I recently finished reading Murder by Association by Shelley Weiss. This novella, which came out September 22nd, sounded interesting. A lady who loves peacocks was “supposedly” killed by them, but there’s something a little fishy about her death. The story takes place around Halloween, so you’ve got some Halloween decorations and references thrown in. It really had the potential to be something interesting. Unfortunately, as is the case with many novellas, there wasn’t enough space to fully develop the story.
What Went Wrong
This isn’t a 4-star or 5-star book in my opinion because things just didn’t quite fit together. The story is first-person from Birdie’s point of view. Her aunt, Lula, is the one who was murdered. In the second chapter, Birdie mentions how someone is nosy. Then a few pages later, it seems that she doesn’t even know who this person is. It’s a bit confusing in parts where it seems like she knows someone and then she doesn’t know them later. There were also a lot of characters thrown into the story for such a short story.
While I am sure that some of this was to build up the plot for future stories, I felt like there were a lot of plotholes or areas where we were told something, but the issue was never resolved. In my opinion, there were a few too many subplots going on for a story that’s under 70 pages.
Where It Went Well
The good news is that this is a quick read. I am a fast reader, but I think I finished it in probably under an hour. Even if you are a slow reader, you can easily read this in one afternoon, probably in one sitting.
This could also be a fun read for people who really like animals. Along with the peacocks, you’ve got a really lovable dog thrown into the story. The dog, Butterscotch, is definitely my favorite character.
I also liked that this was a clean novella. There’s no swearing or sexual content. The violence is behind the scenes or described in such a way that we get what happened without having to have the gruesome details.
Despite the 3-star rating, I would consider reading future novels or novellas in the series. I do think that it was an interesting story. I just feel like the story needed a little more plot direction.
