Framed Paperback – February 6, 2010

I will admit to being a little blindsided by the change in character focus after the first chapter. We suddenly went to this suspenseful jack-knifed semi, and now we're in a framing shop. What?After I settled in and got used to the fact that the story was not going to go back to the exciting snow-bound events, it got a bit easier. Was still hanging out for the suspense to come back, but I stopped expecting something exciting to happen any page now.Once I got settled into the story, however, I found it to be of accurate pace, and easy reading. I timed it; it's a 5-hour read, but it doesn't feel like it.Your characters are all well-rounded – at least, the major 4 are. As for the hidden antagonist and the victims, well, that's never really likely to be a rounding of one-book characters, is there?I didn't have a single problem keeping the characters straight in my head, though I do know a few other readers have had that problem. They all feel unique and easy to differentiate, meaning that they're well-written.One of the easiest books I've read in a long time, and moderately surprising. I saw the ending coming, but then, it's a mystery. They only ever end one of two ways. I recommend this book to anyone with a few hours to kill and a mystery to kick.First reviewed on the Beyond the Words podcast.

Starts out good and captured my interest but got boring when the author spent too much time focusing on the framing shop and the girls working there and their jobs in that shop, that was when it was no longer a mystery but more along the lines of an expanded version of something one would read in a woman's magazine over a book. There are too many characters and the plot is thin, flimsy, and not really there. It is listed in the mystery, thriller, suspense category but in my opinion it should not be in that category.

Nikki Andrews' "Framed" is a tale of the camaraderie, curiosity, and passion of three women who join forces to solve an intriguing mystery: was the soot-covered painting they just received the last work of local painter Jerry Berger and does it connect to his murder/suicide 10 years before?These amateur detectives - the workers at the Brush & Bevel frame shop and art gallery - have an easy, familiar way with each other and the other folks, some of them quite eccentric, of the small New Hampshire town who visit their microcosm of a shop and also work next to them in the refurbished mill building. These ladies' confidence in each other, and their passion for restoring art and solving a good mystery propel the story forward.The clues in "Framed" are disclosed as slowly and as carefully as the true colors of the painting are revealed after years of abuse and neglect. Finding out what lies behind the creation of art and a good frame reflects the trials of the characters as they reveal what lies in their own hearts - the love, the loss, and sometimes the regret of past choices.As the women go heartily hiking through New England forest and reclaimed farmland and along trails and old roads to find the scene of the crime, I enjoyed learning about the land, the flora, and the joys and struggles of training a young bird dog.A good-hearted police officer who joins the search has a hard time corralling the adventurous ladies who sense/scent a mystery, take the trails and flush out the clues, and don't let go of them until they collaboratively figure out the truth.

I took this away with me on holiday and it didn't disappoint. It was easy enough to read and the story went along okay. I did find it slightly confusing as to who was the main character and at times I struggled to remember where the various ladies fitted in to the storyline. There were a lot of characters involved which is not to my personal taste but, as I said at the start, it was a good read for a holiday.

A disjointed characters story with some queer traits. The narrative is jerky and you need to keep track of characters as they are introduced suddenly or vanish without thread and reappear later. But the pace is steady. The author tried to make it humorous but failed. The story ends abruptly and you are left to feel like it is a power outage ! But it has its moments.

Ms. Andrews has written a cozy mystery with plenty of twists and turns. Her descriptions are clear and her character are well-sketched. It's obvious the author has a strong personal knowledge of framing and she puts that background to good use in developing her novel.

An entertaining, quick little read. There was nothing spectacular here, but it was a nice break from some of the heavier types in the genre. There were no offensive scenes or language, and editing wasn't an issue. The story moved at a nice pace and was wrapped up well.

I always enjoy a good, fast, read. This is a good one. The characters are well developed and fun. A couple of the names are close in spelling which is hard for me sometime, I have to go back and forth to see who is who.