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theavidreaderandbibliophile's review
3.0
Scrabbling for the Culprit by Jane Wallace is the first book in The Board Game Murders. Cassie, Callie and Lonnie Parker are triplets who are helping with the Scrabble Tournament being held at the local high school. They discover a teacher buried under a bookcase and set out to find the culprit. I like the premise for this new cozy mystery series. Triplets solving mysteries is unique and I like that they are a close knit family. However, I felt the book could have benefited from another wrong of rewriting and editing. If I did not know better, I would believe this was the writer’s first novel (it is not). There were some inconsistencies, characters with similar names (gets confusing), repetition, and too much dialogue. The mystery was too simple. The guilty party could easily be identified right away. I wish the author had taken more time to develop the characters and the whodunit. There is potential for The Board Game Murders and I hope the author, with help from her publisher, will achieve it. I will pick up the next book in The Board Game Murders because I like the main characters, the town and the idea of mysteries involving board games.
kristinasshelves's review
3.0
2.75 stars, rounded up
This Christian cozy mystery introduces triplets Lonnie, Callie and Cassie and they find themselves involved in an attempted murder investigation. The trio is from a wealthy family, but only receive their trust fund payments if they maintain jobs and remain involved in philanthropy. Cassie is an author, Lonnie has taken over the family bed and breakfast, and Callie owns a board game store. Callie is hosting a Scrabble tournament at the local high school, drawing participants from the surrounding communities. While setting up for the big day, the siblings find their long-time friend and teacher at the school, Jeff, underneath a heavy bookcase. They arrive in time to save his life, but quickly join in on investigating who would want to hurt him. To thicken the plot one of the detectives, who is not assigned to the case, continues a pointless vendetta against the triplets, causing additional stress on top of everything else happing.
This was a fun mystery, particularly because I've always adored Scrabble. I enjoyed getting to meet the cast of characters, but felt that there were too many people in the mix. The culprit of the attempted murder was also incredibly obvious, but I still was entertained throughout. I lowered my rating an additional .25 stars due to several grammar/spelling mistakes that drew my focus away from the story.
This Christian cozy mystery introduces triplets Lonnie, Callie and Cassie and they find themselves involved in an attempted murder investigation. The trio is from a wealthy family, but only receive their trust fund payments if they maintain jobs and remain involved in philanthropy. Cassie is an author, Lonnie has taken over the family bed and breakfast, and Callie owns a board game store. Callie is hosting a Scrabble tournament at the local high school, drawing participants from the surrounding communities. While setting up for the big day, the siblings find their long-time friend and teacher at the school, Jeff, underneath a heavy bookcase. They arrive in time to save his life, but quickly join in on investigating who would want to hurt him. To thicken the plot one of the detectives, who is not assigned to the case, continues a pointless vendetta against the triplets, causing additional stress on top of everything else happing.
This was a fun mystery, particularly because I've always adored Scrabble. I enjoyed getting to meet the cast of characters, but felt that there were too many people in the mix. The culprit of the attempted murder was also incredibly obvious, but I still was entertained throughout. I lowered my rating an additional .25 stars due to several grammar/spelling mistakes that drew my focus away from the story.
kasfire's review
3.0
3/5 Stars
This novel had such an intriguing premise. Three siblings are throwing a Scrabble tournament when a bookcase fell on a friend. Foul play is suspected, so they take it upon themselves to find the culprit.
I figured that it would be close to a Nancy Drew type of mystery. Amateur detectives, interesting characters, and some high stakes. Instead, I get thrown boring characters and a dialogue filled novel. I found myself skimming most of the novel because of the amount of dialogue.
I also knew who the culprit was immediately. There was no actual buildup to who it was. No suspense. Sure, there was drama, but it was never shown, just talked about. I just needed it to be shown more than spoken.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy from the author.
This novel had such an intriguing premise. Three siblings are throwing a Scrabble tournament when a bookcase fell on a friend. Foul play is suspected, so they take it upon themselves to find the culprit.
I figured that it would be close to a Nancy Drew type of mystery. Amateur detectives, interesting characters, and some high stakes. Instead, I get thrown boring characters and a dialogue filled novel. I found myself skimming most of the novel because of the amount of dialogue.
I also knew who the culprit was immediately. There was no actual buildup to who it was. No suspense. Sure, there was drama, but it was never shown, just talked about. I just needed it to be shown more than spoken.
Disclaimer: I received a review copy from the author.
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