Book Review: No Saving Throw by Kristin McFarland

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Title: No Saving Throw
Series: A Ten Again Mystery #1
Author: Kristin McFarland
Publisher: Diversion Books
Publication Date: May 14, 2019
Genre: Cozy Mystery

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Purchase Links:
Barnes & Noble // Kobo // Amazon // Indiebound

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No Saving Thow
A Ten Again Mystery #1
Kristin McFarland
Diversion Books, May 2019
ISBN 978-1-63576-582-3
Trade Paperback

From the publisher—

A supremely geeky murder mystery perfect for Whovians, gamers, and Muggles alike.

Autumn has everything she could possibly want: Loving friends, a successful business, and a gaggle of gamers in her store every day.

Welcome to Ten Again, a tabletop gaming store that attracts nerds of every kind and fosters a community Autumn’s pretty proud of―a community that also keeps business afloat. And now that Autumn’s in the running for a grant, Ten Again’s future is looking bright.

That is, until one of Autumn’s gamers is mysteriously murdered. With everyone in the mall as a suspect and accusations flying, Autumn is going to have to do some sleuthing of her own to save her shop and her gamers from a fate more dangerous than having no saving throw.

I surprised myself by wanting to read this book because I’m about as far from being a gamer as I could possibly be but a couple of things drew me to it. First, I’m really overdone with the crafty and culinary cozies and, while I’ll certainly keep reading some of those, I appreciate the thought of something just a little bit different. Secondly, I may not be a gamer but my grandson is and I’ve at least picked up some of the jargon when he tells me about campaigns and so forth. Besides, watching LARPers is fun.

Although I thought this was a tad lightweight and perhaps even slightly juvenile, it’s an enjoyable story and I think the author “got” the gamers nicely in their geeky exuberance and determination to figure out who killed their fellow player without doing any actual sleuthing. Autumn is an appealing character, too, and as a former shop owner, I truly understand her need to protect her store’s future.

I loved all the sidelong nods to certain things claimed by nerds but beloved way beyond their world, things like Star Trek, Dr. Who and Veronica Mars, and the plethora of potential perps made this a lively mystery worth some cogitating on my part. I think I might recommend this to my grandson 😉

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, May 2019.

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“A cozy shop, a tricky murder, geek humor, and gaming
lore galore―what’s not to love in No Saving Throw?
This book is a winner, and I can’t wait to take another turn!”
–Leigh Perry, author of The Family Skeleton Mysteries

“Enjoyable debut….Readers will hope to see a lot
more of the plucky Autumn.” –Publisher’s Weekly

“A nat 20! No Saving Throw is a fun, tight mystery that perfectly
encapsulates the difficulties gamers face at being taken seriously.
Protagonist Autumn Sinclair will stop at nothing to save not
only her store, but also the geeky community it fosters.”
―Alex Erickson, author of the Bookstore Café Mysteries

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About the Author

Kristin McFarland has a Master of Arts in Journalism from Indiana University, which launched her on a short-lived but very exciting career as a newspaper reporter. After graduate school, she worked for five different newspapers around the country, writing about politics, crime, arts, environmental issues, crack addicts, prostitutes, and parades. She eventually wised up and decided that making up political fights and crime scenes would be a lot more fun than reporting on real ones. Today, she lives in southern Indiana, where she spends most of her time daydreaming about fictional lives and/or thinking about wool.

Website // Twitter // Instagram // Goodreads

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