.jpg "Book Review Eleven Hours to Murder by D.B. Borton")
My thoughts about Eleven Hours to Murder by D.B. Borton
Review at a Glance
Genre: Cosy Mystery / Cold Case.
The Vibe: Witty, nostalgic, and character-driven.
Setting: Cincinnati, transitioning between the present and the 1960s.
Protagonist: Cat Caliban – a relatable, sharp-tongued widow and PI-in-training.
The book synopsis for Eleven Hours to Murder by D.B. Borton
A cold case from the Swinging Sixties. A sassy senior sleuth. If Cat Caliban’s not your favorite crime-solving grandma, you just haven’t met her yet.
3 stars
Discussing Eleven Hours to Murder by D.B. Borton
My Review Summary:
Key Takeaways from the video:
A "Senior Sleuth" Lead: I really enjoyed having an older protagonist for a change. The main character, Cat Caliban, is a widowed PI in her fifties and a self-proclaimed cat lady, which made for a lovely dynamic alongside her ex-cop partner, Moses.
The Mystery: The story follows a 19-year-old cold case involving a teenager who vanished in the summer of 1969 after heading off to the legendary Woodstock festival.
The 1960s Vibe: Even though I wasn't around during that era, I thought the book did a brilliant job of capturing the tone of the hippie movement and the early days of music festivals.
Series vs. Standalone: This is actually the 11th book in the series, and while I haven't read the previous ten, it works perfectly well as a standalone. You won't feel lost, though I suspect reading them in order would add a bit more depth to the character relationships.
My Rating: I gave this one 3 stars. It was a nice change of pace and I really liked the atmosphere, even if I think the backstory from earlier books might have bumped it up a bit.
Quotes from Eleven Hours to Murder by D.B. Borton
“Tell me something about our client.” I had a death grip on the armrest in the pre-crash position I always assumed when Moses was piloting the Fairlane. He hurtled through the stop sign at Spring Grove with the casual confidence of an ex-cop who never expected to be arrested and I reflected that if we were going to be flattened by a semi, this would make a convenient spot, with the vast expanse of Spring Grove Cemetery to our left.
Caught up in this story, I was tempted to ask whether this relationship had lasted for nineteen years and how it had ended, but I was afraid that if I followed that particular red herring, we’d never get back to the case.
“You know, Mom, you keep calling Leila a ‘girl,’ but she wasn’t a girl, really, was she? She was sixteen.” I was baffled. “What should I call her?” “A woman. She was old enough to be sexually active.”
“What bothers me most is not what we found but what we didn’t find.”
Reluctantly, I spent some time that night on my taxes and concluded that I should have sampled the magic brownies myself.
I snoozed a little after that, which is my preferred way to travel when Moses is at the wheel: unconscious.
The main reason that noir detective stories are so noir is that most of the world is at work during the day and not available to be interviewed or spied on or followed. We detectives need to take advantage of prime time if we want to reach anybody.
I considered suggesting that she cheer herself up with a few slices of bacon, since I often find that food with a high fat content does wonders for a funk, but I thought my suggestion might not be appreciated, practical though it was, so I didn’t say anything right away.
This was something I loved about my job: in the process of detecting something, I always learned about interesting stuff I wasn’t detecting at all.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Cat. And if you do, take Mildred.” This had been Moses’s final admonition to me before he left for his Army reunion.
My first impulse was to drive to the library downtown. My first impulse was always to drive to a library.
Moses called again later when I was reading in the recliner with a cat on either side and one in my lap. Since the cat in my lap objected to being a book rest, I had been forced to hold the book awkwardly, but I figured I was exercising my biceps and triceps in the process. If you added the lifts of a G&T glass, I was burning quite a few calories.
Where to find Eleven Hours to Murder by D.B. Borton online:
Add to your Shelf: Eleven Hours to Murder on Goodreads
Want to know what others thought about this book? Check out these book reviews:
- "I liked how this looks at the past and how it shows the difficulty of investigating a crime that took place so long ago." Read the full review by Sarah Reads here.
.jpg "Book Review Eleven Hours to Murder by D.B. Borton")
Book Club Discussion Starters
The "Rebel" Reading Style: I jumped in at book eleven! Do you think cosy mysteries need to be read in order, or does a strong protagonist like Cat Caliban make it easy to start anywhere?
The 1969 Mystery: How well did the author balance the "Swinging Sixties" nostalgia with the darker reality of a missing person’s case?
Redefining "Senior": Cat is in her fifties—a "sassy senior." How does having a more mature protagonist change the stakes of a mystery compared to the typical younger "amateur sleuth"?
The Dynamic Duo: What did you think of the partnership between Cat and Moses? Does having an ex-cop partner make the "private eye in training" trope feel more realistic?
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