Customer Reviews

Stirring Up Strife: A Hope Street Church Mystery (Hope Street Church Mysteries)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've just finished reading this book and have three words for the author: I'm a fan! I love how Ms. Stanley not only told a story, but intertwined words of encouragement and insight throughout this mystery. This book not only entertains, but also touches on aspects in life that the reader may be going through or can relate to. The protagonist, Cooper Lee, finds new friends and a new calling (sleuthing) after who she thought would always be in her life was removed from her life. The characters are caring and determined. Now that "Coop" has been biten by the sluething bug, I look forward to following her and her friends on more adventures as they try catch bad guys (and girls), laughing at the funny dialogue and receiving a word within a book of words. Most refreshing!

This was not your usual formula mystery, with love interest. You get drawn into Cooper's anguish of a lost love, her family's support, and an interesting mystery as well as her steps to overcome her situation. Thought the cops were a little to slow on following leads, but all in all a good read, with good character development, as well as evoking the Richmond area and a loving family. Thought the almost blind character, Savannah, was a little too good to be true, but I have to be cynical about something. The use of a bible study group was intriguing, though, and added to the story telling.

Looking forward to the next one.

This is a great book in a delightful new series. Cooper seems lost while recovering from a recent breakup, that is, until she joins a bible study group. When one of their church members is accused of murder, the bible group team up to solve the murder. As the group becomes more involved with the case, Cooper is learning more about herself and gaining confidence with the support of her new friends, her parents, her sister and her grandmother who spouts words of inspiration that will have you thinking. If you're looking for a good read, give this book a try. I'm looking forward to the next book in this series.

The book is well written and entertaining. The characters are believable. The story is interesting and fun. The problem that no one has mentioned is that the main character and all of the other "christians" in the book seem to believe premarital sex is ok and even to be encouraged. I was disturbed by things like the lead characters grandmother encouraging her to have sex outside of marriage. If you can ignore these false beliefs it was a good book, I just thought a review should mention this. I would not have purchased this book had I known this.

Cooper Lee is the main character in this new series and she's a delight. The characters in this book you'll want to keep as friends and hopefully gain some insight from their Sunday morning Bible study. The plot is thick enough to keep you entertained and not wanting to put the book down. It's a great cozy read and Ms. Stanley is a great addition to Christian mystery writers. I can't wait for her next book to arrive.

This wonderful book is more than a good mystery. It is thought provoking and entertaining. This is the first book I have read by Jennifer Stanley, but I intend to read more of her books. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and did not want to put it down.

First in a cozy mystery series where a bible study group tries to solve a murder to clear the name of one of their friends. Though I am not religious, I enjoyed this book. It had a good mystery and good characters. I do enjoy Stanley's Supper Club books much more. But I will continue this series; I have #2, Path of the Wicked, on my Kindle to read.

Jennifer Stanley's "Stirring Up Strife" is a well-plotted and well-written mystery that is as fun to read for the subplots and it is for the central "whodunit" puzzle. The premise is this: Cooper Lee, an unlikely female office machine repair technician, has a chance encounter with a client whose jammed copy machine Lee is called in to repair. That client, Brooke Hughes, has an instant connection with Cooper and invites her to attend Bible study sessions at Hope Street Church. Cooper, feeling down and out after recently breaking up with her longtime boyfriend Drew and moving back in with her parents, could use a little light in her life, so she decides to visit Hope Street.

The Bible study is all aflutter when Lee arrives, as it seems one of their beloved church members, Wesley Hughes, has been arrested for the murder of his wife, Brooke! Cooper and members of the Bible study, who know Wesley and cannot imagine his having committed the crime, set out to prove his innocence through old fashioned gumshoe detective work.

The strength of "Stirring up Strife" is in its strong plot, and while all of the characters have some relationship to it, we also feel they have their own lives. Stanley does an excellent job of balancing our introduction to these lives (such as Cooper's parents, various members of the Bible study group, etc.) and offering action and clues to solve the mystery. One of the best subplots is Cooper's second chance at love with a member of the Bible study group; we are cheering for her all the way. Stanley is also great at evoking the atmosphere of urban Richmond, Virginia, the setting for this series.

As many readers who are drawn to this book because of its church-ish theme could potentially be driven away by it. However, I can attest that Stanley does a really good job of balancing the faith/God/prayer themes without much syrupy sentimentality or even a drivel of preachy rhetoric. That is a much more difficult task to do than Stanley makes it seem. While the Bible quotations at the beginning of every chapter did seem to get a bit heavy at times (and the more orthodox among readers might object to their contextualization), I found myself always reading them and finding resonance in the chapter that followed. This is a rather bold move for commercial mass market fiction, but Stanley is up to the job.

My qualms with the book are minor but bear mentioning because I am seeing them as a trend in many cozies. I am of a personal mind that authors should stop writing "clucked" as a term of expressive action. I'm pretty sure people don't cluck, or even if they do it must be rarer than what we're reading in a lot of cozy mysteries these days (maybe the tsk tsk??). I'm also not a fan of characters who refer to their vehicles with made-up cutesy proper names based on the vehicles size and/or color (here there are two, "Cherry-O" and "Sweet Pea," and you can probably guess one is red and the other, yep, green). It kind of removed me from the story every time I came across those things, clucked and proper-named autos. I would also lose Quinton's hymn lyrics, which as printed in full within the text read like doggerel even though they would be extremely appropriate set to the right music in a church environment.

These small annoyances, which may well be just my own hangups anyway, do not detract from this excellent first entry into the Hope Street Church Mystery Series. The solid and believable finish is as satisfying as what came before it, one mark of a good mystery. I will look forward to the next book, "Path of the Wicked" with anticipation.

I have read other series by this author, so I thought I would try the Hope Street Church Mysteries. I enjoyed this first in the series very much. I was immediately taken with the "heroine", Cooper. She has a good relationship with her supportive family, but feels insecure after a sudden breakup with someone she thought she would spend the rest of her life with. She decides to try to move on with her life by joining a church study group. I enjoyed the characters in the group, who all have their own insecurities and past issues, but are there to help each other. They all get involved in solving a murder because of their faith in the accused - a member of their church. I thought their level of involvement was believeable. I also thought it was interesting that the church she describes sounds exactly like a church that I attended - including the music. All in all, it was a very enjoyable book and I have purchased the next in the series (Path of the Wicked).

I enjoyed reading this first book in a new series so much that I have checked out the next one from the library.