Allies, Arson, and Prepping for the Apocalypse

This is an intriguing start to a series. I appreciated the depiction of disability & how hard it is to deal with, especially for female identified people. However, this didn't stop our intrepid lecturer from figuring out the mystery, just slowed her down a bit. Any book set in academia is always a draw for me, and this one doesn't disappoint. If you enjoy a good mystery, you'll enjoy this book.

This is my first review here. I enjoyed this book. At 77 pages, it was a relatively quick read. I couldn't put it down. It's a cozy amateur sleuth tale that brings to mind Hallmark mystery movies. I'm excited at the prospect of reading the sequel based on the blurb at the end of this novella. If rating, I'd give this story an 8 out of 10.
I like Lynne despite, or perhaps because of her flaws. Her personality is relatable, though at times frustrating due to her stubbornness with not wanting to lean on others. She begins her journey somewhat pessimistic and perhaps even depressed and ends it with a much more optimistic perspective. I enjoyed her relationships with her friend, Jennie, her brother, Turret (though the Teddy/Theodore nickname show more confused me somewhat), her latest sister-in-law, and with her daughter, Isobel.
The mystery was interesting for the most part. Some of the political stuff went over my head, but the quirky characters made up for it. For most of the story, there were two prime suspects, each with a possible motive, but one suspect, Thorvald, never had a face-to-face interaction with Lynne. I really wanted to see them interact in person, but that may be due to my love of the enemies to lovers trope than anything else. However, it makes perfect sense within the plot and overall characterization for them to never meet.
I wish more information was provided about Lynne's parents and Isobel's dad, so maybe that could be explored more in future novellas or if the story were expanded to a full novel.
I wish she'd really gotten the oft mentioned cat! I could definitely relate to her longing and internal debates regarding pets.
Note to author: I think I spotted a typo at the beginning of chapter 3, and "in need of more comfort that Lynne was capable of providing" should be "in need of more comfort than Lynne was capable of providing." show less

Interesting twist on a mystery with computer wizards, a protagonist with an unnamed but stress related disease, campus politics and a new life on the horizon. I liked it.

This was just kind of a confusing novella for me. It immediately jumped into action without really explaining what happened. She heard her friend/coworker scream and smelled smoke and led out of the building. No sound that she heard, not much description of the fire, or even how big or bad it ever got. But the whole building was blocked off and not in use. Then she immediately went into detective mode and pretty much knew who it was just because of some back story/conflict we really know nothing about. The political concepts went over my head, and the Big Bad Guy we never even met. There are some typos and errors in there as well. For instance, ch. 9, fourth paragraph. "And yet, Lynn could never bring HIMSELF to take him up on that" show more instead of HERSELF. Apparently her brother Turret's real name is Teddy/Theodore. I don't know how Turret is a nickname for that.
I did enjoy the depth the author went into to describe Lynn's illness. She did a good job of explaining how there are a lot of medical problems out there that are invisible and unexplainable, but yet can completely disrupt someone's life. This was probably the one thing in this short story that made much sense to me. I think it could probably be a good story if it longer or maybe even a novel. show less

Lynn Throckmorton teaches computer science, she's suffering from some sort of neurological stress disfunction/disease. She's depressed and depressing. Someone tossed a small fire bomb into her shared office space and she sets out to solve the mystery under the assumption that the campus police are too busy to investigate an explosion on campus! Everybody lives happily ever after--except the bomber.

This was certainly not for me. I had very little idea of what was going on at any point because it was so buckwild bonkers. The characters were unlikable and confusing. I wish I had something more kind to say, but the best part about it was how short it was.

I am reading this book from early readers. It is a nice mystery with some twists and turns but a great story line I really liked it