{"id":12754,"date":"2020-04-15T16:12:44","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T20:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=12754"},"modified":"2024-07-06T11:27:47","modified_gmt":"2024-07-06T15:27:47","slug":"dead-in-the-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12754","title":{"rendered":"Dead in the Shop"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"Dead<\/a>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.<\/p>\n

And that’s one of the interesting things about this story–that there isn’t really a good why. Don’t get me wrong, the killer is caught and explains why things happened, but inveterate mystery readers are used to complicated reasons as to why the killer acts as they do (with lots of monologing) but here we know the reason, but it’s … unsatisfactory. NOT in a bad story kind of way, but in a real life kind of way, which meant that was unsatisfactory as it was, it was also very good. (In the same way that some of the good police procedurals I read end with the bad guy getting off on a technicality, or because of who they know. That’s the way life works sometimes, and as hard of an ending that is, it’s also quite often how life goes.<\/p>\n

Anyway.<\/p>\n

More terrible things happen, but the killer is finally discovered and caught, and our two heroes finally get to live happy ever after, even if it takes them awahile and a lot of work and therpy.<\/p>\n

And Valor also works on his relationship with his sister.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sorry I insulted your cottage.\u201d <\/p>\n

Valor hopped off the counter and turned slightly to face her. \u201cYou didn\u2019t. The cottage doesn\u2019t have feelings. You insulted my choices. I know you\u2019re trying, Penny, but luxury has gifted you a twisted view of the rest of the world.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Also, I want friends with whom I can go on a pudding crawl with.<\/p>\n

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 pub after the other, they gorged on sweets instead.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So the story ends well, but not without work on the part of the characters. And each book was better than the previous, although really this could \/ should have been a single book of novel length rather than three novellas. But I get why they were published and marketed that way. So I’m not too angry.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Hot Tree Publishing
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 good why. Don’t get me […]<\/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":[12,30,204,8,608,148],"tags":[508,254,544],"class_list":["post-12754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-british","category-good","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-3jI","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17626,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/17626","url_meta":{"origin":12754,"position":0},"title":"Ghost Light Killer","author":"Michelle","date":"August 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Ghost Light Killer (2021) Dahlia Donovan (London Podcast Mystery) I've enjoyed everything I've read by Dahlia Donovan, but especially her mysteries. Unfortunately, the mystery was off in this book for me. The characters and their interactions I still enjoyed very much. Dannel had a habit of never leaving or having\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ghost LIght Killer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ghost-LIght-Killer.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ghost-LIght-Killer.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ghost-LIght-Killer.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Ghost-LIght-Killer.webp?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14087,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14087","url_meta":{"origin":12754,"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":21740,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21740","url_meta":{"origin":12754,"position":2},"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":[]},{"id":21322,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21322","url_meta":{"origin":12754,"position":3},"title":"Crown Court Killer","author":"Michelle","date":"November 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Crown Court Killer (2022) Dahlia Donovan (London Podcast Mystery) Dannel and Osian are once again pulled into a murder mystery, when their friend (and defense soliciter) Wayne is accused of murder. \"Barristers tend to specialise in certain areas of the law. They\u2019re often brought in on complicated cases to handle\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"Crown Court Killer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Crown-Court-Killer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21736,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21736","url_meta":{"origin":12754,"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":20567,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20567","url_meta":{"origin":12754,"position":5},"title":"Purloined Poinsettia","author":"Michelle","date":"August 15, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Purloined Poinsettia (2022) Dahlia Donovan (Motts Cold Case Mystery) Motts has been fascinated by cold cases since her childhood best friend was murdered and no one every caught. Recently, she's discovered that the majority of girls she went to school with have been killed in the interim. Now, as they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Purloined Poinsettia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Purloined_Poinsettia.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\/12754","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=12754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12754\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}