Customer Reviews

Simon Said

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Very fun book, I read it in one day, couldn't put it down. Wonderful characters, I loved Simon, very real and human character. The supporting cast is also a lot of fun. Different characters in different jobs. Ms. Sharber really makes you root for Simon's love interest, Julia. I hope that we see a lot more of her in the next books. Ms. Sharber does a good job of hiding the villians and had me guessing up to the end. She has a great way of running two mysteries at once. One past and one present, then pulling them together very well. Can't wait to read her next book, Snipe Hunt. I only hope that Ms. Sharber starts at least writing one a year. One every three years will just not do!

This is one of those cases where I wish one could give half star ratings on Amazon, because it's more a 2.5 than a 3 star book for me. Still, I suppose "it's OK" is closer to what I felt about it than "I didn't like it", so three stars it is.

I should say that I'm almost tempted to take away a star for the awful Kindle formatting: the formatting issues constantly pulled me out of the story, especially due to the way paragraphs and scenes kept running together without any breaks. There were also many numbers obviously missing from the text, especially in several instances when it was clear the sentence was supposed to end with a date (year) but instead ended with a space followed by a full stop. Next to these issues, the frequent lack of new paragraph indents and an active table of contents (or even the way new chapters always started in the middle of a page of text) were minor problems.

But even without the formatting issues, it wouldn't have made my favourite mysteries list. For the first 20-25% of the book, I wasn't sure whether I would manage to finish it at all - the pacing was all wrong, disjointed and rushed and full of completely irrelevant descriptions and mini-infodumps whenever a new character was introduced. I found the writing did improve a little towards the ending (either that or I got more used to it), but not a lot.

That said, the plot itself intrigued me enough that I kept reading, simply because I wanted to know "who did it" (for both the historical murder and the contemporary goings-on). I didn't warm to Simon, but he did have his good points (such as his affection for his cat), and some of the supporting cast, while somewhat one- or two-dimensional, showed promise. Not enough for me to read more in this series, but enough for me to give it a "it was OK" rating and not regret the time spent on it.

I was thrilled to learn that Shaber had released this series on Kindle. As soon as I heard the news, I bought this book and read it in one day.

I am a NC native and found this book very true to place and the characters charming and Southern without being stereotypical. I loved the history in the book and I loved Simon and his cronies. The mystery is light and fun and far better than I expected.

If you're looking for a fun cozy mystery, rich in history that doesn't read like a textbook, you will love this book. Hard-boiled fans and thriller readers probably won't like Simon Said, but cozy lovers who enjoy cozy mysteries with an academic and historical slant will love it. This is the perfect book for the beach or a lazy Sunday afternoon. I highly recommend it!

This book was well worth the 3 week wait for my reserved copy at the local library. How soon can we expect more of Simon's exploits? Mystery, humor, and a little romance + intelligence without ego.

I picked up this book because it won a Malice Domestic Award from St. Martin's press and because it's set in an area where I used to live. It does a nice job of giving the reader a sense of Raleigh, but it fails utterly as a mystery. The characters -- both the villain and the investigator -- lack believable motivation. Prof. Simon Shaw wants to solve a 70-year-old murder case, well, just because he wants to. The author shows little understanding of the academic world in which the book is set. A tenured professor could not be fired for taking anti-depressants. Any college that tried to do so would find a nasty lawsuit on its hands.

The book is riddled with small technical problems. Shaber never met a point-of-view shift that she didn't like, in the middle of a page or a paragraph, it doesn't matter. The editor fell asleep on this one. And at one point the narrator compares a character to "Athena determined to defend Troy from the Greeks." The only problem is that Athena was on the side of the Greeks against the Trojans.

Female investigators are often ridiculed for getting themselves into dangerous situations in the next-to-last chapter of the book, only to be rescued by a friendly policeman. Prof. Shaw falls into that cliched trap in this book.

And this thing won a prize?

I pick up this book at my local library, just before the the auther was going to come speak. I finished in about 2 days and found it a very fun read. Since I live in Raleigh, I have walk on the same sidewalks through the neighborhoods and colleges mentioned in the story. I found myself in the story most the the way through. By that I mean that the stressors or distractions of my world melted away as I was absorbed into Simon's world. I like that in a book.

As a long since escaped native of Raleigh (the scene of the crime), I was fully taken with Ms. Shaber's description of the older Raleigh area. I could feel the oppressive humidity in the air and walked the streets of Cameron Park with her. Although I guessed the identity of the "hard cases", I found this to be an entertaining and well-written first mystery. Can't wait for her next book.

I enjoyed the entire story line. The old murder mixed in with the current lives of the present day folks. I loved Simon, his interpretation of the south. And I also want to hear more about his developing relationship with Julia.

The main characters are congenial companions for the length of the book while the plot happily dispenses with the elaborate mystification and techno-jargon which impede the pleasurable jaunt through the brief trip we expect from a light detective/mystery. The author writes well, maintains adequate self-control to avoid sexual pot-boiling in her romance and provides just the right touch of Academic foolishness to spice the story.
I feel comfortable in recommending this effort to most readers of what are now being called "COZY MYSTERIES". It should not disappoint others who share my taste for that type of fiction. As proof of my pleasure in this one, I will now turn to Amazon to buy the other four Kindle offers.

Simon Said is the near-perfect whodunit. Moving along at an unhurried pace (after all, the murder was committed back in 1926) we learn of Simon the professor and his life and loves. Then comes a rather unpleasant hint that the story of the murdered woman may not have ended in 1926...and the pace picks up. In fact, by the time author Sarah Shaber ties up the last knot, we have been virtually rocketing through the Carolina night along with Simon. Special kudos to Shaber for actually tying that last knot. In academia, primary research is vital.

A word of complaint about the Kindle edition. Paragraphs! Dialogue! When a second person speaks in response to the first, one begins a NEW line and a new paragraph. Continuing in the same old line with just a change of quotes is a frontal assault on English grammar.