No one is more surprised than me at how fond I've become of cozy mysteries over the last couple of years. Yet another side effect of the covid pandemic, I suspect. It's an extremely variable genre, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. I'm pleased to report that this is one of the good ones.
One of the things that I liked about this novel was the way the author broke the usual “rules" of cozies. Pepper Reese may be divorced, but she didn't run off to a small town to find herself. She stayed in Seattle and created a life that she loved. Mind you, she does treat the Pike Place Market as her own small community, allowing the author to write an effective whodunnit. The other tradition that Budewitz subverts is the “necessity" of a love interest for the main character. Pepper has both her ex-husband and a handsome restaurateur buzzing about in her life, but she is unwilling to put up with shit from either of them for the sake of a relationship. In my opinion, we need more books like that!
The novel does rely on one cozy trope: Pepper is determined to get her employee off the hook for the murder that took place on the spice shop doorstep. She may resent some police actions (as we all might in the same position), but she never meddles in their investigation. She pursues her own instincts and finds her own lines of inquiry.
I am very favourably impressed and glad to see there are four more books in the series. I also have to mention the excellent word play in the titles. Cozies are just the best for that!
No comments:
Post a Comment