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Kate McDonald is thrilled that the Sudoku tournament she put together to be held at the Avondale Puzzle Museum, the museum she inherited from her late mentor, seems to be a success. Everyone in her small town of Granville, New Hampshire is contributing to the festivities. That includes Harry, a young boy who escaped from an abusive home and had been living in the museum with her mentor until he died and who now, with Kate's urging, is living with the town's Chief of police, Brandon Mitchell. Harry is a genus and he has helped a lot with the tournament, as has the professional puzzle host Kate asked to host, and it seems as if every business in the small town also is supporting the festivities. Now, if only the loads of snow that has been predicted by the weatherman can just hold out until the tournament ends, Kate would be happy. But as luck would have it in any cozy, a competitor who is rumored to be a cheat comes out ahead at the first round. People are angry and some even demand that Kate throw the fellow out. But then he makes a mistake and is disqualified from competition. Kate hopes that the problem has been solved, but when he shows up murdered in the snow in the parking lot of the tournament after the first big snow fall, Kate is afraid that that the chief of police will close the tournament. When Chief Brandon Mitchell lets it continue to run, Kate can't seem to thank him. The two have an on-again, off-again bickering relationship, especially since Kate talked him into taking Harry in as his ward. Kate can't stop from worrying about the chief and the problems he has been having with the people in town. The townsfolk don't take easily to strangers and Brandon is a man who doesn't have many people skills. Though Kate will stand up for him to the other townspeople, for some reason, she can't manage to show him that she cares about his welfare. Then, another body is found and Brandon acts as if the murders, combined with the coldness of the citizens' feelings for him, have worn him down and that he has given up. Kate is afraid he is going to leave town and Harry - and her. If she doesn't do her best to help find the murderer and the museum's reputation is harmed, she's afraid that she might have to leave town too. To make sure that doesn't happen, Kate starts to investigate the murders on her own, even though Brandon forbids it. SUDDEN DEATH SUDOKU is more of a charming romance story than it is a solid mystery. The solution to the murders, though thought about quite a bit, isn't actively investigated by anyone in the book for most of the story. Kate spends a lot more time thinking about Brandon's feelings and actions towards her, and calming her aunt Pru down about Kate's approaching thirtieth birthday while she has no boyfriend, than she does actively looking into the reasons that the dead bodies are showing up at the sudoku competition. That Kate and Brandon will eventually get together doesn't take much of a sleuth to figure out, but writer Shelley Freydont doesn't seem to be able to write books other than Romance themed ones, and so SUDDEN DEATH SUDOKU doesn't entertain the reader with a good mystery as much as it goes on and on with the two lead characters either flirting or fighting with each other. Though SUDDEN DEATH SUDOKU has all the essentials of a good cozy, the murder mystery is far too light and the romance is far too heavy to entertain hard core murder mystery cozy lovers. But for readers who enjoy their romance stories spiced with a slight murder to be solved, this book will do just fine.
Reviewed by A.L. Katz, February 2009
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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