Monday 5 November 2012

Book ~ "Death by Bourbon" (2012) Abigail Keam

From Goodreads ~ Life takes a dramatic turn for Josiah when she witnesses a death at an engagement party for Matt. Matt? Yes, Matt.

Charming socialite Addison DeWitt falls into a fit after taking a sip of bourbon. That would be upsetting enough, but Josiah is sure it is murder. However, no one will believe her except for Lady Elsmere and Meriah Caldwell, the famous mystery writer. The three of them conspire to bring the murderer to justice. It turns out the suspect is always three steps ahead of them.

To make matters worse, Josiah’s daughter, Asa decides to move to London, Franklin leaves town and Jake starts singing a different tune. Josiah doubts her ability to meet the future alone. Maybe it’s time to sell the Butterfly and move to Florida with the rest of the old folks.

Josiah was recently in a life-threatening accident and needs a wheelchair or cane ... but that doesn't stop her from poking around to determine if Addison DeWitt was indeed murdered.  Did his wife do it or was it his mistress?  Or was it an accident or natural causes?

I liked the writing style.  It was a fast read.  The majority of it is in first person in Josiah's voice.  It is at times conversational and sarcastic.  The numbered chapters are what's happening in the present and occasionally there is a chapter that takes you to past events in Josiah's life.  The story wraps up very quickly.

This is the fourth in the series of books featuring Josiah Reynolds, retired history professor, now a beekeeper.  Though it can be read as a stand alone (like I did), it would have been helpful to have read the first three or have been given more background in this book since there were things from the past that I didn't know until later on or never ... like who Jake is, what Asa does for a living (I liked the subplot around Asa, though), what is Butterfly, how long since Brandan left and died, etc.

5 comments:

sgzimmer said...

Thank you very much for the review! :)

Anonymous said...

I felt the same way! It was a fast fun read and I think I might have to check out the earlier ones...but it was hard for me to read as a stand alone because there is so much backstory from the first three books! :)

Masshole Mommy said...

Sounds like a good read.

Gigi Ann said...

I agree with you, there was to much going on that I didn't quite get, because I hadn't read the first three in the series. But, all in all it was an OK read, after you figure out why there is no background to some of the characters who just show up in the story from out of nowhere.

Thanks for the visit to my blog today. They have the wrong blog posted for my book tour, my book tour was on my blog found at this address... http://annsreadingcorner.blogspot.com

LibraryGirl said...

Thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts. I can't stand to start a series anywhere but the beginning for that very reason!