very much liked the main character in this cozy mystery, Aggie is a warm and friendly woman, wife of a minister, who seems genuine and is a good person, She is a stayathome mom who raises her daughters in a nononsense but warm and humorous way, She and ministerhusband Ed have a nice normal relationship, and I appreciate their closeness and how well they are suited to each other, I got such a nice feeling about their home and their values, Of course, Aggie also got involved in a murder mystery, but she is an intelligent woman who gets caught up in something that literally ends up on her doorstep.
She goes a little further than I would have gone in her investigations, but that's pretty much par for the course in a story like this,
Favorite quote about mysteries in general: "It's never a good sign when the bad guy starts clearing things up, " This was such a cute story, I loved it! I'm looking forward to reading the other books in this series, Ed Wilcox and his wife Aggie SloanWilcox have been in Emerald Springs for a little over a year, The congregation at their church seems to have taken to the new minister and his family, but now Gelsey Falowell, the matriarch who is a major benefactor and also runs the Womens Society, seems bent on getting the minister fired.
Aggie is doing her best to smooth any ruffled feathers but things take a turn for the worse when the naked body of a murdered woman is found on the parsonages front porch.
Rumors circulate quickly, and suspicion falls on Ed, who had been counseling the victim before her death,
This is a cozy mystery featuring an unlikely amateur sleuth the ministers wife, Of course she is helped by her new best friend who is a realtor in town and privy to lots of secrets and “under the covers” relationships, She stumbles on the first clue and despite being warned to stay away from the investigation by the local detective, she cannot help but follow her nose,
I liked that Aggie and Luce are intelligent women with a great deal of common sense, I also liked the portrayal of a strong family there were several parent/child issues that were handled quite well, I dont think there was any need to introduce the underlying attraction between Detective Roussos and Aggie nothing happens, its just mentioned more than once, I had guessed part of the mystery pretty early on, though frankly it was a lucky wild guess, On the other hand, I was surprised by a significant turn of events,
Final verdict an entertaining, fast read with characters I like and enough twists to keep me interested, Ill probably read more of this series,
I read up to pageand couldnt keep going, It was entirely too slow and it was lacking in details, I liked the main character, her family, and the premise, so I'm not sure why I liked this book instead of loving it, I guess I did not find the ending believable, Aggie Wilcox ist mit ihrer Familie vor gut einem Jahr nach Emerald Springs in Ohio gezogen, Hier ist Aggies Mann Edward Pfarrer der kleinen Gemeinde, Sie führen ein recht ruhiges Leben, bis eines Tages eine tote Frau auf der Terrasse der Familie Wilcox liegt, Sie wurde ermordet.
Wer hat die fremde Tote umgebracht, warum wurde sie ermordet, und warum hat man sie ausgerechnet auf die Terrasse der Pfarrersfamilie gelegt
Aggies Neugier ist geweckt, und gemeinsam mit ihrer besten Freundin Lucy möchte sie der Polizei helfen, den Mordfall aufzuklären.
Mein Leseeindruck:
Das ist ein richtiger Wohlfühlkrimi! Ich konnte gleich eintauchen in diese Geschichte, Die Familie Wilcox ist total sympathisch, sowohl die Eltern, als auch die beidenundJahre alten Töchter.
Der Krimi ist sowohl humorvoll als auch durchaus spannend, aber ein typischer Krimi ist es nicht, Er ist erfrischend anders.
Der Schreibstil gefällt mir sehr, Er ist leicht und eher anspruchslos, so dass man mit diesem Buch einfach entspannen und den Alltag vergessen kann,
Ich habe mich auch gleich etwas in die Zeit zurückgesetzt gefühlt, Zwar spielt die Geschichte in der Gegenwart, aber die kleine Pfarrgemeinde Emerald Springs ist doch sehr konservativ, Da wird zum Beispiel vor einer Buchhandlung demonstriert, weil diese erotische Literatur verkaufen möchte, Da musste ich doch mehrfach schmunzeln,
Insgesamt hatte ich wirklich ein paar schöne Lesestunden mit diesem Wohlfühlkrimi! If I enjoy a book so much that I forget about the rest of my life and finish reading it in one day, how can I give it fewer than
This was fun.
