Summer Popcorn!

Years ago, a friend introduced me to the concept of “popcorn reading”. It means a quick, easy read, a snack of the literary world. Lots of us like reading this kind of book any time of the year, but I always associate it with summer. They’re the kind of books that you take on vacation, to the beach, or for a warm summer weekend on the porch.

With the growth of “cozy” genres (mystery, fantasy, whatever), this feels like the golden age of popcorn reading. There have always been “dime-store novels” or “pulp novels” that fit into this broader category, but the volume and accessibility have never been higher. Those older terms came with a negative connotation, and some folks would be embarrassed to be seen with one. Cozy genres allow us to have fun, get a little spicy even.

I can zip through them so fast that if I gave each one I read, even when they only make a small percentage of my overall reading, they would overwhelm everything else here. With that in mind, here are two popcorn reviews of recent books I’ve read. I classify them as cozy popcorn reads.

Why I Liked Them – They hit all the right notes for summertime fun!

Murder and Grits by Karen McSpade (2021) Piper Sandstone is a Chicago detective hiding out in a small town on the Gulf Coast. She broke a ring of dirty cops in the Windy City and went undercover to protect her life. When the small town’s biggest celebrity, a three-time AKC champion poodle, Victory Cup Valentino, is kidnapped, Piper gets pulled into the investigation. Helping her is the Dentures and Diamonds Crime Squad, a group of local ladies looking for something to do.

This is book one of the Piper Sandstone Savory Mystery Series, which now stretches to five books. It has everything you’ll be looking for in a popcorn book. Fun characters, unusual settings, and just enough danger to spice things up. Add in the mandatory romantic entanglement, dogs, and great food, and you’re set. The book includes recipes at the end of the most central dishes.

Enjoyed it a lot.

It’s a solid **** on the popcorn cozy scale.

The Houseboat Detective by Jay Allen Storey (2024) Jake Sommers is concluding that he may be getting too old for his lifestyle. Or maybe not, since he’s not quite sure what is lifestyle really is. Thirty years old is coming fast. Jake lives on a houseboat he inherited from his bohemian great aunt, and he plays jazz piano in a bar where they’d rather he played something else. A friend places an ad offering Jake’s services as an investigator. It’s news to Jake until a beautiful woman appears at his houseboat looking for help. His instinct is to say no, but he’s never followed them before, so why start now? A simple search for a missing sister turns into something darker and far more dangerous.

Again, the book offers all the options you want for this kind of reading. Romantic intrigue, twists in the story, and danger. This book is darker than the one above. Jake is very much at loose ends and without many ideas on what he needs to do. Here, he is stumbling into one new adventure and the related danger after another.

A couple of things stood out for me, both positive and negative. The pacing felt a little slow for me at times, and the writing didn’t quite hit my personal spot. It felt like there was some extra wordage that would have tightened the writing and boosted the tempo. Not a deal-breaker, but enough that I notice the issue.

On the upside, I liked the houseboat setting (I have a bit of a thing about boats), and it’s always nice to find a story not set in the usual places. “The Houseboat Detective” centers on the docks of Victoria, British Columbia’s inner harbor. Toss in mentions of great jazz for an extra bit of sizzle for me.

I enjoyed this one as well.

A solid *** on the popcorn cozy scale.