[NBW]⇒ [PDF] Miss Zukas and the Island Murders Miss Zukas Mysteries Jo Dereske 9780380770311 Books

Miss Zukas and the Island Murders Miss Zukas Mysteries Jo Dereske 9780380770311 Books

Download As PDF : Miss Zukas and the Island Murders Miss Zukas Mysteries Jo Dereske 9780380770311 Books

Miss Zukas and the Island Murders Miss Zukas Mysteries Jo Dereske 9780380770311 Books

Straight-laced librarian Helma Zukas finds herself in charge of planning her high school reunion. Miss Zukas decides to fly all of her classmates out to the Washington coast for a resort reunion. This will give Helma the chance to investigate the mysterious death of one of her classmates during their senior year. Those accustomed to Helma's exploits will not be surprised to discover that danger follows the reunion, and Helma and company find themselves in grave danger.

This book provides the usual entertaining fare one gets in the Miss Zukas series. There are elements of the story that belie conceivability, which is also typical of this series. The reunion takes place in Washington, though the class graduated in Michigan. Helma funds the trip for the entire class, as she was supposedly able to invest left over money from class fundraising in high school. Getting around these issues this volume provides Dereske's usual standard of entertainment. This volume was more removed from the library and its environs than some of the other books. I thought that was a shame, as the library is a huge part of this series's draw.


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Miss Zukas and the Island Murders Miss Zukas Mysteries Jo Dereske 9780380770311 Books Reviews

Came swiftly and looks great
well plotted
Miss Zukas and the Island Murders (Miss Zukas mysteries) is the second in the series of the cozy mysteries by author Jo Dereske. Though I finished the novel, I did not like it as much as her first novel in the series Miss Zukas and the Library Murders (Miss Zukas mysteries).

The novel opens with Miss Helma Zukas, Bellehaven's librarian, being reminded of her promise to plan her high school's twenty reunion, through an anonymous note. The anonymous note spurs her on to begin organizing the event so she will not to go back on her promise, which brings back the memory of one of her high school classmates that was killed and people are still wondering if it really was an accident or was it murder. She receives various threats on not having the reunion but she decides to go ahead. She pays for her classmates to be flown in, from money she has invested over the last twenty years from their class fundraising treasury, to a northwest island resort not far from where she lives in Bellehaven, Washington. During the reunion, a couple of her classmates are murder. Since they are isolated on the island due to a dense fog, as usual, it is up to Helma to solve the murders.

The story line was a little weak even though the story was well written. This story is away from Helma's library, which is a disappointment, since that is why I wanted to read the book. Some of the elements of the story invalidate conceivability and some of the information on the background of the characters do not lend to believability of the conclusion.

Her artistic and animated childhood friend Ruth has a larger role in this novel by somewhat helping Helma plan the reunion. I was disappointed that her police chief friend only made some minor walk on appearances and their relationship does not development any further than in the first novel. Moreover, I missed hearing from her mom.

I will give the next book in the Miss Zukas mysteries series a try. Since I love reading mysteries centered in libraries, I hope that the next story is better than this one and centers on activities at or around the library.
I've been looking for a smart, sassy new cozy series and thought I would give this one a try. I have the unfortunate task of relating that this book failed to meet either critera--nor did the main character. Miss Zukas is a bossy, smug, harshly tempered librarian. She has such an exaggerated sense of propriety that all the potential fun in any given situation is virtually squeezed out before it occurs. And she doesn't even like cats! That is downright heresy in cozy-land.

In this book, Miss Zukas and her best friend, Ruth, are organizing their 20 year high school reunion. My first thought, after doing the math, was that I had misread because that would only make Miss Zukas 38!? The picture I had in my mind, up to that point, was that of a sour "old maid" in her 70's. Are you getting my point? Anyhow, it is at the reunion which takes place on an island off the Washington state coast where the problems/murders begin... If I say anymore, I get into spoiler territory.

Ruth is a bit of an artistic "misfit" and, as indicated above, Miss Z's best friend. She has a much greater sense of playfulness and fun about her--but not enough, I'm afraid, to save the book from the wet blanket antics of our priggish protagonist. My advice is to skip any book with the highly disagreeable Miss Zukas.
When Helma Zukas graduated from high school, 20 years ago, she was put in charge of the class treasury and charged with organizing a 20th. class reunion. Helma is reminded of the promise by an anonymous note which spurs her on to begin organizing the event. Since she had wisely invested the class's money, she had enough to fly her classmates out to Seattle where she had moved from Scoop River, Michigan. Furthermore, her best friend Ruth, also a classmate, offered the use of her friend's island resort as a gathering place. Many surprises awaited Helma, Ruth, and their classmates on the island, and most of them were unpleasant. Dead bodies begin to appear and Miss Zukas is again in the middle of a murder mystery. A dense fog covers the island and the threat of the murderer becomes even more imminent. Helma and Ruth go through their usual amusing efforts at crime solving and finally do uncover the murderer. This is a fun and quick read!
I was recently reminded of this series (of which I had read three or four when they were first released) by another retired library worker. This title is a perfectly acceptable example of the "cozy mystery and superior to many in its writing. However, its most attractive feature for me is the stream of memory called up by inclusion of personalities, politics, and technical changes in libraries during the twenty years of initial conversion from all print (including catalogs) to the point where digital format passed us by. I am sure than many mystery readers, and certainly many librarians, would enjoy this.
Straight-laced librarian Helma Zukas finds herself in charge of planning her high school reunion. Miss Zukas decides to fly all of her classmates out to the Washington coast for a resort reunion. This will give Helma the chance to investigate the mysterious death of one of her classmates during their senior year. Those accustomed to Helma's exploits will not be surprised to discover that danger follows the reunion, and Helma and company find themselves in grave danger.

This book provides the usual entertaining fare one gets in the Miss Zukas series. There are elements of the story that belie conceivability, which is also typical of this series. The reunion takes place in Washington, though the class graduated in Michigan. Helma funds the trip for the entire class, as she was supposedly able to invest left over money from class fundraising in high school. Getting around these issues this volume provides Dereske's usual standard of entertainment. This volume was more removed from the library and its environs than some of the other books. I thought that was a shame, as the library is a huge part of this series's draw.