Anyway, so, I got to work from home quite a bit last week. Which means I had more time to spend with the hubby and to read. So I took advantage and finished reading a series I had started about a month ago. I first blogged about it as a guest on ProlixMe, which is my best friend's blog. Alicia and I have known each other for 15 years, and we have a love affair with romance novels, mysteries and Starbucks. Please do check out her block. She's fabulous.
Last night, I finished the last book in the Nell Sweeney mystery series. There are six books in this series: Still Life With Murder, Murder in a Mill Town, Death on Beacon Hill, Murder on Black Friday, Murder in the North End, and Bucket of Ashes.
They were all fun, fast, and thoroughly enjoyable to read. Nell Sweeney is now one of my favorite book heroines. She's smart, loyal, and just an all-around classy bad ass.The relationship between Nell and Will Hewitt, the male protagonist, evolves in a way that feels realistic, especially considering that Will has his share of problems.
When Nell first meets Will, he's sitting in jail accused of murder. This has come as quite a surprise to the Hewitt family, since everyone thought Will had died at Andersonville. Nell works for the Hewitts as a governess to a little girl they adopted. She has Mrs. Hewitt's complete confidence. So, Mrs. Hewitt asks Nell to help clear Will of the murder charge.
Nell's past and Will's present make their relationship a rather complicated one. Still, you are hoping they can both get their shit together so they can finally get together. There is a bit of will-they-or-won't-they, but it never feels forced or done just for the sake of stringing the reader along.
The mysteries in each book definitely hold the reader's attention. They don't go into too much crap that isn't relevant, and P.B. Ryan moves the stories along at a really good pace. I've come to appreciate stories that don't have a lot of padding in them. I'm not against big books, not at all, but there are too many books on my TBR pile to waste my time with stories that just make me think "This needed a brutal editor."
Out of all the books, my favorite was Murder on Beacon Hill. It's heartbreaking, salacious, and just all around delicious. It was the only book that, when they figure out who did it, kind of gave me the chills. It's not particularly original, per se, but it does something fun with an idea that's been done before.Let's face it, there is nothing new under the sun and it takes some doing to make a story still feel fresh and exciting no matter what your subject.
I haven't lost hope that P.B. Ryan might decide to write another series. She writes romance novels under the name of Patricia Ryan. I will check those out, but, just in case Ms. Ryan sees this: More mysteries! These were so much fun!
