"Zoe Zola is one of ten invitees to an Agatha Christie symposium. Tempers flare...and then there are nine. Can Jenny Weston save Zoe from murder on the Upper Peninsula?

Little Person author Zoe Zola believes that one of the unluckiest things in life is to receive an invitation - in the form of a letter edged in black - to an Agatha Christie symposium at an old Upper Peninsula hunting lodge. Her reluctance dissipates when she learns that the organizer is named Emily Brent - the name of a character poisoned by cyanide in Christie’s And Then There Were None.

As a dreary rain soaks the U.P., Zoe and nine other Christie scholars - each of whom bears a vague resemblance to one of the classic mystery novel’s characters - arrive at the lodge. At the opening night dinner, arguments flare over the experts’ discordant theories about Christie. Next morning, the guests find one particularly odious man has gone - whereabouts and reasons unknown. Such a coincidental resemblance to a work of fiction is surely impossible; therefore, it appears to be possible.

As the guests disappear, one by one, Zoe resolves to beat a hasty retreat - but her car won't start. She calls her friend, amateur sleuth/little librarian Jenny Weston, but Jenny will have to wait out a storm off Lake Superior before she can come to the rescue. If Zoe’s to stay alive to greet Jenny when she eventually arrives, she’ll have to draw on everything she knows about Agatha Christie’s devilish plots in Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli’s fourth tantalizing Little Library mystery."

How did I not know about this cozy series? Seriously, HOW!?!

<i>And Then They Were Doomed</i> is the fourth book in the Little Library series, but the first for me. And also the last. Too literary and slow paced for me. It took the characters 25 pages to open an envelop! And too dark. I like my mysteries to be light reading.

I was disappointed too in the quality of the mystery. It's not until almost halfway into the story that the mystery starts. Oh, there were a few subtle clues before, but mainly before there was darkness and rain. But soon after that, the mystery bogs down again (must be all that rain). Zoe Zola keeps thinking the whole thing is about her. Even though it is pretty obvious something else is going on. Zoe does some digging on the Internet, when on one trip to the outside world, but mainly the story is a lot of waiting until the big reveal in the end.

Two stars for the story, but I'm tempted to dock a further star because I don't like the ethics of the characters. Murderers have skewed ethics, for sure. I expect better from main characters.

Grudges breed hatred the kind that kills and holding on to a grudge that transcends through the family tree is not just malicious but evil. Zoe Zola maybe a wee one but she has a large character. I think she wasn’t as smart as she puts out, she was lied to from the beginning, yet she staid even when her friends begged her to leave. Allowing herself to be maneuvered into a vigilante situation that was all wrong.

As much as I love the idea of this type of story, it was difficult to get through. There wasn't a single character that I liked or thought believable. 

The ending was very quick and unsatisfying.

NetGalley/Crooked Lane Books  August 13th, 2019

I received a copy of And Then They Were Doomed from Crooked Lane Books through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

I really liked this one which I was surprised by because it's pretty dark and has an overwhelming sense of dread.
I'm gonna say I would not have made the choice Zoe made at the end.
This book plays with tropes and perception and despite the darkness was highly enjoyable!

I didnt enjoy this book like I did the previous books. It was a little dark for me. I hope this authors books about Jenny and zoe are better on the next book. I could not get into the book. But finished it anyway

The fourth book of the Little Library series is a dark and gloomy one. The subject matter of The Little Library series I found hard to read the book. However, it was well written and the description put you into the the hotel along with Zoe and the other invitee's. I didn't like any of the characters including Zoe who I like in the previous book.
Zoe received a letter inviting her to a symposium on Agatha Christie but wait the envelope was cover with a black edge all around it. That means death to Zoe. She arrives at the hotel and slowly meets the others participants. The first night someone disappears . Who?
Zoe wonders what the letter meant whose death did the letter mean hers or someone else? There are twists and turns that will have you reading until the unusual ending. I recommend this book and series.

