Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery

Murder Made to Order–review

July 2, 2018July 2, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the second in the All-Day Breakfast Café series by Lena Gregory, who also writes the Bay Island Psychic series that I just finished earlier this spring. I loved Scone Cold Killer, the first in this series and I think I like this book even more! I know from her other series, the books and characters just keep getting better! These two series are definitely ones that the friendship described and the emotions in those friendships can cause me to have a leaky eye or two! I just love the sweet dog in this series that Gia has adopted. I think the picture I found captures what Thor probably looks like a lot!

The third book, A Cold Brew Killing, releases in November, stay tuned because I will definitely be reading that one, possibly earlier than its release if I can get my hands on the ARC.

My Goodreads review:

Murder Made to Order by Lena Gregory

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It’s not every day that I can read a book practically non-stop but I sure did that with this one! This book was everything and more that I hoped the next in the series would be. An old mystery was solved, a couple of relationships got even better and Gia had a great personal epiphany.

Gia Morelli and her dog, Thor, were taking a walk in the park when she stumbled onto the body of the council member, Marcia Steers, who just the day before had urgently wanted to talk to her. Her detective friend, Hunter Quinn, aka Hunt, had been acting a little distant lately and Gia found out that before she’d come to Boggy Creek, Hunt and Marcia had been an item. Gia had trust issues but she learned to overcome them in this book and I have to say I’m proud of how she’s grown since the first book. Hunt was removed from the case due to his previous relationship with the deceased but Gia kept on investigating, along with her friend Savannah who was dating Hunt’s detective friend, Leo. Someone seemed to be stalking Gia and she hoped to get to the bottom of this mystery before she ended up dead like Marcia.

I just love this town and the main characters! I think if Earl was real, I’d just need to hug him, he’s that much of a sweetheart. I guess the only people I truly don’t like at all are Maybelle and her husband. Is it awful of me to keep wishing Maybelle is the perp so she’ll be out of the picture? 😉 Gia and Savannah are more than just friends, they’re like sisters and they seem to be lucky enough to have two of the greatest guys available. Some really awesome things happened in the course of the book, the showdown was exciting, what followed was totally sweet and Gia finally came to a decision about where she wanted to be. You’ll just have to read the book if you want to find out all these things. No worries, even though I read the first book, it had been awhile but I didn’t even have to refer to it since the author is really good about explaining previous happenings without giving away any of the spoilers from the first book.

Anxiously awaiting book three now!

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Body on Baker Street–review

July 2, 2018July 2, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the second book in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series by Vicki Delaney. I’ve read them out of order a little bit. I had started with the third book since I had the opportunity to receive a hard cover of it for doing a voluntary read and review. I read the first one this spring and since my library had this one on display, I grabbed it up.

My Goodreads review:

Body on Baker Street by Vicki Delany

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Now I’m all caught up and ready for whenever the fourth book comes out! This one was really good and especially interesting since it had to do with an author being killed in Gemma’s store.

Gemma had set up a last minute book signing at her store for a flamboyant but well-loved author. The woman wasn’t so well-loved in the die-hard Sherlock community though because Donald Morris, local Sherlock expert and fancier of all things Sherlock had angry words with her just before she face planted into the book she was signing. Poor Donald ended up arrested eventually and begged Gemma to look into this case for him. Since Gemma had higher-than-normal type senses and instincts, she agreed to see what she could do, all the while dodging snarky detective Louise Estrada and hoping for a little attention from her former boyfriend, detective Ryan Ashburton. Add to that, just trying to stay alive since the killer seemed to be getting worried at one point.

There were plenty of suspects but narrowed down probably just the normal amount, as well as twists and turns that had me doubting my first choice. It didn’t surprise me when I found out who it was but I hadn’t guessed the reasoning. The showdown was great and everything ended up working out for everyone involved, well except for the killer.

