Year of the Series - A Likely Story + Tightening the Threads

 

After the calamity that was 2020 I didn't want to give myself serious reading goals but I did want to do something to help my book stacks get a little more under control.  I've tried getting rid of the ones I want to read but unfortunately I want to read all the books I own.  So I decided to focus on series.  There are so many I have that I abandoned halfway through or came in halfway and never read the first few.  I made a list of ten series and the next book I had to read in them and will be rolling in new books and series as I go along and catch up.  Here are two reviews from that list that I've read recently.

Goodreads: A Likely Story (Library Lover's Mystery #6) by Jenn McKinlay - One of the tasks library director Lindsay Norris likes best is delivering books to housebound residents.  This time she and kind of boyfriend boat captain are delivering books to the reclusive Rosen brothers when they come across a scene neither expected.  Not only is Stewart Rosen not at the dock to great them but after they make their way through the brothers' booby trapped home they discover Peter Rosen shot to death in his wheel chair.  This starts a search into the past but with lots of danger lurking in the present.  As well, there are lots of Briar Creek business with appearances from the crafternooners, Ms. Cole (aka the Lemon), children's librarian extraordinaire Beth as other old friends that were a delight to see.  I really enjoyed this read.  The mystery kept me involved and guessing and I really enjoyed spending time with characters that feel like old friends.  My Rating: Really Liked It!

Goodreads:  Tightening the Threads (Mainely Needlepoint #5) by Lea Wait - Angie Curtis' friend Sarah Byrne has been acting like she has a secret for the last month or so and Angie's been trying not to pry.  But finally Sarah spills the beans - Sarah left her native Australia to move to Haven Harbor, Maine to try and connect with family she never knew.  And that family happens to be her newly discovered uncle - Ted Lawrence, who just happens to be the son of famed artist Robert Lawrence.  He's so excited by this new connection that he decides to host a family weekend where he invites his three children and proceeds to drop a series of bombshells - Sarah's identity being the least of them.  When the weekend comes to a tragic end with Ted being poisoned and a second death following close on his heels the police (and Angie) start digging into the Lawrence family secrets.  This wasn't my favorite of this series.  While the Mainely Needlepointers do feature in this book they don't have nearly the page time they do in previous books and I missed them!  As well, there's a lot of setup in this one.  We meet Ted's children and learn the dynamics on the Lawrence family (and wow are they dysfunctional!) and the first death doesn't really occur until close to halfway through the book.  This mystery is a good one and the series is a strong one but this just didn't click quite as much with me.  One thing that Wait does in this series that I always enjoy is start each chapter with a quote from a sampler and gives a little bit of history on the sampler and the woman who created it.  My Rating:  Liked It!