Blake Pierce - Crime and Lager

When London Rose, 33, is proposed to by her long-time boyfriend, she realizes she is facing a stable, predictable, pre-determined (and passionless) life. She freaks out and runs the other way—accepting instead a job across the Atlantic, as a tour-guide on a high-end European cruise line that travels through a country a day. London is searching for a more romantic, unscripted and exciting life that she feels sure exists out there somewhere.
London is elated: the European river towns are small, historic and charming. She gets to see a new port every night, gets to sample an endless array of new cuisine and meet a stream of interesting people. It is a traveler’s dream, and it is anything but predictable.
In Book 3, CRIME (AND LAGER), the cruise takes them into Germany, into its historic towns and fabled beer festivals. But when a festival goer—a loud, arrogant local—turns up dead from drinking too much beer, suspicion falls on the touring passengers. The death is quickly ruled a murder, and London realizes her future—and that of the ship—hinges on her solving the crime.
Laugh-out-loud funny, romantic, endearing, rife with new sights, culture and food, CRIME (AND LAGER) offers a fun and suspenseful trip through the heart of Europe, anchored in an intriguing.

Comment: This is the third installment in the European Voyage series. Although the fictional sections aren't as amazing as I could hope, the history and small details the author includes certainly make for, at least, an interesting reading.

This time, London Rose and the passengers of the river cruise are in Germany and despite the delays caused by the events which took place in the previous installments, they still stop as predicted, in Bamberg, a Bavarian cozy town, known for the amazing breweries in the region. All seems cozy and cute but then the festivities really start off and the passengers also want to participate, including Audrey, someone who hasn't been very active in the other novels but that now takes center stage as she and London get involved with yet another murder. The victim is a magazine critic who always covers the city's beer competitions but that no one really liked. Coincidences make London be again in the perfect place to find the culprit before the cruise has to be delayed once more, but will everyone be happy with what she uncovers?

I will very likely read all the installments in this series despite the fact they aren't as engaging and well done as they could, even for a cozy mystery where the quickness of the events and the elements of the mystery are easy to solve. I think the author is competent in providing a story, a setting, many details but the characters just aren't developed well, especially the protagonists.

London remains a sort of aloof woman, even when she is pondering her life decisions and contemplating her wandering spirit, just liek that of her parents. She still reads as someone who is too lonely and while the author uses her sister's life and children as a way to measure how London would or could feel she is aimless, I can't say any of them is better off than the other. Of course everyone is different and what works for some, doesn't for someone else, but more than knowing this, I'd like to see this used in a way to let us understand where London stands in her decisions. Will she be a traveler all her life? If so, fine, but then I'd prefer the whole "looking for her mother" sub plot to be presented differently because right now it feels as if London is simply this way because she doesn't know what happened to her.

I also think the author could have dealt with these details in a better way. London doesn't read as someone who is easy to understand and I can't say if I'm rooting for her to find answers and settle down or for her to have answers and just keep on traveling. It's as if there's no real definition on what she is supposed to do and part of me feels adrift. It also doesn't help that London doesn't seem to have any particular interest nor goal later on... I think the biggest flaw in the books for me so far has been the lack of personality and characterization of everyone. It's like everyone is just there.

As for the crime investigation, I don't have much to say. Things are presented easily, not overly exaggerated in details, the hints and clues are there and even though the final discovery happens in an obvious coincidental manner - it's always like this, but this time even more so - I still liked to see the steps taken because at the same time this would provide us with actions situations and some clues about some characters. I think the motive for the crime was a bit over the top, could have been easily avoided but I suppose I can accept some things in life just happen in ways we could not imagine.

As it happened with my experience reading the previous books, one of - if not the best - elements I liked the most in this one was all the interesting historical and cultural notes the author used to enrich the plot, especially what we can learn from the Bavaria region where the cruise stopped. I especially liked to know there are differences between that region and the rest of Germany, as it happens in any other country's regions (but we always tend to label things together), and how much importance is given to the beer production apart from the known facts.