It was fun to see Jayne’s mom in the story since this is the first time she was featured. She seems really nice and your typical nurturing mom. I’m hoping that Gemma and Louise Estrada start getting along better. It seems like if each one of them would just give a little, it would work better. Gemma is so intelligent she just can’t help the comments she makes sometimes which is what usually makes Louise mad at her. I hope Gemma and Ryan can work things out and be together and it would be great to see Jayne eventually with someone other than Robbie (preferably Andy that likes her) Oh well these are just the fun side things. It’s always a great mystery at the Sherlock Bookshop!

I’m always happy to see cozy mysteries at my local library like this one so along with buying books, I do like to borrow them sometimes and let the library know there are definitely interested cozy fans in our little town.

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The Spook in the Stacks–review

June 30, 2018June 30, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the fourth book in the Lighthouse Library series by Vicki Delaney who also writes the Year Round Christmas series and the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series. I love both those series as well! I was excited to be chosen to get a hardback copy of this book to voluntarily read and review, courtesy of the publisher and a Facebook group I’m in.

My Goodreads:

The Spook in the Stacks by Eva Gates

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this much-anticipated book in the Lighthouse Library series. Even though I may be one of those who hasn’t read the others (yet, I do have them on hand) I didn’t feel lost at any time since the author does a great job of explaining and catching readers up without giving away any of the juicy details from the previous mysteries. I was super surprised at who the killer was and loved the showdown. Can we just say that book nerds rule? 😉 You’ll see what I mean when you read it!

Halloween was close and Lucy wasn’t anxious for it since it wasn’t a favorite holiday. One of the overly-enthusiastic volunteers of the Lighthouse Library, Louise Jane, was going to give some talks on local spooky legends. It was all fun and games until the body of Jay Ruddle, a wealthy octogenarian who was going to pass his nautical maps and papers collection on to the library, was found in the rare book rooms, a lot less than alive. His granddaughter, Julia, was the prime suspect. Lucy vowed she was not going to get involved, but we all know how that goes, right? She and her library director, Bertie, did some sleuthing and found some other suspects that could have had a reason to kill the old man. Hopefully they can find the real killer before the suspect herself becomes a victim!

I’ve only read this book in the series so far and already I love these characters! I can’t wait to start from the beginning and really see how it all began when Lucy arrived. The library cat, Charles, a Himalayan was so cool! He seems to have a sense about people he likes and loves to be petted and cuddled by anyone that comes into the library.

In this book it said that she’d only been in the Nags Head, NC area for several months so I guess the first three books cover a short time period and might be easy to binge read yet this summer, we’ll see! All I know is, I can highly recommend this book! Well-plotted and written, plenty of suspects and just a little hint of Halloween (possibly explainable lol) spookiness!

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Death in a Beach Chair–review

June 28, 2018June 28, 2018 Tari Hann

I doubt if I would have even known about this series had it not been chosen by a Facebook book club for discussing this weekend. I’m glad I found out about it but I think I would like to start it from the beginning. This is the fifteenth in the Susan Henshaw series by Valerie Wolzien. The book club theme was vacation or travel so I’m assuming that’s why our leader chose it. I really enjoyed it a lot!

My Goodreads review:

Death in a Beach Chair by Valerie Wolzien

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a very quick and fun summer read, set on a gorgeous Caribbean island resort. Even though I had never heard of the series or author before one of the online book clubs chose it for this weekend’s discussion, I felt like I knew the four main characters fairly well not too far into the book. It’s an older series but now I think I’d like to read more in it. It was well-written and moved at a good pace. I got a kick out of the bridge-playing older couples, they were hilarious at times.

This book had the two main couples, Susan and Jed Henshaw and Jerry and Kathleen Gordon, who happened to be best friends, going to the Caribbean, escaping a Connecticut winter for some much-needed rest and relaxation. When one of the resort guests was murdered, Jerry was taken in as the only suspect since it turned out that the victim was his deceased wife’s sister, Allison. Since Susan had a reputation for solving mysteries in her hometown, it didn’t take long for word to get around that maybe she could help–along with some other Miss Marple wannabes staying at the resort giving her their helpful observations about the victim, who had apparently been there awhile.

