cozy mystery – Page 72 – Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery

Cat About Town–review

August 4, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the first book in the Cat Cafe series by Cate Conte, who may be better known as Liz Mugavero who writes the Pawsitively Organic series. I had been wanting to start this series, so when I ordered the second book in the Cat Cafe series and had requested it from NetGalley, I had a feeling I’d want to read this first book first.

My Goodreads review:

Cat About Town: A Cat Cafe Mystery by Cate Conte

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was such a fun setting and mystery! I just loved that Maddie came to help her grandpa and ended up staying there. I hope the next book reveals the mysterious benefactor.

Maddie James was back home on Daybreak Island off the coast of Massachusetts for her grandma’s funeral. She was staying with her Grandpa Leo, who had been the town’s former chief of police and found out that the president of the chamber of commerce was badgering him to sell his home that had been in their family for generations, just for the land it sat on. On the other hand, some unknown benefactor was paying for the roof to be replaced along with some other repairs. When this chamber president ends up dead, there was no shortage of suspects, since no one in town really liked him or his treatment of some of the small businesses who didn’t see eye to eye with his forward-moving plans. When another body turned up, Maddie knew she’d have to keep checking into things. Hopefully she would live to catch the killer…or were there two since there were two killings?

Everything came together at the end with the perp(s) caught and Grandpa’s new job revealed. He got an offer from an unknown source to fix up his home if he turned it into a cat cafe. Maddie, being great with business and having an awesome business partner in California, realized that this was something she was being called to do.

There were some really awesome characters in this book that I quickly fell in love with, one of course being Grandpa. What a sweetheart! I’d like to see more of Maddie’s sisters and learn something more about them. I thought Leopard Man was pretty cool. Eccentric, weird but that man is no dummy.

I can’t wait to read the next book and hopefully find out who this kind person was that was helping Grandpa–I have my own theory as to what person it might be. I’m also anxious to see if Maddie ends up choosing one of the three men she’s come into contact with now that she was back home, or if she just hangs out with them as friends. Two of them showed more interest in her as far as dating. I think I’m Team Craig because I just like the whole idea of getting back together with a high school sweetheart. But only the author knows for sure. I hope this series will continue beyond book 2.

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Knot My Sister’s Keeper–review

August 3, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the sixth book in a fairly long-running series called A Quilting Mystery by Mary Marks. It doesn’t take place in a super small town like most of us are used to reading about in cozies, but the friends are so fun and genuine, that I really forgot that they all lived in the Los Angeles area. I definitely want to start at the beginning and see how this one got started since I really enjoyed this sixth addition so much. I need to know what I was missing out on 😉

Note about the image: This is the design of the quilt that Giselle’s grandmother had made, Grandmother’s Flower Garden. I wanted to have a picture of an actual quilt, but all the images said Etsy on them even though I Google-searched for ones that were licensed for reuse. I definitely didn’t want to use someone’s photo. This one shows the design, so just imagine that over and over and over on a large quilt.

My Goodreads review:

Knot My Sister’s Keeper by Mary Marks

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I normally don’t read a series out of order, but sometimes if a new book to a longer-running series comes out and I’ve been wanting to try the series, I’ll jump in and do that. I’m definitely going to start this one from the beginning. This book was so good, I found it hard to put it down. I quickly grew to like all the regular characters and the idea of the quilting meetings.

Martha Rose was just getting used to being someone’s fiancee when she found out she had a wealthy half-sister who lived nearby, who just happened to also be CEO of an oil company. When they got together, they found out they did both have things in common, mainly the desire to find out what happened in the case investigating their dad’s disappearance 32 years ago. I thought it was kind of interesting and different for the murder to have occurred that long ago instead of having a current murder to solve. Martha and her new sister, Giselle, become friends fairly quickly despite Giselle’s outspoken and seemingly rude comments. Martha found that it was just who she was, but Giselle did try to rein herself in sometimes.

Not only had Martha gained a fiance and sister in a short period of time, she also learned of another couple of someones to join their family. I won’t say who they are so that I don’t spoil it. The cold case murder involved finding and talking to detectives that had worked the case so long ago. One detective had dementia now, but Martha and Giselle felt that she held the key to what had really happened to their father. They did finally get some closure and the story had a really nice ending. I’m definitely curious to see how this all started out. The author does a nice job of getting readers acquainted with the characters but doesn’t let any of the previous murder spoilers slip out, which I definitely appreciated since this was my first in this series to read, but it definitely won’t be my last. Very well written and well-plotted!

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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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Town in a Blueberry Jam–review

August 1, 2018August 1, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the first book in the fairly long-running Candy Holliday series, written by B.B. Haywood starting in 2010. There are eight books total so far, the most recent having been released in April 2017. I can’t wait to read more!

My Goodreads review:

Town in a Blueberry Jam by B.B. Haywood

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There is nothing as handy as belonging to a bunch of online book clubs! I’m always getting to start books that I wondered when I would ever get around to starting. I’m so glad the club chose this book! I really enjoyed reading about the small fictional town of Cape Willington, Maine and getting to know Candy Holliday, her dad Doc and Candy’s best friend, Maggie Tremont.

