William Kotzwinkle, author of the book E.T. the movie is based upon, and also author of dozens of other books, including Christmas at Fontaine's,
has a way taking quirky people from all walks of life, putting them
together, shaking them up, and then seeing what happens. This is a
definite talent. The quirks aren't cutesy. These aren't cute people.
Both the people and the quirks are irritating and distracting. And yet,
by the end of the story, you care about these characters. You want the
best for all of them. You believe the story.
In Deadly Magic by Elizabeth Crabtree,
I think she tries to do this as well, mix all the quirky characters
together to come up with a fun story; she is somewhat successful, but
not entirely.
This cozy murder mystery starts out interesting
enough. The 20-something (I'm guessing 27 or 28 since her high school
reunion is coming up) main character, Grace Holliday, and her coworkers
are at a magic show that is being put on for her boss's 50th birthday.
She works for a toy company. It's Halloween and everyone is dressed up.
She is on her first date with someone. She has a work nemesis who loves
finding reasons to make her life miserable.
Plus, magic shows!
Magicians! Illusions! And the story begins on Halloween and ends around
Christmas. And her last name is Holliday....
This is all very promising. Lots of cute cues and leading.
Within
the first chapter she's already 1) been part of the magic act, 2) had a
kind of ruined first date, 3) been asked to work at while at the party,
4) discovered someone's panties (!) as well as been made privy to some
(but not all) family secrets (not her own family). Oh, and someone gets
murdered.
So, it is very promising—this is all a hook and you want
to keep reading. And the characters are so quirky, and it's such a
train wreck, what with the crazy boss and company going down hill, etc.,
that you kind of feel like you need to keep reading just to make sure
the main character gets through everything okay. Which, I suppose, is a
good thing, since the reader is still reading.
However, I got to
about the mid point and almost had a fit of "rage quit" a couple of
times with this book. The only reason I didn't throw the book across the
room was that it was on my Kindle and I didn't want to damage that.
*sigh*
I know Grace is just in her 20s, and I'm reading this book from the
stance of a cynical, middle aged person, but she really was a lot like a
female version of Dudley Do Right. She never said no to anything. She
let everyone talk her into doing things. And she believed everything
everyone told her, and even I, the reader, could see that they weren't
telling the truth. She let people push her around. She'd been at the
same company for 10 years and risen in the ranks to toy designer merely
by not getting fired or quitting in a fit herself for that length time.
The
writer does make a case for that, in that the company structure is kind
of ridiculous. But it did seem almost too incredible.
I kept
reading, eventually, just so I'd find out "who done it". There were some
cute bits, like when Grace realizes she can get free furniture from a
new roommate foisting themselves on her just by letting them raid her
closet (her sister's clothes). But there again, who lets a stranger
foist themselves on you as a roommate. If you've been living in New York
City for 10 years would you really let someone you barely know move in?
Really? Without vetting them properly? Making sure their check clears?
And
then when a second murder occurs, you can see what the writer is doing,
the situation she is setting up, and it's not bad. It's one of those
things that works. Dorothy Sayers would have pulled something similar in
a Lord Peter Wimsey story.
But then this was followed by a lot more of me thinking, "Really?" as I read more situations where Grace is letting herself be led around by the nose.
Sometimes
in stories we write we have to create ridiculous situations or push a
character into a ridiculous situation. But when we do that, we have to
make sure it's somewhat believable. My suspension of disbelief didn't
suspend for very long on this story. And again, that may be different
for others. At the outset, this was an entertaining set up and I wanted
to enjoy it. But by the end, I was over it.
And maybe the writer
was over it, too. Because when it came to the reveal, it wasn't
something Grace really "solved". I mean, she solved a small part of it,
sure. And even then, when one of the perpetrators is revealed, you
wonder how Grace could have stayed alive in NYC for so long if her radar
for people is soooo off. She shoulda been killed in her sleep a long
time ago. Maybe, like Dudley, she's just so steadfast and true, that it
keeps her alive.
But the reveal went on for a long time, as if the
writer didn't want to bother with writing out another few chapters to
bring the story to a close. It wasn't all wrapped up when she solved it.
It kept getting more "wrapped up" - as in the people around her kept
adding their... "and then.." bits during the end and the epilogue. All
synopsis. All hearsay. And the end just went on a little too long for
me. I like a good epilogue, really, I do. But at a certain point, it
just needs to be written as more chapters.
I wanted to like this
story. Grace is a likable character (though, I kept forgetting her
name). And in fact, I read the additional first part of the next story
in the series that is included for free in the back of the book, just in
case I might like it better (maybe it was just this story). And again,
nearly threw the Kindle across the room. This woman has no survival
instincts. At a certain point you say to people who are talking you into
things, "no, I will deal with it this way." Or if you can't seem to do
that, you nod and smile and wander off and still do it your way. You
don't let people talk you into things that you should have figured out
were not good for you when you were six years old. In this case (the
case beginning the second book), her sister talks her into wearing a big pink
prom dress for their reunion because Grace's luggage got lost and the
reunion is formal. Again, Really? I can be a huge wimp when it
comes to saying no, but even back in my 20s I would have said No to
that, sprayed and brushed off my jeans, borrowed some heals, brushed my
hair, washed my face, reapplied my makeup and borrowed a nice sweater
and just said, "Sorry, my luggage was lost" once I got to the reunion.
Wouldn't be the first time, wouldn't be the last. If the writer wanted
Grace to end up a in a ridiculous big pink prom dress, then she needed
to find a more believable way to do it. At that point I realized that
no, I wouldn't like the next story and quit reading.
Again, if you're going to push a ridiculous situation on the reader, it needs to be believable.
Read
this story for the some of the entertaining bits. Try not to throw your
Kindle straight across the room when you run into the thin plot.
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