brown county indiana – Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery

Four Leaf Cleaver review

January 25, 2023January 25, 2023 Tari Hann

This is the eleventh book in the long-running Country Store Mysteries by Maddie Day aka Edith Maxwell. I’ve read this series from the beginning, and the characters are like old friends to me. I especially like Buck Bird–he’s such a good ole boy and turns a super colorful phrase. I got a good chuckle when Robbie and Abe were trying to one-up on how hungry they were by coming up with Buck-isms, lol. Too much fun! There’re a couple really fun things that happen after the perp’s hauled away, but you’ll need to read for yourself!

#KensingtonCozies #MaddieDay

My Goodreads review:

Four Leaf Cleaver by Maddie Day
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

At least this death in her building didn’t force Robbie to close the restaurant and shop part of her business, but her sleuthing kicked in and even old Oscar might’ve admitted she could be helpful. Well, except for when she’d fending off a killer and needs some backup.

I loved the family moments with Robbie and Sean. She even came up with a nickname for him that he approved of. He’s really grown into a super nice older teen, but he’d always been a pretty nice kid since he’s Abe’s son. Sean’ll make a good sleuthing buddy someday but for now it was safer to have him do online research. I did feel so sorry for Robbie who seemed to be surrounded by women with either new babies or babies on the way. I definitely was in her shoes at one point a long time ago.

Good news was celebrated by all at the end with all the pieces of the case fitting in and being explained. I’m eager to see what the next book brings!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Kensington Cozies via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

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Batter Off Dead review

February 22, 2022February 22, 2022 Tari Hann

This is the tenth book in the Country Store series that I’m happy to have read ever since its beginning. Robbie’s come a long way in all those years especially with being smarter and more careful during an investigation. But there’s always something that can’t be prevented when perps are involved, right? If you’re a fan of the series, you’re going to love meeting Buck’s dad, and I sure hope he returns for a visit soon!

My Goodreads review:

Batter Off Dead by Maddie Day
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved meeting Buck Bird’s dad, Grant (yep, the blurb has his name wrong). He cracks me up and always refers to Buck as Buckham, but Robbie loved him the minute they met and visited him several times. He did have a valuable clue even though he couldn’t see what was going on at the murder scene. I really hope Grant stays as an occasional character, and I’d love to see him come have breakfast with his bottomless pit son–wonder if he can still eat as much as Buck? lol

This was a twisty mystery with lots of red herrings and a tie to a cold case. I found myself favoring one suspect then changing my mind to someone else. Wow what a showdown, and go Robbie! She let that perp have it, never mind that Robbie might’ve been shaking in her boots the whole time. She acted brave, and that’s what counts. I love that despite her strong exterior, she can admit that it’s nice having a husband like Abe to hug on when all was said and done. He’s been so sweet in his support of her investigating.

Alana’s call to Robbie has me wondering now if the next book’s gonna have a fun little announcement. I know Robbie wants a kid or two, so when the time comes, I imagine even Aunt Adele might curb her traveling bug to be with the little stinker! I can’t wait to see Samuel whenever Robbie and Abe have kids–he’d be over the moon. I missed those two being physically present in this book!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by Kensington Cozies via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

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No Grater Crime review

August 23, 2021 Tari Hann

This is the ninth book in the Country Store series by Maddie Day who’s actually Edith Maxwell. She writes the Country Store and Cozy Capers Book Group under the Maddie Day name. I can’t believe Robbie and her friends have had nine adventures so far. It seems like I just started reading them, but it was actually in 2017 that I was really getting into cozy mysteries and had discovered this series. I always loved Adele’s friend Vera, and we got to have a visit from her in this book.

This book to me was so well-done that it had that first magic that drew me into the series from the beginning. I got that same warm feeling reading it that I did when I first met Robbie and crew. I enjoyed reading acknowledgements in a book to find out if some of the characters were named for real people or if real places were used. I was happy to find out there was a little of both again in this book. It’s just fun when authors do that if they happen to be friends with the people or had a great meal somewhere.

My Goodreads review:

No Grater Crime by Maddie Day
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was so pleased with this latest installment of the series! For some reason, the last couple or so hadn’t been the same to me as always, but this book was right on point and took me back to the reason I fell in love with this series in the very first book.

