Hit and Nun
A Lucille Mystery, Book #3
By Peg Cochran
ASIN: B00RW5Q6HW
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra
Summary:
When the owner of Lucille’s favorite pizzeria drops dead at her feet, she’s left wondering who could have harmed such a kind man—and wondering where she’ll get her favorite food now. Deciding to go undercover as a pizza maker to sniff out the clues—and maybe an extra slice or two—Lucille’s determined to track down the culprit before they can strike again.
As the hunt for the killer heats up, Lucille and her friend Flo dig deeper into the crime and discover a jealous wife, a competitive pizza man who would kill for more business, and a decades-old mystery that may hold the key to the murder. Trouble is, the one person who could break the case wide open is a nun who took a vow of silence—and she’s not talking. (Goodreads)
Review:
Hit and Nun is the third book in Peg Cochran’s A Lucille Mystery series. I am always filled with trepidation when I start a series anywhere other than at the beginning. From reading this title – not sure reading books 1 and 2 first would have helped as there was just enough backstory to get a good sense of the main sleuths of the series.
I must say the language used really turned me off. I realize that people do speak this way but grammatically, I was not comfortable with wording throughout – here are a few examples:
“Even though little Lucy wasn’t in no danger or anything. God forbid.” or
“And you didn’t have to count no calories.” or
“Lucille liked that since she was always losing track and that’s why none of the other diets had ever worked for her.”
“They looked fine to her. Not that she was no expert or nothing”
The use of wasn’t in no danger, count no calories, why none of them other diets, or she was no expert or nothing offended my sense of proper language usage. For this reason, regardless of the enjoyment of the story and writing of this author – I could not in all good conscience give the book a very high rating. I suspect I am not this author’s demographic.
One aspect I did appreciate was that the main character, Lucille was still hanging with her best friend from grade two, Flo. For around forty years they have been friends. That was very cool.
Also I had quite a few chuckles each time Lucille ended up rationalizing her meal, given that she was always on a diet. There were also many references to various saints as each time Lucille got in a pickle she sent a quick prayer to the appropriate patron saint. That was a nice refresher on the saints.
The mystery part of the story line was formulaic. Lucille and Flo worked through the list of suspects in short order and once they were able to learn some valuable history regarding certain past events, the conclusion of whodunit seemed to come together rather quickly. More details of this are not appropriate in this review as I do not want to interfere with your enjoyment of the mystery component of the story-telling!
In conclusion, the book was a passable read, once I got over the issues noted above. Lucille and Flo were hilarious in many of the situations they found themselves in while trying to solve the mystery. It is always good to chuckle ☺
In all honesty, I probably will not read any more titles in this series, though I may well investigate one of the author’s other series. I want to see if it was just the character of Lucille that I was not fond of or if it is the writing style of Peg Cochran.