There were some good plot twists and it became apparent to Susan and Kathleen that someone didn’t want Jerry not to be accused of the murder. The solution was a pretty awesome twist that I never really saw coming. I did like that there wasn’t an actual showdown with the killer, just Susan saying she knew who the killer was, then flash forward 24 hours to a little casual answer session held by Susan at the resort for the people she’d gotten to know from asking around about Allison. Now the Henshaws and Gordons could relax and enjoy the rest of their tropical vacation!

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Death and a Pot of Chowder–review

June 27, 2018June 27, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the first book in a brand new series that launched earlier this month. I had requested the advance reader copy from NetGalley and voluntarily read and reviewed it. The series is written by Cornelia Kidd, which is the pen name for author Lea Wait who also writes the Mainely Needlepoint mysteries, which I’ve been wanting to read. I really loved this first book and hope that she’s got lots more in store for these awesome characters!

My Goodreads review:

Death and a Pot of Chowder by Cornelia Kidd

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the first book in this brand new series! I love that it takes place in Maine. I have never been there but I love reading about it and hopefully will get to go someday and see some real Maine lighthouses. The author is also known as Lea Wait but I haven’t read any of her other series yet but I know I really am liking this one so far.

Anna Winslow was happily living with her husband Burt and 14 year-old-son Jake. Out of the blue, she got a letter from Izzie Jordan who said she was her half-sister. Anna was delighted to have a sister so she brought her to stay with them at Quarry Island and they really hit it off. They got their first chance at really working together when Burt’s brother Carl was found at sea but hadn’t drowned, it was murder. Since Burt had motive, means and opportunity, he was arrested for the murder. Izzie and Anna were determined to get Burt out of jail. After that they’d talked about owning a restaurant together but I thought it was really awesome on Izzie’s part to put Burt as a priority.

Izzy was really an amazing sister that anyone would be proud to have. She was generous and loyal, pitched right in when she started staying with Anna. I loved Mamie as well. She was everything you’d expect a sweet grandmother to be–she cooked, she fussed over people but she also listened.

There were a couple of side mysteries going on and I guessed one of them at least. I had the killer wrong but I wasn’t too far off. It was fun seeing how Izzie, Anna and their friend Rob, a retired detective would handle the showdown. Everything wrapped up really well. There was one interesting clue that wasn’t addressed, as in someone said oh yeah, that’s why that was. I don’t want to say what it was but it had to do with Burt’s tablet. That clue told me part of what I guessed.

I think it’s so cool that two sisters found each other and worked together to solve a murder. Now they want to be business partners and I can’t wait to see what happens next!

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Murder with Cinnamon Scones–review

June 26, 2018June 26, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the second book in the Daisy’s Tea Garden series by Karen Rose Smith. In one of the Facebook book clubs I’m in, we loved the first book so much, we wanted to have Karen come back to another online meeting so we could discuss this book this month. I’m anxious now for the next book in the series!

My Goodreads review:

Murder with Cinnamon Scones by Karen Rose Smith

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was an awesome addition to this new series! I didn’t guess the killer and I am glad that Daisy has finally come to her senses about one of the handsome men in her life.

It was January in Willow Creek and the store owners were all gearing up for a Quilt Lovers’ Weekend that would bring in extra business to an otherwise slow time of year. When Tessa’s boyfriend Reese, who runs the local art gallery, was killed near where Tessa liked to paint, of course she’s the prime suspect. Daisy was determined to back her best friend and find out who the real killer was. After the murder weapon was planted in Tessa’s apartment, it was pretty clear that someone was out to frame her. In her digging, Daisy found out that Reese wasn’t exactly who Tessa always thought he was. Who hated Reese enough to want him dead? Someone from the town or someone from his secret past?

I loved visiting Willow Creek again. Aunt Iris is such a sweetheart although the same really can’t be said for her sister who is Daisy’s mom. Iris and Daisy have a great relationship though and it seems to make up for anything Rose has fallen short on as a mother. Rose isn’t a bad mom, just has more expectations than Daisy would care for. I liked that Jazzi’s birth mom got to get with her again. I’m not sure how that will go but I’m pretty confident that Jazzi will never abandon Daisy for her. It was so cute how Foster and Violet were dating whenever Vi was home from college.

