Wednesday, April 27, 2016

DEAD BETWEEN THE LINES by Denise Swanson



Publisher:     New American Library
Published:     March 4, 2014
ISBN:        978-0451418883
Genre:      Cozy Mystery, Chik Lit, Contemporary Romance
Format:     Print  
Obtained via:  Publisher
Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina  Ginalrmreviews@gmail.com

THREE HEARTS
 

Deveraux Sinclair has a decision to make.  She’s made tough ones before—when she gave up her lucrative position at Stramp Investments to come home and take care of her grandmother among them.  Now she’s faced with choosing between two men—her lifelong friend Noah Underwood and new to town U.S. Marshal Jake Del Vecchio.  She’s doing her best to keep a balance between the two while she ponders her decision and tries to keep up with her “regular” life which includes running Deveraux’s Dime Store.  To help keep the store afloat Dev has created some rather charming meeting spaces for several of the town’s clubs including the knitting, sewing and book clubs.  But after the book club’s initial meeting things quickly go south when the guest speaker is found dead.  Not only is he found dead—his body is discovered behind Dev’s dime store.  Determined to stay out of the investigation Dev tries to focus on her romantic dilemma.  But circumstances have something else in mind for our intrepid heroine…and she discovers she really does need to be involved in solving this crime.

I’ve said before I’m a fan of Denise Swanson’s Scumble River cozy mystery series.  I had high hopes for her Deveraux Dime Store series—as a cozy mystery series.  The Deveraux series is billed as a cozy but so far the first three books are more chik lit than mystery and the latest, DEAD BETWEEN THE LINES is more a cross between women’s fiction, chik lit and contemporary romance than a mystery.  The murder is more of a backdrop so Jake and Noah can continue their suits to win Dev and she spends more time ruminating about what to do with them than solving the mystery.  It’s not badly written but it is very disappointing when you expect a mystery and get a kitschy romance. 

As I’ve said before, Swanson tells a good story.  This one just fell short for me.


This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.





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