Disclosure: Thanks to Crooked Lane Books for a copy through NetGalley. The opinions expressed are my own.

Perhaps if I had read the previous books in the series I would have liked this more. I found it did not live up to the description in the blurb.
I had trouble connecting to the characters and found the story itself dull.

The writing and oversights on this novel made this read a chore, not a pleasure. It's full of mixed up words, dangling modifiers, typos, and contradictions.

Zoe is clearly meant to be intelligent and literary, yet she claims she is only being spiteful about correcting Emily's agreement error: "'Don’t you mean ‘whom’? There’s going to be people here who really watch their p’s and q’s...'"

Zoe initially corrects her: “'Don’t you mean ‘there are’ going to be people?'”

'"No. People is a collective noun. I’m right.'"

"'People is a plural noun, not collective.'”

Collective nouns can be plural, as this one is. I feel like Zoe would know that, and she's certainly not one to back down or say she's wrong when she's not.

In addition to that lapse, there are abrupt switches in movement: in one paragraph, Zoe is upstairs; in the next she's downstairs, with no indication of her movement.

The book reads as though the author just forgot what she'd written previously. For example, Zoe and her peers get dropped off in town and told to meet at the nearby bench, yet when Zoe returns, there are no benches to sit on.

On top of all of that, it's melodramatic and a bit of a hack. I didn't like the book at all.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the advanced copy.

This the the fourth book in the Little library Mystery series. I have not read any of the other books in this series and I would recommend reading them before reading this one. I struggled to keep track of the characters and I felt like I was slogging through Part 1 because I had missed out on the backstory from previous books. This book has an excellent plot that pays homage to Agatha Christie (specifically And Then There Were None and Murder on the Orient Express). This is a well-written mystery and my rating reflects my feelings reading it; I would expect that readers of the Little Library Mysteries would give it five stars and two thumbs up!

E-book/ARC/Mystery: I don’t know how I feel about this book. I finished it yesterday afternoon and I knew I would have to think about it before writing a review. I want to thank NetGalley for letting me have an advanced copy of this in lieu of an honest review. This book has not come out yet, so no spoilers here; or at least I’ll try. I will tell you how I felt about the three scenes in the book.

The beginning: If you have not read or seen “And Then There Were None” or “Murder on the Orient Express” and you were planning to, you may want to do that first because this book will spoil the endings for you. This book takes place in present time. Zoe is an author biographer and she goes to speak at a Agatha Christie web convention. While at the secluded hunting cabin with nine other experts, two guests don’t show up, consecutively, the next two mornings for breakfast with excuses of family & health emergences (as a dead body would bring in law enforcement). There is a lot of backstory for Zoe and she is suspicious from the time she gets an invite. I really liked the beginning and I felt like I was getting to know Zoe. This is the third or fourth book in this series and I could pretty much understand all the characters. I couldn’t wait for Zoe to get to the cabin and meet everyone and was trying to figure out how the author was going to pull this off. This isn’t Agatha Christie’s era; it’s the age of technology.

The middle: I figured out Zoe was a little person (either dwarf or midget, I couldn’t figure out. There is a difference, but I pictured her as a midget in my head). By now, we’ve met all the characters and there are some clues to what is going on, or so I thought. Is someone after Zoe while she takes a walk in the rain? Is the bridge to town really washed out? Why aren’t the landlines working? I thought Zoe should have left at first chance; now she’s stuck. I pretty much figured out the ending, or so I told myself.

The end: I was completely wrong. I did not like how the book ended. I understand for safety reasons why Zoe did or didn’t do the action she did at the end. I, myself, would have contemplated calling the state police and skipped the local police. I didn’t like that the author ended the book without explaining what Zoe was thinking. What was going through her head? This book is not in first person, but third and we still get to know what Zoe is thinking, except at the end. I again, I really don’t know how I feel about the book. It was not a cute cozy mystery; it’s dark.

