Tag: cozy mystery

REVIEW: Canal Days Calamity by Jamie M. Blair

REVIEW: Canal Days Calamity by Jamie M. Blair

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

As Cameron – Cam – amps up the preparation for Canal Days in Metamora, Indiana, she stumbles across the body of a local. She doesn’t even recognize the man at first. She certainly is NOT getting involved in another murder.

When the police arrest her friend and handyman, Andy, for the murder, Cam has to get involved. And her team, the Metamora Action Agency – two high school seniors and two senior citizens – are ready to start questioning suspects, too.

Cam has a lot more on her plate than a murder! There’s her house full of rowdy dogs, her sister’s business launch, her mom’s visit, new fellas in her mom’s life and her sister’s, her power struggle with her mother-in-law, and parenting her teenage stepdaughter while dating her estranged husband. Not to mention the Canal Days event for the whole town. Cam will need to watch her step as she negotiates it all while hunting for a murderer – or she could be the next victim.

Review

This is book two in the Dog Days Mystery series, but the first  book I’ve read. Because of this, I felt overwhelmed at the start of the book. There are a LOT of characters and businesses in this setting. I needed a list to keep track of everything. I wonder if I had read book one first if I would have had an easier time.

Once I had a handle on the characters, I fell in love with them. The relationships are quirky and complicated, in the best ways. I cared about what happened to these folks, which makes me want to go back and read book one and continue following the series. I’ve read several “good” mysteries lately, but my connection with these characters made this story “great.”

The mystery was good. I was surprised that the body was founds SO early. We hadn’t even met the character before he died. It made me feel invested in the case right from the first chapter.

I’m eager to read book one, Deadly Dog Days, and to tell other mystery fans to check out this series! Thanks to Netgalley and the folks at Midnight Ink for providing an electronic review copy in exchange for an honest review. This book releases next Tuesday, November 8th.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

REVIEW: Running Out of Time by Suzanne Trauth

REVIEW: Running Out of Time by Suzanne Trauth

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Dodie O’Dell lives in New Jersey and is the manager of the Windjammer, a restaurant/bar right next to the Etonville Little Theatre. Since Dodie’s best friend, Lola, is the artistic director for the theater, the Windjammer helps provide themed food for their productions.

This time, the ELT is putting on a modified version of Our Town. One of the extras, Sally Oldfield, is a young woman Dodie has taken under her wing. New to town, Sally is getting to know folks in Etonville through the ELT.

When Dodie stumbles into Sally at the theater on opening day, and notices she’s covered in blood, she hardly knows what to think. As Sally runs off, Dodie notices the body.

No one seems to know the dead man or why he was in town. But Sally’s disappeared. And she seemed startled to see that same man a few days earlier. Dodie’s going to need all her sleuthing skills to find Sally and figure out if she is a murderer.

Review

This is the first Dodie O’Dell mystery I’ve read, even though this is the third book in the series. I enjoyed the story and the characters.

Dodie is a pretty typical cozy protagonist. She’s dating the local Chief of Police. He respects her instincts but hates her interference, especially when it puts her in danger. Her role in the community, between her job, her friends and the theater, gives her a lot of access to information for sleuthing. The characters from town are pretty quirky, which gave the book a fun angle.

The mystery was good. I was able to puzzle out the main mystery, but there were still a couple twists I didn’t guess which made for a fun read. The story takes place around Valentine’ Day so the setting is nice and snowy for readers ready for wintery books.

I enjoyed this book and would like to pick up the first two books in the series. This story alludes to those “cases,” and they sound great.

Thanks to Kensington/Lyrical Underground and Netgalley for an electronic review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Perilous Poetry by Kym Roberts

REVIEW: Perilous Poetry by Kym Roberts

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Charli Rae and her dad own the Book Barn Princess in Texas. Charli has recently returned to her home town, reconciled with her dad, and joined him in the family business. And she’s thrilled to receive the latest Midnight Poet Society release from her favorite mystery author, Lucy Barton to sell at the Barn. But Charli is about to get a whole lot more connected to Lucy Barton.

