I am uncertain why cozy mystery authors feel the only way to write a "mystery" novel is to limit the assailant to only three to four mostly unimportant scenes and call that evidence. It doesn't do anything except frustrate the reader because you can't put two and two together for something you have little to nothing to go on. Honestly, Harper as the killer would have been a better mystery to write. Who it actually was was a long stretch and an info dump at the end. If there had been a foreshadow of the evidence being missing from the killer, then you could say it was a miss on the reader's part, but it wasn't. The idea is to hide the important details in mundane details that way they're just easy to miss, not non-existent.

The paranormal and Cora subplots were good ideas with no clean follow through. Half the time Madeline is just shown selling a couple of tickets to patrons for the museum and then having one conversation with another person and then the day is over. For something as foreign as a paranormal museum that we spend a lot of time in we don't get to see or learn much about it even though she is literally taking inventory of everything in it.

The pacing here was just too slow and the transitions weren't quite smooth between scenes. And the romance injections were just awkward. Clearly something was "sparking" with the detective, but only Mason really seems to be the guy? This needed more character build and one or two subplots removed to focus the novel. It's just all over the place.

Fine, but very boring. Characters lacked depth and random storylines popped up out of nowhere and weren’t revisited again.

Loved this book. I didn't want to stop reading it and read past my bedtime. I can't wait to read more in this series and more books from this author.

Eh, I just don't think that I was in the mood for this. I tempted fate by reading too many cozies in a row. I also don't think that the sub subgenre of cozy mystery that takes place in a paranormal museum was for me. It's just a personal preference that I tend to enjoy cozy mysteries that are about food, hotels/B&Bs, or a supernatural bent. This wasn't bad, but it didn't stand out for me. There are some, unfortunately typical of the genre, comments throughout the book about the character bemoaning gaining weight and eating too many calories. One interesting thing about this book was the fact that one of the lead detectives is actually the main character's former (woman!) childhood bully, and the two still hold grudges against each other. One of the more interesting things to me about this series would probably be finding out how the main character and bully detective resolve their relationship.

3.5

I’ve been on a cozy murder mystery kick and since I love anything paranormal this seemed like a good choice. I wasn’t crazy about the characters initially but they did grow on me. I enjoyed how the book technically centered on two mysteries - one current and one involving an object housed in the paranormal museum. The mysteries themselves were just OK and I preferred the historical mystery over the modern one. With both mysteries, though, the end “reveals” seemed a little rushed and the motives seemed kind of weak. Overall, “The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum” was a quick read and I might continue reading the series to see where what further mysteries await Maddie and GD Cat.

The setting of The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum could not be any more fitting than it is. The museum itself almost becomes a character in this amusing and quirky cozy mystery.

After losing her job, Maddie Kosloski heads back to her hometown to lick her wounds and search for answers to the question, what next. While out with friends one evening, Maddie unknowingly "buys" the paranormal museum from her friend, Adele, who is renovating a portion of the building attached to the museum. Too focused on the soon-to-come tea shop, Adele is under pressure to find a manager for the paranormal museum and Maddie, well, Maddie is out of work at the moment. Maddie agrees to help out temporarily, while she continues to search for her next big career move. But her job search seems to consistently take the back burner, especially when Adele is arrested for the murder of the woman her ex was going to marry. Oh, and whose body is found inside the museum. As the evidence seems to stack up against Adele, Maddie hopes to uncover some clues to clear her friend's name . . . as well as the name of a 19th century woman accused of murdering her husband.

The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum was a lot of fun to read. I really liked Maddie's sense of humor and her general outlook. She's smart, funny, sarcastic, and loyal - all the elements of a great friend. Lots of great characters surround Maddie and they are each well written and fully formed. If there was one thing I didn't like, it was the competing mysteries. It felt like the mystery of who-killed-Christy got a little overshadowed by Maddie's search for the facts in the centuries-old case she uncovers while working at the museum. That said, it's a first-rate debut for a new cozy series that I'd like to read more of.

What I loved about this cozy is that the friend group of our sleuth was suspicious of her for a bit! Doesn't happen often