Retro Reading: Shadow of a Spout by Amanda Cooper
In keeping with the promise that I made to myself I trudged through this second installment (but my mind was elsewhere) just so that I could get closer to the end of the series.
Nothing about this installment stands out since it's pretty much a rehash of the initial installment but set in a different town while Sophie Taylor's grandmother Rose Freemont attends a convention of the International Teapot Collectors Society (ITCS).
Rose hopes to get some information on a teapot that she purchased, but the appraiser, Zunia Pettigrew, is harsh on the appraisal and basically tells her that its worthless. Zunia has also made a few of the other attendees upset with her appraisals so it's no wonder that she's found dead hours later, with Rose's teapot as the murder weapon.
Earlier in the day, Rose's frenemy, Thelma Mae Earnshaw, thought she was being funny when she spread a rumor about Rose and how there was a murder at her tearoom. In fact, the murder happened at Thelma's tearoom three months earlier.
When Sophie hears of the murder, she and her friends race to the inn (an hour away) to find out how Rose became a suspect.
That's pretty much the crux of the story and if you miss anything (and I mean anything) it'll be repeated at least five more times, disappear and then come back again when a new character needs "to get caught up" on what's happening.
Crimozies are supposed to be fun and not taken so seriously, but Cooper has made it very easy to not want to continue reading.
To begin, she repeats the character's names (both first and last name) over and over and over again. This can happen within the same paragraph multiple times and also when there's dialogue. Each character has to mention both the first and last name, then the first name and then add either a Mr. or Mrs. into the conversation. You might have the following: Zunia, Zunia Pettigrew, Mrs. Pettigrew and Mrs. Zunia Pettigrew. This can and does happen multiple times on the same page.
Character histories are also repeated, along with their relationships to other characters. When new characters are introduced to one another a whole history is revealed and also appears in the narrative. Again, there's too much repetition.
And while on repetition, Cooper loves to make you remember the main characters hometown of Gracious Grove. It too is repeated multiple times and with the story taking place in another town an hour away (Butterhill) the town is mentioned a few hundred times, along with Gracious Grove.
Besides repetition, Cooper keeps up with using exclamation marks throughout and also incorporates something new. Italics.
Not only do you get a lot of the above, but italics become quite popular and are used in nearly every sentence. I can't even begin to imagine why an editor would approve a manuscript like this.
Since my mind was taken away from the story, I initially forgot about the teapot as murder weapon. It was never really mentioned again, but ironically, at the end Sophie receives an email about it and the history.
Again, I didn't feel any type of connection to the characters and whatever story I could make out was so predictable.
While crimozies are pretty much women's romance mysteries, I have learned some things along the way depending on the subject matter. I guess collecting teapots is very popular, but Cooper doesn't really get into why this is popular. The characters are supposed to be "knowledgeable", but the knowledge is never shared.
Many crimozy authors incorporate recipes into their stories and share tips at the end of the story. With this you get a cookie recipe (which seems good) and how to steep tea.
As with the first installment, this too was flung across the room when I finished, and Cooper should be glad to know that I've considered this inflight "entertainment."
