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Jean Flowers

Autor von Death Takes Priority

3 Werke 151 Mitglieder 7 Rezensionen

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Werke von Jean Flowers

Death Takes Priority (2015) 73 Exemplare
Cancelled by Murder (2016) 46 Exemplare
Addressed to Kill (2017) 32 Exemplare

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Wissenswertes

Rechtmäßiger Name
Minichino, Camille
Andere Namen
Grace, Margaret (pseudonym)
Madison, Ada (pseudonym)
Logan, Elizabeth (pseudonym)
Geschlecht
female
Ausbildung
Emmanuel College (BA, Mathematics)
Fordham University (MS, Physics)
Fordham University (PhD, Physics)
Organisationen
Golden Gate University
NorCal Mystery Writers of America
NorCal Sisters in Crime
California Writers Club
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Kurzbiographie
[excerpt from Golden Gate University faculty page]
Camille Minichino is a scientist, teacher, and writer. She has a B.A. in Mathematics from Emmanuel College, Boston, and an M. S. and Ph.D. in physics from Fordham University, New York City. She has done research in experimental spectroscopy and high-temperature physics. Her work has included studies of nuclear waste management, and human factors engineering in support of commercial nuclear power plants in the US. Camille has developed curricula and taught classes in physics; mathematics; logic; the history and philosophy of science; and the interactions among science, technology, and culture. She has served on university faculties on both the East and West Coasts. Camille is also a traditionally published writer in the field of crime fiction. She has published more than 20 novels in three different series.

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Rezensionen

 
Gekennzeichnet
bardbooks | 2 weitere Rezensionen | Nov 11, 2021 |
As the third book in the Postmistress series, I really wanted to like it better than the first two. But there are so many things wrong with this book, beginning with buildings changing locations and growing larger. That's right - growing larger. In the last book, the drawings showed the post office, then buildings 1201 Main and 1203 Main on the corner facing the bank. In this book, it's 1203 Main, 1201 Main, and a much larger post office (now transposed to the corner and facing the bank) - attached to a community center that didn't exist before. Maybe others don't pay attention to details, but I do. And these details most certainly weren't in the previous book. You can't just change locations of buildings and make them larger on a whim. Not to mention I've never heard of a post office having a community center. That's just odd.

Secondly, supposedly there are three thousand people in the town of North Ashcot, but only one postal employee. They don't deliver mail, and we're supposed to believe that everyone goes to the post office to get it. Even if half are children, that's a lot of post boxes they'd need. This post office must be the biggest in the country to accommodate that many. Plus, can you imagine the lines of people picking up/mailing packages at Christmas? In fact, she wouldn't have time to investigate murders. She'd spend all her time sorting mail and putting it in the boxes. I check my mail every day, as do most people. I thought this was a town of about 100 people up until now. Now I understand some towns don't do home delivery - but with this many people you'd have to have more than one person and keep the post office open a lot longer to accommodate those that work during the day, not to mention disabled people would need their mail delivered. So, a town this size, with everyone coming into the post office every day to get their mail would take up an awful lot of time - and again, need more than ONE employee to do so.

When a professor is murdered Cassie blames herself because he wanted her to investigate threatening letters (which he should have taken to the police department if he thought his life was threatened) so nosy Cassie needs to investigate - again. While Cassie's in the perfect job for her, since she thinks post offices are fascinating, they're not. I really tried to like it, but sorry, I am so done with this series.
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Gekennzeichnet
joannefm2 | 1 weitere Rezension | Dec 14, 2017 |
It's the end of summer in North Ashcot, Massachusetts, and Cassie Miller has been postmistress for a year now, with a new boyfriend, Quinn, and a best friend in the local police chief. She's even become a member of the local quilting group.

There's been a bad storm, and Cassie has just learned that one of the quilters has been a casualty...only she wasn't. It seems that Daisy Harmon was murdered, and now there's a killer on the loose. When Daisy's husband Cliff asks for Cassie's help, she feels she just can't turn away from him, even though she knows Sunni will be mad that she won't let the police department handle it. So even though it's a reluctant decision, she agrees to help Cliff figure out who wanted his wife dead and why. With little to go on, the police warning her away, and someone sending her warning notes, Cassie may be in over her head, but she;s not going to let a killer stay free; especially one who may have her targeted as the next victim...

