Hammers and Homicide (A Hometown Hardware Mystery)

Hammers and Homicide by Paula Charles is the debut of A Hometown Hardware Mysteries. I like the fact that Dawna Carpenter is an older protagonist (I wanted to start with something positive). I did not understand why the author made her extremely clumsy (it seems to be the standard to make a cozy mystery protagonist clumsy). We get to all the details of Dawna's life. I understand the author wanted to establish the character, but we really did not need to know so much about Dawna's past (and not in such detail). Nor did we need to know so much about the hardware store. I am surprised that Dawna is managing to keep the doors of the hardware store open considering her lack of knowledge and her failure to update her stock. Dawna's daughter, April, has moved back to town. There is too much attention focused on the mother daughter duo (it overshadows the whodunit). The mystery is simple. It was obvious who would die and who would end up at the top of the suspect list. The police chief is viewed as competent (mostly) by Dawna until he arrests a friend. Dawna along with April investigate the crime. I rolled my eyes more than once at their investigative skills. The suspect pool is miniscule. The clues are obvious (there might as well be a giant noon arrow pointing at the killer). The pacing was leisurely and there were repetitive details. There is humor sprinkled throughout the story. One plot point was left unresolved at the end of the book. My curiosity is not sufficiently aroused to seek out the next A Hometown Hardware Mystery.