Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Garage Sale Riddle by Suzi Weinert

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3 Stars

“I never look for trouble; things just seem to happen.”

My name is Kelly and I’m addicted to the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Channel. (Psssssst – this is the part where you all say “Hiiiiiiii Kelllllllllly.”) Seriously, though, it’s 100% true and the Garage Sale Mysteries have quickly become a fave. Imagine my delight when the entire month of August was dedicated to my latest obsession. Sadly August came to an end – but then I remembered these made-for-TV movies were based on books and of course my homies at the library weren’t about to let me down . . . I just had to wait for my turn to come up. It just so happened that my time came on the PERFECT day! The temps dropped so low I got to break out my sexiest loungewear . . . .


(Trust me, I could barely keep my husband off of me once I put these on.)

And I snuggled in with only the most necessary provisions . . . .



Like many book-to-film conversions, there was some artistic license taken in transitioning this series to the screen (since there are only three books but umpteen movies, I figured as much before diving in). The main difference is with the leading lady herself. Book version Jennifer Shannon is a 60-something, stay-at-home, mother of five grown children and a bevy of grandkids. Movie version is younger, mother of only two (one still a high schooler/one in college) and owner of “Rags to Riches” – a quaint little antique store. The thing the two have in common is that Jennifer somehow finds herself involved in a mystery – or in this case a couple – a possible hidden treasure along with a potentially dangerous duo of grifters who have set their sights on Jennifer’s mother as their target. Like the quote above indicates, both print and film leads Jennifer to things like . . .



I called this my first foray into “cozy mysteries” over on the Instagram. That’s probably not accurate because I’m fairly certain the Aurora Teagarden books (and another Hallmark Mystery fave) fall into that category as well. (I guess Roe got a pass since she was written by a lady who I originally discovered when I was addicted to vampire and werewolf sex books.) The one thing that stood out for me here was the amount of detail provided as well as the way the dialogue was written. I have no idea if this is the case or not, but it just seemed to shout “this is the way these types of books are supposed to be” to me. I also discovered that this author got her first book published at the ripe young age of 76 to which I say . . .



I love that. NEVER give up on your dreams : )

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