Wellwritten, characters with personality, set in a town I wouldn't mind living in, no swearing, no sex scenes describing sweaty
loins, a happy little family at its heart, And best of all for a mystery, no untied ends! Everything was believable! Sort of, The only part I didn't like was the typical HeroineGetsAbductedandRescuedJustinTime ending, On the other hand, it didn't hurt that there was a little bit of God's Hand involved in telling them where to go to save her, I'm going to move on to the second one in the series eventually, but if it's another case of knights in shining armor arriving to rescue Aggie from her own poor choices, well, that will be the end of this relationship.
As a lifelong Unitarian I thoroughly enjoyed this cozy with the UU ministers wife as protagonist, The mystery was engaging and all the UU church business and congregational interactions rang true, Highly recommended. I read most of this book onJanuary as our U, S. Captol was being overun by domestic terrorists, I needed to escape reality for awhile and this book was perfect, I enjoyed the quirky characters, trying to figure out who murdered the two victims, and the setting of a small Ohio town, I read this for booc club but will probably go on to read the other books in the series,.This is the first book in the series, Aggie and her family have recently moved to the small town of Emerald Springs, where her husband is a minister, They are struggling a bit to adapt to life there, particularly since one of the powerful parishioners has taken a dislike to them for some unknown reason, When a naked, dead woman ends up on their porch as the Womens Society arrives, Aggie knows that they have major trouble on their hands, particularly when her husband has been seen with the woman and refuses to reveal her reasons as she was seeking counseling from him.
Aggie gets involved in investigating to prove her husband was not involved, as she begins her new job at the bookstore just opening, one with its own controversies, Aggie is definitely not your typical ministers wife and has a quirky sense of humor, This was a great start to the series, Found this at Halfprice books and liked the title, Well written and charming story, I love mysteries so it was fun to find a new author to read, Looking forward to more. Written inthis is an era without today's technology though cellphones did exist,
Rev Ed Wilcox moves his family to Consolidated Community Church in Emerald Springs, Ohio to have time to look after a small town congregation that will give him time to write and study.
Aggie helps her daughters Deenaand Teddyto settle in while she makes friends too, Aggie finds a naked body on their front porch, Det. Kirkor Roussos the local police homicide detective finds himself bombarded with help from Aggie,
The plot twists are many, There are a lot of characters, but not overwhelmingly so, A light cozy mystery exposing the life of the pastor's family,
HPL Nice quick read, I am not religious , but found that aspect of this family interesting, Some of the book is dated when talking about having problems with PowerPoint etc, but overall a satisfying who dunnit I appreciated the uniqueness and skill in "Blessed Is The Busybody",, A nonpious minister's family in Ohio, USA is unexpected, Having discovered Phil Rickman, I know a reverend's family is observed, indemand, and a little about how a board approves clergy and provides their residence, It also builds tenderness when we learn other sides to a cantankerous person, Gelsey was a rival introduced to us, until a murdered lady was left at the parsonage: the church family's home, I understand it must be the equivalent to what the English have for so long called a "vicarage" which seemed pretentious and antiquated, I always find that fiction teaches me real details!
I don't judge quality on a solution being tricky, Praiseworthy stories do not hinge on fooling readers, Great writing and entertainment in its many facets, heralds success, However the road to this mystery was concealed and rooted circuitously in a past we could only glean as Agate sleuthed a little at a time, I would only call two clues lucky breaks and a scrapbook was plausible given Agate's archiving project, Our protagonist is engaging and humorous and the pages are eventful enough, early enough, My criticism derives from a narrating style I would admire in much smaller instances,
Do you know how the television shows "Corner Gas", "Modern Family", and "Family Guy" insert clips to demonstrate something silly Emilie did it with words but constantly making the whole narrative heavy, without skimming space between the wry observations.