This book will be a special delight for readers of Agatha Christie and general mystery readers will enjoy this, as well. The premise of the story is based on the Agatha Christie novel, "And Then There Were None".

Zoe Zola is writing a book about Agatha Christie, when one day she receives a mysterious black edged envelope, with an invitation to an Agatha Christie Symposium in the Upper Peninsula at a hunting lodge. Zoe is reluctant at first, but soon her interest changes and she becomes intrigued by this invitation.

During her stay at the hunting lodge, she soon realizes that people's names, events and certain incidents, which occur, start to mirror the actual novel itself. She's aware that she must somehow figure out how's she's going to survive this ordeal and not end up dead.

The plot is well constructed and the characters are revealed and described in a way, which makes them undesirable and somewhat evil. It's hard to find empathy for the characters. The story moves at a decent pace, despite there being so many characters involved.

I applaud the author's strong attempt to create a story within a story from a classic novel, which already exists. That is not an easy task and for the most part, the author is quite successful. I think avid Christie readers will feel the same. I recommend this novel to all mystery readers and also a great opportunity for those who haven't read "And Then There Were None" to do so. I know I'm going to dust off my copy and read it again after reading this book.

This book was provided to me by Net Galley and this is my honest review.

While this book wasn't for me. It was a sweet little cozy mystery. Normally I love reading them.. There was just something about the characters that for the life of me. I just couldn't relate to them. But I am still going to read other works by this author. Just because one book wasn't for me doesn't me other books by this author won't be something I would enjoy.

Description:" Zoe Zola is one of ten invitees to an Agatha Christie symposium. Tempers flare…and then there are nine. Can Jenny Weston save Zoe from murder on the Upper Peninsula?
Little Person author Zoe Zola believes that one of the unluckiest things in life is to receive an invitation—in the form of a letter edged in black—to an Agatha Christie symposium at an old Upper Peninsula hunting lodge. Her reluctance dissipates when she learns that the organizer is named Emily Brent—the name of a character poisoned by cyanide in Christie’s And Then There Were None."

Ok I will start by saying that I really wanted to like this book. The plot was intriguing and I felt compelled to keep reading until it reached a conclusion even though it didn't really flow for me. It's probably a personal thing, but with such a large cast of characters, Zoe, Jenny, Dora, Lisa, the Lambs and the Jokelas, plus all the pseudonyms, I find it hard to keep track of who is who. Still that said, the plot still kept my attention and I had to read to the end. The one thing that really led to the 3 rather than 4 stars was that I simply did not like any of the charachters. They were all self serving, whiney, depressed or just plain nasty (or a combination of all or any of the above) the result being that I ended it wishing they all had some sort of final comeuppance!

The following appeared on my book review blog this morning:
As a middle school language arts teacher by day, one of my favorite authors to teach is Agatha Christie. The kids get so into it even though the language and time are dated because Christie is such a master at weaving together a mystery and making you think it is someone when the twist at the end is someone entirely different that you often either never thought of or even forgot about as the story went on. Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli borrows many Christie references that weave this cozy, dark mystery through its pages. 

A Mysterious Letter
If you are a fan of And Then There Were None, you know that 10 strangers receive an invitation from the mysterious Owens' to enjoy a long weekend on Solider Island, a luxurious residence that stands alone on an island. None of them have anything in common other than having been involved with murder and gotten away with it. Slowly, they are killed one by one until there is only one of them left. So, when author Zoe Zola receives a letter edged in black inviting her to an Agatha Christie symposium at an old Upper Peninsula hunting lodge, she is a little bit spooked especially when she realizes that she has been invited by a Ms. Emily Brent. In Christie's novel, Emily Brent was an old pious spinster who drove her maid to suicide when she found out that the girl was pregnant. Zola goes anyway, eager to find out the mystery behind the letter and what is about to unfold at the old hunting lodge. 