Wow what a wild mystery! I’d have been so mad at that darn woman opening up a food truck in front of my place if I was Robbie. She has much better control than I do, lol. Although with Robbie’s past track record, she does have to tread lightly or look like a killer. I had to giggle when she said she was trying harder not to do too-stupid-to-live moves. I do recall a few of those she’s had in the past, lol. But she’s definitely learned a lot over the past nine books! Now if only that darn phone of hers wouldn’t sprout legs and run back to her car! 😉

I had a feeling of who was behind everything, but to me the fun of the whole thing was proving it and finding out the why and who else might’ve been involved. There was one small sad moment, then there’s another moment you might want a tissue or two, but for a very happy occasion!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley, and my opinions are my own.

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Strangled Eggs and Ham review

June 27, 2019 Tari Hann

This is the sixth book in the Country Store series, another of my favorites by another favorite author, Maddie Day aka Edith Maxwell. I love the down home feeling in this series and how Robbie has taken to small town life in her little country store and restaurant. I may live in Ohio, but I love visiting Indiana and always feel at home there!

My Goodreads review:

Strangled Eggs and Ham by Maddie Day

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It’s like going home to friends every time I read a book in this series! This latest installment gave aunt Adele and her pal Vera a lot of storyline, and that was fun, since Adele is such a hoot and probably my favorite character. Vera is no slouch either. They both did great holding their own against a killer at the end of the book. I liked how Robbie has become even smarter when it comes to security and reporting everything to the police rather than taking off and winging it alone. Ok, well maybe she did the alone thing which was a bit nerve-wracking to read, but it was all good. I liked that Oscar Thompson and Buck’s cousin Wanda were back.

I was pretty close on who the killer was, but the chase was the best part and nailing this person. Robbie had a close encounter that she escaped from–as I said, she’s getting better at this. Abe was away for this story, but they at least kept in touch. Danna had a little more storyline as well. I love all Robbie’s employees. Each one of them has such an awesome personality and brings different and fun things happening when it’s their turn to work. As always, I’m anxious for the next book in the series!

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Death Over Easy–review

August 3, 2018August 3, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the fifth book in the Country Store series by popular author Maddie Day aka Edith Maxwell. Country Store quickly became a favorite series of mine and I’m always anxious to read the latest addition. It’s always well-written and lots of down home Indiana fun!

The picture I chose because of Mayor Corinne and her female bluegrass group. I have no idea who this group actually is, only that it came up under free-for-use pictures.

My Goodreads review:

Death Over Easy by Maddie Day

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I know I’ve said it before but this series just gets better and better! Every time I read one, it’s like going “back home…to Indiana” and I’m not even from there! But that’s how good of a job the author does in painting the hometown feeling for the small fictional town of South Lick, IN in the very real Brown County.

Robbie Jordan and her team were gearing up for the Bluegrass Festival and all the awesome business it would bring to her little country store and restaurant–and now her B&B. She’d succeeded in turning the upstairs into three B&B rooms, which were filled for the festival. One room was her very own Italian father, Roberto, and his wife. Robbie had recently found out that she had a living father and had previously visited him and his wife in Italy (this wasn’t in one of the books, just mentioned.) When not one but two murders of locals hit the small town during the festival, Robbie hasn’t really got time for physical investigating, but she still does a lot of questioning and dutifully reports everything she finds to the detective on the case, Anne Henderson. This detective is all business but she does show appreciation for tips that Robbie passed along to her.

I saw that someone else called the showdown with the killer “heart stopping” and I do have to agree! It was definitely exciting and I just couldn’t tap that Kindle fast enough to get the pages turned! I wasn’t happy until the exact end when I read the final outcome–ahh relief that everyone was now safe and the killer or killers were put away for a long time.

It seems like we got a really good sampling of all the favorites in this book. Adele and Samuel made several appearances and Phil brought in his yummy desserts, even staying to make brownie ice cream sandwiches. We got to see a lot of Abe and Robbie together, and the mayor herself even made an appearance with her very own bluegrass band. From what I’d read of the mayor before, this really seemed out of character and I could just see her 20-old-daughter, Danna (Robbie’s employee) cringing from embarrassment, lol. The festival seemed a lot of fun when there wasn’t a murder going on and I was glad to see Robbie got her B&B up and running. I’m pretty sure there’s another book coming and as usual, I can’t wait!

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