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Belinda’s Review: Peril in the Park by Barbara Venkataraman
Peril in the Park: A Jamie Quinn Mystery
written by Barbara Venkataraman
published by Barbara Venkataraman
find it here: (affiliate links) Amazon, Goodreads
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Did I enjoy this book: I liked it . . . but I didn’t love it.
It’s really too bad because I loved Venkataraman’s previous two books in the series. If I had to guess, I’d say this book went to publishing before it was ready. All the necessary ingredients are in the mix, but it just needed to bake a little longer.
The first twenty percent of the book summarized her two previous books in this series. I didn’t see where it was relevant to the current book. So, for me, it got off to a slow start.
After that, the story picked up at a nice pace. I found it really hard to really get into the book although the storyline itself was solid. I think it had to to with the old writing adage that it’s always better to show a story than to tell a story. Venkataraman spent too much time telling us about the events, robbing us of the opportunity to experience it ourselves.
I’m still a fan of Barbara Venkataraman. She still writes delightfully humorous, fun summer reads. For me, this story missed the mark, but it won’t stop me from looking forward to her next book.
Would I recommend it: Yes. It’s a weak recommendation, but it’s still better than anything on TV.
About the book – from Goodreads: Jamie Quinn is an attorney, whose boyfriend Kip Simons, has just been appointed Director of the Broward City Parks. This park system is huge and someone, unknown, has been vandalizing various of the parks. Jamie and Kip cannot find the culprit and Jamie is threatened by an email from ICU@gmail stating that she is going to get hurt if she cannot convince Kip to leave the parks as they are. This frightens Jamie and she asks her P.I. friend Duke Broussard to find ICU before someone gets hurt or murdered. The mystery throws in all sorts of characters, some of whom contribute to the plot and some of whom just hang in there.
This is a simple story, entertaining in its way through simple dialogues and actions, reads quickly and the reader doesn’t have to strain self to keep up.
