jade Dragon. December will bring us A Harvest a Bones.

I was so excited to be waiting for the mail delivery of this new installment of Ms Galenorn's Chinz and China series. How would this series progress...what characters would I get to know better; knowing already and feeling a part of the trio of women friends, yet wanting to evolve with the town into personal knowledge of more quirky folks. YES!! It came to pass, and so very entertainingly! Emerald and her psychic gifts were waiting, her children growing older and clearer in my mind as pages were turned. Her Native friend and partner Murray opening herself to her heritage from book to book slowly, as the blooming of a flower. The little old neighbors, the annoying newswoman,others who came into view and most of all, Jimbo. Ah, it felt like being home again! But nothing was more awe-inspiring than the insight into a most primal creature. Again, Yasmine has taken us deeper than the heart, if that can be done. Brava!!!

Emerald O'Brien didn't know when she moved from Seattle to Chiqetaw that the town rests on a psychic power field and since Emerald has a strong psychic sense she is open to all the paranormal activity that surrounds the town. When her friend Jimbo O'Brien asks Emerald to look for his biker friend Scar who disappeared without a trace, she agrees to help him though there are many stories about the Klakatat monster(similar to Bigfoot) who appears from time to time in the Klickavail woods where he was last seen.

Emerald, her best friend the medium Murray and Jimbo enter the woods; the psychic uses her sixth sense to locate Scar who was murdered. The coroner rules he was killed by a cougar but Emerald and Murray sense it was a human who murdered him even though there are many elementals in the area who could have been responsible for the deed. When another biker is killed in the same place, Gordon, another psychic, is arrested but Emerald's worst enemy asks for her help in proving her cousin's innocence. Since Emerald believe George not guilty, she sets out to prove that the police arrested the wrong man and she won' let the Klakatat monster or the elementals stop her.

MURDER UNDER a Mystic MOON is a refreshingly innovative paranormal mystery that will appeal to a wide range of mystery aficionados. The heroine is very frightened of what she sees and knows in the etheral world but she still uses her psychic powers to go the extra mile to see that justice prevails even if it means putting her own life in danger. Yasmine Galenorn is an author to keep an eye out as she is heading towards superstardom.

Harriet Klausner

I put fives stars only because there's not a way to do 100 stars! Once again Yasmine Galenorn has kept me under her spell for hours on end I simply could NOT put this book down. It was SO good! This third book of the series is the best yet, in my opinion. But I do hope this is not the last we hear of Emerald O'Brien et al. I've grown so very fond of them!

This is the third in the Chintz'n'China mysteries, and the best yet. Yasmine Galenorn has tapped a whole new vein of paranormal mysteries with this series, and she writes at a cracking pace. Her characters are fully human - at least, those on this dimension are fully human - and engaging, and her settings are beautifully realised. Her spooks are satisfyingly spooky, and she keeps the tension mounting all the way through. I look forward to the next volume in this series.

Again, it's nice to see Galenorn's writing capacity and abilities increase. I love Emerald and Joe, and enjoy reading about Emerald's exploits, but the books definitely get better the later they were written.

There are happy endings, and then there are over the top, unrealistic, "murderer confesses double homicide to arresting officer" while "arch-rival buys several hundred dollars' worth of china from Heroine in a gesture of appreciation" and "Ecstatic Boyfriend buys lot next door and promises to propose on her next birthday" endings. Taken individually, any one of these unbelievable outcomes would spoil a good mystery, but when all occur in the same novel within the final two chapters, the result is a Regrettable Read.

Murder Under A Mystic Moon was my first read by Yalenorn, (a quick read) and I was so disappointed by the sugary ending that it spoiled the mild enjoyment I felt for this cozy story and put me off future novels in the Chintz N' China mystery series. I was initially attracted to the novel because of the plot outline: Emerald, an amateur psychic with two kids, helps a friend locate a missing biker buddy that police believe is a victim of cougar attack, but Emerald "knows there's something else wandering the forest--something that resembles the Klakatat monster of legend...." A mystery novel with a Psychic, a Mysterious Forest, a Monster, and Bikers--how could this story go wrong?

Well, I'll tell you how. Pack in a whole lot of Emerald eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner (plus extended descriptions of her caffeine addiction and various espresso drinks), following Emerald about her daily life on tangents to Yoga class, and polish off the story with the aforementioned ending, and you end up with a mildly enjoyable "mindless" mystery that offers no challenge to readers whatsoever with its wildly unfocused plot.

The basic plot is straightforward enough: Emerald's psychic talents are requested by her biker friend Jimbo to locate his missing friend. However, too many tangent side-plots interrupt the main thread of the story: Emerald's longtime feud with her nemesis--who happens to be a local TV reporter, her mothering of her children, and her blossoming relationship with her boyfriend Joe. These sub-plots, which could have enhanced the story, instead slog the pacing due to unfailingly ideal outcomes. There is no hint of true suspense that Emerald's relationship may suffer a few snags, her children might get in real trouble or fail to understand life lessons she is trying to teach them, or that her rivals will succeed in smearing her good name or causing true harm to her life. Conflicts are created and resolved in predictable sequence, and this lack of tension makes for a lackluster mystery. I found myself skating over excessive lines of description detailing Emerald's happy reaction to unsurprising conflict resolutions in order to get back to main story.

The mystical descriptions of the novel with enjoyable and interesting, but its protagonist Emerald, while likeable, is somewhat of a goody-two-shoes. The story is peppered with annoying antagonists: Cathy Sutton--bleached-blonde local TV reporter with an attitude whose petty spite targets Emerald multiple occasions, George Pleasant (who is anything but) Cathy's intern cousin and amateur psychic with a gargantuan ego who slanders Emerald on TV and verbally maligns her in almost every scene, Roy--her cheating, slime-ball ex-husband that ignores his two kids and is verbally abusive to Emerald via telephone calls, and Anthony--her cheating ex-boyfriend who dumped Emerald for a starlet and makes a reappearance to get her back. Contrast these repulsive characters with an unrealistically perfect, faultlessly devoted Fireman boyfriend who worships Emerald and her kids, and Emerald's apparent refusal to stand up to any of these irritating personalities except in her mind, and you end up with Mary Jane Mom--the girl next door who can do no wrong.

If you enjoy mindless, predictable mysterious with Scooby-Doo endings and kitschy atmosphere, give this novel a try. If, like me, you prefer SOME element of realism to your tale, skip this series like a bad cold.

I have enjoyed this series as I have all the books Ms Galenorn has written. I am pretty sure I have read all of her books. Each series has a different feel and all her books are entertaining. As an ER nurse they give me the break I need to relax.

The characters are well drawn, but there are too many inconsequential sub plots and too many spear carriers. The plot is rather incidental but decent. Overall a very good read and fun.

The cover is horrid and has nothing to do with the book at all and there is no where is Western Washington with that landscape. Apparently this is a new cover not an improvement on the previous design though.

The dream pillow looks to be good although not the same as mine. BTW do not substitute foam for cotton batting! The pillow depends on sent and foam will trap it.