Jillian and her three collaborators in the Garden Club head off for a conference in a swanky hotel. Even though I’ve been to conferences in swanky hotels, it felt very alien to my lifestyle, but I suspect some of my friends would be far more at home with the setting. It gave me the impression of a Californian version of Dallas. There were a lot of people introduced to me very fast, and who was with whom didn’t really settle in my brain till quite late into the book, after one or two had been murdered! I think this may have been my post-Christmas disorientation, but sometimes I felt Jillian’s conversations, especially with suspects, to be very short. Would these people really give her intimate details with clues so that she could solve the crime in such a short exchange?
Jillian and her friends sort of irritated me with their pushy involvement in the crime-solving. Why would the Police Chief welcome their involvement? How about them trampling over all the evidence? And she kept putting herself at risk in very naive ways. I think she was extremely lucky not to have been bumped off herself.
But from these comments you can tell a number of things (I hope). Jillian gets you involved in her world. The author does a great job in drawing you in to the plot and to some of the people. The setting is described beautifully and the plot itself hangs together extremely well. From something that seemed very light to start with, it gets very deep, and I liked the science link, which was very realistic. It’s always good when you can’t put a book down after you’ve passed the halfway point!
I’m not sure whether I want to join Jillian in some of her other adventures, I’m not the Miss Marple kind, but I may well give them a go. Partly because Teddy the dog is adorable!
Murder in Half Moon Bay by Nancy Jill Thames
