Valerie S. Malmont (1937–2014)

4.5 Stars

Tori Miracle was an aspiring crime reporter in New York City when, after being shunted to the unwanted role of fashion reporter, quit her job to become a novelist. After penning her first novel, The Mark Twain Horror House, she waits in her tiny, rundown apartment to hit it big. After an invitation from her best friend, Alice-Ann, to visit her in rural Pennsylvania, Tori packs up her clothes, her cats and her typewriter and jumps on a bus. Soon after arriving, she learns her friend is having marital issues with her husband, Richard. Not long after, Richard is found dead and Alice-Ann is the prime suspect.

I really enjoyed this book, from the easy style of writing to the characters to the rich plot. It was easy to sink into and I really liked the off-beat but likeable characters. The only issue I had with the story is that Tori makes several references to prior events, making it sound as though there was an earlier book in the series. It's too bad there isn't, because it sounds like it would make an even better book than this one. Just a touch of the supernatural in this story, and also caves. I like caves. I would love to be exploring all those paths under the town!

I have to say, I did figure out who the bad guy was because they were constantly ignored on the list of suspects. Just a bit obvious, but like I said, the rich plot was so great that I couldn't stop reading.

I deducted half a star because of all the Edison idolizing. I'm not a fan of Edison, he was less a brilliant inventor and more a fraud who took credit for the discoveries of many of his employees, like Nicola Tesla for example. Ugh. Stop the idolizing, please!

Overall, a really great start to a series and recommended for anyone looking for a light read and a great mystery.… (meer)

Tori Miracle is a struggling horror author in New York who plans a week-long vacation in Lickin Creek Pennsylvania with her beau who is the town’s Sheriff, Garnet Gochenauer. On her first night in town one of the residents dies in her arms, but not before whispering that he was poisoned. Tori can’t make Garnet or the town’s doctor or anyone else believe the man died of anything other than natural causes so she starts investigating on her own. In the process she visits the town’s enigmatic herbalist, learns about plans for a nuclear waste dump in the town and uncovers a potentially historically significant graveyard.

This book has everything you’d expect in a cosy: a motley collection of quirky characters, a decently plotted if slightly absurd story and an amusing protagonist who hasn’t got the common sense of a 3 year-old (but if cosy protagonists were sensible there wouldn’t be cosies). I particularly enjoyed the exotic (to me) setting of the small Appalachian town (the local linguistic oddities that Tori explained as she went along were quite fascinating) and the fact that issues like the environmental and economic impacts of a waste dump weren’t just glossed over.

The story was fast-paced and kept my attention through a day of back-strain inducing queues and noisy waiting rooms (which is a task that other books have tried and failed) and is recommended as a light but far from silly read.… (meer)

Tori Miracle and her friend Alice-Ann stumble upon some bones in the springhouse for a home that will be on the historic tour for the first time this year. Alice-Ann convinces Tori, against Tori's better judgment, to keep quiet about the bones until the tour is over since the springhouse will be closed to visitors anyway. I have very mixed feelings about this mystery. The characters are developed enough. There were some I liked better than others. I'm just not convinced that the outcome could have happened nor am I convinced that the deputy acting as chief while the chief was out of the country had the intelligence to resolve the murder. He certainly did not display aptitude at anytime in the investigation itself. He kind of reminded me of Barney Fife. There are frequent references to what happened in earlier installments of the series, so it is probably a series that should be read in order, although I did not do so. My biggest criticism of the book, however, has to do with the series labeling as "A Tori Miracle Pennsylvania Dutch Mystery." There are no horse-drawn buggies; there is no lack of power lines; there are no Yoders, Keims, or Schrocks. There are dolls dressed as Amish sitting on a shelf of a hardware store. If that's as Amish as one can get, it's very misleading. I realize that the Pennsylvania Dutch country is overly commercialized now, but one still sees parts of that culture if one knows where to go. If these mysteries are going to call themselves Pennsylvania Dutch, they need to reflect that culture a bit more.… (meer)