In the prologue, it described a man falling to his rocky death off a cliff in Cape Willington. As the book started, it was July and time for the annual Blueberry Festival in town. Everyone was excited, but there was a somberness in the air since the police had just reported the murder of Jock Larson, a local man who thought he was a celebrity since he was an ex-Olympic swimmer. He also thought he was God’s gift to women and a lot of people weren’t that sad to see him dead. When a local gossip column woman was crowned Blueberry Queen (instead of the usual younger high school girl), then the woman was found dead in her own home, all fingers pointed to Ray, a local handyman since it appeared that his hammer was found at the scene. Everyone had a soft spot for Ray who was the gentlest of souls, and Candy was not going to let him go down for a murder she and everyone else in town knew he didn’t commit.

Candy and Maggie made a great sleuthing team and when Maggie couldn’t go with her, sometimes Candy’s dad would add some insight to the case or go with her himself. I thought it was pretty cool that he didn’t try to discourage her from sleuthing. I loved that Candy and her dad had a close relationship, especially after he’d lost her mom and Candy had fairly recently gone through a bad divorce and the loss of a good friend she went to college with. They seemed to be helping one another heal while working on the blueberry farm and tending to the chickens.

This was a really well-written and plotted mystery with so many different angles and suspects that I didn’t even think of suspecting the person that it turned out to be. The showdown with the killer was really exciting–Candy and Maggie acted as each others’ heroes. Best of all, an innocent man was set free. Candy had started working for Ben, the editor of the Cape Crier newspaper, so I’m hoping that something will develop between them. She must like him because her first thoughts when he asked her to take over the gossip column were “Is he going to ask me out?” I think there’s potential! I got a kick out of Doc and his buddies hanging out at the diner.

I’ve been collecting this series as I find the various books and now I’m anxious to keep reading it!

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Against the Claw–review

July 30, 2018July 30, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the second book in the Lobster Shack series by Shari Randall. I read the first book when it came out and was excited to read this book, which I thought was just as good, maybe even better.

My Goodreads review:

Against the Claw by Shari Randall

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It was great returning to Mystic Bay to visit with Aunt Gully, Allie and Loren, who was home for the July 4th holiday to help at the Lazy Mermaid Shack. Loren had also taken back up with a guy named Patrick who ran the most popular bar/restaurant in town and who had a reputation of being a bad boy. Allie could never see what Loren saw in him, aside from his good looks.

While helping Bertha, known as Lobster Woman, Allie was on her lobstering boat when they pulled up a dead body. The young woman’s body remained unidentified for quite awhile, but in the meantime, the restaurant was hired to cater a party at a wealthy woman’s estate. Allie, Loren and Gully went over for it. Loren and Allie were to spend the night on the woman’s yacht along with a famous singer and her friend. When the body of Lorel’s ex-boyfriend Patrick was found in an inflatable boat that had been tied behind the yacht, Allie figured they were all suspects and was determined to find the real killer. With her friend Verity’s help sleuthing as well as the occasional help from her friend Bronwyn who was a police department intern, the case slowly came together.

Meanwhile, Allie was appearing in a show while her broken ankle was still healing and she had to make sure she got to rehearsals, worked at the restaurant and did some sleuthing. While the showdown wasn’t exactly with the main perp, it was still pretty awesome. Let’s just say it involved Bertha chucking a vacuum cleaner over a railing at someone. I really came to like Bertha in this book and now she’s another favorite character of mine, along with Aunt Gully, of course!

I didn’t guess the actual killer but it didn’t surprise me when I found out who did it. There were a lot of secrets being kept by different people and a few twists along the way that kept this plot moving along and so interesting that I had trouble putting the book down. I’m anxious to see what happens in the next book. Allie doesn’t have a guy interest but I think she could be interested in Hayden, her old classmate, if he showed any interest in her. It’ll also be interesting to see how soon her ankle becomes able to fully dance ballet again. Will she travel back and forth to Boston to dance an occasional show or will she decide that Mystic Bay is too much of a home for her to leave Aunt Gully and the Lazy Mermaid? I hope we don’t have to wait too long to find out!

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Hark the Herald Angels Slay–review

July 27, 2018July 27, 2018 Tari Hann

I had read the first two of this series last year before Christmas (prior to starting this blog) and boy, was it hard to resist reading this one since it came out not too terribly long afterwards. I purposely saved it for July and as it turned out, one of the Facebook book clubs picked it for the July discussion this weekend.

This is the third book in the Year-Round Christmas series by well-known author Vicki Delaney. She also writes the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop series that I’ve reviewed on the blog, all first three of them. I love the idea of Christmas anytime but the proverbial Christmas in July is well-celebrated in the town of Rudolph, NY in the series.