I think I'll stop at the sequel I own, I admire most of the creative metaphors but they are a sluggish barrage, with general descriptiveness in superfluity, Also, I found Agate's age, thirtyfour, uncomfortably incongruous with the harried fiftyish tone she received, Slightly younger in, I comprise a computer whiz generation! The story doesn't stay consistently gripping, but there are a surprising number of actual twists for a cozy mystery later on.
Major secrets and things not guessed, The mystery itself is interesting and I liked that it had a dash of humor from time to time, For being a minister's wife, the lead is realistic she's not pious, she's a bit judgmental at times, she has a sense of humor, she's not afraid to get the groove on with hubby, and the scene where she accidentally mixed in some reallife photos in her powerpoint presentation was the funniest scene.
Toss in a mother in law that doesn't like her, feeling used because she's the wife of the pastor, and you have a unique look into her station in life that feels more legit than usual.
Is it just me or do I wish she were single and could purse the steam with the local hunky detective I like beginnings of mystery series to also be beginnings of relationships for the most part, so I had to get used to the husband patrol, as sweet as he may be.
Full review to come, It has been ages since I've read a mystery novel and a good one at that, I was thrilled to have purchased Emilie Richards' Ministry is Murder series as she has yet to disappoint,
Blessed is the Busybody is the first book in the series, and I admit it started out a bit slow for my liking, That only seems fair now, as Richards needed to present us with the whole picture, giving us a thorough background on Aggie SloanWilcox and her minister husband Ed, as well as her children, her mother in law, her own mother, moving to this small town in Ohio that goes by the name of Emerald Springs and living in the parsonage with very little privacy, her neighbors, the townspeople and so on.
After that introduction, we finally get to the exciting part, when an unidentified body is dumped and later found on Aggie's front porch, fully naked, The ladies on the Women's Society Board are aghast and their leader Gelsie makes it her mission to get Ed fired, by pointing all fingers at him as the prime suspect for the murder especially after it is revealed that Ed knows the woman's identity and has been counseling her before her untimely death/murder.
Aggie is such a fierce woman, mother of two daughters, and wife of a minister, she is anything BUT boring, She is interesting, exciting, crazy smart, and very witty, I loved getting to know her, and I loved the fact that she took it upon her to find out what really happened, partly because she was curious and intrigued, but mostly because she was trying to protect her family and mainly her husband.
I love her relationship with Ed, and I love her relationship with her daughters, I think it is all very realistically conveyed, so kudos to Richards for that, The mystery itself is so much fun to unravel right along Aggie's side, Every time you think you're close enough to figure it all out, Richards throws another curve ball at you,
It's a classic mystery tale, the likes of Agatha Christie, and I enjoyed reading it immensely, In fact, I finished the book in a matter of hours, I could barely put it down to get some work done, and when I did, my mind was constantly with Aggie trying to put the clues together to figure out who the killer is.
Very good read, and very solid plot line, executed seamlessly, Look forward to reading the next in the series! This was a great start to the series! I only wish it was the beginning for me instead of the end, I guess this is why you read things in order.
The setting is fun and the characters are like able, The story moved along well and kept me on my toes, It was definitely bordering on too many characters to try and keep track of, readforkimberlyst in the series and Emilie Richards has created a super sleuth who is witty, and makes a great minister's wife, friend and mother, So, I took incredibly long to finish this book, Various reasons, but mainly because the book didn't grab me as much as I hoped, The storyline is great, the characters are great that's why I gave itstars, but it just wasn't a book that made me feel "I NEED TO FINISH TODAY", but more "Meh, I'll grab it when I have nothing to do".
As said, the storyline was great, I had no idea who the murderer was and the story unfolded piece by piece gradually over the book which is a big plus.
I will give booka go, if it is the same feeling as bookI guess this isn't a series for me, .
Take Mrs. Wilcox Und Die Tote Auf Der Terrasse (Ministry Is Murder, #1) Curated By Emilie Richards Listed As Physical Book
Emilie Richards