New mystery series

[ladyofthethread]

I haven’t written about books much lately because I’ve been rereading a lot of old things. But I’ll do a mini review since I finished something new recently: “The Case of the Roasted Onion” by Claudia Bishop. She writes the Inn at Hemlock Falls mysteries but this is the first in a new series, the Casebooks of Dr. McKenzie. Like the previous series, it’s also set in upstate New York. There’s actually a little cameo by one of the Hemlock Falls characters, who is spotted during a press conference but doesn’t have any lines, and there are several mentions of the Inn at Hemlock Falls.

Anyway, the protagonist of this series is Austin McKenzie, an elderly veterinarian. He’s a bit blunt at times but it’s amusing how he tries to avoid things he dislikes, like trying to throw out mail he doesn’t want to open or ignoring the phone. XD He takes up detecting when he’s asked to work at a horse show and the vet he’s replacing is killed by a sniper. I was expecting the bulk of the story to take place at the show but it turns out it’s pretty much wrapped up by then. There’s a lot of veterinary trivia sprinkled throughout which is kind of interesting.

One bad thing I noticed though was that the continuity seemed rather sloppy in this particular book. :-/ Right at the beginning of the first chapter, it is mentioned that it is an April morning. Yet, two pages later, the protagonist is receiving an invitation to work at a horse show in late March! I noticed another kink in the timeline later in the book, too.

I dislike criticizing others’ creative efforts when done for fun (fanfics, cosplay, etc.) but it annoys me a bit when I find errors like this in professional writing. I feel like if you’re doing it for a living and expecting people to pay for your works, it should not have silly mistakes like that. Did the editors and proofreaders fall asleep, too? I could understand if errors in the veterinary stuff slipped by because the average person isn’t going to be an expert on it but timelines should be pretty basic, right? -_-

You're The Sound and the Fury!

by William Faulkner

Strong-willed but deeply confused, you are trying to come to grips
with a major crisis in your life. You can see many different perspectives on the issue,
but you're mostly overwhelmed with despair at what you've lost. People often have a hard
time understanding you, but they have some vague sense that you must be brilliant
anyway. Ultimately, you signify nothing.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

I mean nothing… How nice. -_-; I think the people having a hard time understanding me part is probably true but the rest makes me sound overly depressed or something, which I’m not. O_o;


I think I’ll attempt to get to animeangelblue’s mini golf outing on Long Island this Saturday. It’s a bit of a trip but I missed the photoshoot a couple of weekends ago and I haven’t seen anyone since AnimeNext. It was announced as cosplay mini golf but I’m not sure if anyone is actually dressing up. I suppose I could wear my yellow Tohru dress and throw all the flowers and accessories into my purse. I think it’s about the only costume I have casual enough to play mini golf in. ^_^;;

Comments

[insaneladybug.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a fun book. XD But I share your annoyance/disbelief over the errors. Honestly. Fanfictions are expected to have some errors. Published works are not.

And that's an interesting and odd quiz. Might have to try it. Your result sounds like Cloud's view on himself. LOL.

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Yeah, errors in fanfics are understandable but published novels should be better than that. -_-

[vampricyoda.livejournal.com]

Published works seem to have alot of errors unless they are part of a series or expected to be a bestseller. No one (Sadly at this point and time myself inculded) reads much anymore unless the book title starts with "Harry Potter and" or it's a comic. So unless it's goin g to be a huge book they just don;t spend the time fixing thouse types of errors. :-(

I wanted to go to the mini golf as well. But Long Island is way too far for me. Apperently people did show up at the picnic, but they ended up walking around the whole city.

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Bah. I still think mistakes like that shouldn't pop in professionally published novels. It just looks dumb when there's esoteric trivia that the writer must have researched included but there are contradictions in something as basic as the timeline. -_-

[vampricyoda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you're correct. I was more just posting the reasoning.

[helena-lee.livejournal.com]

God, you're soo right about that! I mean, why then to pay editors, proofreaders and all?? Jesus, didn't the reader.. reread her own book? It makes no sense, unless we're talking about Machado de Assis [you probably never ever heard of him xD he's an amazing author. In one of the best books in portuguese language, 'Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas' - which would be something like 'Late memories of Brás Cubas' - he writes totally insanely. There is no such thing as linear time; he starts the book by letting Bras Cubas tell about his burial; then, the character tellas about the childhood. Then, he tells about some events in his adult life and gets back to the burail, later he tells some more about the day he was born.. It is crazy and amazing. But of course, it was all intentional and brilliantly done. it is not some kind of gross error, mistake, whatever.]

About the answer for your quiz... hahahahaha don't get upset xD My resulkt was not thaat amazing either. I am vulgar! xD how wrong is that??

hey, mini golf? the only thing I know about golf is that Tiger Woods ios the man xD shuausa And that's what my brother [who is *the* fan of Tiger Woods] says, don't know if that is even correct. have a nice mini golf-playing day, then ^^

[ladyofthethread.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's okay to have flashbacks and such but the thing in the book I was reading was an obvious mistake.

*laugh* Mini golf can be fun although I'm terrible at it! XD;

[helena-lee.livejournal.com]

well, I am a sucker for explaining things, I ruined the book hahaha but I believe you could get an idea of it.

oh dear, ANYTHING which requires good eyes and/or motor skills or anything similar is definitely not suitable for me hahaha xD I've never tried to play golf, I rather poker xD
how was the mini golf-playing? ^^