Tag: Southern Ladies Mysteries

BONUS REVIEW: Cat Me If You Can by Miranda James

BONUS REVIEW: Cat Me If You Can by Miranda James

Posted on by Jaymie

[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Berkley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary

Charlie and his finacée, Helen Louise, along with Charlie’s Maine Coon, Diesel, travel to Asheville, North Carolina for a mystery retreat for the members of the Athena Public Library’s mystery group. The Ducote sisters secured a lovely boutique hotel for everyone to stay in that will also hold their group events.

The group includes the Ducote’s ward, Benjy, as well as an art history professor, a loan officer, a plumber, and a retired couple. All together, there are 12 group members there as well as a few significant others. Charlie is looking forward to getting to know the other folks in the newly formed group.

But their mystery-focused fun is disrupted when the loan officer’s “boyfriend”/stalker disrupts their first meeting. The next day, he is found dead. Before long, the whole group is pulled into a real-life mystery.

Review

Another great mystery starring Charlie and Diesel, book 13 in the Cat in the Stacks mystery series. It was nice to have a change of setting for this book. I wanted more of their mystery retreat sessions. I loved the bits on Golden Age writers that are part of the set up of the story. In fact, I even started a list of authors to check out. I was sad that the murder investigation ended up edging out the rest of their retreat meetings.

The mystery here was excellent. It was twisty in all the best ways. I didn’t see the solution until it was revealed on the page.

There’s lots here for series fans to enjoy. There are plenty of scenes with Diesel as well as some of Charlie’s usual friend group, including the ladies from Miranda James‘ Southern Ladies Mysteries series. There’s also a fresh setting and a mystery to keep you guessing until the end. Fans of these characters should not miss this installment. Book 14, What the Cat Dragged In, will release in the spring of 2021. (Alludes to off-page sex, LGBTQ+, TW: Suicide)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥=Great, might re-read

REVIEW: Fixing to Die by Miranda James

REVIEW: Fixing to Die by Miranda James

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Miss An’gel Ducote, her sister Dickce and their ward, Benjy, travel to Cliffwood, an historic home in Natchez, Mississippi. The Caitlins, Mary Turner and Henry Howard, have invited them into their home, which serves as a bed and breakfast for most of the year. The Ducote sisters were dear friends to Mary Turner’s grandmother. The Caitlins seem to be having issues with a ghost. Mary Turner hopes An’gel and Dickce can figure out what’s going on while the B&B is closed to guests for a little while.

Cliffwood isn’t as empty as the Caitlins expected it to be when the Ducotes arrive. Mrs. Primrose Pace is a psychic who claims she was summoned to the house to help them deal with spirits. Then Mary Turner’s distant cousin, Serenity, her lawyer, Truscott, and Serenity’s brother, Nathan, also arrive. Nathan is convinced that his branch of the family was cheated out of part of their inheritance. He’s determined to either find another will or pester Mary Turner until he gets what he wants.

While the ghost – or prankster – makes several appearances to the guests of the house, something even more sinister is going on when one of the guests ends up dead.

Review

I’m not much for ghost stories, so it took me a little while to find my rhythm with this book. Once all the players were in place, though, I was completely engrossed in trying to figure out whodunit.

I enjoy the Ducote sisters and their entourage, including their pets. It was nice to see them in a new setting with new characters and crimes. (This is the fourth book in the series.) The references to the Nancy Drew mysteries the sisters read as girls were fun. I read them as a kid along with the Bobbsey Twins and Trixie Belden mysteries. They set the foundation to my life-long love of mysteries with spunky protagonists. And the Ducote sisters, while in their 70s, certainly qualify as spunky!

Solid mystery in this one. I guessed wrong – and I was certain I was right. I enjoyed the surprise in the solution that I didn’t see coming. The ones that keep me wondering all the way to the end are almost as fun to read as the ones I am able to puzzle out.

I think readers can enjoy this mystery out of order, but to understand the sisters and their ward and how that all came together, it’s better to read the series in order. It’s going to be awhile until we see a 5th book in this series as the author has announced a shift to publishing two books per year in another series. This will give readers plenty of time to get caught up on this fun southern series if you haven’t been reading it all this time.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for an electronic review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Digging Up the Dirt by Miranda James

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

The latest Southern Ladies Mystery. A 40 year old mystery comes home to roost when community heartthrob Hadley Partridge returns to Athena after forty years away. He has no idea that the rumor was that he had run off with his sister-in-law all those years ago. He says he hasn’t talked to her since he left. So where did his sister-in-law disappear to?

When members of their garden club start having dangerous accidents and remains are found at the home Hadley inherited, Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce can’t help but dig a little deeper to find a murderer.

Southern Ladies Mystery

Review

Such a fun Southern mystery series. Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce make a great team. Their pets are a fun part of the story, as is their ward, Benjy.  Charlie Harris and Diesel from the Cat in the Stacks series by the same author make an appearance, too.

The mystery in this was fascinating because you have the 40 year old disappearance mixed in with the things happening with the older women of the garden club. I really had to work at my theory of whodunit – and I was wrong. Some interesting surprises rounded out the story nicely.

I love both the Cat in the Stacks series and this Southern Ladies mystery series by this author. The crossover pieces are nice for fans of both series.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