Prah, Constantine and Baryeh Review: Pains and Penalties (A Geeks and Things Cozy Mystery Novella #1) by Sarah Biglow

I hope you weren’t too disappointed  last month when we didn't post our fabulous reviews.  Sometimes life gets in the way of reading. The good news is that we’re back. A mystery novella called out to us.

                                    The Blurb

A new amateur sleuth is on the case in the first book of this Cozy Mystery novella series.

When Kalina Greystone returns home to the small town of Ellesworth, MA in the wake of her father's passing to take over the family's comic book shop, she never expects to reconnect with her old flame, Detective Christian Harper. But when elderly Mrs. Davies winds up murdered at the annual Solstice Fair, Kalina can't help but get swept up in his investigation and solving the case. While Detective Harper runs his investigation, she cozies up to the dead woman’s best friend, Mrs. Grant, and learns that she and a third woman, Ms. Ellicott, might be targets. Someone has sent them notes with the cryptic warning ‘Lying is a mortal sin’. As Kalina digs deeper into the women’s shared past, she unearths the perjury that sentenced an innocent man to prison. After discovering Ms. Ellicott dead in her home, Kalina and Detective Harper must race to unmask the killer before vengeance can be sated. 

My Review

For a novella it had more depth than I’d expected. I found the lack of sadness at the death of someone who had lived in the town all her life a little weird. 

I understood the mystery component of the story, but Kalina was pure nosiness. What she did should’ve been accomplished by the police and I didn’t get how she had so much influence in the case.  It made me wonder if she had some kind of butt-her-nose-into-everything kind of reputation when the Detective told her to stay out of their affairs. 

I would be interested in reading more of the series.

I give this book three out of five tea cup shaped chocolate bars.

I got this book for free from Amazon.

Remember to stop by Constantine and Baryeh's blogs to see what they thought about the book.