cozy mystery – Page 69 – Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery

Christmas Cake Murder–review

November 4, 2018November 4, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the twenty-third book in the Hannah Swenson series by Joanne Fluke. This is one of the first series that got me started reading cozy mysteries, and I also love the movies on the Hallmark Mystery channel that were based on the characters.

This one starts in the past when Hannah was first opening the Cookie Jar. It was fun to read about Andrea and Bill when they were nearly first married and expecting their first child, and before Andrea became a real estate agent. The mystery was quite a bit different from usual, but not in a bad way.

My Goodreads review:

Christmas Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this little trip back in time to when Hannah Swenson made the decision to open her bakery. It was interesting to see what her life was like before she had the Cookie Jar, or her cat Moishe.

To bring Delores out of her depression over her husband’s death, her friends asked her to put together a Christmas Ball for one of the community’s most beloved members, Essie Granger. In going through Essie’s things, Hannah found some notebooks that told an interesting but unfinished tale of a young woman on the run from a hit man. She had been pregnant and the story ended abruptly as the baby started to come. At the ball, when an attempt on Essie’s life was made, Hannah knew they had to put the pieces of this puzzle together and find out who wanted to kill the sweetest woman in town…and why. Did it have anything to do with those notebooks?

The story was quite a bit different from the usual Hannah Swenson I’m used to reading. It did move a little slowly at first when there wasn’t much action going on, but at least the story was interesting enough and filled to the brim with the most delicious-sounding food and desserts! I keep saying I’m going to try one of these recipes some day! I liked the side story that Essie wrote too. It ended up with a very sweet ending, just like this book had! Even though Christmasy thing told about in the book was the Christmas Ball, the book was still very heart-warming and perfect for the magical holiday season.

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Tandem Demise-review

November 4, 2018November 4, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the long-awaited third book in the Cycle Path series by Duffy Brown, which takes place on Mackinac Island. This series along with another cozy set there were what inspired me and my family to visit Mackinac this fall. I love how Duffy uses real names of the places.

When I read this last week, I could just picture being back on the island. Having visited, it’s so much easier to picture places that are mentioned in the book now. Once I’m done with craft shows for the season and feel more caught up with the ARCs I need to read, I hope to get out the first two in this series since it has been over a year since I read them.

I did receive an e-copy of the book from the author (but when it released I also bought the Kindle version). My review was voluntary and my opinions are my own.

Here’s my Goodreads review:
Tandem Demise by Duffy Brown

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh my goodness, this was soooo good! It was well worth the wait! I’m not sure whether it was because I had recently been to Mackinac Island or just the fact that all of us fans were so starved for another book in this series that I tended to enjoy this book a lot more than I usually enjoy a book. I like to think it’s a little of both, and mainly that the author just does an amazing job of capturing funny, serious. a little romantic and sometimes downright slapstick moments in her characters, particularly Evie. Evie is definitely someone that I would want to be friends with! Except I probably ride a bike about as well as she does, which is not saying much! We would always have to take Fiona or Donna’s carriage on sleuthing missions.

In this new installment, it started right off the bat with Fiona and Evie finding a body on the dock. There was another murder later in the book. I’m sure by the time the person is killed, you’ll have guessed who was getting killed. 😉 I had a pretty good idea of who the killer was, but a couple of times I was nearly fooled into believing otherwise.

Some of my favorite characters got some featured time with Evie, like Irish Donna that has the shop Blarney Scones. She got to go sleuth with Evie. Evie’s mom’s boyfriend Angelo, a retired mob boss that I absolutely love, got to go on one of her lock-picking missions with her. Fiona was in rare form because she had fallen head over heels in love with Nate’s police friend, Finn, who came to the island to help investigate the first murder.

It’s not necessary to read these books in order, but I would highly recommend doing that before reading this one. That way, you’ll get the feel for the island and characters, learn about Nate and Evie’s history, see how Evie’s mom ended up there, just fun things like that. The author does a great job of catching readers up, but honestly, read the other books first, you’ll love them!

There were lots of secrets, red herrings and just plain fun times on Mackinac Island in this book. I didn’t want the book to end! After the exciting showdown as well as the sweetest ending though, I can’t wait for more! Hmm, maybe a book about the coming winter? 😉

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In Cold Chocolate–review

October 26, 2018October 26, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the third book in the newer series, Southern Chocolate Shop by Dorothy St. James. Real life is happening in the form of craft shows for me, but I had a little break in the action to read all three in this series. I had requested this as an ARC from NetGalley and wanted to be sure I got my review done for it.

It’s not totally necessary to read this series in order, but I’m glad that I did. It helped me to understand the character relationships and see them develop. The author does a great job of catching up without being too repetitive. I can’t wait for book 4!

My Goodreads review:

In Cold Chocolate by Dorothy St. James

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This installment definitely didn’t disappoint! It was a real page turner at times and even though Penn got some weird news at one point, the book still had a good ending.

