Welcome to another Great Escapes blog tour (and giveaway!), this time looking at the Hawaiian cosy mystery –

the-cursed-canoeThe Cursed Canoe: A Molly Barda Mystery
2nd Book in Series
Cozy Mystery
Print Length: 338 pages
Publisher: Hawaiian Heritage Press (February 23, 2016)
ASIN: B01C5JYVXA

Professor Molly Barda investigates a mysterious paddling accident, and realizes it isn’t just business majors who cheat to get what they want. Whether it’s moving up in the college rankings, getting a seat in the big canoe race, or just looking out for themselves, some people will do whatever it takes-including murder.

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My Review

Molly Barda is waiting for friends to come in from their paddling practice for the big race, when suddenly they stop.  Someone has been taken ill.  By the time they reach shore it’s time for an ambulance.  Molly isn’t too concerned about the sick woman, she is, after all, a right pain in her side at work.  But it turns out she died.  Such a shame, but such a relief since all that paperwork doesn’t have to be done, and Molly has enough problems of her own to be going on with, what with a potential new love in her life, who has a college-age son who is dating one of her students who is old enough to be his mother, and meanwhile the college is losing money and needs to attract students and nobody gives a damn about the staff…

This is a strange mystery, for it is not very mysterious, and if it’s a cosy, there’s not much in the way of detection going on.  The situation seems reasonably clear, although a few more details are revealed as time goes on, but it’s all very enjoyable and full of Hawaiian terms and terrain. It’s well written; the characters are nicely rounded, and the situation with the college finances are all too understandable.  For anyone with a customer-facing organisation there are some lovely touches of organisational dysfunction that you will love (or will hate as they strike too close to home). A nice read for a train journey, which is where I enjoyed it.

Buying Links

Amazon  – B&N

About the Author

author-photo-b-squareLike Molly Barda, Frankie Bow teaches at a public university. Unlike her protagonist, she is blessed with delightful students, sane colleagues, a loving family, and a perfectly nice office chair. She believes if life isn’t fair, at least it can be entertaining.

In addition to writing murder mysteries, she publishes in scholarly journals under her real name. Her experience with academic publishing has taught her to take nothing personally.

Author Links

www.frankiebow.com

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Frankie_Bow

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/frankie.bow.1

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/frankie-bow/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7809288.Frankie_Bow

Now for the Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Review and Blog Tour | The Cursed Canoe

3 thoughts on “Review and Blog Tour | The Cursed Canoe

  • 12 June, 2016 at 4:51 pm
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    I almost signed up for this one, just for the setting. Sounds like a series that might be fun.

    • 12 June, 2016 at 7:23 pm
      Permalink

      That’s what attracted me to it 🙂
      And it gave me an idea for a new reading challenge – Go West. Each time you read a book the setting has to be further west than the last one. Aim is to get back to where you started, of course!
      What do you think?

      • 17 June, 2016 at 6:06 am
        Permalink

        I like it! Read your way around the world. Also reminds me to get back to thinking about my “every country” life challenge (I expect to take years because not only is that a lot of books, but I want to read one *written* by someone in every country, not just set there).

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