Prah, Constantine & Baryeh Review: Pains and Penalties by Sarah Biglow #mystery #novella

We're back in action again. 

Same Books~Different Perspectives

For the month of June we picked a 

Cozy Mystery.

A new amateur sleuth is on the case in the first book of this Cozy Mystery novella series. 

When Kalina Greystone returns home to the small town of Ellesworth, MA in the wake of her father's passing to take over the family's comic book shop, she never expects to reconnect with her old flame, Detective Christian Harper. But when elderly Mrs. Davies winds up murdered at the annual Solstice Fair, Kalina can't help but get swept up in his investigation and solving the case. While Detective Harper runs his investigation, she cozies up to the dead woman’s best friend, Mrs. Grant, and learns that she and a third woman, Ms. Ellicott, might be targets. Someone has sent them notes with the cryptic warning ‘Lying is a mortal sin’. As Kalina digs deeper into the women’s shared past, she unearths the perjury that sentenced an innocent man to prison. After discovering Ms. Ellicott dead in her home, Kalina and Detective Harper must race to unmask the killer before vengeance can be sated. 


Cathrina's Review:

I didn't feel any tension of sorts while reading the mystery, even when the murder's occurred. And Detective Chris Harper was~meh, at best. Perhaps, you might feel differently.  Through his investigation, he missed quite a bit, and if it wasn't for Kalina, an amateur sleuth, I wonder if the good detective would've solved the case. 

Chris and Kalina were love interests in high school, but by the end of the novella they pick-up by playing a video game. It's certainly a very clean read. Not that it's a bad thing, but a little kiss or touch could've sufficed. 

Pain's and Penalities is a cozy novella, an easy and fast read. Perfect for a day on the beach or lounging on your patio. 

Now head over to read Nana and Empi's review.