A Perilous Plot (A Booktown Mystery Book 19)

A Perilous Plot by Lorna Barrett is the nineteenth A Booktown Mystery. Tricia and Angelica must deal with their shifty parents along with a murdered family friend. Tricia still acts like someone who is much older (she is in her 40s but acts like she is in her 60s) while dating someone twenty years younger. I can certainly understand why Tricia and Angelica dread spending time with their parents, especially their mother, Sheila (she is a piece of work). The story moved at leisurely pace. The mystery was straightforward with a small suspect pool, and the ending was unsatisfactory. I liked the message that there is more than one type of family. There are blood relatives that treat you terribly, and there is the family you create that makes show more you feel happy and whole. The story lacked action and there were repetitive details. Each day seemed like the one before it (get up, work, eat, drink, deal with mother, eat, etc.). I wish this story were more like the books in the beginning of the series (I believe the series has run its course). A Perilous Plot transports readers to Stoneham, New Hampshire where there is kitty litter trickery, slow sales, missing meat, dishonest parents, box sorting, and a distressed Sarge. show less

A Perilous Plot by Lorna Barrett is the nineteenth A Booktown Mystery. Tricia and Angelica must deal with their shifty parents along with a murdered family friend. Tricia still acts like someone who is much older (she is in her 40s but acts like she is in her 60s) while dating someone twenty years younger. I can certainly understand why Tricia and Angelica dread spending time with their parents, especially their mother, Sheila (she is a piece of work). The story moved at leisurely pace. The mystery was straightforward with a small suspect pool, and the ending was unsatisfactory. I liked the message that there is more than one type of family. There are blood relatives that treat you terribly, and there is the family you create that makes show more you feel happy and whole. The story lacked action and there were repetitive details. Each day seemed like the one before it (get up, work, eat, drink, deal with mother, eat, etc.). I wish this story were more like the books in the beginning of the series (I believe the series has run its course). A Perilous Plot transports readers to Stoneham, New Hampshire where there is kitty litter trickery, slow sales, missing meat, dishonest parents, box sorting, and a distressed Sarge. show less

Not my favorite in the series. Tricia and Angelica have to deal with their mother arriving and demanding to be treated like dignitary. Angelica can’t stand it and moves her to Nigela’s renovated house that is soon to open as a 5-star hotel. However, the mother is attacked during the night and ends up in the hospital with a concussion and amnesia ????? Lots of strange things going on and sisters don’t believe the amnesia and the mother’s horrible rudeness to them. The original scheme seems too-farfetched.