Sometimes you need to be careful what you wish for. Pretty much settled into her new home in Appomattox with Brett and his daughter, Sheridan longs for something to keep her busy. That is, until Maddie and her new friend are framed for theft and murder. Not quite the distraction she had hoped for, but she’ll turn over every rock to prove their innocence. In the process, she learns about the … the powerful Buchanan family and the history of the local community. Will the truth come out before the person calling the shots takes Sheridan and Maddie out of the picture?
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Book Review
Basic Details:
Book Title: A New Place, Another Murder
Subtitle: (A Sheridan Hendley Mystery #1)
Author: Christa Nardi
Genre: Mystery
Part of a series? Yes
Order in series: 1
Best read after earlier books in series?
Available: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58317104-a-new-place-another-murder
Overall score:
I scored this book 5/5
Short Summary of the book:
In this first book of the series, we meet Sheridan Hendley, a psychology professor. She has recently moved in with her new husband and his daughter and is busy looking for a job in the area. However, things never turn out the way they are planned and her stepdaughter gets involved in a crime she didn’t commit. Will Sheridan be able to get to the bottom of the mystery?
What I liked about the book:
This is a lovely mystery which is also suitable for young adults. There are no graphic details or bad language.
What I didn’t like about the book:
What’s not to like about a cozy mystery?
My favourite bits in the book:
The obvious friendship between Sheridan and her stepdaughter.
My least favourite bits in the book:
I loved the entire book.
Any further books in the series? Any more planned by this author?
This is the first book in the series and I noticed the author has written several other mystery books.
What books could this be compared to and why?
This is a book that is in its own category although it reminds you of Nancy Drew mysteries.
Recommendation:
In summary, I would recommend this book for the following readers:
Children No
Young Adult Yes
Adult Yes
If you like cozy mysteries, this book may be the book for you.
I’m certainly looking forward to reading more by this author.
Book Description by Author:
Sheridan Hendley is starting her new life as wife and step-mom, but is not employed, and has too much time on her hands. That is, until her step-daughter and friend are framed for theft and murder. Sheridan discovers the powerful family in her small town. Only she asks too many questions, and now is a target.
Cozy mystery, clean listen. This is the first of the Sheridan Hendley Cozy Mystery series, a spin-off of the Cold Creek Cozy Mysteries.
About the Author:
From childhood, as a fan of Nancy Drew, Dana Girls, Perry Mason, and the Hardy Boys, it was inevitable that Christa Nardi would continue her love of books and particularly mysteries. With a career in technical/nonfiction writing (under real name), it is not surprising that her love of mystery transformed into not only reading but writing mysteries. Christa combines her love for reading and writing on her blog.
This was an enjoyable cozy mystery! The characters were fun and worked well together. The storyline was good. There was lots of drama, family issues, and controversy. Why is Sheridan’s step daughter being targeted? It certainly seems like someone is after them or at least trying to scare them. The story also had humor throughout. And dogs. I loved the dogs!
This review is for the audio book.
I enjoyed this book. This is the first book by this author that I have read or listened too but it won’t be the last. I did feel like I had missed out on some history between the characters but as this is book one in the series I only found out the main character has been in a previous series by reading other reviews, a series that I might just have to check out. I liked the characters and the close knit family group the book portrayed. There was a lot of characters and at first I struggled keeping them all straight (especially as there was three sons who had three sons) but as the story and plot unfolded I became hooked. I liked the mystery and the way you were never sure if the drug situation was connected to the murder or not. The inclusion of the time spent at the animal shelter was nice and lent a light hearted ness to the story as well as some clues.
Newly married Sheridan is looking for something to do while she looks for a teaching position in the area. Volunteering at the animal shelter is fun but doesn’t fill her hours. Maddie her adopted daughter is spending her summer days at summer school hopefully making friends ready for the start of school. But things aren’t going so well as her new friend is arrest over the pizza money for the camp is stolen and the police get an anonymous tip to look in his bag. Maddie doesn’t believe he would steal and when Sheridan finds the same kind of envelope full of cash in Maddie’s backpack she is inclined to believe her. Can she prove Maddie and her friend innocent? And who would want to take them in the first place? The two bullies of the camp are connected to the most influential family in town and it will be an up hill battle to prove there darlings guilty of anything. But when her family starts to get threatening presents and are followed Sheridan knows she must protect her new family and friends.
I liked the narrator and thought she did a good job bringing the characters to life with there own distinct voices.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
I was really looking forward to reading this book, as I love a good mystery as much as the next person; however, this book just didn’t live up to my expectations. While the synopsis and the overall story were good, I felt like the build up of this story was really slow for my tastes. It took a long time to learn all the information related to the murder, and for me, the way the information was presented was a bit on the confusing side. I did love the characters that were created and I enjoyed the relationships between the characters.
The one thing that bothered me just a little, was that I had never picked up a Christa Nardi book before, and it without a little back history on the characters, some of the information presented in this book was confusing to me. It took me a long time to figure out how all the characters and their backgrounds fit together. I would have wished for just a bit more information on Brett, his daughter, and their relationship with Sheridan as well as a little background on why she had left her previous teaching position. Although this book is the start of a new series, and you should be able to start a series without reading the author’s previous books, I felt that I should have read the author’s Cold Creek Series books first.
A New Place, Another Murder by Christa Nardi is categorized as a Cozy Mystery, but it didn’t quite have that feel to me. It was a bit darker than the typical cozy, with a middle schooler being accused of murder. And how the drug storyline ended up being played out was a bit unusual for a cozy. While I thought it was good that Nardi was writing about it, since it needs to be talked about, it just didn’t fit into a cozy for me.
Then there’s the characters… this is a spin off of the Cold Creek Mysteries, and I’m not sure why it needs to be a spin-off just because the main character moves to a new town. Since it’s technically book one in a series, this is where you would be discovering the characters for the first time and getting to know them. But since there were five books before this one in the Cold Creek Mysteries, the reader has already had time to get to know them, and Nardi doesn’t spend much/any time informing the new read about them. This was disappointing for me because one of the reasons I go back to read more in a cozy series is because the characters have become like friends… not so in this case.
It was a well written book with some topics that need to be covered, but it just didn’t enamor me like other series have done. But I don’t want to persuade you from trying it yourself… just realize it’s not a typical cozy and that you may want to read the Cold Creek Mysteries first, starting with Murder at Cold Creek College.