4 out of 5 stars
I would like to thank Kensington Books for providing me with a free electronic ARC of this book, via Netgalley. The decision to read this book is my choice and any reviews given are obligation free.
‘Nacho Average Murder’ is book 7 in the ‘A Country Store Mystery’ series by Maddie Day. For regular readers of my reviews, you’ll all be wondering how I’ve gone from just leaving a review for book 4 in this same series… and here I am now leaving a review for book 7.
Sorry about that, I have read books 5 and 6 too – and do still plan on leaving reviews for them – but ‘Nacho Average Murder’ has just been released, so I felt it better I leave a review for it now, while it’s in the limelight, rather than later.
I will publish reviews for the other 2 books soon… I promise. 🙂
Okay, now that we’ve got all that confusion out of the road, let’s get on with the review!
I found ‘Nacho Average Murder’ a little off to start with but weirdly not in a bad way… it just stirred up my dysregulation. Robbie Jordan runs a fabulous country store in South Lick, Indiana. What is she doing all the way over on the west coast? Oh… wait… yeah, this is an okay read after all. – That sort of “a little off” see, a good sort! Look, I’d read the blurb and knew what to expect… but I did honestly need to take the first few chapters to adjust to the different pace. I mean, the whodunnit didn’t start kicking off until halfway through the book! 😀
But once the story found its rhythm in this new setting it read more smoothly and turned out to be just as enjoyable as the other books in the ‘A Country Store Mystery’ series. Robbie was her normal food loving, exercise craving, inquisitive, and big hearted self. I do love the detailed descriptions of things that Ms Day gives in her stories… Although I’ve never been to that neck of the world, I could still get a good picture in my mind’s eye… and confirmed by a little peek on google earth. 😉
Saying all these nice things, I still have to admit I did find the story a little slow and clunky in areas. There were just some sections that needed smoothing out a little more and possibly a little rewording. But, hey! I was reading an ARC of ‘Nacho Average Murder’ and so was well aware there might still be some rough patches. I didn’t let them effect my rating in review as I, as always, assumed it would be all fixed up in the final edit.
All in all, it was a fun little cosy, a great addition to the series, and a delight to be caught up in the colourful, detailed descriptions Ms Day always gives. I did miss some of the other regular characters from the series… but did really enjoy meeting some new/old friends of Robbie’s too.
Though, and I am sorry for this but it’s stuck in my head since I read it, white daisy like flowers with purple centres – osteospermums. Also known as African daisies. Don’t ask me why I need to share that… but I do. Ms Day did nothing wrong… this is just me being my neuro divergent self. 😀
Book nerd side of things – remember that I read an ARC of ‘Nacho Average Murder’. And, yes, there were a few little mistakes and slip ups… but so few that my blog posts can easily contain more! And, as an ARC, they are expected and accepted. If I’d seen them in a copy that I bought… THEN my rating would have dropped. But not in an ARC.
Plus, as is usually the case with Kensington Books, the book was perfectly formatted for Kindle, even in an ARC version. One MAJOR pet peeve of mine is an ARC that is only available ON Kindle, not yet formatted to be easily read on Kindle. A few little editing issues I can brush off… but a poorly formatted book is a poorly formatted book. Hence why I’m so thankful this was indeed a well formatted book.
Would I recommend this book to others?
Yes, I would. Definitely. As usual – when it comes to a book in a series – I would strongly recommend they read all books in the ‘A Country Store Mystery’ series in order… but ‘Nacho Average Murder’ CAN be read as a standalone. You’d just be left with the odd loose thread reference back to other stories and the other regular characters from the series. So, I personally would read them all in order. They are reasonably priced on Kindle (even for Kindle Australia) and a really good way to past the time.
If you need a book series to keep you entertained at the moment – go for ‘A Country Story Mystery’.
Would I buy this book for myself?
Yes, I would. I mean, I’ve bought most of the books in this series myself, with just one or two being ARC copies via Netgalley. It is indeed a series where I will put my money where my mouth is and purchase for myself. And ‘Nacho Average Murder’ is just as good as the rest of the series, so I can see myself having gone and bought it if I’d not been successful with my request on Netgalley. I am not cheap, merely frugal. 😉
In summary: A little bit of a change of scenery for Robbie, but still a great read.
Janis's Journal 