There are also some situations/scenes which are meant to be fun and more along the comedy effect, there is one or two situations that hint of at some kind of romantic possibilities but as a whole, I must confess I liked this one less than the first two books. I surely hope the next one will provide a bit more information on London's search for her mother but since there are still 3 books left, perhaps we will have even more shenanigans before that actually happens...

Grade: 5/10

Blake Pierce - Death and Apple Strudel

When London Rose, 33, is proposed to by her long-time boyfriend, she realizes she is facing a stable, predictable, pre-determined (and passionless) life. She freaks out and runs the other way—accepting instead a job across the Atlantic, as a tour-guide on a high-end European cruise line that travels through a country a day. London is searching for a more romantic, unscripted and exciting life that she feels sure exists out there somewhere.
London is elated: the European river towns are small, historic and charming. She gets to see a new port every night, gets to sample an endless array of new cuisine and meet a stream of interesting people. It is a traveler’s dream, and it is anything but predictable.
In Book 2, DEATH (AND APPLE STRUDEL), the cruise takes them into Vienna and Salzburg, home of Mozart and the birthplace of music, and all seems picture-perfect. Until, that its, their tour guide turns up dead after giving the passengers a tour of Mozart’s theatre. Suspicion falls on them. Who could have killed her? And why?
Laugh-out-loud funny, romantic, endearing, rife with new sights, culture and food, DEATH (AND APPLE STRUDEL) offers a fun and suspenseful trip through the heart of Europe, anchored in an intriguing mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat and guessing until the very last page.

Comment: This is the second installment in the European Voyage series by Blake Pierce. Although the first book wasn't as amazing as I would have wanted, this second one is set in Austria, a country I want to visit one day, and I was looking for to learn the information which certainly would be included about it.

In this second novel, the cruise arrives in Austria and immediately something happens, a passenger claims something was stolen from his cabin. London can't seem to find the stolen object and later on, something else disappears but is quickly found,meaning less importance is given to the original theft. At the same time, the cruise owner sends up an investigator, so London doesn't have to go out of her cruise duties to investigate murders, but that proves to be too difficult to accomplish when a tour guide in Salzburg is killed after a tour he gave to the cruise's group... will London find the killer?

I didn't have much of a doubt on how this book would be like, but having finished, it's pretty obvious the author's style is easy, quick, without much complexity. I suppose I'd say the most intricate segment is how she will manage to keep some mystery going, but I can now see how: this second story takes place the day after what we read on the first book, meaning the time between books is minimal, and whatever happens to the heroine will certainly be dealt with in a very quick succession.

In this story we learn a little more on her family history and on why traveling in Europe is bringing back memories for her. I can imagine the goal might be to make her travel in the cruise, while dealing with the every day aspects of her job, here and there solving some murder, but at the core of the series is her search, literal and figurative, of her mother, who left without a word. This is actually an intriguing element and now I confess I feel intrigued enough to probably finish the series but it is still quite a flaw how under developed all characters are.

I don't think the author's goal here was to create an intricate web of character's connections or personalities and it shows. Everything about them is practical, superficial, only there to carry things from one idea to the other. But I admit I'm used to more in the books I like the most and here this feels like a flaw. I guess readers who like the genre more (cozy mysteries) will say this is the way it is, otherwise it wouldn't labeled as such, but in the end, I just feel we only were given the practical aspects of why these people are there, not much why they are that way.

The initial theft is a situation that follows the plot throughout the end and when we learn who the thief is, I must say it was ridiculous but possible.... 

Then there's the Salzburg tour guide, who dies after a tour. This is solved very quickly, actually, although in a very interesting way. I think my biggest criticism is how does one truly believes some police officer or detective in any police force would allow London to be so nosy and do/ask questions of people that easily...

In a way, these stories are a little like a cruise: meant to entertain, to amuse or to allow us to spend a while without serious concerns in our heads. By the way, I liked the kind of things we learn the passengers do and I certainly wouldn't mind one day going on a cruise myself! I loved the mentions of Vienna and Salzburg sightings, of some of the things one could do there and some of the history of the buildings/places the characters visit. I think it was specific enough for those scenes that one doesn't feel this is touristic info dumped here, I felt the author did a good job planning and summarizing which content to include. I really want to go there one day!

