Broken Bone China by Laura Childs

Broken Bone China by Laura Childs ISBN-13: 9780451489630 Hardback: 336 pages Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime Released: March 5, 2019

Source: review copy from the publisher.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Theodosia and Drayton are catering a formal tea at a hot-air balloon rally. They watch as a drone deliberately rams into a balloon. An enormous, fiery explosion erupts, and the balloon plummets to the earth. All three of its passengers are killed. One of the downed occupants was Don Kingsley, the CEO of a local software company, SyncSoft. Not only do the police suspect Kingsley as the primary target, they learn that he possessed a rare Revolutionary War Union Jack flag that several people were rabidly bidding on.

Intrigued, Theodosia begins her own investigation. Was it the CEO's soon-to-be ex-wife, who is restoring an enormous mansion at no expense? The CEO's personal assistant, who also functioned as curator of his prized collection of Americana? Two rival antiques' dealers known for dirty dealing? Or was the killer the fiancée of one of Theodosia's dear friends, who turns out to be an employee—and whistle-blower—at SyncSoft?


My Review:
Broken Bone China is a cozy mystery. It's the 20th book in a series. You don't need to read the previous books to understand this story, and this book didn't spoil the previous ones.

The book was inconsistent between the beginning and the end. For example, at the beginning, the main character seemed certain that the drone was not really damaged by its attack and easily flew away. Later, she stated that she assumed all along that the drone had crashed nearby because it had appeared damaged by the attack. And the hot air balloons were described as floating along on the air currents for at least several minutes, yet one crashed and the others landed at the very site where they lifted off.

Also, the whole balloon crash wasn't probable. The material on hot air balloons is not easily ripped, and they are not filled with an explosive gas as the people in the story seemed to assume. The hot air balloon wouldn't have exploded in flames when the drone rammed and ripped through the fabric of the balloon. This series of inconsistent and inaccurate events decreased my enjoyment of the story because it meant some potential clues kept changing.

Anyway, it's a clue-based, puzzle mystery. The main characters asked questions and snooped, including on other people's private property. There were several suspects, and the clues didn't initially clearly point to one person over another. There was no bad language and no sex.


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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