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2024 Bookish Books Reading Challenge (Hosted by Yours Truly)

My Progress:


30 / 30 books. 100% done!

2024 Literary Escapes Challenge

- Alabama (1)
- Alaska (1)
- Arizona (1)
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- California (11)
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- Delaware (1)
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International:
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My Progress:


51 / 51 states. 100% done!

2024 Historical Fiction Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 50 books. 104% done!

2024 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge


36 / 50 books. 72% done!

Booklist Queen's 2024 Reading Challenge

My Progress:


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

2024 52 Club Reading Challenge

My Progress:


51 / 52 books. 98% done!

2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge

My Progress:


37 / 40 books. 93% done!

2024 Pioneer Book Reading Challenge


18 / 40 books. 45% done!

2024 Craving for Cozies Reading Challenge

My Progress:


25 / 25 cozies. 100% done!

2024 Medical Examiner's Mystery Reading Challenge

2024 Mystery Marathon Reading Challenge

My Progress


5 / 26.2 miles (4th lap). 19% done!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge

My Progress


51 / 100 books. 51% done!

2024 Pick Your Poison Reading Challenge

My Progress:


98 / 109 books. 90% done!

Around the Year in 52 Books Reading Challenge

My Progress


52 / 52 books. 100% done!

Disney Animated Movies Reading Challenge

My Progress


139 / 165 books. 84% done!

The 100 Most Common Last Names in the U.S. Reading Challenge

My Progress:


88 / 100 names. 88% done!

The Life Skills Reading Challenge

My Progress:


40 / 80 skills. 50% done!
Tuesday, November 05, 2019

Ho-Hum Murder Mystery Just An Okay Read

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Summit Lake, North Carolina, is the kind of quaint little town that homicide never touches.  So, when a 22-year-old law student is brutally murdered there, it leaves everyone reeling with shock.  How could this have happened in their peaceful community?  Who would want to kill a promising young woman like Becca Echersley?  It simply makes no sense.

Kelsey Castle, a crime reporter in need of a vacation (even a working one), is sent to Summit Lake to dig around for answers.  Since the police don't appear to be doing much to solve the case, Kelsey becomes even more impassioned.  Feeling a strong connection to the murdered woman, the reporter vows to find Becca's killer.  Even if it puts her own life in danger.  

Summit Lake, a debut novel by Charlie Donlea, is your basic murder mystery.  There's nothing really fresh or original about it, but it was compelling enough to keep me reading.  It's not as suspenseful as I hoped it would be, especially because Becca narrates half the chapters.  The characters are pretty flat, the prose is capable but melodramatic, and a lot of the plot is far-fetched and contrived.  Still, I didn't see all the twists coming.  In the end, though, I found this to be just an okay read.  Although this is a first novel, I don't think I'll bother with another Donlea book.

(Readalikes:  Reminds me of lots of other murder mysteries set in sleepy little towns, although no specific titles are coming to mind.  You?)

Grade:


If this were a movie, it would be rated:


for language (no F-bombs), violence, blood/gore, and disturbing subject matter

To the FTC, with love:  Another library fine find
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Reading

<i>Reading</i>
Dumb Witness by Agatha Christie

Listening

<i>Listening</i>
The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth



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