I hope this series goes on for a long time and am definitely looking forward to the next book!

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Bloom and Doom–review

June 24, 2018June 24, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the first book in the Bridal Shop Bouquet series, written by Beverly Allen, which is the pen name of author Barbara Early who recently started the Vintage Toy Shop series. After reading this book, I can’t wait to read her other series. She has a really fun writing style!

My Goodreads review:

Bloom and Doom by Beverly Allen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I don’t know a lot about flowers and have never really been too interested in them but I’m really glad this was picked for a June book club discussion. I had been wanting to read it because I knew that even though I wasn’t a big flower fan, it still had to be a good background for a mystery series and boy is it!

Audrey Bloom and her cousin Liv co-owned a florist shop in Ramble, Virginia that they had been running for five years. They were starting to get some interesting customers like the mayor’s daughter who had a huge wedding planned. But one of the recent customers, a former childhood friend of Audrey’s named Jenny, wasn’t going through with her wedding. When her fiance’ turned up stabbed to death in his car outside her apartment, of course Jenny was the prime suspect. Audrey felt an obligation to look into the case and with the help of handsome baker and business neighbor, Nick Maxwell, one night of sleuthing actually turned out fairly hilarious.

There was a little side mystery as well with the girls’ longtime friend and flower grower, Larry. He was acting a little suspicious and not letting anyone into his newest greenhouse. At the same time, the police chief had been investigating some marijuana growing in the area.

Everything worked out great in the end with a pretty exciting showdown with the killer and a couple of people had some exciting news towards the end as well. The killer was a total surprise to me!

I love this author’s writing style, with humor sprinkled throughout the book but not overdone. If it wasn’t in actions, it was in the description of things told from Audrey’s point of view and I found myself giggling more than once. The author is also known as Barbara Early so this makes me even more anxious to read her Vintage Toy Shop series!

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Pasta Mortem–review

June 23, 2018June 23, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the seventh book in the Supper Club series by Ellery Adams. This one was also co-written by Rosemary Stevens. I’m all caught up now and ready for the next book. This series makes me laugh, smile and get leaky eyes all in the course of one book.

My Goodreads review:

Pasta Mortem by Ellery Adams

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think this has to be the best book yet in this series! Just everything about it, the mystery itself to the characters’ personal relationships just shines.

It was close to mid-February in Quincy’s Gap and the town was buzzing for a couple of different reasons. A beloved TV show from the late 80s was having a reunion party in a neighboring town and one of the cast members just happened to be editor of a southern type living magazine that had just published an article on why Quincy’s Gap was one of the most desired small towns to live in. The five friends were pretty livid about this as was the rest of the town. For one thing, nosy reporter and newspaper owner Murphy who had acted like she was their friend but had written some murder mysteries with them all as characters, had been going around taking everyone’s pictures claiming she’d use it in one of her newspaper articles. Instead it was part of this magazine spread. Citizens were not happy since it would me overcrowding of schools and just generally overcrowding of everything. The people in Quincy’s Gap liked being a small town and wanted it to stay that way.

When Murphy’s new real estate partner was killed in that bed and breakfast, the police of course turned to Murphy as prime suspect. The five supper club friends were torn about working on this case since Murphy hadn’t been so nice to them just recently. They all decided she could be nasty but she was not a killer. This mystery had a lot of fun twists and turns. I sure never saw the reveal coming. The very ending was probably the sweetest most awesome thing I’ve read in a long time!

I liked how the characters’ personal lives all had something similar going on. The couples were having issues with their couple lives, just like real life people do, and they had to figure out how to fix that while working the case. I admired how they did put their family and personal problems first though. By Valentine’s Day, everyone had a very satisfactory solution to their issues and all five friends could truthfully say they were very happy.