Charli’s cousin, Jamal, has developed an app called Book Seekers. It’s a game that leads players to collect books. And it’s branded to the Book Barn Princess. It’s a brilliant way to get people talking about books and to get them into the store. Jamal has even worked out a tie-in author signing with none other than Lucy Barton! People love the concept and run off to play the game and collect books and prizes.

When the first body is discovered, set up to look like the cover of a Midnight Poet Society book, everything changes. Someone runs Jamal off the road and shoots out the front of the Book Barn Princess. The town council and the mayor think the app is dangerous and needs to be shut down. Could Book Seekers be connected to a murder and these other acts of violence?

Review

While this is my first time reading a Book Barn mystery, this is the third book in the series. The cover art has always caught my eye with the gorgeous, bright pink barn and the pet armadillo on every cover.

I enjoyed the mystery and the characters in this book. I’d like to read the first two books and get some of the back story filled in, but I feel like I was able to keep up with everything. There are a lot of characters to track in this one, so I’d like more of the details to help keep everyone straight. Like other cozies, there’s something of a love triangle going on. In my experience those can get tiring for readers. I hope Charli makes her choice soon! It seems like an obvious one to me.

The mystery is solid. In fact, I had NO guess on a culprit as I read. The victims were not typical for cozies. Usually it is a universally despised person. This felt more random until all the details were revealed. I’m eager to see if Book Seekers continues to be a factor in future books in this series.

Thanks to the folks at Kennsington/Lyrical Underground and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an early electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

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: A Christmas Peril by J. A. Hennrikus

REVIEW: A Christmas Peril by J. A. Hennrikus

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Edwina “Sully” Sullivan took an early retirement as a police office and is now the general manager of her home town theater.  Days before their annual performance of A Christmas Carol, Sully’s cousin and friend becomes the lead suspect in his father’s murder. Sully knows she should keep her focus on the play. Her headlining star can’t remember his lines and her Jacob Marley has just quit. But the police instincts and investigative skills are still strong. And the Whitehall family has asked for her help.

This is an incredibly complicated case. Only a small group of people could have committed the murder – and most of those people are members of the family. Even if Sully is technically family herself, she is enough of an outsider that it’s hard to get all the facts on the case. Discovering her ex is the family’s lawyer only complicates things further. But Sully is determined to get to the bottom of this case one way or another.

Review

This is the first book in the “Theater Cop” mystery series. I thoroughly enjoyed this set up – a former cop running a theater program. The theater gives the reader interesting characters and some fun distractions from the main mystery. I also enjoyed the murder set up. I’ve read the “wealthy family, dead patriarch” sort of set up several times, and I find those sorts of stories fascinating. There are so many interesting things the author can do with the family members in a story like that.

There were a LOT of characters in this one. Thankfully, the personalities were strong and clear, so it was easy to keep track of everyone. Sully is a great character. She’s smart and likable. And she works hard to keep some semblance of boundaries with the police on the case and the family.

The mystery was really engaging. I could not puzzle everything out before the end, and I didn’t want to put it down until I finished so I would know the whole story. I still had some questions at the end – things I didn’t think were spelled out as clearly as I would have liked. Otherwise I would have given this 5 stars. Sully is a character that will bring me back for book 2; she’s a character I would definitely spend more time with.

Thanks to the awesome folks at Midnight Ink and Netgalley for an electronic review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Doom with a View by Kate Kingsbury

REVIEW: Doom with a View by Kate Kingsbury

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Melanie West and her grandmother, Liza Harris, have finally opened their bed and breakfast after some trouble with a skeleton and a fire. Now they have their first set of guests, the elderly members of a book club who live near Portland.

This kick off week is going to be great! They have a new assistant, Cindi, to help with serving breakfast and cleaning the rooms while Melanie and Liza do the cooking. Cindi even gets her boyfriend to be a magician for their Halloween party. It’s going to be a great event.

But when one of their guests falls through sabotaged railings on the balcony, the local lead detective arrives at the Merry Ghost Inn with his usual gruff demeanor (Liza calls him “Grumpy”). He warns Melanie and Liza to stay out of his case. But they need their B&B to succeed. That means solving the mystery and getting their home and business back to normal. And they have their resident ghost, Orville, to help them again.

