Book Review: Double or Muffin
Double or Muffin by Victoria Hamilton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
So you think you know what reality television is really like? Step inside Wynter Castle, where Opera DivaNation has stormed the castle for a singing showdown featuring many of the genre’s most talented singers. Castle owner Merry Wynter, her bestie and business partner Pish, and Merry’s husband Virgil are expecting a certain amount of mayhem, of course, but they never expected events to become life threatening.
I enjoyed the large, wildly diverse cast of characters, each with their own backstory, agenda and goals. The author deftly juggles everyone, giving her characters distinct personality traits, talents, and backstories rife with tantalizing information. A ginger cat named Becket often steals the show and that’s all right with me. Clues, motives, and red herrings abound. If Murder on the Orient Express had taken place in a castle, it might have resembled this ‘just one more chapter and then I’m going to bed for sure’ wild ride of a mystery.
Double or Muffin is all about the details. You’ll find it easy to picture the lavish settings in your mind’s eye. You’ll feel the tension and excitement of an opera reality show as it comes to life inside Wynter Castle. You may not even notice that the actual mystery doesn’t kick in till the halfway point of the book because you’re having so much fun with all these eccentric people. When the mystery finally is revealed, it packs a good punch since we’ve become so familiar with everyone.
I have to mention that Merry Wynter takes a stab at (forgive me) the reality show contest industry which can drive aspiring talent a little, or a lot, too far. I applaud the author for bringing real problems to light and dealing with them honestly in her fictional world.
Thank you to author Victoria Hamilton, NetGalley, and Beyond the Page Publishing for allowing me to read a digital advance review copy of this book. This review is my honest and unbiased opinion.
Lori Alden Holuta
Lori Alden Holuta lives between the cornfields of Mid-Michigan, where she grows vegetables and herbs when she’s not writing, editing, or playing games with a cat named Chives.
