Dover One by Joyce Porter--review

Published in 1964, this is the first book by Joyce Porter that I've read.  I'm not sure what I was expecting.  

The Dover referred to in the title is the name of the detective--Chief Inspector Wilfred Dover.   He is based in London, but is sent out to a small village to find a missing person.  Sergeant Charles Edward McGregor is sent to help Dover out.

Dover is not your run of the mill detective.  He is lazy, takes credit for other people's ideas, and doesn't think the missing woman is a big deal, but wants to look good to his boss. He sends Sergeant  McGregor out to do all of the leg work, doing as little as possible himself, while he stays back to nap, eat or otherwise not do anything constructive.  

Whenever anything goes right, it is because that is the way Dover planned it.  If it goes wrong, it's because someone else didn't do what he was supposed to do--which is whatever it took to make it go right and make Dover look good.

The plot revolves around a missing young lady.  When Dover finds out she was promiscuous, he feels that he shouldn't make much effort, as she is probably off with a new fellow.  His sergeant tries to do some investigating, as it seems impossible that a young woman, weighing over 200 pounds, with red hair, should disappear between the front gate and the house with no one seeing her anywhere after. 

I'm not really sure how I feel about this book.  I don't like Dover, his sergeant seems to be resigned to having to do all the leg work and trying to talk Dover into at least agreeing to some investigating. 

I might read another and if I like it better, but I'm not going to make any kind of effort to do it.

This book was #18 of my Craving for Cozies 2021 Challenge, and my 2021 Reading Challenge. It also was part of my Beachcomber Challenge "D" in Detectives. It was #11 in my Vintage Scattergories Challenge--Malicious Men. In my 2021 Around the Year Challenge, it is # 10--female victim.

The Babbling Brook Naked Poker Club by Ann Warner--review

I started this book thinking it would be an amusing read, based on the title. Instead, it is about a 70 year old woman, Josephine Bartlett, who has lived most of her life being controlled by her husband. She's expecting to finally have some freedom when he passes, but he leaves his (also controlling) son in charge of her finances. The first thing he does is sell her house and move her into a retirement apartment. She, of course, doesn't like it, and is determined to somehow get away. In the meantime, she makes a few friends, becomes acquainted with the Associate Activities Director, and discovers a thief. She also meets a detective. 

The book itself was okay. The POV changes with each chapter, which was interesting once you got used to it. The story did seem to drag in places, and could have probably been a shorter book. 

There are subplots--the required romantic subplot, problems involving her friends, and  the conflict with her son. I would say this was just an okay book for me, not great, not terrible. 

This is #17 of my 2021 Craving for Cozies and 2021 Reading challenge. It also fulfills #36 in my Around the Year in Books Challenge--6 or more words in title.

Mind Bending Murder by Leslie Langtry--review

This book is the seventeenth in the Merry Wrath books, published in 2021.  I really enjoy this series.

Merry Wrath was a CIA agent, until she was outed and forced to leave the agency.  She moved back to her hometown, and connected with her childhood best friend.  They become Girl Scout leaders, and several of they girls have interesting skills.

This story begins with Merry, at home, going to bed with her husband, Rex, a police detective, and waking up next to a dead man in a shed, wearing different clothes . She is in a different town, run by police that don't like people from her town at all, and is arrested just a few minutes after waking up, due to an anonymous tip.

She spends the rest of the book trying to clear herself and find the real murderer, discovering some of the oddities in the town she woke up in, and getting help from her friends and family. 

I found the book amusing, as usual, but this story seemed to be getting a little too close to becoming more of a parody of the earlier books. The basic premise of the series is a little unbelievable to begin with, so some quirks in the characters are expected.   But this story was just a little too quirky. 

I'll probably read the next, and see if I like it better than this one.

This is #50--published in 2021--in Around the Year in Books Challenge. Also number 16 in my Craving for Cozies and 2021 Reading Challenge.