Publication Date: 03/04/2014
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Obsidian Mystery
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pages: 272
ISBN-10: 0451418883
ISBN-13: 978-0451418883
(Received for an honest review from Obsidian Mystery)
Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Indiebound
Denise Swanson on the WEB: website, twitter, facebook, goodreads
Books in the series:
Little Shop of Homicide (2012), Nickeled and Dimed to Death (2013), Dead Between the Lines (2014)
Coverart: Click the Image for a larger, clearer view of the covers in this series.
Excerpt from, Dead Between the Lines, courtesy of Amazon's Look Inside feature.
Synopsis:
Opening an old-fashioned five-and-dime shop in her small Missouri hometown has been a great change for Devereaux “Dev” Sinclair. But when she hosts a reading group there, she learns that bad writing can mean life or death.
To keep her new business in the black, Dev opens up her shop to local clubs. But in the first meeting of the Stepping Out Book Club, the speaker storms out after members attack his poetry’s sexism and scorn for small towns. Later that night, the poet’s body is found outside Dev’s store.
Dev can’t afford for the murder to close her down, so she does a little stepping out of her own to investigate, with help from her two sexy suitors, Dr. Noah Underwood and Deputy U.S. Marshal Jake Del Vecchio. But when the killer threatens Dev, they will have to use every trick in the book to solve the case before she becomes the final chapter in this murder mystery.…
Thoughts:
Denise Swanson continues her Deveraux Dime Store mystery series with her latest book, Dead Between the Lines. Swanson does a wonderful job of meshing her dime store theme with other plot elements to create interesting directions for this series. Her latest idea of using the store as a gathering place for community clubs is featured when murder ends up being the subject of the latest book club meeting. Swanson has a way of writing that gathers the reader in and keeps them so interested they can't put it down. A very good addition to the series.
What I liked:
Denise Swanson always delivers a great read, so I wasn't concerned about that. The Deveraux Dime Store series is quite different from her Scrumble River books and it's interesting to see how each new book changes the direction of the series. This time readers have the pleasure of reading not only a good murder mystery, but one with a reading related theme as well. Having the book club meeting in the dime store provided a great avenue for this mystery. I loved the idea that Swanson was able to add that element to give the story even more momentum.
As usual I enjoyed Dev very much. She is a great heroine. She has that spark of curiosity that comes across as more of inquisitiveness. It isn't annoying or pretentious. When she starts asking questions she doesn't seem like someone suspects need to worry about. She just seems like your average young woman, wondering about things, not a detective. It works for her very well. I thought Swanson did a great job of making this heroine attuned to people and able to get information others might not be able to.
I love Dev's love life as well. It's a triangle for sure. She has feelings for Noah, but she also likes Jake. Who will she choose? Maybe we will find out in future books. For now she's dating both of them. Not something I think is necessarily realistic when it comes to men who know about each other, but it goes along with the plot. That long distance relationship stuff is for the birds though, so I think it's Noah who will win out.
The mystery was well written and had some edge to it. The guest author for the book club gathering has written a scathing book of poetry that has tempers on the rise. After having words with several book club members the author ends up dead right in front of Dev's store. I liked the way Dev gets right into the fray of finding out who did it. The suspects were aplenty and the motives were varied and interesting. Not Swanson's strongest effort, but definitely worth the time to try to figure out.
What I didn't like:
There wasn't much I didn't like, but it didn't grab me like some of Swanson's books do. It was a good book for sure, just not my favorite of the series, to date.
Bottom Line:
If you have read the other books in this series and others by this author, you know how good she is. This is a good addition to the series and continues to move the series forward at a good clip. Looking forward to the next one.
Dead Between the Lines will be available to the public March 4th. It is available for pre-order NOW.
I'm giving this one 4 out of 5 apples from my book bag!
About the Author:
Giveaway Details:
The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of Dead Between the Lines by Denise Swanson.
~ You must be an email subscriber to participate.
~ US addresses only.
~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, March 17th.
1. Please leave a comment about a local store you have in your community.
2. Please fill out the FORM.
25 comments:
An independent bookstore which is lovely and welcoming. saubleb(at)gmail(dot)com
The local store that I visit frequently is a pet store. I don't know the actual name. We just call it "Rudy's" after the owner. It's a small store that sells the best natural foods for dogs and cats. I can ask him all sorts of questions and he takes the time to listen and help to figure out what might work.
We go to a local store to buy our fruits and vegetables as they are better quality and cheaper.
I shop at a local vegetable stand as their things are fresh and less expensive than the grocery.
We go to a chain pet food store here a lot to get bird seed for our cockatiels. Everytime I go I hope that it is pet adoption day so I can pet some dogs!
CarolNWong(at)aol(dot)com
I frequent a local art gallery that also does custom framing to frame my prints and photos!
skkorman AT bellsouth DOT net
We used to have a great little craft store that I used to shop at all of the time to get ideas for easy and fun crafts. Saldy when the owners retired no one wanted to take it over as the Big box stores had moved in over the years.
There used to be a great little craft store Iloved to go to but it closed whenthe owners retires and no one wanted to fight the Big box stores that had moved in over the years.
My neighborhood doesn't have craft stores or cute shops to check out every week or so.
What I do have is my local Kosher Supermarket. The management there is friendly and always willing to try something new. I've recommended 5 items in the last few years and four of them are not only still being shelved but they move very nicely.
The loser item was family size jars of Skippy Peanut Butter.
There is a local christian book store that's pretty nice but awfully small.
one of my favorite local stores is the bagel store......nothing like freshly made bagels every morning!!!
thank you for the giveaway!!
cyn209 at juno dot com
Our community is so small we have only a small grocery store, a chain "dollar" store where everything is far more than a dollar, a gas station, and a post office.
We have a local bird feeder store that has all kinds of wild bird food, bird baths, and of course, bird feeders. There is always customers inside the store too.
There's a nice coffee shop nearby with friendly staff. They started with one small store, now there's 6 or 7 of them.
I live in a resort town so most of the stores are all full of stuff for tourists---except the Goodwill store which actually has items that you can use.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
I don't know of any local stores, all are chains. Lost them all when economy tanked. Bobbipad@gmail.com
I like to go to our One Half Off Book Store. They even have a section where you can get books for just a dollar or two!
We don't really have any local stores in our community. We live in a country setting, and there is no stores very near us.
ayancey1974(at)gmail(dot)com
I like to try to support local businesses. When I am able, I have used a small shop repair service for some electronics and of course, we have a very nice, local bookstore not far from here.
JHolden955(at)gmail(dot)com
I have a darling used bookstore in my town that I simply cannot ignore. I am always finding something delicious to read in there.
Kimberlee
girllostinabook@hotmail.com
www.girllostinabook.com
have lots of supermarkets
We have lots of antique stores, thrift stores, and one used book store.
Thanks for the chance to win!
We have some small consignment shops that I enjoy!
there are several used goods stores.
My favorite local store is a small Irish gift store. They have the perfect gift for any occasion, especially for hard to buy people.
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