Mind Over Murder review

 

Mind Over Murder by Allison Kingsley is the first book in the Raven's Nest cozy mystery series set in small town Maine and featuring cousins Stephanie and Chloe Quinn.

Mind Over Murder had lots of potential with a bookstore featuring Poe paraphernalia and a healthy occult section as well as a touch of the paranormal with Chloe's extra sense, called Quinn Sense. Unfortunately, the execution did not live up to the potential.

As a mystery, Mind Over Murder was okay. I actually knew who the killer was as soon as the character was introduced - and Kingsley dropped enough clues even as she tried to implicate every other character in the book to keep me firm in my belief of the murderer's identity.

I wanted to like the characters but not one of them was someone I would want in my life. Chloe, who we are supposed to cheer for and empathize with, needs to grow up. She acts and reacts like a tween with her first crush instead of an adult woman who lived alone in New York City for eighteen years. She is also far too much of a pushover for my taste, wanting to keep everyone else happy even if she is unhappy.

Stephanie is even worse than Chloe. She is flat out a horrible person. Stephanie always wants everything her way, no matter how miserable that makes everyone else. She also says "we" a lot but means "you" - as in "We need to investigate" meaning "Chloe needs to investigate" - and she always has a lame excuse and an emotional manipulation to get Chloe to do what Stephanie wants.

The secondary characters also left a great deal to be desired. They were either completely flat or were complete caricatures. The creepy guy who used to own a candy store, the New York City transplant who is a man eating model that hates other women, the cute, single hardware store owner who conveniently wants Chloe. These people don't have personalities of there own in Mind Over Murder.

Over all, I was pretty disappointed in Mind Over Murder and will likely pass on the rest of the books in the series.

Synopsis

Cousins and best friends, Clara and Stephanie Quinn run The Raven's Nest Bookstore, where people go to find their most coveted reads. But they have no idea it's the psychically-gifted Clara who's reading them...

The bookstore has made an enemy of the town crier, Ana Jordon, who claims that the store's occult collection is "poisoning" the town's youth. Meanwhile, the store's number-one employee, Molly, has made no secret of her anger over Ana's antics. So when Ana is found dead, killed by the bust of Edgar Allen Poe sculpted by Molly, the evidence is stacked against her. And Clara must rely on her gift to make sense of this senseless murder...