I liked Carol J. Perry’s Witch City Mysteries. She ended that series, and spun it off with It’s About Time, the first Wicked Salem book. I won’t be reading more of these. The main character, and her friends, are just too ridiculous. I found all of their antics, as women in their sixties, just too silly.
Ibby Russell is a part-time research librarian in Salem, Massachusetts, with way too much time on her hands, if you ask me. She rents out two apartments to short-term renters. When the police show up with a warrant, they want to search Josh Alper’s room. It’s supposed to be an investigation into a cold case art theft. But, Ibby’s other tenant, a nature photographer, finds Josh’s dead body in a local county park. According to the police, he was murdered, by poison from a drone.
Here’s where the whole story went off the tracks for me. Ibby and her two best friends decide to investigate because they watch Midsomer Murders on TV every week, and they’re going to adapt Chief Inspector John Barnaby’s methods for their own case. Previously, when they investigated, they called themselves the Angels, but they feel they’ve outgrown that. Now, these “women who enjoy scandal” are calling themselves 34T, based on “Three Four Tea”. Please. They’re playing Nancy Drew in their sixties. In fact, Ibby frequently refers to Nancy Drew and “What would Barnaby do?”
Frankly, the author lost me when the women wanted to don disguises and watched movies for pointers for their investigation. I didn’t care about the art heists or the murder or all the lunches and teas they attended. Ibby refers to the case as a “tangled mess”, and I think the entire book was a tangled mess. Just my opinion, but the cat, O’Ryan, was the best character in the entire book, and Ibby even turned off the TV on the poor cat when she was jealous of his interest in a woman on screen. It’s About Time to give up on this series for me.
Carol J. Perry’s website is https://www.caroljperry.com/my-books
It’s About Time by Carol J. Perry. Kensington, 2026. 288p.
FTC Full Discosure – I received a galley from the publisher through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.
Lesa, I guess I won’t be reading the book now, but I enjoyed your review. I had to laugh; you’re so balanced and fair in your reviews, and always find at least a couple of things about each book to compliment, even if you don’t really like them all that much. But not this time. Very refreshing!