Scraps of Paper (Spookie Town Murder Mysteries Book 1) Kindle Edition

who is starting over after a personal tragedy. There is a soft paranormal theme that runs thru this book but it’s not too over the top. Usually, I’d dump a book like that but K. M. Griffith’s “Scraps of Paper” was easily the best cozy I’ve read in months. I was able to attribute the gentle spooky elements to really well tuned intuition and just enjoy the story.The small town has a unique creepy factor that I have experienced in my own development! It added an authentic note to the setting, for me. Rounding out the overall experience is a cast of quirky townies with well developed histories that are all tangled together; just like a tiny hamlet would be. These folks will have you scratching your head, laughing, rolling your eyes and thanking God you live somewhere else.From a mystery stand point, I figured most of it out early on. There were a few pieces to the puzzle 🧩 that were baffling right up to the last chapter. I like that ♥️ I also like the fact that there was no foul language, sexual content or violence. Even better? This is a free Kindle selection right now! What are you waiting for? 📚

I thought this was interesting for about the first twenty-five percent of the book. Then it became obvious who the killer was, but the book was just flat, the characters didn't seem real, there were too many inconsistencies in their actions and contradictions in the dialogue. The author spent the rest of the time in a long, drawn out process of telling the same information over and over. She kept bringing out the same suspects, believing obviously questionable statements and doubting logical explanations. I thought about giving it two stars since I finished the book, but no, it just wasn't good enough for two.

It took me over a week to make it through this book because I honestly dreaded picking it up to read more bland imagery and for the story line to not progress.There is nothing unique about this book, except that it was so exceptionally hard to pick up due to abuse of syntax, recycled themes throughout the book and the author’s neglect to provide anything new 1/3 of the way through the book.If the town and the people were real as described, especially the sheriffs office, John Marston May have been justified.

After two years of waiting for answers concerning the disappearance of her husband Joel police have finally provided Abigail with closure. Joel’s body has been found and he was murdered by person/persons unknown. Abigail, a currently unemployed graphic artist, decides that it’s an opportune time to pull up stakes. She moves to the town of Spookie, whose quaint shops and eccentric inhabitants she finds appealing. With the help of a local realtor she finds a recently vacated fixer-upper that speaks to her and decides that this is the place to settle down and begin living again. Little does she realize that her restoration project will lead to the discovery of “scraps of paper” detailing the unfortunate circumstances confronting three of the house’s previous residents who vanished 30 years earlier.Secrets from the past unite with the present as Abigail and a new friend, who just happens to be a retired cop, are drawn deeper and deeper into the mystery.While not Pulitzer material, Scraps of Paper does provide enough to keep "cozy" readers engaged until the mystery is solved.

An excellent read. I was guessing and not sure of the ending until the end! Double bonus, and I think this may have been the first book I have read like this, the characters actually get to know each other. Most books have the hero and heroine fall in love because they are thrust into the perils and adventure of the story. The characters actually get to know each other as people, sharing thoughts and feelings. They become friends, which is the root of love. The mystery sucks you in, you find yourself thinking about Emily and the kids, wondering what really happened. I very seldom make the time to just read and read, but I had to know what happened. I curled up in a chair and read the last hour and a half straight to the end!

I had a difficult time finishing this novel for several reason. The book was very slow moving and dull; the insertion of ghostly dreams resulted in an unbelievable scenario; readers may find Abigail to be a strong woman, but she was often overbearing, unwise, and ridiculously obsessed with the three main deceased characters; Emily's murderer's identity was obvious part way through the novel. which led to an anti-climactic ending when that person admitted to everything. A huge problem for me was the lack of solid editing. This book should never have been allowed into print as it stands. There are punctuation errors throughout. Example: peoples' instead of people's occurs several times. Many of the punctuation errors result from an over use of commas, making the text difficult to read at times. Anyway, the two characters I did like were Frank (I don't know how he put up with Abigail) and Snowball the cat. Other than that, the characters were unrealistic and had little redeeming value. I'm glad the novel was free. I skimmed a lot of the boring parts as quickly as I could without losing essential meaning.

I liked this book. I thought the author did a good job of planning her story. It is a mystery, and she has lots of "misleading" leads. It was a good clean story without obscene language or belabored sex scenes. I will definitely try another of the Spookie Town mysteries. I will add that there were some sentences, pronoun, and verb usage that should have been identified and corrected by a good proof reader.

This was a story that started out so promising, but slowly, and surely, became "scraps-of-disappointment!". In my opinion, the author invites SO MANY CHARACTERS into the narrative that the reader becomes confused and overwhelmed with the total number of everyone NOT INVOLVED or irrelevant to the story and outcome . . . I needed a "score-sheet" trying to differentiate everyone involved to the point that I no longer cared 'who-killed-who . . . ' I think the story/book could have ended six (6) chapters earlier! <Yawn> Good luck in the series, because I am NOT interested.