Review

This is the first Merry Ghost Inn book – book 2 in the series – I have read. It was easy to get into the story even without having read book one. Most of the action centered around their current guests, which will change with each book. The locals who are likely series regulars are well-defined in the story, even for a second book, so I was able to dig into the story right away. I like this because it means anyone can pick up the series and feel at home even if they didn’t get to the books in order.

The mystery was good. From the start there were several suspects but few clues to start eliminating anyone. I was eventually able to figure out the solution before the end, which is always satisfying.

I liked the main characters, but I didn’t click with them. They are completely likable; I have no complaints. I just didn’t feel drawn into their lives. Maybe that is the draw back of reading book 2 before the first one. Maybe I would have felt more connected by being introduced to the characters in the introduction to the series.

There are some interesting story lines that are laid out and go beyond this particular book, arching through the entire series. But I’m not sure I was hooked enough into the characters to come back to see how those threads work out. I have read paranormal stories before, but the ghost hook here didn’t grab my attention. I wasn’t turned off by it, or by the “seance” in the story, but those pieces didn’t distinguish this story for me from others in the genre. Again, I wonder if this is a drawback of starting with book two. The characters and the ghostly pieces might work better for readers who start from the beginning of the series.

Thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to read an electronic review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ♥♥♥

REVIEW: A Crime of Passion Fruit by Ellie Alexander

REVIEW: A Crime of Passion Fruit by Ellie Alexander

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

The cruise ship Amour of the Seas is in desperate need of a temporary pastry chef to get them through until their new hire can arrive. Carlos, back on the ship after his time in Ashland, asks Juliet to step in. The cruise offers her double pay, and Carlos arranges for her mom and the Professor to join the cruise for free. Four glorious days at sea. What could go wrong?

Being back on the ship helps Juliet gain new insights into her marriage, her cooking and her dreams for the future. It also puts her in place to discover a dead body. Even through she’s been away for awhile, Juliet’s knowledge of the ship and crew could help the captain and the Professor figure out who the dead woman is and what happened to her. While Juliet is hunting for a murderer and trying to survive a storm at sea, her friends in Ashland are trying to keep things going at Torte in the midst of a quarrelsome neighbor, a shake up with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival leadership, and major renovations at Torte. There’s never a dull moment in the latest addition to the Bakeshop mystery series.

Review

I really enjoyed this new addition to one of my favorite cozy series. While I missed the usual Torte crew, I liked the change of setting for this book. It added to the ongoing story line of Juliet and Carlos while also shaking up the food, the characters, and the location of the action. And it was all great.

I thoroughly enjoy the core characters of this series. There’s great camaraderie at Torte. And a great balance between the ongoing relationships in Ashland and the new details in each book for the mystery at hand. Good mystery in this one. With an unknown victim (“Jane Dough”), the motive and suspect portions didn’t evolve until later in the book once we knew more about the victim.

Personally, I am “Team Tommy,” and ready for Juliet and Carlos to sort out their relationship. I am looking forward to Another One Bites the Crust (winter 2017/2018) to see what happens next with the Ashland crew and see if the author will finally resolve the Carlos situation.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Assaulted Caramel by Amanda Flower

REVIEW: Assaulted Caramel by Amanda Flower

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Bailey King puts her life as a chocolatier in New York aside to travel to Harvest, Ohio. Bailey’s Amish grandfather is sick. Even though she is up for a huge promotion at work, family comes first.

When she gets to Ohio, Bailey discovers that a developer, Tyson Colton, is trying to buy out her grandparents’ candy shop, Swissmen Sweets. After an argument with Bailey’s grandfather, Colton is found dead in the kitchen of Swissmen Sweets. As her grandfather’s health makes him too weak to be a viable suspect, Bailey becomes the sheriff’s top choice.

In order to stay out of jail, protect her family, and get back to New York to save her job, Bailey’s going to have to figure out who really killed Tyson Colton. There’s no shortage of suspects, from the other Amish store owners Colton tried to buy out to his own son. Bailey has her work cut out for her!

Review

I loved this! It was a great cozy with interesting characters and some fun humor. Great all the way around.

The Amish pieces were a nice contrast to Bailey’s usual world in New York as well as the world of most readers. There was a great balance with Bailey as she understood the community because of her family, but at the same time she was outside it. I think Bailey’s struggle with issues of faith when faced with the faith of her grandparents and the Amish community could be a fascinating aspect of future books.

