One Bear's Opinion on: The Road to Granschester

The Road to Grantchester
by James Runcie

The story of how Sidney Chambers got to be Sidney Chambers, this is a prequel to the Grantchester mysteries. And I am glad I read it, but disappointed by the fact that there were no mysteries in this story. I can see how mysteries might not have worked in some parts of the story, but I did miss the mystery aspect of the other Grantchester books.

What appealed to me about the Grantchester books was the mysteries. It was fun to try and solve them along with Sidney. This book tells the story before Sidney got to Ely and it was an interesting tale of becoming the Sidney Chambers I know from the other books, but there was still the disappointing lack of mysteries.

I'd like more adventures with Sidney Chambers and friends, though it seems now as though the author has written the stories from beginning to end. Re-reading is an option, but still, I'm greedy enough to want new adventures and visits with Sidney.

The Road to Grantchester is definitely worth reading, and it's always nice to get "the rest of the story," but be warned, there is no mystery element to this so while it's the Sidney we know from the Grantchester mysteries, it's not at the same time.

One Bear's Opinion: Four Glasses of good white wine over dinner with Amanda

Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver

One Bear's Opinion on: Poirot's Early Cases

Poirot's Early Cases
by Agatha Christie

This volume was a collection of short stories, including my all time favorite Poirot story, The Affair at the Victory Ball.

Visits with Poirot and Hastings are always fun and worthwhile, and this visit was exceptionally satisfying. There are 13 short stories, 3 of which I had read previously as stand alone volumes. It was a nice mix of plots, including current cases and Poirot relating earlier cases to Hastings.

I like short story collections because they are easy to dip into and out of, especially for when you have just a little bit of time to read, like when you are standing in line, or in a waiting room. The quick stories are perfect for limited attention spans.

I definitely recommend this volume for any Poirot fan. Downloading it to your Kindle App on your phone would be an excellent idea, so you always had some Poirot handy for those moments when you need a quick visit with friends.

One Bear's Opinion: Four Cups of Tisane and a big box of chocolates

Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver

One Bear's Opinion on: Sleeping Dogs Don't Lie

Sleeping Dogs Don't Lie
by Chloe Grace

I did not like this book.

Let me repeat, I did not like this book.

I realize it was a short story to fill in the back-story for the characters in a new series, and in that, it did fairly well. But I did not like the story. And the way this short story finished, I have no real desire to seek out the new series, despite liking the main character.

On paper, this book had everything going for it for me to like it: a lovable canine detective character with an owner who loved him, a set up for a murder, and a good number of suspects. And then, the story took a turn and I did not like it. All the good things that drew me in were wasted or not used to the best of their ability to advance the story. And in the end, I did not care one bit what happened to any of the characters with the exception of the dog.

The set up for the first-in-series book was not intriguing enough and I just don't care. For that I'm sorry, because I wanted to like this series. I wanted to find a new series with friendly animal characters. But alas, for me, this is not the series.

One Bear's Opinion: Two Glasses of Lukewarm Water and a couple of bland, boring, mass-produced, generic cookies

Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver

One Bear's Opinion on: The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan

The Jewel Robbery at the Grand Metropolitan
by Agatha Christie

Hercule Poirot is on holiday, but as usual it turns into a working holiday when there is a robbery he is asked to assist in solving.

I had seen the David Suchet adaptation of this story before I had read it, which means I knew the plot of the short story, and whodunnit as soon as I read the set up. This was one of the rare ones in which the adaptation was better than the original, in my opinion. But maybe because with short stories, I always want there to be more, I want a longer visit with my friends, and the television adaptations can flush out the visit a bit longer and make it feel more satisfying.

This short story was a quick, fun read, even knowing what was going to happen. Visits with Poirot and Hastings are always fun. I'd definitely like to have tea and a chat with Poirot, if not a whole dinner's worth of conversation.

It's definitely worth keeping a few short stories on your Kindle or App for reading when you're out & about and there are few better than Poirot for taking your mind off the dental appointment you're about to have or the inane breakfast show television in the hospital waiting room.

One Bear's Opinion: Four cups of tisane, with a tray of sweets

Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver

One Bear's Opinion on: The Corpse at the Crystal Palace

The Corpse at the Crystal Palace
by Carola Dunn

It's time for an adventure with Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher. And it was a great fun adventure!

Daisy took her family and friends out for a day at the Crystal Palace in London. And knowing Daisy, only one thing can result from that:  murder. This time it was an attack on Daisy's twins' nanny and the murder of another nanny (or was it?) and Daisy's step-daughter Belinda was caught up in the action, too.
 
All your favorite friends from Daisy's world were there, and some new ones. It was an intriguing murder, and the solution was ingenious. But there was a long, round about investigation to get to the conclusion, with many, many red herrings and many, many false starts. In short, it was a Daisy kind of investigation.

It would have been more fun if Belinda and the boys had more of a role, and maybe have less of a role for some new characters, who I hope hang around as friends. I hope that there will be more Daisy adventures, especially after this one took a long time to come out (or so it seemed to me). And I think there are some plot points that I'd like to know about. I'm hopeful the author will wrap those stories up in the next adventure; I do so hate to be left with questions. But mainly I just want more adventures with my friends.

One Bear's Opinion: Four Cups of Strong Russian Tea, and some snacks while checking out the Monsters at the Crystal Palace Gardens

Happy Reading Everyone,
Oliver

One Bear's Opinion on: At Legend's End

At Legend's End
by Diane Moody

This is the fourth in the Teacup Novella series by Diane Moody. I enjoyed this one more than "Home to Walnut Ridge," but still felt the story was a bit lacking, or rather, not lacking. There was too much going on in the story.

The older characters were different, but the story felt as though the author wanted to make it more dramatic than it needed to be. It would have been a perfectly good story without the dramatic element. There was enough tension without it. The unnecessary plot point changed the story into something I didn't like or enjoy as much.

On the whole it was a good read, but it just needed a bit of pruning. It's not necessary to throw every possible idea into the same story.

One Bear's Opinion: Four Cups of Tea with a plate of cookies to bring to Book Club

Happy Reading Everyone, 
Oliver