Secrets in a Bottle (A Whodunut Antiques Book 1) by Shelly West by L. A. Keller
Secrets in a Bottle (A Whodunut Antiques Book 1) by Shelly West by L. A. Keller
This is a cozy mystery which left me confused and pained. We are introduced to the main character, Abigail in the first sentence when she is awakened by a loud noise. This writing technique attempts to grab the reader’s attention, as if something ominous is about to occur. However, it’s overused to the point of boring. Further in chapter one, we learn that Abigail doesn’t know anything about her family. Her mother has kept secrets from her as to who her father is and whether or not her grandparents (on either side) are alive. This plot is older than the antiques in the fictional shop. She knows only her grandmother’s name, Mrs. Lane. We do have internet today and it would be very hard not to track your relatives if you weren’t adopted.
There will be some spoilers in this review, but I feel compelled to provide them in order to save you the time reading this book.
When Abigail’s mother leaves her a voice mail that the grandmother Abigail thought was dead has been hospitalized, she jumps in her car, Great Dane in tow to go meet her. She doesn’t phone the hospital to find out her condition, nor does she make a plan for her dog, in case he isn’t welcome.
In describing Abigail’s job as an insurance claims investigator, the author states, “She would often go easy on customers who seemed like they were on hard times. Sure, that meant she got less commission and a poor performance report, but…” My first thought when reading that is the character is committing insurance fraud by “going easy on customers”. This did not make the character more likeable, in fact it had the opposite effect on me.
When Abigail first enters her newly found grandmother’s hospital room, a woman is present. She explains Mrs. Lane’s condition by saying “Wait, nobody told you? Someone bonked her on the noggin, knocked her right out.” I can never imagine describing an assault on an elderly person in this fashion. Not to mention, the grandmother is supposedly in a medically induced coma. Why is she in a medically induced coma for what might have been a simple concussion?
Shortly thereafter, having not spoken to the medical personnel at the hospital to obtain more information on her grandmother’s condition, she moves into Mrs. Lane’s house/antique shop. If I had a relative, I had never met, I might hesitate before moving my belongings in while said relative was in a coma. Going on what little information her grandmother’s friend told her is apparently enough for Abigail to start her own investigation into what happened. Why bother to ask the police for information when you can jump right in and figure out the perpetrator?
When Mrs. Lane regains consciousness, she tells the local Sheriff that she wasn’t assaulted but rather tripped over a dead body. Said body was missing from her house when she was found unconscious, but no one doubts that there was a dead body and that it was a figment of her imagination.
I could go on and on with the holes in the plot, but I lost patience with documenting them all. I read the entire book and although I would say the writing itself is not bad the plot and characterizations annoyed me to a point where I couldn’t enjoy any part of the story. I kept looking for some description of Abigail but at the end of the book I still only knew a few facts:
1.
She lives in Boston.
2.
She has a Great Dane.
3.
She works as an insurance claims investigator.
4.
Her mother had some sort of falling out with her
grandparents and her father but we are still not exactly sure it was something
significant enough to cut all ties.
How old is Abigail? Doesn’t she have any friends in Boston? How long has she done her job? Was she ever married, or did she date? What does she look like? Why does she do such impulsive things?
Lastly, the author ends the book with another murder. This was a weak attempt to convince the reader to purchase the next book. I dislike cliff hangers as endings because I think the writing throughout the story should be sufficient to make the reader excited about continuing with that character.
I take no joy in writing a negative review of another author’s work, but this book needs a content editor to fix the holes in the plot and help develop the characters.
Secrets in a Bottle
Happy Trails,
Leslie
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