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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