The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective - Mystery Review

Goodreads:  The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective by Jo Nichols

Rating: Not For Me (2 Stars)
Source:   Publisher

Description:  Mrs. B, the landlady of The Marigold Cottages is a stubborn idealist who only rents to people she cares about: Sophie, an anxious young playwright with a dark past; Hamilton, an agoraphobe who likes to overshare; Ocean, a queer sculptor raising two kids alone; the perfectionist Lily-Ann; and Nicholas, a finance bro who’s hiding secrets.

The tenants live contentedly in their doll-house bungalows in Santa Barbara, just minutes from the beach, until their peace is shattered when Anthony, a quiet, hulking, but potentially violent ex-con moves in. Three weeks later, a dead body is discovered on the streets of the peaceful neighborhood. Anthony is arrested, and the tenants heave sighs of relief. Until Mrs. B, convinced that he's innocent, marches down to the police station and confesses to the crime herself. The tenants band together and form “The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective” to save their beloved landlady. As clues are unearthed and secrets are revealed, the community of misfits only grows more tight-knit...until a second body is found. Full of eccentricity, humor, community, The Marigold Cottages Murder Collective will keep you hooked until the last page.

Genre: Mystery

Why I Picked This Book:  The title.  Anytime a group of people get together to solve a mystery I am completely in so how could I resist a Murder Collective?

My Impression:  I really wanted to love this and the premise had my expectations pretty high.  I love a found family of quirky unconnected characters and am a big fan of putting together a team to solve a murder.  Extra points for the fact they gave the team a name.

Unfortunately, this one just didn't grab me.  The characters felt very one note - Mrs. B is the meddling landlady, Ocean is the cottage mother + lover of protests and causes, Sophie is high strung and writing a play in her head about the characters of the cottages, and Lily-Ann is fat (her description) and suffers from severe and somewhat debilitating perfectionism.  The men are even a bit more one note.  Anthony looks like a sinister criminal, Nicholas is kind of a jerk, and I never got much on Hamilton other than he liked visitors and doesn't leave the house.  The POV changes with each chapter which I did like but didn't help my grasp of the characters.  I did really like that the detective's POV was included and really liked seeing an outside perspective.

The writing style is very unique and while that contributed to it not working for me I think that could cause it to really work for someone else.  Not every book is for everyone and this unfortunately, is one that isn't for me.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author? I might try this author again if I could get a book from the library and the premise really grabs me.

Would I Recommend this Book?  If you like quirky stories with mysteries this might be a good pick but I'd try to read a sample or get it from the library before buying.

* I received this book in exchange for an honest review.  As always my opinions and impressions are completely my own. *