Grace Among Thieves by Julie Hyzy

Definitely cozy, but fun. I like cozy mysteries. Given my required reading for this semester, I don't think it's getting much deeper for my "other" reading this term. Considering the matter of cozy mysteries, where does Agatha fit? Miss Marple and her knitting would seem to almost define the subgenre, but somehow she seems to dodge the label. Maybe it is Miss Jane's profound insight into human nature that takes Agatha's books somewhere else.

Grace does not share Miss Jane Marple's insight. It has been a while since I read the previous books in this series, but I'm pretty sure this one is not the first time that she shows lamentable lack of judgment. Still, quite entertaining.

This could be a sub-subgenre - cozies which are set in America, but try very hard to seem British. Grace is the curator at a manor house which has become a tourist destination, but is still the home of the single remaining member of the original family. Sound British to you? The actual location of Marshfield Manor is vague - the setting sounds New Englandish, when it isn't sounding British.

Hyzy has been busy. There is another one of these in the works, and a new White House chef book is out. Fourteen more weeks of this semester - then I can read all summer.