Title: No End to Trouble (A St. Polycarp School Mystery)
Author: Marianna Heusler
Publisher: Hillard and Harris, 2015
Pages: 272
Genre: cozy mystery
Obtained: from author in exchange for an honest review
Summary: There is a new principal at the St. Polycarp school and Mrs. Hopwood and Mrs. Johnson are not happy about this. They already miss Father Felix, the prior principal. To make matters worse Bertha Butterworth, one of the cafeteria ladies is found dead after the Parent's Night, and it looks as if it could be murder. Can Mrs. Hopwood and Mrs. Johnson figure out whodunit?
Thoughts: I enjoyed this cozy, sometimes humorous, whodunit mystery. The author wrote in an organized way and I really liked how she paced the story- slow to begin, and then picked up speed to the climax with a quick wrap-up at the end. The story was a good one and kept me engaged as I tried to pick up clues and figure out whodunit myself. She also had other things going on with the characters in the story which rounded the story out. The book could have benefited from more editing. There are many typos, words left out, wrong words used, etc. which becomes distracting. No End to Trouble will be released again by World Wide Mystery, a division of Harlequin Enterprises, Inc. soon. I am assuming these problems will be resolved which will make this read even better!
The author did a great job at making her characters distinctive. Sometimes with whodunits it is easy to get the characters confused because the names are too similar or the characters are not unique enough. This did not happen here, although I would have liked it if the characters had more depth. Also, the author put just enough characters into the story. I hate when there are not enough suspects! There were plenty here.
I liked the school as a setting for the story. Although the physical description would have benefited from more detail, the author described the background action (what students were doing, school noises, teacher's conversations, etc.) very well. I could picture the physical setting in my head at times, but could picture the action throughout.
This is the third St. Polycarp book. The other two are referred to in this book, but it is not necessary to have read the other two to get into this story. This would make a good beach read! Would I like to read the other Saint Polycarp Mysteries? Absolutely! The forth book in the series Trouble Purse Sued will be published soon!
P.O. Box 5021, Custer, SD 57730
(605) 673-5383
Tea: Tid Bit
Obtained: sample from owners
The French Creek Tea Company, located in the Black Hills of South Dakota, has wonderful tea blends that I have been sampling. At this time, their tea is not available to order online. Their contact information is above and there is a list of their teas and where they are available here.
Today I tried Tid Bit, a "blend of green and black teas flavored with vanilla and almond". The tea was packaged in a good quality resealable bag. The green and black leaves were all shapes and sizes. The scent of the leaves was of sweet almond. I poured six ounces of water that had been boiled over one teaspoon of leaves and let this brew for three minutes. The liquid was a dark yellow and had a slight almond scent. The taste was a sweet vanilla almond blend.
This would make a delicious dessert tea or a treat when craving something sweet, but trying to avoid the calories.
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