Murder by Death

I was disappointed by the first book in this series, but I'm often left ambivalent about first books in a new series - sometimes an author just needs to find the groove for both themselves and their characters.

Sadly, I did *not* find this book to be an improvement, merely more of the same.  The main character, Clara, spends the entire time throughout the book being a coward - she constantly anguishes over her psychic gift, calling it a curse, constantly talks about how she's never going to love anyone so they can hurt her again.

She lives with her mother who drives her crazy with her smothering ways, yet does very little to nothing about it - she's 31 and she is still interacting with her mother like she's a rebellious teenager.  Her interactions with her cousin and friend Stephanie throughout the book seem to be primarily focused on 'remember when...'.

All in all, Clara comes across as someone who is beaten down and depressed and sees no reason to take control of her own life in any way - *not* the kind of character I want to curl up with when I pick up a cozy mystery. I want a strong character who takes adversity and uses it to make herself stronger, not weaker. I want a character with spine and a sense of humour.

The mystery plot itself I found weak as well. The murderer was screamingly obvious to me from the moment the character had their first interaction with Clara. Clara's attempts to investigate felt bumbling and obvious and juvenile.

I love cozy mysteries with a paranormal aspect and I love mysteries that centre around a bookstore. That this one is both and still falls so short makes the disappointment that much more bitter - I *want* to like this series, but unless things drastically change, I'll not be reading the third book.