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This time, the club chooses a mystery that takes place in a quaint western town – in the old Wild West. That sounds like great fun, until they arrive in the dusty old town in the Arizona desert, among cowboys and saloons. They discover that the outhouse isn’t the worse thing about this trip.
The good news is that Paige, Glo, Zell, Frank, and the other members of the club discover plenty of surprises here, and they have a great time visiting a piece of history. They’ll get to live through many exciting moments as they unravel this cozy mystery story.
It's time for another book club meeting at the Snapdragon Inn!
Cowboys and Chaos is another delightful entry in Elizabeth Pantley's cozy mystery series, the Magical Mystery Book Club, and I hope there will be many more. This book is the club members' third outing, and I think their adventures keep getting better and better.
Most of the members from previous 'meetings' return, and though there are still some clashes between a few personalities, they've grown as a group, so these are mild and few and far between. They have progressed to more comfortable interactions with each other. The story has some good 'cat snark' from Frank, the Siamese cat member, and I enjoyed the sassy saloon girl ghost. Forrest's apparent delight at being in the Old West and arriving wearing a cowboy hat was endearing. I think it was a brilliant choice by the author to have the book club members appear in their book already dressed to blend.
I enjoyed the plot immensely; the book kept me up way late, wanting to read just one more chapter. The book club members ask good questions of their suspects and sources, try to put the pieces they collect into some logical form to develop working theories, and then track down the proof they need to solve the case. Zell has no subtlety or filter but gets answers.
One fun aspect of the series is that that group is always eating or drinking or both. In fact, they are described as taking their meals seriously and often. The new member, Atticus, is a font of interesting historical tidbits, so I learned that the beer in saloons at the time was served at room temperature. Later, Adolphus Busch would create pasteurization and refrigeration methods for his Budweiser brand, which would be the game changer.
With a great group of recurring characters and a well-paced
and intriguing mystery to solve, I recommend COWBOYS AND CHAOS (and the entire MAGICAL
MYSTERY BOOK CLUB series) to cozy mystery readers who like a unique and fresh paranormal
storyline.
4 comments:
Thank you for your awesome review and feature! :) I have an absolute blast writing the stories of this book club's magical journeys! The next book will take them to a cake-baking competition -- and since the gang loves their food, it's a perfect setting.
I think the series is built on the perfect premise. If you're feeling like writing an historical mystery, the characters can choose that genre of book in the library and you're good to go. Feeling the need for things to get "western?" Cowboys and Chaos!
Brilliant, really.
Thank you for stopping by the blog!
Hi Karen!
A lovely review on one of my favorite series' ever! I love your comments on the food. Elizabeth sure knows how to create foody atmospheres. Have you read her other series? Destiny Falls? Oh they are the best!
Glad to see you are also enjoying this series.
Have a lovely week!
Elza Reads
Hi Elza, and no, this series has been my introduction to this author. I am delighted for the recommendation for Destiny Falls, though. Thank you!
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