Penn’s new relatives have been making it really hard for her by continuing to contest the will and spreading rumors that she’ll lose the shop. As if she didn’t have enough on her plate, the most disliked woman in town, Jody (Harley’s ex) was found standing over her dead lover on the beach. Harley’s son begged Penn to find the killer so his mom could come home. Not wanting to disappoint a little boy, Penn ignored the danger that could be and was involved in investigating. The real perp was flushed out, a little boy was happy again…and so was Penn.

I really love the character of Frank Gibbons, the detective that has been on all three of the books’ cases. He’s so much more understanding than Chief Byrd. While Byrd thinks Penn is just a menace who brought mainland killers to the island with her, Gibbons honestly cares about her well-being. She has a feeling that if her own dad had been a normal father, this is what it would be like to have someone care what happens to you. I was happy that she and Harley came to a good understanding, making a little more progress in their relationship. Penn and Althea had a falling-out, but I’m sure by the next book, Penn will be ready to forgive her and move on.

I also thought it was cool that even though Penn has issues following Mabel’s recipes, she’s becoming really creative in the candy kitchen and developing some flavors and products herself. I think she’ll always be grateful for Bertie since Penn’s attempts at Mabel’s recipes usually result in the waste of good chocolate lol. Little Stella the Papillon got some more story this time since a local woman named Lidia is helping Penn to train the little ankle biter. She told Penn that Stella is picking up on her fear of love. As Penn progresses with her own life, hopefully Stella will too! The cover pics of Stella are so stinking cute that I really hope she turns into a nice, behaved dog.

I did guess the killer correctly and eventually figured out the why before it was revealed. But it was still fun watching Penn and her friends track them down. The showdown was really good!

I’m so anxious now for the next book but I’m sure it might be awhile. That’s the only drawback when you binge-read everything so far in a series. 😉 There are more recipes in the back of this book. I like how there’s a little comment before each one–it’s supposed to look like they’ve been published in the local newspaper.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book provided by the publisher via NetGalley.

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Playing with Bonbon Fire–review

October 26, 2018October 26, 2018 Tari Hann

The second book in the Southern Chocolate Shop series by Dorothy St. James was another awesome read. Five months has passed since the first book, and we are in June at Camellia Beach, a typical and steamy summer with a not-so-typical murder of a singer at the beach music festival that Penn has helped plan.

My Goodreads review:

Playing With Bonbon Fire: A Southern Chocolate Shop Mystery by Dorothy St. James

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’m really enjoying this series! This book takes place in June during a beach music festival that Penn helped organize. When one of the singers that was going to perform was killed, Penn was worried that it was meant for another singer. This led to events that happened back in the summer of 1975 and what may have happened to Penn’s birth mother. There was a tangled web of lies, deception, blackmail over the years and it was fun to watch it all play out. I had suspected the person who ended up as the killer, but as usual, didn’t know all the details.

I loved it that Penn’s half-sister, Tina, came to visit. She was such a fun character and a really good helper when it came to sleuthing or running the chocolate shop. I hope she visits again! We found out a little more about Bertie’s background, which just ended up making her even more lovable. Penn got the answers she was looking for regarding her birth mother. Chief Byrd wasn’t as rough on Penn this time around since Detective Gibbons was doing most of the sleuthing, but he still held to his belief that Penn brought murder and troublemakers to their peaceful little island town.

I’m glad that Penn feels like she’s finally got a real family. She’s much closer to Tina now than ever even though Tina has always defended her. I hope Penn’s friendship with Harley becomes a little more than just friendship. I’ll be starting the next book today.

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Asking for Truffle–review

October 26, 2018October 26, 2018 Tari Hann

I started this series from the beginning since I have the ARC for the third book. I wanted to read them in order, since I feel that’s really helpful sometimes. This was such a fun beginning for this series! I really love the characters, especially Bertie! Mabel was awesome too.

My Goodreads review: (I had started this book over a month before I finished it, but that was only because of real life things I needed to do instead of read, yeah it’s rough not to have time to read!)

Asking for Truffle by Dorothy St. James

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow I can’t believe it’s been that long since I started this book! I really wanted to have finished it, the second and third books by now, but we all know how real life is! Anyway, I absolutely loved this book!

Charity Penn, aka Penn, was called to Camellia Beach, SC by her friend Skinny McGee. He had some amazing news to share with her, but by the time she got down there, he’d been murdered. Now Penn felt like she needed to stay to figure out what happened to him–and she was curious about the partial DNA report that was found in Skinny’s pocket–could she be related to someone in Camellia Beach? In the meantime, the local chocolate shop owner, Mabel, took Penn under her wing and began teaching her the chocolate making trade. Her untimely death caused Penn to inherit the shop, much to her surprise and the surprise of Mabel’s kids. There were suspects everywhere as Penn soon found out as she investigated on her own. Hopefully she would live till the fifth day after the will reading!

