Pediatrician Mabel Aphrodite Brown adores kids. So when a childhood friend asks Ditie to babysit her kids for a few days, she jumps at the chance. She never imagined she’d be solving a murder too . . . Despite growing up together, Ditie hasn’t seen Ellie Winston in two years, and she didn’t even know Ellie was living in Atlanta. But when Ellie asks her to take care of Lucie and Jason for the … Lucie and Jason for the weekend, she thinks nothing of it. They’ll bake cookies together, play with her dog—it’ll be fun! Until the police call with terrible news . . .
Ellie may not have been the best friend, but who would want her dead? Could it have something to do with the vague get-rich-quick scheme she mentioned to Ditie? Or the men in a black truck following her and breaking into her home? Not sure who to trust other than her best friend, Lurleen, Ditie’s buried maternal instincts kick in to protect the kids and find their mother’s killer—before they’re orphaned again . . .
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Kept me guessing till the very end. The main characters are all people I would love to have as friends.
Fun to read – couple simple twists – easy on the mind for rainy day read or before bed.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Pediatrician Mabel Aphrodite Brown – Ditie – who spends her life saving kids. She works at a refugee clinic and sees kids with everything from malnutrition to abusing “uncles”. She comes to care a lot about these children in just the few minutes she spends with them. She has no kids of her own and would make a wonderful mom. She is stunned when her friend, Ellie Winston shows up at her door asking her to watch her kids, Lucie and Jason for a few days while she straightens out some things. Ditie quickly agrees but is worried about what kind of scheme her friend is caught up in.
When the police call informing Ditie her friend is dead she feels like she has to do something. Her friend Lurleen has been helping with the kids and they may now be in danger. She will do anything to protect Lucie and Jason. Which may mean moving out of her home and taking time off from work. This mom thing is much harder than she thought. Who knew she would be wrapped up in whatever got Ellie killed?
I really enjoyed this story! Mabel Aphrodite Brown is a strong woman but she doesn’t take off trying to solve everything herself. Detective Mason Garrett is assigned the case. He is the one who notifies Ditie of Ellie’s death. He is the one that comes to talk to the kids and Ditie to get their statements. He becomes invested in their lives right away, and there may just be a little spark between Mason and Ditie. He brings in a hunky P.I. to watch over Ditie, Lurleen, and the kids when he can’t be there. Later we meet Mason’s mom, a retired police officer. Together they all work to solve the case. It was refreshing to watch it all play out, even with the bumps the powers that be put in the road.
Sarah Osbourne gave us such wonderful characters. We learn some of their backstories, some of which may not be entirely truthful in Lureen’s case, while enjoying getting to know them in the present. They have tons of room to grow. I was immediately engaged and wanted to know all of them better. The children, Lucie and Jason have had a hard life, Lucie more mature than her actual 9 years. She was responsible for 5-year-old Jason even when their mother was still alive. My heart broke for them. I can’t wait to see them hopefully develop more natural relationships as they grow.
In addition to these characters, Ms. Osboune gives us one heck of a mystery. So many people seem to be involved, one that was very surprising. Some great red herring diversions kept me guessing. It had some really suspenseful moments and some of the subject matter was a little grittier than in traditional cozy mysteries. The author tempered this with the right about of romance and humor.
I did find myself very emotional about the children in this story. Not just Lucie and Jason but the ones seen at the refugee clinic. With the way, children are now being taken away from their parents at the Mexican border and put in cages, and people seeking asylum being arrested instead of helped, Ditie has a very relevant job. While the story takes place in Georgia there are still families there that need help and I love that Mabel Aphrodite Brown is dedicated to just that.
This series is off to a super start!
A bit thin on plotting, but a good read nonetheless.
This is not your typical cozy mystery. The excitement begins in chapter one and continues throughout. There are unexpected twists that put almost every character on the reader’s suspect list. The story is definitely less cozy than I’m used to in this genre, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!
This was a fun read.
Read this in one sitting, couldn’t put it down.
Good plot, characters and easy to read.
I enjoyed this.book. looking forward to more of these books
i loved this book. i loved the story line. the characters in it.
i couldn’t put this book down. i am waiting on the next
book to come out.
I loved this book. It was filled with great characters, a good story and the right amount of romance. I’m looking forward to the next Sarah Osborne book.
Pretty intense at times . A good read.
Good recipes and great tale…..worth the read!!!
Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot by Sarah Osborne is the first A Ditie Brown Mystery. Mabel “Ditie” Brown is a pediatrician who works and lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She is surprised when Ellie Winston, who she has not seen in two years, show up at her house. Ellie only shows up when she is in trouble and this time is no exception. She asks if Ditie can watch her two children for a few days while she handles a matter. Ditie picks up the kids from a rundown apartment that evening and Ellie is not in residence (she left them alone). After 12 a.m. Mabel gets a call from Detective Mason Garrett. Ellie was found murdered in midtown with a note that Ditie is take care of her kids if something happens to her. What had Ellie been up to this time? The killer believes the kids or Ditie have something they want, and they will do whatever it takes to get it. They only way to protect the children is to track down the guilty party. Ditie and the kids are in for a harrowing time in Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot.
Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot is not your traditional cozy mystery. The main character, Mabel “Ditie” Brown is a pediatrician who works at a refugee clinic. Some of her patient stories are shared in the book (sad situations). Then we have Ellie Winston who frequently leaves her two kids (under nine) alone at home and has questionable ways of raising money. Ellie is then murdered and Ditie is left with two children to raise. It is distressing that Lucie Winston (age 9) has been responsible for caring for her brother, Jason (age 5). The tales from the children are just heartbreaking. The mystery has some good components and there is action that helps move the story forward. I do wish it had been harder to solve. The responsible party can easily be singled out (if you have not solved this one by the time you are halfway through the book, you need to turn in your deerstalker cap). The small-town charm and some light-hearted humor (a little levity) is missing from Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot. The background on Ditie was lacking as well. The writing lacked an ease to it and the pace was slow (the book seemed long when it was only 244 pages). There is romance (of course) between Ditie and Detective Garrett. Detective Garrett should have focused more on his job instead of Ditie and fewer errors would have been made. There are cozy moments with cooking, eating, baking, and the kids. I felt that the author missed the mark with Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot. My rating is 3 out of 5 for Too Many Crooks Spoil the Plot.
Too Many Crooks Spoil the Pot is the first edition in Sarah Osborne’s new Ditie Brown Mystery series. Mabel Aphrodite Brown, an Iowa transplant, is a pediatrician working with the Refugee Clinic in Atlanta. Hardworking, single Ditie is dedicated to her career and the patients that depend upon her.
However, when her childhood friend Ellie Winston comes to her asking her to care for her two small children for a few days, Ditie’s life is turned upside down. When Detective Mason Garrett visits her to tell her of Ellie’s death, her world is further and forever changed. In Ditie’s quest to protect the children, who her heart has claimed as her own, she and her friend Lurleen become embroiled in a story of industrial espionage orchestrated from within and resulting in multiple lives lost.
Detective Garrett hides Ditie, Lurleen, and the kids away at his family home with his mother, retired police officer Edwina “Eddie” Garrett. With Mason, Eddie, and private investigator Danny Devalle on the case it is just a matter of time until the case is brought to a close. What they didn’t count on was opposition from within the police department or that the main villain was at the highest levels of Sandler Sodas.
A well written fast paced story, this new series is one to watch. The characters are real yet complex and the plot twists, turns, and empties the reader onto unexpected planes. I did enjoy this book and I do recommend it!