This is the second book in the series, and I really, really wanted to like it better than the first. I know that it's about the postmistress in a small town, but the endless chatter about everyone's mail and everybody's personal business (even though Cassie doesn't gossip, she sure was doing a lot to the reader) was bogging down the story. So much so that I couldn't even stay interested for long periods of time. Not to mention the cover has a cat in the post office...but there really aren't any cats in the story. Hmm...

At any rate, the story just didn't grab me enough to seem like much of a mystery. Yes, we have a murdered woman; but when it came right down to it, the reason she was killed didn't seem like any reason to kill her at all; and I didn't think the way Cassie escaped from the killer was believable enough; but I guess any port in a storm - just my own opinion. Cassie also overthinks everything (we hear a lot of her thoughts) and seems to be bad at questioning people (they always know). She just doesn't have any skill in doing this; it makes her seem nosy and inept.

The bottom line is this: while the protagonist being a postmistress is mildly interesting, her constant telling us about everyone's mail, stamps, and the reasons people are on stamps seemed like fillers and unnecessary (nor interesting) to the story. I also couldn't understand why she was still friends with Linda, who mocked small-town life every chance she got. Who'd want a friend who made fun of your life choices? I was also beginning to wonder if Quinn was on the up-and-up with her since he was on one really long business trip; but came to the conclusion that by being away, there was no reason to create any romantic involvement between him and Cassie. At the last, you can't re-home Genets. Once the Raleys had possession of them, there is where they would stay if they didn't want to harm them in any way.

So unfortunately, even though I have the third book in this series, right now it's a toss up as to whether I'll continue reading it. I had high hopes, but I don't know how much more I can take reading about who's getting what mail from someone, or how busy her post office is on a daily basis.
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Gekennzeichnet
joannefm2 | 1 weitere Rezension | Dec 8, 2017 |
Cassie Miller used to work for the postal service in Boston, but when her aunt got sick and her boyfriend dumped her, she ran home to North Ashcot, Massachusetts. She took over the office of Postmaster and has been home for three months, trying to find her way again with people she's known and some she hasn't.

When she accepts a lunch date from a local antiques dealer, Scott James, she doesn't know that it's going to end abruptly, with Scott taken in for questioning - it seems someone from Cassie's past has been found murdered, and he had two names in his possession - Scott's and Quinn Martindale's. It also comes as a surprise that Scott and Quinn turn out to be the same person.

When she discovers the identity of the dead man - someone she went to prom with - his sister Wanda asks her to investigate, because Wanda thinks the police are blowing her off about possible reasons why her brother was murdered. While Cassie tries to stay out of the investigation, it appears people think she already is in. She's questioned by people who visit the post office, and and once she discovers her tires have been slashed - all four of them - it's apparent someone who knows what's going on thinks so, too...

I liked this book up to a point. I liked the fact that our protagonist is a postmaster, but I really didn't care to hear about all her duties; it was beginning to get old. We all know that postal employees have to sort mail, deliver it, fill the various bins, etc. I'm pretty sure no one believes it's done by elves in the middle of the night. Anyhow...I found it distracting as much as I would have if I'd been reading about a florist who continually told us how she orders flowers, cuts them, arranges them, etc.

The plot itself was decent enough, but never really seemed to come together for me. There just didn't seem to be any real reason why the person who was actually "organizing everything" would think Cassie could be a serious threat. She knew very little, and honestly didn't know how to ask questions without people catching on. It just seemed off to me.

While I understand this is the first in a new series, I also understand that it takes time to hone the same, so I hope that the next book brings a little more polish, and I plan to give this author another chance to do so.
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Gekennzeichnet
joannefm2 | 2 weitere Rezensionen | Dec 6, 2017 |

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Bewertung
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