The action just never stopped during the last 65% of the book. I started having suspicions about the person who ended up being the killer, but I wasn’t really sure about the reasoning. Penn met some wonderful new friends in Camellia Beach, and even though she has trust issues about getting close to people, by the end of the book I could tell she had found some genuine friends that she cared about. I am planning to start the next book right away and head into the third.

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Dead and Berried–review

September 24, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the second book in the Gray Whale Inn series by Karen MacInerney. I’m really loving this series and plan to eventually continue reading in it. I had read this book last year as well, but fortunately Goodreads lets you count rereads (I didn’t realize that till recently). One of my Facebook book clubs is discussing the book later this week. I really enjoyed it and hadn’t remembered a lot of what happened, not even the killer!

My Goodreads review:

Dead and Berried by Karen MacInerney

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ve read this again, so I’m revising my original review. Even though I read it before, it was still a book I couldn’t put down.

Nathalie Barnes has her hands full. More developers are threatening her beloved island, her ex-fiancé is trying to get her to move back to Texas with him by tempting her with getting her a B&B there, an annoying guest is supposedly wanting to open her own B&B while picking Nat’s brain for ideas, not to mention there are a couple of murders, one of which Nat and Charlene are prime suspects.

In the meantime, Nat’s bestie, Charlene has a new boyfriend, the local pastor named Richard. Nat wasn’t really crazy about him which made Charlene mad, so she didn’t speak to Nat for awhile in the book. We got to meet Charlene’s teenage niece Tania who sometimes ran the store for her. Besties can’t stay mad forever, so of course they shook hands and made up.

I read this book late in 2017 for a book club and have reread it for another book club since I wasn’t really staying very clear on who the killer was along with other details. I didn’t really guess it this time around either until the reveal which was pretty exciting. John once again got to show how sweet of a guy he is by being at Nat’s side when she was (again) in the hospital at the end.

The very ending was cute with a hint of a ghost being put to rest. Earlier in the book, Nat had been hearing things in the attic, but that turned out to be something tangible. There was an old murder case from the 1800s that was solved by Nat finding a diary in the parsonage. I think the girl’s ghost was just trying to say thank you for finding out the truth behind her death.

There are some more recipes that Natalie made in this book. They can be found at the end of the book. The picture above was the closest I could find to Vanilla Flan.

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Murder on the Rocks–review

September 24, 2018September 24, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the first book in the Gray Whale Inn series by Karen MacInerney. Karen also writes the Dewberry Farm series which I also like.

My Goodreads review:

Murder on the Rocks by Karen MacInerney

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I remembered reading this before but somehow I missed reviewing it or even marking it as read. The story was familiar as I read it this time. Luckily I’d forgotten who the killer was!

Natalie Barnes bought an old bed and breakfast on Cranberry Island but soon found out that a developer named Bernard Katz was planning a huge resort for the area. This would be competition for her B&B, so it was no surprise that when Nat found Katz dead on the rocks, she was the primary suspect. Her friend and neighbor John who was also the island deputy tried to give her as much help and support as he could, but he still didn’t approve when Nat and her friend Charlene decided to investigate.

I had no idea who the killer would be since it didn’t seem directly related to the guy who was killed but it all wrapped up and made total sense later. I hope that Natalie and John have a nice future ahead of them, but they’re just starting out liking each other. I really liked Nat’s friend Charlene. She was funny but really helpful and a loyal friend to Nat. Nat’s niece Gwen who was staying at the B&B while she took art classes also turned out to be a really nice girl. She surprised her aunt sometimes by cleaning the rooms or doing little things without her asking.

I loved the setting of this book since it was an island with mainly one store and restaurant–and one B&B. At the end of the book you’ll find some of the yummy-sounding recipes that Natalie made. The Acknowledgements section is interesting too since it points out that while the Cranberry Isles are real, everything else, including the type of tern mentioned was part of the author’s imagination. Yes, I’m an acknowledgements nerd!

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Forever Fudge–review

September 24, 2018September 24, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the sixth book in the Candy-Coated series by Nancy CoCo (aka Nancy J. Parra, Nell Hampton) and I absolutely loved it! It was even more special since I started it while we were still on Mackinac Island last week and I could picture the various places mentioned. This series and another cozy series (Cycle Path by Duffy Brown) are what inspired me to visit Mackinac Island. I’m so anxious now for the next book to come out. The official release date for this one is September 25. My Kindle copy I purchased will arrive tonight at midnight!

I won a paperback advance copy of the book from one of the author’s giveaways on Facebook, but that in no way influenced my decision to review or the review I gave–all that was voluntary.