This is the first book in the Spookie Town Murder series.Abigail Sutton's husband has been missing for a year and a half- She is sure that something must have happened to him, but the cops think that he has abandoned her.Finally his body shows up. He was murdered, probably by a random person. Abigail finallly has to face the idea of being a widow.At this time she also loses her job as a graphic designer. So what does she do?In a month, she passes through a town called Spookie and feels such a connection that buys a house on the spot.Everybody is friendly to her and she flirts with a retired cop a month after she has learned that her husbad was killed. She becomes immediately successful as an artist and while cleaning her conviently cheap house she starts to investigate the disappearance of the previous inhabitants, She finds scraps of paper that a child had hidden around the house, and she is told that Emily Summers and her two children left the house to go and live somewhere else without saying goodbye.There is something unnatural and cartoony about the main character. She never felt like a real person. Nobody loses a job and finds that it is the perfect moment to buy a house. Nobody has been on her own for two years and has the budget to make such a purchase without even having to ask her bank for a mortgage. She is so heartbroken that she flirts with a cop a month after learning that her husband is actually dead. Nobody becomes so successful as an artist immediately. Even at the end, there is a throwaway comment that learning who had murdered them compensates Emily and her children. Eh, no. I mean, they are dead, but specially the children, they have lost their lives: they will never fall in love, they will never feel teenage angst, they will never know what sex is, they will never feel angry or in love. Sending the culprit to jail is not going to compensate them of anything because... they are not here to begin with.So these comments bothered me a lot. Recently I read a crime novel by Teresa Driscoll called I Am Watching You and that writer expresses perfectly well the heartbreak, the confusion, the pain in the survivors' lives when somebody disappears. I shouldn't be comparing novels like this but I found several cop-outs throughout this novel,I would have given the book a lower mark but i thought it was well-written for a cozy murder.

With a town called Spookie, I did expect there to be more supernatural happenings. Apart from theodd dream of ghosts, there was nothing else "spookie" about the book.Abigail moves to an old house and uncovers bits of paper written by 2 children who disappeared with their mother30 years before. She and an ex-cop Frank set about solving the mystery. This stirs up a lot of feeling in the smalltown where several people knew or were involved emotionally with the three missing people.One niggle - Abigail had been married 20 years so was about 40, yet she said of a shopkeeper that he wastwice her age. However, his actions and the age of his wife would have put him about 60. It made what followeda bit hard to believe.I found the book very slow paced with lots of coffees, meals, etc. And then the mystery was raked over time andagain with various people pointing accusing fingers at different "suspects". It became very repetitive. There wasvery little action in the book, though no swearing or sex and only a hint at romance.

After the death of her beloved husband main protagonist Abigail Sutton gives up her job and sets off to make a new life. She settles in the small town of Spookie in a house from where thirty years ago a mother and two children disappeared, and the book’s title refers to bits of paper she finds with messages from the children. Having experienced the unsolved murder of her own husband, Abigail investigates the truth of the missing family, and though she finds Spookie residents with knowledge from the past she meets with resistance and it appears there are hidden secrets.Author Kathryn Meyer Griffith skilfully builds a network of relationships from the past to expose potential murder suspects, and for the present she develops a range of characters assisting with Abigail’s search. These include a retired cop, a local realtor, a journalist, a bag-lady etc, plus there are those including sheriff, store-keeper etc. still reluctant to consider murder and want to leave the past alone. Tension increases as Abigail discovers abuse and she is threatened, but with a hint of paranormal she experiences dreams leading to evidence.‘Scraps of Paper’ borders on the ‘cozy mystery’ genre but it is more a murder thriller full of suspense with a plausible plot and credible characters. Narrative manages to be entertaining without resort to bad language, sex, drugs etc. yet it is gripping and it makes an exciting read. It may also be the start of a romance between Abigail and the ex-cop as stand-alone ‘Scraps of Paper’ becomes an Abigail Sutton mystery series?

This is the first book of Ms Griffiths that I've read and it was gripping from the start. An intriguing storyline which pans out completely differently to how you expect.Abigail moves to spookie after her missing husbands body is eventually found. She wants to start over in a new town and leave the bad memories behind her. Not having an awful lot of money she buys the only house in her price range but absolutely loves it. Then she starts hearing the stories about the previous owner and her family. Two sisters, one sweet and lovely the other bitter and twisted with jealousy eating away at her. Then the 'good' sister and her two children disappear.Abigail is intrigued by the story and when she starts finding hidden notes written by the children on scraps of paper she has to investigate what REALLY happened all those years ago........but somebody doesn't want the truth to come out. Who can she trust in her new town and could a murderer walk amongst them ?A great plot and I'll certainly be buying the second book in the series.

There are cozy mysteries and COZY mysteries and none cozier than this one and it's just not for me. I like my murder and mayhem a little more on the gritty side.Our heroine keeps on referring to a lovely place she grew up in and how she wanted to move to a place just like it but didn't tell us where this place was nor why she just didn't move back there !! She also tells us how busy her sister is and how much she misses her-well, there was nothing stopping her from going to visit her, either !! She was as free as a bird, as she kept reminding us.This description to me is just nonsensical, "It was hard to tell what his age was, middle or late forties, perhaps, or younger, or older"......Then a policeman described kids he once knew a bit like this, "Her children were good kids. Bright. So hungry for love".....really ?? He then remarked about how insecure some women can be and I gave up....a young copper wouldn't think like this, let alone actually verbalise it !!She spelt confectionery as confectionary which was the only error I spotted which gave it an extra star, but the story itself isn't action-packed enough for me.