Puss Reboots: Blog: November 2022: A Poisonous Page

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A Poisonous Page by Kitt Crowe and Tina Wolstencroft (Narrator)
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A Poisonous Page: 11/10/22

A Poisonous Page by Kitt Crowe and Tina Wolstencroft (Narrator) (2022) is the second book in the Sweet Fiction Bookshop mystery series. It's summertime which means festival time. Lexi, though, is distracted by three untimely deaths: two of whom were chamber of commerce members. When her friend Dash is accused she knows she and Cookie must investigate!

Lexi's relationship with her dog, Cookie, reminds me of Lady Amy and her dog in the Victorian Book Club series by Callie Hutton. Except this series is contemporary and set in eastern Oregon.

I enjoyed watching Lexi and Cookie work. They are becoming more accepted in their new town and it was nice to have less time spent on both of them being accused of breaking every minor city ordinance.

At sixty percent through the novel, I knew who had done it and why. The pacing and various major plot points were similar to how mysteries are laid out in Midsomer Murders Familiarity with the show as well as all the other mysteries I read probably made the solution more obvious that it otherwise would have been.

That said, the mystery has a fantastic climax. It draws on similar tropes as a typical climax in an Anna Pigeon mystery but also manages to lampshade them. It's the perfect blend of deconstruction and dramatic tension.

Five stars