Ugh.

Made it part way through "Chance". Plot holes an army could walk through. Characters I would have happily murdered. I don't know the author but enjoyed a couple of the earliest books in the series, but won't try more; this one was such a stinking mess.

Contrived story

Interesting idea, but the story was far too contrived. Only made it a third of the way through before I gave up in exasperation.

I've read several books in this series (this just happens to be the one I'm writing on) and even more by this author -- whom I often really like. The problem is I just don't like Tom, the plumber. He strikes me as too much of a wimpy doormat. Whatever happens, I just don't seem to be able to care, or I wind up feeling that he had it coming.

Pro's and Con's

Rollicking space opera. Exciting bits towards the end. Like-able characters. BUT, depending on your point of view, either an unsatisfactory ending or a cliff-hanger. I suggest you wait until there are more books in the series, before starting. With a better ending, I would have rated it higher. I'll try to remember to come back in a couple of years when there is more to the series.

Comments about female characters:
I also realized, as I was thinking about it later, that I felt the lack of female characters to identify with. I can only remember three women. One was an off-stage villain. One was a minor, incompetent one. And one was ethically ambivalent. So, yeah, that might also have affected my feelings about the story.

My least favorite

I just reread the entire series. I had given all of the other books a 4 (will read again) or a five star (will read again and again) rating. This one just received a 3 (eh -- it was okay). I think that is because I found it the least believable of them and because the ending was ambiguous and too "artstisic" for my taste.

After my second reading of this one I'm wondering if my problem with it might be my sense that the author wrote the story for the sake of the ending, and then couldn't decide about it one way or the other after all?

The detective stories of the rest of the series were good to very good, but the real attraction of the series for me is the people. They aren't cartoons that never develop; many of them are people that grow and change over time making the books more novels than detective stories.

Such odd people

This one really didn't work for me. I don't understand why everybody was willing to play his games with him. Nor did I understand why nobody wanted a lawyer. And finally, the detective managed to irritate me more than once. I left it with the feeling that the author had made choices that made the detecting easier rather than making the people realistic.

Probably good, but not my thing

Too much blood and tension for me. Others that feel that historical fiction is typically too bland and that battle scenes are too "sanitary" might really be happier with this one.

Two stars from me means that I finished the book, but had to hop back and forth a bit to do it and possibly skip some parts.

I finished this one a few days ago and then had to set it aside to think about it -- something I often have to do with books in this series.

The mystery is a good one, and while there were a few red herrings that I figured out very quickly, I didn't answer the main mystery any faster than the detectives did themselves.

I'm still not convinced about the change in main characters for the series. And without the normal "main", I felt that at least the first half of the book lacked a central pivot point. Which, I suppose, is a polite way of saying I experienced it as being all over the place. I even found myself easily setting the book aside to be picked up "later". I don't think I've ever willingly done that with one of Grainger's books before. Things settled down and moved forward for me in the second half of the book --with the help of some of the more senior officers.

Am I not connecting with the new detective (even though I really enjoyed his story when he was the side-kick) because I am old and he is young and inexperienced and a bit shallow (which is a complement to Peter Grainger's writing if I am feeling the character's youth to that extent)? His feet, and even legs from the knees down, are very clay. And he needs a good swat to the side of his head as far as the women in his life are concerned. Really! Where is his mother?

Despite my ambivalence about parts of the story, it still received 4 stars which means that I will (and have) gone back to re-read parts of it. show more That is more than I can say about the previous book in the series. And I'll certainly read any other stories Peter comes up with. This is one of my "very most favorite" series of the last decade.

Still, just hmmm, gonna have to keep thinking about why I felt the way I did as I was reading it. (less) show less

This story seemed to flow much better than the last two from the author. I felt that maybe he was getting more comfortable both in writing this new storyline and with the characters' "personalities".

Thinking back on it I, oddly, have to admit that one of the "victims" was the character I most liked. I rather hope Peter liked him as well, and manages to keep him around/reuse him in the future.

While I may like some of Peter's stories better than others, I always enjoy the quality of his writing. I may even come back and give this a 5 after I have had some time to think about things. Maybe what I need is a four and a half?

This would have scored much higher except for, even having re-read key passages a second time, I don't see one of, what should have been a main character, as more than a cardboard cutout. I don't see why... you fill in the motivational blank... just why? Many of the rest of the characters are surprisingly complex for this sort of book, with plenty of plot twists that I (mostly) didn't see coming, but lots of things never get followed up. Should this maybe have been two or three novels? Anyway, see HC's review for this book. They say it much better than I. Lots of potential that just didn't get used. It includes several romantic lines, but I'm not even sure it is a romance.

She has done it better in Chasing Fire. Much the same plot line as that story, but I liked the characters and setting much better in it.

She writes tongue in cheek camp very well.

Too many people convinced that their romantic interest could never love someone as unlovable as themselves.

Well ahead of its time, but probably seems a bit old fashioned now.

Couldn't finish it. Couldn't bring myself to care about the characters.

Didn't think the story was all that interesting, but oh, did I love the pictures!

A bit overly didactic but a good story under it all.

An OK written historical romance/novel. Unfortunately it is also a soap opera, and I can't stand the things. So, while it she can paint lovely pictures with words, I have some problems with her historicity, and I won't be reading any more of the series. She has written some interesting sounding non-fiction on the other hand, so I will give those a try.

I few good stories. I'm not big on short stories. Surprisingly, the authors of stories I liked hadn't read any books that tempted me to read further. Not sure why that was.

Much like Heriot's "All Creatures..." but I think this is better done. At least this is one I've gone back to read a couple of times. Perhaps I just liked the people more?

I bought this after reading "False Colors", hoping for more of the same sort of action adventure. This was, however, primarily a romance with only dashes of swash or buckle.

Sweet. Wonder why she decided to release this as a stand-alone short story rather than as part of a longer book?

Much better and funnier than the movie.

Stupid takeoff on the Pygmalion story

Very old fashioned at this point, but it was a mainstay for even the Chinese from SF's Chinatown in it's day.

I had a really hard time even finishing this one. Too many improbabilities and a contrived set-up for their assignment meant that I was never able to suspend my disbelief to get into the story.

An book of upscale American home cooking recipes.

Great ideas for pizzas: thin crust, deep dish, calzone, dessert and snack. Some are too fancy for regular use, but many are reasonably practical.

A bit difficult to use because of the odd indexing. Recipes are sound, and it is encyclopedic in its coverage. I found it the most useful while staying for a few weeks in Tuscany in a place with a large kitchen. I'd come home in the afternoon with a large assortment of "interesting" foodstuffs I'd purchased that day and need ideas on how to combine them to make a supper for us.

Rollicking adventure with a gay hero. Not really a romance and just about null sex... just good old fashioned adventure à la Horatio Hornblower, but I like Kei's version better. I did enjoy "Pirates of the narrow Seas" slightly better because I could never get my head around why the hero chose to stay with/come back to the British Navy.