Who's Sorry Now?

I can answer the question in the title easily. Who's sorry now? Me. I read the blanking thing.

The common threads that tied the earlier books together are gone. The plot resembles the bones of the former plots without the interweaving threads to tie them together. This one is simply a very dull, very boring disjointed cozy much like all the cozy mysteries I hate. Everyone in it would be roadkill in a real mystery. Lily has faded off to the background. Robert while more prominent is more shallow and runs around like a chicken with its head cut off doing everything in the best ADD manner possible. Nothing gets done when he tries it. Or the author just drops the thread until later leaving you hanging.

As said the history is gone. Installing show more mailboxes is NOT history. This could be set in any era and work. The charm of the original was the mystery worked inside the 1930s. This doesn't work in the 30s or any other era. It is very bad writing and very boring writing. Perhaps Ms. Churchill got tired of research and decided to kill off the series because I can't imagine any self respecting writer letting any work go out like this or allowing a publisher to publish this.

Either Churchill didn't write this or she's just out for the money. If book 7 is like this, I can see why her publisher didn't want it. I wouldn't either. show less

Sister and brother Lily and Robert Brewster may not have a penny to their names, but at least they're in good company––times couldn't be tougher in the Hudson River Valley during the Great Depression, and even the much–revered Chief of Police has lost his home. Their poor town has been stripped of its Post Office, too; now mail gets dumped off the trains steaming up the Hudson River, and people have to rummage through the bags to find their letters and packages. When Robert helps a young widow and her newly–arrived German grandfather haul the old man's trunks to his granddaughter's shop, he thinks he may have found a new set of friends––especially the kind train porter who helps them out. But when a red swastika is found show more painted on the widow's shop window, and the train porter is found dead, Robert knows that something much deeper, and much darker, is happening in his sleepy little town. Even back at Grace & Favor Mansion, where Lily and Robert live, things are falling apart. The Chief of Police has just unearthed a very, very old skeleton––right on the grounds! Could the two murders be related? It's up to Lily and Robert to find out the truth, before their quiet community is town apart by hatred, secrets, and a killer who may have set his sights on Grace & Favor... show less

I'm sorry that this is the last published book in this series. Instead of focusing on the Brewster siblings of Grace and Favor Cottage, this novel centered around the Voorburg city Chief of Police, Howard Walker. A WW I veteran train porter is found murdered. Recently, he had kindly helped a local young widow with the heavy trunks her grandfather had brought from Germany. The grandfather is a tailor, setting up shop in town. He had just escaped Germany a few days before Hitler stopped people from leaving Germany. Someone painted a swastika on the tailor shop window. Howard wondered if the murder and vandalism were related. Hoard along with his new deputy set out to solve the crime. It was bittersweet reading this book as I know there is show more more to the goings on in Voorburg, NY, but no more books were published. I will miss the characters immensely. show less

Lily doesn’t figure much in this installment, and even Robert’s contribution is small. The character the story dwells on most is the sheriff. Robert decides the community needs some type of post office boxes for mail to keep nosy biddies from snooping through the bags that hold everyone’s mail. Meanwhile, the persecution of a newly arrived tailor from Germany, and the murder of a well-liked man keep the sheriff and his new deputy busy gathering evidence. It’s a short mystery, but still an intriguing one, set in the 1930’s. Compared to today’s standard for thrillers and murder mysteries, it’s a much gentler but still entertaining tale.

cozy-mystery, historical-fiction, history-and-culture

Whoever wrote the publisher's blurb seems out of contact with the book. The police chief chose to move for one thing. The multiple plot lines seemed a tad over ambitious, but each is interesting. There is the management of the mail where there is no post office and the solution found, episodes of irrational ethnic hatred, a murder, and the discovery of a body more than a hundred years old. Plus, there are twists and surprises that make it a really interesting read.

Mostly interesting as a study of characters in a small town, which was charming in a way. I just found the characters' activities were described too deliberately...what the author considered important to explain seemed rather pedestrian at times.

Excellent! I really loved this one. Churchill adds a lot of substance to these stories. Great historical information and compassion showed by the characters. Not your average "cosy"...I love them!