Wednesday, July 09, 2025

Buried in a Good Book

By: Tamara Berry

Libby audiobook 8 hours

Read by: Tanya Eby

Published: 2022

Genre: Murder mystery

 

Blurb from Libby: "Bestselling thriller writer Tess Harrow is almost at the end of her rope when she arrives with her teenage daughter at her grandfather's rustic cabin in the woods. She hopes this will be a time for them to heal and bond after Tess's recent divorce, but they've barely made it through the door when an explosion shakes the cabin. Suddenly it's raining fish guts and . . . is that a human arm?"

 

Things I liked about this story:

  • wordplay, literary allusions, love of books and libraries
  • interesting characters - especially Ivy (police), the triplets (Peabody boys), Nicky the "librarian" . . . 
  • the surprise (to me) ending

 

Things I didn't like about this story:

  • Tess's tendency toward exaggeration (something like "a slew of dead bodies" or "all these murders" when there was just the one . . . )
  • Tess's tendency to jump to conclusions on the smallest bits of "evidence" - she pinned Ivy, Nicky, Mason, and others for the murder of the young woman found in her pond
  • the constant parallels between her fictional Detective Gonzales and the real Sheriff 
  • the way Tess parents her daughter Gertrude . . . just got on my nerves . . . but then I can't imagine being in a relationship where my spouse cheats on me and I have to raise a teenager alone AND pay palimony . . . 

 

Overall, it was an enjoyable story and the reader did a nice job. I'm still looking for something better.
 


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