Book Review: At Death's Dough, A Deep Dish Mystery (Deep Dish Mysteries, #5) by Mindy Quigley

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At Death's Dough: A Deep Dish Mystery (Deep Dish Mysteries, #5)  by Mindy Quigley  opens with a prologue set during the era when Al Capone and other mobsters ruled. The story then shifts to the present day in the lakefront resort town of Geneva Bay, Wisconsin, where pizza chef Delilah O’Leary is busy preparing her restaurant and eagerly anticipating her first Valentine’s Day with her boyfriend, Calvin Capone, who also happens to be the great-grandson of the infamous Al Capone. When a shocking discovery disrupts the festivities, Delilah must set aside both her personal life and business concerns to uncover the truth . I'd like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Minotaur Books for approving my request for an advanced readers copy of At Deaths Dough: A Deep Dish Mystery  by Mindy Quigley and providing me a digital copy for free in exchange for my honest review. I was thrilled to receive the book and quite sorry that it took me so long to read the book and provide my...
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Book Review: In The Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1) by Tana French

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Book Review of In The Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1) by Tana French
One of the book clubs I belong to decided to read In the Woods by Tana French.  It's the first book in her Dublin Murder Squad series AND her first published book. I'm not really sure what all the fuss is about the book, and I am super surprised it was an Edgar Award Winner.

To begin with, at least 100 pages could have been cut out. I have never seen a mystery book have so little happen for so many pages. On top of that, French rambled on about how the main characters, Detective Adam "Rob" Ryan and Detective Cassie Maddox, were best friends. It seems like she was forcing it a bit. The friendship seemed more like a friendship one would have in high school or college, not an adult friendship. And, of course, she had them sleep together, and she turned Rob into a total ass. He didn't want a relationship with Cassie and didn't want to blow her off, which is what he did in the end. Cassie even tried talking to him about it, and he acted like a sulky little boy and wouldn't talk with her about it. By the end of the book, Rob finally realizes how he's acted like at total ass and finally reaches out to Cassie after he hears she is engaged to Sam O'Neill, who was another detective helping them out on the case. We find out that she has deleted Rob's phone number from her cell phone.

Something that bothered me quite a bit was French kept referencing a ton of television shows and characters throughout the book, with most of the references in the first third. The majority of the references are to cop and FBI shows. It made me think that she had writer's block and was watching these shows for inspiration . . . that's how many she referenced.

At times, I felt like she was using a thesaurus just so she could throw in bigger words, and these words interrupted the flow of her writing and just didn't fit. Obviously, she never had a teacher or professor tell her not to use big words just to use them.
 Mystery Book Review of In The Woods (Dublin Murder Squad, #1) by Tana French
As far as the two mysteries go, the present day mystery was solved, and the culprit wasn't really too surprising. The one from the 1980's never was solved, and there was no real connection to the present day mystery. On top of that, all the memories that came flooding back to Rob, during the present day mystery, he ended up forgetting. It was like French didn't know how to wrap up this particular mystery.  I wish I knew if it ever gets resolved in the other books in the series.

I am glad that I read the book, but I wouldn't really recommend it to anyone. If you must read the book, don't waste your money on it and check it out from the library or borrow a copy from a friend.
Synopsis:  Taking place in Dublin, Ireland, three children disappear into the woods in 1984. Only one is found alive . .  Rob Ryan. Fast forward to the present day. A 12-year old girl is found raped and murdered on an archeological dig in those same woods. Detective Rob Ryan and his partner are put on the case to find the killer. Is there a connection between his friends disappearing all those years ago and this murdered girl?

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