Name: Bookplate Special
ISBN: 9781101149096

Lorna Barrett

Bookstore owner Tricia Miles has put up-and put up with-her uninvited college roommate for weeks. In return, Pammy has stolen $100. But the day she's kicked out, Pammy's found dead in a Dumpster, leaving loads of questions unanswered.

Bookplate Special

When her uninvited college roommate Pammy Fredericks, a freeloading thief, is found dead in a dumpster, bookstore owner Tricia Miles must solve this puzzling mystery. Original.

Sarah Sammis

My one complaint with this book is that Jinny seemed out of character. Yes, she is emotional but usually the over the top outbursts belong to Franny. Yes, she's struggling. But I don't see her hanging out with the Freegans. In Bookmarked For Death, Jinny makes a big deal about not wanting charity and not wanting others to know that she needs it. I therefore, don't see her joining a group to so publicly (even if it's at night) "Dumpster dive." 

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2017/comm...

This ain't it.

I looked back on my review of the first book in the series and apparently I liked it a lot. I don't know what happened between that book and this book, but this was a flop for a cozy mystery. 

Lorna Barrett wanted to make some kind of point with this book, and she really seemed to write it with the intention to get the message across, then tell us a story. I think that the whole "freegan" angle was just a weird focus, and that only distracted from the otherwise odd mystery. I totally understand the point being made about food waste in the US, but I don't see why it is suddenly used in this manner for a plot point. Without giving much away, it just didn't seem to "fit." And The other angle with the "poor" in the area was just a weird add in as well.

It also really pokes huge holes in her town setting. To try to claim that a bookshop dedicated to cookbooks alone would prosper is insane to me. Even the mystery one is a stretch to me, though maybe she sells more and I'm missing something. It just really begs you to suspend disbelief when you know how little stores make on new books that they somehow manage to thrive.

The other issue I had was not understanding Tricia's motivations and decisions. I don't want this to enter into spoilers, but I will say that many times I found myself trying to reason why any person would do what she did, but nothing seemed to explain it. When the protagonist doesn't seem in touch with reality, you really lose connection with the plot and characters. And that isn't to say that I look for depth in cozy mysteries, I just want something that is relatively believable.

I will say that every mystery series has its flops. I think that there was an end to an annoying side plot with this one that I am now dealing with in the second book, so she is making some changes. It's possible that the weird politics is a one-off. I'd say read it yourself to know for sure.