Saturday, June 15, 2019

Cloaked in Malice - Cozy Mystery Review

Goodreads:  Cloaked in Malice (A Vintage Magic Mystery #5) by Annette Blair

Rating:  Good
Source:  Purchased

Description:  There’s nothing Maddie loves more than fabulous vintage clothes, but the visions she gets while touching them are starting to wear her down. Even so, when a beautifully dressed girl comes to Vintage Magic in search of her past, Maddie isn’t about to turn her away, especially since she bears a striking resemblance to her good friend Dolly Sweet.

When Maddie touches Paisley Skye’s exquisitely crafted child’s cloak, the vision she receives is of the ugliest sort: a decades-old case of kidnapping and murder. To give herself more time to investigate, Maddie enlists the help of her FBI Agent boyfriend Nick and takes Paisley into her own home. But when Dolly suddenly skips town, Maddie realizes that uncovering the folds of Paisley’s past will reveal more than one vintage crime…

Genre: Mystery - Cozy

Why I Picked This Book:  I've enjoyed this series and I love books about vintage clothes

My Impression:  Is this the most realistic book I've ever read?  Nope - not even close.  Was it enjoyable?  Thoroughly! My only complaint was that we didn't spend nearly enough time in the shop  with all the gorgeous vintage clothes and Dante the ghost.  I loved figuring out just who Paisley was and what she was hiding and how she was connected to Paisley's friend Dolly.  I love a missing persons case and this was kind of like a missing persons case in reverse.  In this case we had the person but didn't know who she was.  And of course Maddie's ability to read clothes is giving us some very ominous clues.  So what was unrealistic?  There's Maddie's psychic abilities to get visions from old clothes of course but that's not really what I'm talking about here.  The main issue was that Paisley just didn't quite ring true.  For someone who had been isolated on an island with 2 people for her entire memory she's very comfortable around people and quick to pick up mannerisms.  As well the plot unravels in a bit of a crazy over the top way with conspiracies galore.  I'd been reading a lot of psychological suspense before I picked this one up so this lighter over the top cozy full of old clothes and a few ghosts was exactly what I wanted.

Would I Read More of this Series/Author?  Yes.  I have book 6 and am looking forward to it but I think it's the last of the series.

Would I Recommend this Book?  If you enjoy cozies with a paranormal element - and love one about a vintage clothes - than this is a fun read.  You can jump in here but the relationship stuff (very small part of the book) would probably make more sense if you started at the beginning.

5 comments:

  1. Sounds fun! I like the title. And I've read some cozies but none really with a strong paranormal vibe, but I can see it really working, depending on the story.

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  2. I read the first couple of books in this series and enjoyed them. I really want to get back to reading more.

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  3. I adore the cover of this one. I think I wouldn't mind suspending some of the plot issues because overall it sounds good.

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  4. This book sounds delightful. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. This was the one book I had read in this series out of order; I think it was the book of a knitting friend up in the city. I think I'm going to have to buy it b/c the library doesn't carry it.

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