{"id":12751,"date":"2020-04-15T15:56:19","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T19:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=12751"},"modified":"2024-11-13T18:14:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T23:14:14","slug":"dead-in-the-pond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12751","title":{"rendered":"Dead in the Pond"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dead in the Pond<\/a><\/em> (2018) Dahlia Donovan<\/a> (Grasmere Cottage Mystery)<\/p>\n

\"Dead<\/a>The first book ended with Valor and Bishan learning their beloved housemaster from Harrow–and a note that book two was<\/em> going to end on a cliffhanger.<\/p>\n

So I bought book two AND book three, because I wasn’t going to be messing around when cliff hangers are involved.<\/p>\n

At one point towards the end of this book, my husband walked over to me and I just put my hand up, palm out, and ignored whatever it was he wanted, because HOLY CATS. CLIFFHANGER.<\/p>\n

This book is told mostly from Bishan’s point of view, which is really very interesting, since Bishan doesn’t see things the way most of us do.<\/p>\n

Spurling held the bag up for the second time. \u201cDo you know what my nan will do to me if I don\u2019t deliver this to you?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cNo. What?\u201d Bishan asked seriously. <\/p>\n

Spurling stared at him. <\/p>\n

\u201cOh, a joke.\u201d Bishan kicked himself mentally for not catching it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

and<\/p>\n

The trouble with the subtle approach was Bishan didn\u2019t read tone or body language at all. He couldn\u2019t. Sunesh had dedicated almost an entire year to try to teach him\u2014 and it ended with him finally dumping a tub of yoghurt over his brother\u2019s head in frustration.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although this is a cozy, there is a good deal of murder in this series, and what Valor has to deal with from his family is pretty rough, although much of it is him telling us how unpleasant his discussions are, rather than having to read racist, homophobic rants.<\/p>\n

There’s an interesting bit that goes through all three books, about how Val and Bish feel about marriage.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hate marriage.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI dislike my parents\u2019 idea of it.\u201d Valor lifted one of the rings between two of his fingers. \u201cHate is such a strong word.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cYou said you did.\u201d Bishan remembered the conversation perfectly. \u201cWhy\u2019ve you changed your mind?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you not love me before?\u201d Bishan frowned at their clasped fingers. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s odd to me, how different people view marriage. <\/p>\n

I am offended by people who get married and divorced and married and divorced rather than by people who prefer a committed relationship without marriage. But the story also clearly makes the point of the problems that can arise when partners don’t have some kind of legal documents.<\/p>\n

One of the scenes I really loved was when Bish and Val argued. <\/p>\n

That is a genius method of argument.<\/p>\n

And as supposed, I finished the second book and IMMEDIATELY started the third. And then stayed up entirely too late just to make sure that things were going to at least be mostly alright. But I really do hate cliffhanger endings.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Hot Tree Publishing
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dead in the Pond (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Grasmere Cottage Mystery) The first book ended with Valor and Bishan learning their beloved housemaster from Harrow–and a note that book two was going to end on a cliffhanger. So I bought book two AND book three, because I wasn’t going to be messing around when cliff hangers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[193,190,8,608,148],"tags":[508,254,544],"class_list":["post-12751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-10","category-cozy","category-mystery","category-neurodiversity","category-queer","tag-asd","tag-dahlia-donovan","tag-mm"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-3jF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21738,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21738","url_meta":{"origin":12751,"position":0},"title":"Dead in the Pond","author":"Michelle","date":"March 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Dead in the Pond (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Grasmere Cottage Mystery) Bishan found it very difficult to force himself to do anything without understanding the reason. \u201cWould you rather stay?\u201d Yes. \u201cYes, but if I do it\u2019ll make leaving harder the next time.\u201d They hadn\u2019t restocked his cereal yet. Bishan didn\u2019t\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dead in the Pond","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dead-in-the-Pond.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14087,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14087","url_meta":{"origin":12751,"position":1},"title":"Grasmere Cottage Mystery","author":"Michelle","date":"March 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Grasmere Cottage Mystery (2018) Dahlia Donovan This is actually three novellas, but since I read it as one book, I'm going to review it as such also. Dead in the Garden Dead in the Pond Dead in the Shop Valor Scott and Bishan Tamboli have been best friends since their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dead in the Garden","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dead-in-the-Garden.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12748,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12748","url_meta":{"origin":12751,"position":2},"title":"Dead in the Garden","author":"Michelle","date":"April 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Dead in the Garden (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Grasmere Cottage Mystery) This is a cozy mystery, set in England, and is both adorable and has an amazingly diverse cast of characters. Valor and Bishan are shocked and distressed to discover a dead body in their yard. But it becomes even more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dead in the Garden","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dead-in-the-Garden.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12754,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12754","url_meta":{"origin":12751,"position":3},"title":"Dead in the Shop","author":"Michelle","date":"April 15, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Dead in the Shop (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Grasmere Cottage Mystery) Valor and Bishan are struggling after the events of the last book. Someone is trying to kill them--has killed people around them--and they don't understand why. And that's one of the interesting things about this story--that there isn't really a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dead in the Shop","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dead-in-the-Shop.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21736,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21736","url_meta":{"origin":12751,"position":4},"title":"Dead in the Garden","author":"Michelle","date":"March 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Dead in the Garden (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Grasmere Cottage Mystery) Cinnamon. What did I just read? No matter how many times Valor read it, the cause of death didn\u2019t change. His old schoolmate had been killed by inhaling cinnamon. It had been good for him. Valor didn\u2019t know if he\u2019d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dead in the Garden","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dead-in-the-Garden.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21740,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21740","url_meta":{"origin":12751,"position":5},"title":"Dead in the Shop","author":"Michelle","date":"March 21, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Dead in the Shop (2018) Dahlia Donovan (Grasmere Cottage Mystery) Pudding crawls had become one of their traditions after one of their many Olivers had given up drinking. They\u2019d supported him through Alcoholics Anonymous, and decided to create a way to celebrate without alcohol. Instead of reunions spent in one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Dead in the Shop","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Dead-in-the-Shop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}