Not Actually Board to Death

Board to Death by CJ Connor

Pages: 240 Genre: mystery

Rating: 3 Star

Kindle Notes & Highlights

Ben Rosencrantz didn't expect to be back in his hometown of Sugar House in Utah, especially not divorced, caring for his ill dad and his pet chihuahua Beans, and running his dad's board game shop instead of teaching English classes in college — you know, the thing he got his multiple degrees to do. It's not at all the way he saw his life going, but the community is more accepting of queer folk than when he was a teenager and the owner of the flower shop next door keeps flirting with him, so it could be worse. Even if the game store is barely staying afloat. He does get an offer from a sketchy rare-board-game collector named Clive to buy an original version of "The Landlord's Game," but Ben's not quite that desperate yet. And that's the end of it, until Clive turns up on Ben's doorstep, bleeding out having been stabbed. The detectives aren't not looking at Ben, and he's getting desperate to clear his name. Even if it means putting himself on the murderer's radar.

I'm not too proud to admit that I chose to read this book pretty much exclusively because the main character's name was a reference to Hamlet. And you know what? It was a quick, funny mystery that made just enough references to the classic play (and reminded me of Benjamin from The King of Infinite Space, although I think that was unintentional) to keep me satisfied. It's not a perfect book: far from it, actually. But it was decidedly good enough, and I had fun reading it.

I actually liked Ben a lot (yes, beyond his last name). I enjoyed his sense of humor, although sometimes the Voice was a bit too much. He was active in both the investigation, and I did believe that he cared about his roles as both caregiver and store owner. Overall, all the characters were written pretty well. Everyone had a unique voice and personality that felt realistic.

The mystery itself was nothing life-changing. It was actually pretty lackluster. I knew the murderer pretty early on. It was all but announced but the character in question, and then the suspect pool was way too broad to genuinely suspect anyone else. Ben and Ezra (the flower shop owner who ends up coming along for the ride) had a very straight-forward investigation, so most of my enjoyment came from their personalities rather than the actual sleuthing.

Honestly, if I'm being objective, this book needed a lot of work. At least another round of editing. There were many sentences that simply didn't make sense, and it felt like scenes were written in isolation where people would restate or relearn information that we had already gone over. This combined with the unimpressive murder mystery just makes me wish there had been a little bit more consideration for everything before this book was sent to print, because the concept, vibes, and main story beats were there.

The personality of the story was very strong: it knew what it was and what it was trying to do. I really liked the atmosphere. The board game store in a vaguely small town (or, at least, a very familiar town) definitely hits that cozy mystery vibe. If you're not at least a little bit nerdy, this book will get really old really fast because it does not shy away from its references and goofiness. It was fun and silly, but it didn't feel like it was trying too hard either.

I will say, though, that it was a little bit too personal at times. I can appreciate an author writing what they know, but I would've appreciated more distance from the author's actual experiences. I think their insistence on realism in some aspects made the more out-there parts of the book feel out of place.

Most of my issues with this book just come down to feeling like the author didn't go quite deep enough into the story. I liked it, and the author is clearly competent both in general and as a mystery author, but the book would've benefitted from more attention. I don't know if I'd recommend this book to everyone, but it was fun for what it was.