All things considered, I can't say this was such a great book, but the sum of the parts made it good enough to make me want to know what will happen next. 

Grade: 6/10

Blake Pierce - Murder (and Baklava)

When London Rose, 33, is proposed to by her long-time boyfriend, she realizes she is facing a stable, predictable, pre-determined (and passionless) life. She freaks out and runs the other way—accepting instead a job across the Atlantic, as a tour-guide on a high-end European cruise line that travels through a country a day. London is searching for a more romantic, unscripted and exciting life that she feels sure exists out there somewhere.
London is elated: the European river towns are small, historic and charming. She gets to see a new port every night, gets to sample an endless array of new cuisine and meet a stream of interesting people. It is a traveler’s dream, and it is anything but predictable.
But when a wealthy, high-maintenance passenger suddenly turns up dead outside of Budapest, the cruise has become a bit too unpredictable. Even worse: as the last person to see her alive, suspicion falls on London, leaving her no choice but to solve the crime (with her new sidekick, an orphaned dog), and save her cruise line and herself.

Comment: I saw this book mentioned at a page with book deals and I was able to get it for free, which allied to the intriguing premise, made it very easy for me to decide to add it to my TBR.

In this cozy mystery story, we follow heroine London Rose, a tour guide who works in cruises, as she is offered a new job in Europe, something she hasn't done in a long time, ever since her mother left. From then on, to avoid memories, she has been doing Caribbean tours but the company is in financial trouble and the owner has created a new rout in Europe, hoping to renovate the brand. London leaves her stressful days at her sisters' house to be the social director on the new cruise but on her first day things are already complicated, with some demanding guests proving to be a challenge. Things get worse when one of them, an older lady, dies suddenly at a church and the owner now wants London to solve the case so the cruise can carry on and not too much money is lost. Can London actually do it?

Cozy mysteries aren't usually a type of book I read. Nothing against it but I've read some and (possibly unfairly) they all seem to be repetitive even if with different settings, because the structure has to follow some sort of pattern. At least, according to my experience. Nevertheless, this one got me curious because the heroine would be young, a tour guide (like myself but I don't work in cruises) and I assumed we would have some sort of romance or a wonderful secondary theme - apart from the mystery - with the protagonist and her co workers perhaps, developing friendships. I know it's too easy to create expectations and imagine things the way we would wish them, but I was a little disappointed with the content.

This is the first book I try by this author and I didn't dislike it but the style was very on point, no fuss, no silliness apart from what the scenes would present, which means things are told in a very simple and straightforward way, almost too robotic and I think this made it more difficult for me to empathize with the heroine. I think a bit more warmth or, well, coziness, in the writing could have helped. The beginning was good enough, setting the plot, the characters, I enjoyed the little descriptions of the tasks the heroine had to do... I liked the fact she was adventurous and how much she liked her job...I feel a little envious but also a little amazed by how some people seem so fearless on how they go and leave everything behind...

The murder only happens more or less half way and until then, things were established in a very meticulous way, it felt like there wasn't anything to doubt but as the heroine started to put the pieces together, along with some red herrings, an idea started to be formed. Still, I think the investigation method was very plain and without any fun or wow moments. I practically missed the whole thing until the heroine suddenly checks the murdered character's room and with a conversation or two solves the case. Not that I would want complex clues put together as we can see in big thrillers but everything felt a little rushed and too simple...since the secondary issues weren't amazing either, the whole book felt monotonous.

As for the other elements I thought would be part of the book, the heroine's co workers weren't fleshed out - as the heroine wasn't either - so I finished the book without any real idea about them nor their personalities. There was no romance either. Again, not that it had to, I just figured it might be something that could be included. All put together made for an interesting story but not that amazing that I want to rush to read more.

My favorite part was actually the descriptions of Hungary traditions, the descriptions of Budapest and Gyor and that did sound great, making me want to be there and seeing those things for myself. The next book is set in Vienna....the city I most want to visit before I die, which means I'll likely read that one too... just not so soon...

Grade: 6/10