I really hope there are more books coming in this series. I would be sad if this series did end but I think this book was so good that if for some reason that happened, we have some great closure and memories of our friends knowing they’re all doing well. More books would be better though so being an optimist, I will keep hoping! If you love the recipes in this series, you’ll love that there are nine of them at the end of this book.

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Wagging Through the Snow–review

June 22, 2018June 22, 2018 Tari Hann

I took a little detour from the Supper Club series I’ve been reading (no worries, I will get right back to it) when my daughter and I ran into town. She wanted to do some writing at the library so I tagged along and brought one of the books I took out a few days ago, which was this book, the 21st book in the Melanie Travis series by Laurien Berenson. I love dogs so it’s no surprise that a Melanie Travis book (Death of a Dog Whisperer, #17 in the series) was one of the first cozy mysteries I had ever read–before I had actually heard of cozy mysteries and knew it was a thing. I finished this quickly so I’ll be getting back to James Henry and friends soon! 😉

My Goodreads review:

Wagging through the Snow by Laurien Berenson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a really fun and fairly quick read set at Christmastime. I’m not quite as strict with myself in reading this series in order since for one thing, this was only my second I’ve read but I had read the 17th book before I even realized it was a series. Probably the only downside to not starting at the top would be not following the family development in order but it’s easy to pick up on while reading.

Melanie Travis’s brother Frank is Mel’s ex-husband’s (Bob) business partner and when he bought a Christmas tree farm without consulting Bob, Melanie thought he was nuts. When they all went to see it, they ran across the dead body of a homeless guy who people had only known as Pete. Of course Aunt Peg was always up for snooping so they went to where Frank had said Pete must have been staying, a shack on the property. Melanie found a class ring and starting with that, she was able to unravel a lot of things about Pete’s life, some more confusing than others. Contrary to the town he lived in saying he was always a drunk, Pete’s sponsor in sobering up swore that he had changed. Melanie felt the need to continue to prove that Pete was murdered.

I haven’t read enough of these to really have a favorite character except for Aunt Peg. I guess because she’s such a strong character. I kind of remember in the first book I read I wasn’t sure if I liked her or not but she sure saved the day in this book! I had honestly not figured out the killer. The book was quick to read but well-written and plotted out. Sometimes I like to read a book that moves a little bit faster and of course I’m always a sucker for Christmas themes. I saw this at my library on the new shelf and since I’m always in favor of telling libraries I love cozy mysteries, I couldn’t resist getting it. I do want to read more in the series, maybe I will actually start at the beginning who knows!

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Black Beans and Vice–review

June 22, 2018June 22, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the fifth book in the Supper Club series that was given a complete overhaul and now has recipes in each book. There were several memorable things happening in this book and as you’ll see from my Goodreads review below, I didn’t even do a regular synopsis for fear of spoiling something in case someone just surfed in and got this review without reading the others. To get the most enjoyment from the series, I would totally recommend reading it in order.

My Goodreads review:

Black Beans & Vice by Ellery Adams

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The series is just progressively getting better as everyone’s story unfolds and relationships develop while friendships continue to grow. This story was very bittersweet in some spots but the parties involved ended up with a happily ever after or a very nice outcome. There was one little thing that remains hanging but I have no doubt that since it’s been spread over several books, it’ll be resolved soon. A couple of my faves were in physical danger for a bit but all became ok again.

I’m not going to write my usual synopsis since there are quite a few little subplots that I don’t want to spoil for anyone but instead of the usual small mystery happening at the library, something was going on in Jane and James’s lives that had to be taken care of. I didn’t guess the killer at all in the main mystery and even though there was no official showdown except for Lucy telling the story, sometimes I like it that way. The police have handled it, our friends aren’t in danger. I really love that Lucy became a deputy since it’s caused the sheriff’s department to put more faith in the five friends than they would have in the beginning. Lucy’s a good deputy too and she fiercely protects her friends while doing everything within the law. I think they might have come to a truce with Murphy as well!

Moving along to the seventh and final (for now, I hope there will be more!) book.

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