Meet Isabel Puddles was a little bit of a bumpy ride, but I did end up enjoying it. Isabel is a very interesting and well-developed character – it’s hard not to love her. Isabel is a widow “of a certain age” who has her hand in pretty much every aspect of her small town in northern-ish Michigan.
This is definitely a cozy mystery, but it does read a bit more like a contemporary mystery – it’s a bit more in-depth and lacks that “cutesy” factor that’s so common in cozies (not a bad thing, just not a sugary sweet kind of novel).
There’s a lot of extra fluff in this book and Isabel will often go off on tangents talking about stories from decades past, or giving more background into the lives of minor characters. These tangents definitely give you a feel of small-town Michigan (if you aren’t already familiar with it) but they can be long-winded and tedious at times.
That all being said, I am definitely looking forward to the next book in the series, and I can’t wait to see what sort of trouble Isabel gets herself into!
Thank you Kensington Books for the ARC.
Read with Aimee 