10 Little Christie Scholars...
Much like Christie's And Then There Were None, 10 Christie Scholars appear on the Peninsula. Each one has an eerie resemblance or some similarity to one of the people from Christie's novel. For instance, some of their names are the same or similar or even more strangely, just sound like one of the characters from Christie's book. All the guests assemble for dinner and their first lecture. Here, Zoe notices that there are figurines of children around the floral centerpieces only they are not as innocent as they appear because each represents a line from the famous poem that the killer uses in And Then There Were None  to kill each of their victims:



And much like Buzzelli's source material, Zoe soon finds that each night brings about a new disappearance of a guest and she must find a way to survive long enough to get herself off the Peninsula. She immediately calls her friend Jenny Weston for help, only, Jenny has to wait out the storm over Lake Superior before she can get to her friend. Zoe must use her wits to keep herself safe until help arrives. As she waits, Zoe's story unfolds and the secrets of her own past and of her family's are brought to light. 

This dark cozy mystery is a fast read and if you love Agatha Christie, you will surely love, And Then They Were Doomed the fourth installment of the Little Library Mysteries. 

Book Information
And Then They Were Doomed by Elizabeth Kane Buzzelli is scheduled to be released on August 13, 2019 with ISBN 9781643850009 from Crooked Lane Books. This review corresponds to an advanced electronic copy from the publisher that was given in exchange for this review.

mystery, amateur-sleuth, women-sleuths, Michigan *****

If you're looking for a really dark noir mystery, you've just found it! Interesting characters, overtones of vengeance, danger, and enough literary references and comparisons to thrill any mystery geek. The publisher's blurb is a good hook, but reading the book is a fascinating excursion!
I requested and received a free ebook from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley.

This is a cute cozy mystery and I was very happy to reunite with Zoe Zola.
The mystery itself was intriguing and there were plenty of characters that were on my suspect list.

And Then They Were Doomed is a great cozy mystery that is well written and has interesting characters. I enjoyed it and hope to read more by this author.

Author Zoe Zola is invited to participate in an Agatha Christie Symposium. Seeing that Zoe is writing a book about the famous author, it looks like a logical choice for her to be invited. Though she had some reservations about participating, Zoe also knew this had something to do with her family, the family that cut her mother off when she had Zoe out of wedlock all those years ago.

Held in an old hunting lodge in the middle of nowhere, the event seemed to be mimicking one of Dame Agatha’s mysteries, but Zoe can’t quite put her finger on which one. But as each day passes, and they are stranded in the lodge due to flooding, Zoe is counting down the days until she can get out of there and return home to her friends and life in Bear Falls. But while Zoe is certain her estranged family is behind the event, she’s not quite sure what they have up their sleeve and if she will make it out of there alive.

The book was a fantastic compilation of bits and pieces from many of Agatha Christie’s writings. Once everyone arrived at the lodge and the story began unfolding I was hooked! This is a true page turner and well written. It is clear that the author is a fan of Agatha Christie and she has done a fabulous job of bringing so many threads together and wrapping them up in a pretty bow to deliver to the reader.

My first introduction to the author was the previous book in this series, and I said that I would not read another in the series, but here I am. Earlier this year I decided to revisit a few authors and series that I had written off, a second chance so to speak. I am glad that this series is part of my choice, because this book completely turned me around! I truly could not put it down and also notices a marked difference in the rudeness in Zoe Zola that put me off in the previous book. Here’s to second chances, with authors and families!

Author Zoe Zola has been invited to an Agatha Christie conference in an old hunting lodge in the woods. When Zoe arrives at the lodge, she discovers that she and the nine other participants all bear some resemblance to a Christie character. While they all like Christie, they differ in their opinions about her methodology and the morning after a particularly heated discussion, one of the guests is dead. If you are a Christie fan yourself, you’ll find this an enjoyable, traditional cozy mystery