Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Guest Post: Jeanne and Treadmill Books: The Clock Shop Mysteries by Julianne Holmes

Back last May, Jeanne of the Bookblog of the Bristol Library started something new with her Treadmill Books Review. Proving that she is far more coordinated on a treadmill than I ever was (very glad there are not videos of the spills I took back in the day), these are books that she reads while on the treadmill. Such books have to fit her criteria of “… A book has to be entertaining without being too demanding. If I’d rather walk than read, that is not a good book. On the other hand, if the book is so enjoyable that I end up walking extra steps just so I can read another chapter, then that is a fine book indeed.” This week she considers The Clock Shop Mysteries by Julianne Holmes.


Treadmill Books:  The Clock Shop Mysteries by Julianne Holmes

Ruth Clagan’s world is in disarray.  Her marriage has fallen apart. Her plans to end the estrangement with her beloved grandfather are derailed when she learns he has died unexpectedly, but he has left her his clock shop, The Cog and Sprocket. Ruth is uncertain how her step-grandmother will take the news of the bequest.

To make matters worse, it appears her grandfather’s death might have been murder.

So begins Just Killing Time, the first in the Clock Shop Mystery series.  I have to say the first book hooked me.  I liked that Ruth has a true passion for clocks that shines through the pages, and that she is a well-rounded character with a mature outlook.  She isn’t one of those weepy girls (and I do mean girls, no matter what their alleged age) who wallows in self-pity while ogling the amazingly numerous handsome men who populate such books, all of whom inexplicably find Weepy Girl attractive. That alone put the book up a notch for me. Most of the secondary characters were also well done, especially Caroline, Ruth’s step-grandmother with whom Ruth begins to forge a tentative friendship.

The setting is another of those quaint New England towns that seem to have supplanted the generic Southern town in popular paperback mysteries.  Orchard, Massachusetts has an old clock tower built by Ruth’s great-great grandfather, a collection of small shops, a close-knit community, and a city manager who is anxious to turn the place into a strip mall filled with chain stores.

Definitions vary, but I would consider this series both a cozy and a whodunit:  no graphic violence and the murderer is someone we’ve met.  There’s a bit of romance, some nifty information on clocks, and a cat named Bezel.  I did figure out a number of things before the dénouement, but the clues weren’t so obvious as to make the solution a no-brainer.

On the down side, there is the stock character who is universally hated through all three books, a character who exists only to antagonize the main character and her friends. In book two, my least favorite there’s one of those (in)famous misunderstandings which could be, and eventually is, cleared up when two characters take a moment to talk to one another.  Such things are supposed to create tension but I find them annoying.

 For me, the pluses much outweighed the minuses, and I have enjoyed the three books in the series very much.  They also make good treadmill books, thank goodness, because with the cold weather I’ve had to do more of my walking indoors.  Ruth has been very good company indeed.   I don’t know if there will be further books or not—a number of story lines were tied up in a very satisfying manner—but should a fourth book come out, I’ll be at the bookstore for my copy.

The books in the series are:

1.      Just Killing Time
2.      Clock and Dagger
3.      Chime and Punishment

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