[Disclaimer: the Pride and Prejudice project has been placed on hold temporarily, due to a one-week library loan moving this book in the queue. I will return with more Jane Austen enjoyment temporarily]
I want to enjoy the mystery genre more than I do. Truly, there are few things I enjoy more than a delicious, intellectual mystery. But I become discouraged by the overwhelming amount of hopelessly dense, insipid, or lazy mystery novels out there, and I just don’t wade into them. Sometimes, I even become frustrated by some of the Arthur Conan Doyle stories, because I feel like Sherlock Holmes/Doyle deliberately withhold information from Dr. Watson/me the reader and then taunt us for being stupid (it’s why I like the Cumberbatch/Freeman show so much–we get to sort of experience a little bit more of Sherlock’s thought process and feel part of the process). And then there’s the author who pulls out all the red herrings and stops just to shock us all with a “gotcha!” ending (hem! hem! GILLIAN FLYNN). So it was a refreshing and happy surprise to discover that, along with the series and film, the first Veronica Mars book, The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, was smart and snappy and respectful to the fans wanting more Veronica.
It goes without saying that you need to watch the film before you read the book. Because you will be mighty confused as to the how and why of the novel’s premise. I’ll try not to be spoiler-y, because there are some pretty great surprises, and I’ll try not to rehash what the previous reviewers have said.
Veronica finds herself back in Neptune working for Mars Investigations when she is commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce to solve a missing girl case over Spring Break. Naturally, Veronica is intrigued. She doesn’t realize that a big lead is going to bring someone back into her life, someone she’s not seen in a long time…(and while I won’t give it away for you, we can all safely assume that it’s not Lilly Kane).
The mystery was well-paced, well-plotted, and highly enjoyable. All of our favorites were in it, though I will complain that there is just not enough Logan (I mean, is there ever, really? Exactly). I really hope that Thomas and Graham can write a few more of these mysteries and MAYBE get us to another movie. Because that would be exciting, and I think there is enough room in Neptune for a few more great stories.
ETA: Amazon just informed me that Book #2, Mr. Kiss and Tell, is coming out in OCTOBER. OF THIS YEAR.
Another movie would be so awesome. Some kind of mini-series even better.
Yeah, it’s my understanding if the first two books do well, there will be MORE! (And I think the first one did well? I’m not sure — I think I have a biased sample.)