Review: Pressed to Death by Kirsten Weiss

Posted March 8, 2017 by Lola in Coyer, Mystery, Review / 14 Comments

LolaReview

Pressed to DeathPressed to Death (A Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum Mystery #2)
by Kirsten Weiss

Rating: 3 stars

Blurb:
Perfectly pressed. Perfectly proper. Perfectly deadly.

Paranormal museum owner Maddie Kosloski thinks she has the perfect paranormal exhibit for the harvest festival—a haunted grape press. But before she can open the exhibit, she’s accused of stealing the antique press. And when her accuser is found murdered, all eyes turn to Maddie.

Solving the crime is the last thing on Maddie’s mind, but her mother insists she investigate. Does her mother have a secret agenda? And why has the local charity, Ladies Aid, seemingly gone gangster?

In this light, cozy mystery, haunted houses, runaway wine barrels, and murder combine in a perfect storm of chaos. Facing down danger and her own over-active imagination, Maddie must unearth the killer before she becomes the next ghost to haunt her museum.

My Review:
I received a free copy of this book through netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

Pressed to death is the second book in the Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum series. I enjoyed the first book and was happy to return this series. My thoughts about this one are a bit mixed, not sure if it was my mood or what, but some parts I really enjoyed and other parts not as much. The start of this book was a bit slow and I had a bit of trouble getting into the book. But there were also some great scenes and then around the halfway mark it got a lot better and kept my attention.

The paranormal aspect is one of my favorite parts of this book. The paranormal museum makes for a fun addition and it never is fully certain if there is something paranormal going on or not. The subtle paranormal touch really works for this book. Then there is the cat who live sin the museum, who is always fun to read about.

But on the other hand it felt like at times there was a bit too much in the book and not enough focus on the mystery at times. There is the ladies aid, the detectives, the haunted house, the romance, the side characters, the paranormal museum, the other wine sellers and the death café to name a few. There is are a lot of side characters and side plots going on that might or might not be connected to the murder and a few things got wrapped up a bit too rushed in my opinion.

Then this book has two of my pet peeves when it comes to cozy mysteries namely the not too believable method in which the main character gets involved into solving the mystery and the incompetent and in this case even unlikeable police. In the first book it felt more natural how Maddie got into solving the mystery, here it felt a bit forced somehow. And police detective Laurel really grated on my nerves, she seemed mean just because she could and was just such an annoying character. Her actions didn’t make sense and I couldn’t believe she actually could take those things based on such flimsy evidence. And at times it felt like the police were doing nothing except chase the wrong leads while Maddie figured things out.

The mystery was decent. I liked how just as in book 1 there was a current time and a past mystery. In this case the past mystery and current one both are connected to a grape press that came into Maddie her possession. I would’ve liked to see Maddie do a bit more research herself into the past mystery as now it was mostly historical society who solved that. Who the murderer was in the current day mystery didn’t really come as a surprise. I would’ve liked to see a bit more investigating as it was mostly her talking with some people and then at the end when she was piecing things together we didn’t get much of her thought process, which always just kinda ruins things for me as I want to know what she’s thinking.

The characters were nice enough and I was able to remember who was who, but didn’t really particularly grow fond of anyone. There is a bit of romance, but it didn’t get much attention and the parts that we did see I didn’t really care for. Based on his personality I thought his actions seemed a bit unrealistic and I wanted to tell Maddie to shallow her pride sometimes and just call him. It just got dragged on a bit even with it barely being there. It will be interesting to see how things develop in the next book.

To summarize: this was a fun cozy, there were parts I really enjoyed, but also parts I liked less. I had a bunch of smaller issues with this one, I couldn’t stand laurel and it felt a bit off how Maddie got into solving this mystery. At times it felt like there was a bit too much going on at times and it felt a tad slow at the same time. There are a lot of side plot lines. The mystery was decent enough, but not too surprising. I liked the subtle paranormal aspect, the cat and how there was both a mystery in the present time and a mystery from the past to solve.

Links:
Goodreads
Amazon
B&N

You can also read my review on Goodreads.

What was your last book that you both enjoyed and had parts you liked less?

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14 responses to “Review: Pressed to Death by Kirsten Weiss

  1. The paranormal museum that may or may not be paranormal sounds great. I feel the same way about some of the police portrayals in the past cozy series I started, too. They’re trained and an amateur detective shouldn’t be soooo much smarter and capable. Well hopefully the next one will be a good one like the first book if you decide to keep going.
    Sophia Rose recently posted…The Plot by Melinda De Ross #TGPULMy Profile

    • Yes the paranormal museum is really one of the highlights of this series and the subtle paranormal elements is well done. The policy portrayals in cozy series can bug me sometimes, I understand the cm has to solve it, but sometimes the police just seem so dumb. I do want to feel like the police is doing something useful as well. I think I might give book 3 a try if I see it on netgalley.

  2. It does sound like there was a lot going on in this book, but at least the paranormal aspect sounds fun. It does annoy me too though when police and detectives are completely incompetent in books. Like, that’s their job, vs. the random person who has never studied or practiced and doesn’t have the same resources, and I find it hard to believe they would be so hopeless at their job. I’m glad you were able to enjoy some things about the book though 🙂
    Kristen @ Metaphors and Moonlight recently posted…Book Review: Sparrow Man (Sparrow Man Book 1) by M. R. PritchardMy Profile

    • The paranormal museum and the slight paranormal aspect are some of the best parts of this book. Incompetent police officers and detective are one of my pet peeves in cozies, it just seems so unbelievable. I at least want them to do something too. I get that the MC should solve the mystery, but when the police chase all the wrong leads and the main character easily solves it just seems a bit too much.

  3. This series is on my TBR list. Sorry that you had a hard time getting into the start. I’ve been having trouble getting into some of my cozy mysteries as well because I find myself not caring for the characters.

    • The first book was pretty good, but I had some issues with this one. It’s hard to get into a book if you don’t care for the characters.

  4. I’m sorry this wasn’t quite as good a read as the first one was but I’m happy you still enjoyed certain parts of it – the paranormal in particular. I can see your pet peeve keeping you from liking the book as well – it would bother me as well. I know we’re reading fiction but sometimes it’s hard to suspend disbelief that far. Great review though, Lola. 🙂
    Bookworm Brandee recently posted…Review ~ The Wright Brother ~ Marie Hall #COYER #ShelfLoveMy Profile

    • Yes it had some parts I enjoyed, it was just a shame there were also parts that didn’t work for me. And this book hit two of my cozy mysteries pet peeves. Exactly I know I am reading fiction and that the main character has to solve the mystery, but this just went a bit too far with the police acting like that.

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