See the Mystery Review Crew’s review of The Pinocchio Murder by Jo Cassie McRae
The Pinocchio Murder (Kate Atherton Mysteries Book 2)
Author: Jo Cassie McRae
Genre: Cozy, Mystery
On a hot afternoon in August, Giselle Freeman is brutally attacked in her home workshop. The very next day, a stranger is found, murdered, in the same place. Who is the attacker, and will they strike again? Are the murderer and Giselle’s attacker one and the same? And, as if all that weren’t enough, there’s the matter of that priceless emerald and diamond necklace.
Wheaton Creek’s fledgling, still under-staffed police force has its hands full as they attempt to solve the complex and engaging puzzle, making newly-appointed police chief Diego Vela unusually open to input from Giselle’s best friend, Kate Atherton. Much as he hates to admit it, Vela knows Kate’s skills, developed as an agent for a shadow intelligence agency of the U.S. government, make her a valuable asset.
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Review of The Pinocchio Murder
The Pinocchio Murder is a cozy mystery with enough twists and turns to satisfy a hardcore mystery reader. It is the second and final book in the Kate Atherton Mysteries series. The book can be enjoyed as a stand-alone, yet we feel there would be some benefit to previously reading the first book in the series as it introduces the main characters.
Author Jo Cassie McRae sets the reader in the cozy town of Wheaton Creek, Texas, in the middle of a typical hot summer. The Prologue immediately sets the scene for the rest of the story: Giselle Freeman is working in the wood shop behind her home when something unexpected happens. The story then jumps to sixteen hours earlier and begins to paint the setting for the story. We feel this is a classic—yet very good— way to begin the tale. It immediately grabs the reader’s attention before doing any worldbuilding.
Giselle’s husband Tim then reaches out to neighbor Kate Atherton to help with the calamity that just happened to Giselle. That starts the ball rolling; the other characters are introduced, and little clues are dropped here and there. However, some of the little clues are so subtle that the reader will likely skip right past them.
We feel that one of the things that makes this a great cozy mysterious series is the age range of the characters. Most of the characters—including Ms. Atherton—are around retirement age. There are others, such as local law enforcement officers and teenagers, who are clearly out of the bracket, but they don’t detract from the “coziness” of this story.
The pacing of the story is very stable. However, once several puzzle pieces fall into place, the pacing picks up leading into the climax. We found the pacing to be very satisfying.
Readers who enjoy light-hearted, yet intricate mysteries will love this story.
Our Concerns:
Despite this being a work of fiction, we feel that the coincidences thrown at the reader to bring this story to a conclusion bordering on the edge of unbelievability. Namely, the backstories of some of the characters that are saved until near the end of the book change the dynamics of the story enough that a reader may feel jilted.
About Jo Cassie McRae
Joe Cassie McRae is a native Texan who has lived near Austin on the edge of the Texas Hill country for over 30 years. In addition to writing, McRae loves to read, garden, and cook. Like Kate Atherton (The Light Catcher Murders), McRae’s bookshelves overflow with history books, biographies, historical fiction, and mystery novels. Unlike Kate, McRae does not have a mysterious, secret former career, having worked instead as a rather ordinary legal assistant at an Austin law firm.
Find Jo Cassie McRae: https://jocassiemcrae.com/
