This is a cozy mystery set in a quaint small town with some quirky characters that live there. Like Rosie who writes a blog and gives advice on how to grow poisonous plants! The writing is a bit dry but still a good summer read. ( )

This mystery has the markings of a series. Lots of small town characters, each with their unique personalities and many of them with some secrets. Or at least, they think they have secrets, but you know a small town - everyone knows everything ... almost. I was picturing the small beach town in my mind and then got sidetracked that the murder victim in the book is from my real life hometown! Our storyteller nailed it describing Bakersfield and many of its inhabitants. This may have endeared me to the story more because I could really picture everything in my mind. However, I do look forward to another mystery in the Luna Beach area to get to know the characters even better. From our leading citizen detective, Rosie and her cat to the teenager who will be saving the world someday and everyone in between. ( )

I liked it - especially the cast of characters - and would read more of a series that contained them. I thought this book bogged down a little in the middle but then picked up and had a satisfactory ending. ( )

Septuagenarian Rosie McMahon and her tabby cat Hephaestus each have their daily habits or patterns, as Rosie was inclined to think of them since she did them in the same order. The morning pattern of reading the newspaper is the way Rosie learns about a death on the beach. Although Rosie will give another reason to talk to Detective Rory Gallardo, she’ll leave the police department with information as planned while giving the detective another item for his “to-do” list. Rosie, with her keen observations, knows this is the detective’s first serious case since he’s moved to San Benno as he was previously with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, so he will need her assistance. Hephaestus, with his feline instincts, is aware that Rosie will need his help. It’s time to investigate and solve the case!

The trio of sleuths, seniors Rosie and newspaperman Lou Kline, and high school student Tiffany Sparrow, each have diverse talents and together are a formidable group. Then there’s The Dude. Let me just say that San Benno and this cozy story wouldn’t be the same without him. The twists in the investigation bring surprises, and when this trio gets together again, I’ll be sure to read about their next adventure.

I hope you won’t close the cozy mystery before reading "A Brief History of San Benno" at the end of the book, and in case you missed it, a "Map of San Benno" is provided at the beginning of the story.

Thank you to Lisa M. Lane and LibraryThing for the opportunity to read an eARC of this novel. ( )

It pains me to do this because a rule of mine is to finish a book I started no matter what but I am 50 or so pages into this and I can't do it anymore. So, if the story doesn't pick up or get better anytime soon, I'll have to DNF. Life is too short and there are too many books to read to have to slog my way into a book where the story is boring and slow and not one character including the MC show a glimmer of spark, interest, warmth, humor or cozy. Even the cat is boring.

This book is akin to eating scrambled eggs with no salt. Yeah. Not tasty.

Update: I finished it! At the 50% mark the story started to pick up and the main characters started to grow on me. There was some warmth and humor and the mystery was intriguing but the big reveal was a cheat. There were no clues provided to the reader. Facts were just sprung on you and the detective was incompetent even for a cozy i.e. SPOILER: he only started investigating into Mary's sister because his wife happened to mention it? Isn't that par for the course in a murder in order to notify the next of kin? And no explanation was given as to how the MC came up with her conclusions regarding who the murderers were. Things were just spat out and left unexplained i.e. SPOILER: who did Mary talk to at the beach. Meh. ( )