My Goodreads review:

Forever Fudge by Nancy CoCo

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I had the pleasure of starting this paperback ARC that I won from the author while I was vacationing on Mackinac Island! It was seriously too fun to be able to read and picture some of the places that Allie goes while sleuthing or on her daily rounds. I even visited the bookstore there and talked to the woman in charge who told me she thought the McMurphy was based on one of the hotels (I won’t mention which one, not sure if I’m allowed to) and probably others along Main Street as well. I will say that I bought fudge from this particular hotel and it was amazing!

In this installment taking place on Labor Day weekend, Mal sniffs out another murder right away, then soon a TV crew follows since they are filming a mystery series pilot on the island. Rex gets to be shadowed by an actor named Dirk who is supposed to play the police chief in the series. The clues after the first murder occurs are given in the form of chess game clues, and the clues and another murder seem to follow Allie’s previous case locations. Someone had to know her history of helping solve murders on the island, and Allie had her suspicions after a writer for the show said he’d been on the island since May when Allie herself had first arrived.

There was no shortage of suspects and I was really surprised at who the killer turned out to be as it definitely wasn’t who I had in mind. I love how the characters have developed since the first book. Jenn, Allie’s bestie has been on the island all summer (which has me a little confused wondering where the two Christmas novellas are supposed to come in if Allie has only been there since May and this book is taking place in September–maybe parallel time?) helping her with the hotel and running her own events planning service. It’s still up and down as far as the Trent vs. Rex guy-Allie-will-pick decision goes, although I think Allie is realizing that Trent’s heart isn’t really in the island as Rex’s is. I’m personally Team Rex myself, lol.

Two of my favorite characters were on their honeymoon, so they were definitely missed. Jenn and Shane are still an item even though Jenn had to go off to another job for awhile. I absolutely cannot wait for the next book in this awesome series! Now that I’ve been to Mackinac, I want to read the series again (as well as another cozy series that inspired me to want to visit Mackinac) with a new set of eyeballs that’s seen this amazing and magical place. I have most of the series on Kindle or iBooks. Maybe on my next Mackinac trip, I’ll get those in paperback since the cover art is always so cute–and it would make for the perfect souvenir.

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The Ghost and Mrs. McClure–review

September 24, 2018September 24, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the first book in the Haunted Bookshop series by Alice Kimberley, who is half the writing team of Cleo Coyle. Alice and her husband Marc are continuing this series under their Cleo Coyle name. The latest book will be out September 25. I know I won’t be caught up by then, but I do plan to read this series in order and savor every minute of fun with the ghost of Jack Shepard.

My Goodreads review:

The Ghost and Mrs. McClure by Alice Kimberly

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With the newest of this series coming out soon, I just had to start the series so I would know what the buzz about Jack Shepard was. I can definitely say I’m in love with that ghost, lol! What an amazing character! He and Pen worked well together as a sleuthing team…once he convinced her that she wasn’t crazy and that yes, she really could hear him in her brain. Jack talked her through a very cool sting operation to get the perp to confess. It worked and the person who killed the famous author in Pen’s store was in custody.

I really enjoyed the character of Pen’s son, Spencer. He wasn’t your typical kid. I imagined him as Young Sheldon only with a little more of a loving nature. I liked that he and Pen were strong enough to stand up to her late husband’s family and let them know that Spencer wasn’t going to cave and do what their McClure children did in high society. Spence loved the bookstore and helping his mom. I enjoyed the interaction of Aunt Sadie, although aside from Pen, Spencer and Jack, it’s pretty clear that as nice as she is, those three are the primary characters, at least in this book. The cookie bakery owners, Linda and Milner seemed like nice people. Milner was a good comic relief at times.

I can’t wait to read the next book. I really am going to make myself wait before I dig into the 6th book when it releases. I want to savor all the awesomeness that is Jack Shepard!

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A Tale of Two Biddies–review

September 23, 2018September 23, 2018 Tari Hann

This was the second book I read during our road trip and vacation last week. I read a total of six books, and I will be posting them here during the next few days. This was another fun installment in this series, League of Literary Ladies by Kylie Logan. I wanted to be caught up before our book discussion on the third book next month.

My Goodreads review:

A Tale of Two Biddies by Kylie Logan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed the first book of this series that I read earlier this spring. When I found out one of the book groups I’m in on Facebook was going to discuss the third book in October, I thought that while I was on vacation last week I’d read the second book. I had already felt like I knew these ladies and they were friends I was going back to visit.

When Bea Cartwright found the body of a local guy named Richie, everyone wondered if he really had been killed as he’d feared ever since a few days before when he said he was pushed into the water. The town was having a Bastille themed festival, and that included a heavy-metal band named Guillotine. It turned out that Richie had a few secrets he’d been keeping, one which most likely led to his murder.

I was really surprised when the killer was revealed. It was a great plot twist! I can’t wait to read the next since it’s a Halloween theme!

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