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Murder On The Côte D'Azure (2011)

by Susan Kiernan-Lewis(Favorite Author)

3.18 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

San Marco Press

series

Maggie Newberry Mysteries

review 1: I read this book because the title sounded like exotic escapism to me but the characters were flat and seemed to be either stereotypes of stock French characters or shallow, self-absorbed Americans--particularly the main character, a spoiled very rich woman from Atlanta who seems to think because she has Daddy's credit card she can bypass rules that affect others. We are supposed to like her? Please.I kept reading to see if the book would have some redeeming qualities, perhaps offer some insights into suffering caused by heroin use (her sister was an addict) or maybe some realistic descriptions of life in the south of France. I don't want to reveal any spoilers, but hitting the readers over the head with clues as to who the male villain is proves predictably ineffectiv... moree here and anyone trying to write a mystery series should already know that. Once a serial killer is revealed and the character has opportunity to share perspective, all we get is what is intended to be horrific but reads like parody--one thing this character has in common with the heroine is their shallowness. Also troubling, the final love message seems to be "if he has a nice enough body, ladies, don't worry about his ethics, insincerity, or past crimes against your family."As I read along and grew increasingly irritated by the narcissism of the main character, I vaguely felt like we had met before. Only at the end of the book--I forced myself to complete it--did I realize I had read the second book in this series a year ago! What a dolt I am--I should heed my own reviews and recognize the author if not the series. At least in that second book the descriptions of the French setting had improved--but I went back and checked, and in my response to that book I also found the personality of the heroine unattractive, her persona shallow, ethnocentric, and selfish. I won't be reading more books in this series.
review 2: It should be 3 1/2 stars. I just read 2 books, Murder on the Côté d'Azur and Murder in the South of France. The first one was a Kindle freebie and I was 3/4's of the way finished with it when I found out the book had been updated (cell phones, email, etc.) and thoroughly revised; lots of details were completely changed. My old version had not automatically updated (have signed up for updates for Kindle on Amazon) because I have not connected with wifi for a couple of weeks during which the update happened. The book updated on my Kindle app on my iPad. I went back and read the second book until I caught up and then read both together. I agree that the book needed updating! It was too disjointed--too much jumping around. The only way I'll read the next books in the series is if I'd get them for free or from the library. less

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