I really enjoyed the mystery. In general, I find mysteries stressful when the protagonist is the main suspect. But I liked the other pieces of this – the characters, the setting, the candy, the potential romance – so much that it balanced the tension well.

My only complaint is that I have a couple questions I don’t feel were answered in the solution to the mystery. I’ve gone back and re-read sections to be sure I didn’t just skim too quickly over something, but I still didn’t find complete satisfaction with the solution on the murder. Maybe this is because I read an unedited review copy. Perhaps this last 5% of the solution will be resolved when I read this in a final copy – which I will. I’m looking forward to spending more time with Bailey and her family and friends. I already have book two, Lethal Licorice, in my shopping cart to pre-order before its February 2018 debut.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Kensington for providing an electronic review copy in exchange for an honest review. I honestly adored this book!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

REVIEW: Terror in Taffeta by Marla Cooper

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Kelsey McKenna is a wedding planner. Destination weddings to vacation spots like Mexico are her specialty. And if she can keep herself from strangling the mother of the bride, she’s going to give Nicole and Vince the wedding of their dreams.

When one of the bridesmaids keels over during the ceremony and dies, the mother of the bride says it is Kelsey’s job to take care of it, including cleaning up the woman’s belongings and arranging for the body. And when the sister of the bride is arrested, Mrs. Abernathy seems to think it’s Kelsey’s job to fix that, too.

A wedding planner with a limited Spanish vocabulary is not particularly well-suited for solving a murder in Mexico. But Kelsey likes Nicole and Vince. She wants to help them have a happy ending to their wedding that has not gone at all to plan. So she’ll keep appeasing Mrs. Abernathy to get to the bottom of this murder – even if it puts Kelsey herself in harm’s way.

Review

This was a fun, fast read. I liked Kelsey and Brody as a sleuthing team. They seem to have a long term relationship and that felt genuine. The fact that Brody is gay means there’s no romantic tension between the two to complicate the relationship which kept things simple on that end.

Plenty of the other relationships in the story are complicated, though! There were several good suspects and motives for the crime to keep me guessing. The mother of the bride made me crazy, and I longed for someone to put her in her place. But she works well as a plot device to keep a wedding planner investigating a murder.

The theme for this cozy – destination wedding planner – is great. It gives options for awesome settings, diverse characters, and plenty of murderous shenanigans. Book 2 is Dying on the Vine and I am adding it to my TBR list!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

REVIEW: Death in Dark Blue by Julia Buckley

REVIEW: Death in Dark Blue by Julia Buckley

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Lena London may have proven her boyfriend, Sam West, innocent of murder. But his estranged wife, Victoria, is still missing. And plenty of people who were “certain” Sam was guilty – and treated him accordingly – need to eat crow.

That includes Victoria’s best friend, Taylor, a popular blogger who bashed Sam when he was being investigated. She promises to come to Blue Lake to apologize in person. But someone kills her before she can get to Sam.

It looks like Sam is in trouble again when Lena finds Taylor’s body on his property. The press have descended on Blue Lake like vultures. Lena is determined to clear Sam’s name and get back to some sort of peaceful existence and maybe pick up their budding romance. But even if she can find Taylor’s killer, they still have the mystery of Victoria hanging over their heads.

Review

This was excellent! And I am so pleased. I loved book one in the Writer’s Apprentice series, A Dark and Stormy Murder. I hoped Death in Dark Blue would be just as good and I was not disappointed.

The characters are great. I love Lena’s relationship with her boss/mentor, Camilla. We didn’t get to enjoy a lot of their writing work in this book, but it is still a fun thread. The core group working on the mystery is terrific. I loved the addition of the research librarian, Belinda. She totally earned an ARC of Lena and Camilla’s first book!

The mystery was good – solid suspects and great action. I could not puzzle out the solution until the end. What I love most about this series, though, is that unmasking Taylor’s killer isn’t the end of the story. The ongoing Victoria situation is still playing out as the story goes on, and it’s just as fun to watch that as it is the original mystery. Ms. Buckley does a great job of setting up this overarching plot between books – and may even have set up something else for future books down the line. It’s brilliant plotting and I love it. I highly recommend this series.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