Read It and Weep by Jenn McKinlay

Read It and Weep by Jenn McKinlay ISBN-13: 9780425260722 Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: November 5, 2013

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
When the Briar Creek Community Theater mounts their newest production of Shakespeare, library director Lindsey Norris has no intention of leaving the stacks for the stage.

Former Broadway actress Violet La Rue is holding auditions for A Midsummer Night’s Dream—and everyone from the sour spinster librarian Ms. Cole to Lindsey’s youthful library pages are trying out for parts. Brought in to play the mischievous Puck is the flirtatious professional actor Robbie Vine, who seems to have eyes for Lindsey. Before her blush has faded, the Bard’s dream turns into a nightmare—when one of the cast is poisoned. Now Lindsey must unmask the culprit before the final curtain call.


My Review:
Read It and Weep is a cozy mystery. It's the fourth in a series. You don't need to read the previous books to understand this one, and this book didn't spoil the whodunits of the previous mysteries.

The mystery was interesting, but Lindsey was slow to pick up on certain clues. Whodunit made a rather obvious slip, yet it took pages for her to even consider whodunit as a possibility. I'd considered and settled on whodunit long before Lindsey, but it wasn't obvious until near the end. There's a twist at the end, though, where it turned out that the case would have been solved even if Lindsey didn't exist. She was unnecessary to the mystery part of the book, which I always find disappointing.

Lindsey also came across to me as a bit hard on her admirers. She had specific problems with how her admirers were behaving (like Robbie flirting with her while having a wife and a girlfriend). Yet she outwardly seemed to be playing hard-to-get rather than plainly stating what underlying problems she needed fixed to go forward in a relationship. Still, I've known women like her and understood why she was acting that way, so I found the characters complex and realistic.

There was no sex. There was some explicit bad language. Overall, it was an enjoyable novel if you like romantic triangles, intrigue, and Shakespeare plays.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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