Book Club Reporter Book Reviews

Provoked To Kill Book Review

January 10, 2021 Season 3 Episode 1
Book Club Reporter Book Reviews
Provoked To Kill Book Review
Show Notes Transcript

Provoked To Kill Book Review by  Book Club Reporter, Laura Jay.

  • Provoked To Kill - written by Judy Buch
    • Suspenseful
    • Captivating
    • Murder Mystery Novel


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00:01 

Music Intro

 

00:06

Hello gentle readers. Welcome to Book Club Reporter Book Reviews Podcast. I’m your host and Book Club Reporter, Laura Jay.

 

00:15

This is Season 3 Episode 1.

 

00:21

Today I am sharing with you my Book Club Reporter book review of: Provoked To Kill by Judy Buch.  

 

00:29

And before we get started, be sure to read all my book reviews, book news, book club reading lists and more at bookclubreporter.com. And you can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Just take a look at the show notes for this podcast for all the info and links.

 

00:51

Provoked To Kill is a suspenseful and captivating murder-mystery novel (with a cozy mystery vibe about it) written by author, Judy Buch. 

 

01:01

I would love to call Provoked To Kill a cozy mystery, but this story has just enough of an edge to bump it up to a mature audience level. Well…that is, if you consider mature to include two fleeting mentions of teenagers caught in a horizontal clinch. And then there is a couple of grizzly acts and discoveries of dead bodies. Yeah, okay. I’m going to classify it as a full-on murder mystery novel. That being said, I could definitely see older teens enjoying this story, as well as most murder-mystery fans. But there is a cozy story here. A story of a family, a mother and daughter, and a past romance willing us to hope love may once again bloom.  

 

01:44

Now, I have not read the previous book in this series. However, I can assure readers that enough background information is provided. The story in Provoked to Kill fills in the blanks for new readers of the series. Thus this story stands just fine on its own. 

 

02:00

Simone, is a ventriloquist. She can wow audiences of all ages with her clever and surprising voice-throwing skills. Simone can expertly use her voice to make inanimate objects talk. Simone likes to combine her amateur sleuthing skills, along with her ventriloquist expertise and her professional speaking skills, to perplex and throw the bad guys off their game.

 

02:26

In this latest book in the series, we learn Simone has adopted Pepper. The story begins with Simone and Pepper who have traveled from Nutmeg, Connecticut to Greenville, South Carolina. Simone’s agent scheduled several professional speaking engagements for her, as well as one performance event in Greenville. 

 

02:45

Simone and Pepper arrived in South Carolina to stay with Aunt Elsie and Uncle Walter. One morning Simone and Pepper rent bicycles to take a ride around town. As Simone and Pepper are cycling along enjoying their outing when, suddenly the chain on Pepper’s bicycle comes off. While Simone pulls out her cell phone to call the bicycle rental, she and Pepper notice down in the gulley, just below them, the body, of what appears to be a homeless man. Simone calls the police from her cellphone. Now Simone wastes no time. As Pepper and Simone hurriedly make their way down to the body, Simone quickly begins to gather clues to answer the questions as to how the man may have died. Did he fall accidentally? Was it a suicide? Or, was it … murder?

 

03:37

Provoked to Kill is an enjoyable read on many levels. Of course there is death and danger, which we would certainly expect in a story entitled Provoked To Kill. But we also have the story of Simone, heroine who rescued a young teen from a life in the mean streets of the city. Simone’s patience with, and understanding of, Pepper are to be admired. It takes a special person with a generous amount of patience to balance love with the need for gentle supervision. Simone remains cognizant to the fact that she has taken the challenging role of mother to the street-smart fifteen year old, Pepper. 

 

04:18

As a direct result of her rough life, Pepper continues to make mistakes in her process of growing up. However, we can also see that Pepper is not completely lost. In fact, Pepper never ceases to amaze us with her admiration and love for Simone.

 

04:34

Author Judy Buch has created a compelling storyline with the added bonus of entertaining characterizations including some quirky and unique characters. And then there is Simone’s ventriloquist voice-throwing skills. And you will just have to read Provoked To Kill, so see how that all plays out.

 

04:51

I loved reading Provoked to Kill and I must say I found the blossoming “mother-daughter” relationship between Simone and Pepper to be quite uplifting. Honestly, between you and me, I can’t wait to see what Pepper and Simone have in store for us next time around.

 

05:07

I hope you enjoyed this podcast book review, and if you did, you can buy me a coffee just by clicking the link in the show notes.

 

05:15

Thank you all for joining me today for this book club reporter book review. If you would like more info about today’s book review or a copy of the book check the show notes of this podcast episode or simply visit BookClubReporter.com. And don’t forget to subscribe to this podcast because there are many more book reviews to come.

 

05:34

See you all next time.