Jeannette Angell

Thanks to Cozy Mystery Review Crew and the author for an advance reader copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

This is the second book I've read in the Provincetown Mystery series, but it could easily be read as a stand-alone. Impetuous Sydney Riley is the wedding and events planner for the Race Point Inn, one of Provincetown, MA’s most prestigious hotels. Additionally, she is an amateur detective who has solved several murders, which have been chronicled in the 8-book series. This novel finds Sydney's parents visiting her for a few days, so in addition to preparing for an upcoming wedding and making sure her parents (including her overbearing mother) are entertained, she is trying to solve the kidnapping and murder of the wealthy owner of a local whale watching fleet.

The killer was a surprise to me, even though in hindsight I realized the author sprinkled clues throughout the book. What makes this so entertaining and a notch above the typical cozy is Sydney's internal sarcastic monologue - the humorous conversations and one-liners she wishes she would actually say to her mother. She has a great relationship with her boyfriend Ali, who is in law enforcement, and her close friendship with her girlfriend, Mirella, demonstrates Sydney's personality and intelligence.

As the book jacket says, this is a novel of irony and intrigue that often humorously converges between family and fatality.… (més)

Thanks to the Cozy Mystery Review Crew and author Jeannette de Beauvoir for a copy of this book. All comments and opinions are my own.

A fun, exciting and entertaining read with likable amateur sleuth and wedding planner Sydney Riley solving two murders at the Provincetown International Film Festival. This was the sixth in the series but my first, and I had no trouble keeping up with it. The mystery was well-thought out, with several possible suspects that kept me guessing up to the end. I especially liked the exciting climax where Sydney finds herself trapped with the killer. This book deserves 4 stars because Sydney didn't need her boyfriend to rescue her - she was able to save herself and cleverly capture the murderer. Kudos to the author for a very readable novel with an intelligent heroine.… (més)

I wanted to looove this book. It has everything I love: mystery, psychological twists, a bad-ass lady, and murder. Unfortunately "Asylum" didn't quite make it. I thought the premise and story were really great, and I like Martine LeDuc as a protagonist, but what de Beauvoir did with all these elements just stopped short. The twist was mild compared to what I was imagining, and I was disappointed in the way everything wrapped up. I do really appreciate the lack of romance in "Asylum" between Martine and Julian, and I thought Ivan was an interesting husband character. I don't regret reading this book, but I do think it fell a little flat.… (més)