My Goodreads review:

Hark the Herald Angels Slay by Vicki Delany

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What an awesome book to read for a July book club discussion, perfect for Christmas in July, which is exactly what the town of Rudolph, NY was celebrating, only to have it interrupted by a murder that takes place (again) in Merry’s shop, Mrs. Claus’s Treasures. This time she definitely has an alibi, the detective on the case personally saw her at the beach when Santa arrived by boat (her dad, Noel).

Merry’s ex-fiance, Max Folger, was in town with some of the employees from the magazine where Merry used to work. Max has another agenda though–he wanted to talk Merry into getting back with him despite the fact that his fiancee, Erica Johnstone, who happened to be granddaughter to the magazine owner, Jennifer, was planning the wedding of the season. After finding Max in her shop, Merry could only think that someone from the magazine must have had it in for him, and she actually got to eventually work a little with Detective Diane Simmonds, who unlike the local police officer, Candy Campbell, respected Merry’s thoughts on the case. Merry’s main employee went missing at the time of the murder, which was a big reason why Merry wanted to be on the case.

I had my suspicions about the killer but there was a good twist and I was off base quite a bit. Everything worked out and Erica honestly became somewhat likable. She and her grandmother came to an understanding about the magazine as well. I love how Merry could feel kindness toward the woman who had stolen Max from her, but possibly she thought of it as Erica doing her a favor, seeing how things turned out. I was glad that Merry finally felt she could move on and allowed Alan into her life more. I’m anxious to see what the next book brings! This series just continues to get better and better.

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Shelved Under Murder–review

July 26, 2018July 26, 2018 Tari Hann

I really loved this second book in the Blue Ridge Library series by Victoria Gilbert. I really enjoy her writing style of combining the past with the present. I highly recommend reading the first book first–if you’ve read this one, you’ll know what I’m talking about. I think most people will be happier if they read the first book then this one.

My Goodreads review:

Shelved Under Murder by Victoria Gilbert

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book might just be better than the first book, which I also loved. I do recommend that anyone who hasn’t read the first book yet, read it before this one. You will be much happier if you do!

Amy and Sunny were getting ready for the Heritage Festival where the library would have a table of products to sell, most of which were donations. Amy and Richard stumbled onto the body of a dead local artist, the same artist they were going to talk to about donating a couple of her paintings. A local drug dealer was suspected but he swore he saw someone else running from the scene. While helping the police with the investigation–yes, Brad actually asked Amy to help since she has art history as a background–Amy found some unsettling information that may or may not have involved her uncle in the world of art forgery. Maybe this murder was something bigger than what it looked? Amy and Richard must be careful investigating this case or they could both end up dead.

I liked how both of these books so far have used an older case which ties in with the contemporary case being worked on. A new character, Hugh Chen, was introduced as an art forensics expert from the state of Virginia and Lydia may just have found herself a new male companion. Knowing Lydia, she will take it slowly since she adored her husband, Andrew. Someone else had adored him as well and closure for that ties in, in sort of a bittersweet way. I love that Amy and Richard are getting closer in their relationship. The regular characters, Walt and Zelda, were more comfortable and open with their relationship as well. I just love those two! The temporary characters weren’t especially memorable, only Hugh and I do hope he comes back for a visit or tries to make a distance friendship with Lydia work out.

This series has quickly become one of my favorite new series and I’m so anxious for the next book to come out. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance reader copy of this book provided by the publisher and NetGalley.

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A Murder for the Books–review

July 22, 2018July 22, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the first book in the Blue Ridge Library series by Victoria Gilbert. It looks like she’s new to writing, at least from what I saw of her Amazon page, but her writing sounds like she’s been at it for many years. She spins a great mystery and has some fun characters that you will come to love as much as I have! This series had me from the library setting. 😉

Since I’m currently far enough into the second book to confidently be able to tell you this: PLEASE be sure you read THIS book first, then the second! It’s really advisable.

My Goodreads:

A Murder for the Books by Victoria Gilbert

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was such a well-written and well-plotted mystery! There were some twists and turns, memorable characters that I already can’t wait to visit again and an awesome side mystery along with the murders that occurred. I definitely didn’t guess the killer!

Amy Webber was the library director at the Taylorsford Public Library in Taylorsford, VA. Her best frieind, Sunny Fields, was her assistant and the only other paid help. After a nasty breakup with her fiance’, Amy came back to live there with her Aunt Lydia in the old family house. The town was fairly uneventful aside from a very old few cases of questionable deaths. That is until a couple of new murders happened. Did they have anything to do with the old cases or could they possibly be linked to the new housing development that was in the works. Amy being a trained researcher as a librarian couldn’t help but start looking into the cases. Her new interest, choreography and dancer Richard Muir, only wanted to protect her in case the killer was still around, but he had to admit it was interesting investigating, especially the parts involving the older cases and seeing how the new cases could be related.

I love libraries to begin with and any mystery concerning someone who works in one has my interest. I enjoyed all the characters and their interactions with each other and with Amy. It was like she’d never been gone as far as the older people were concerned. Richard was a sweetheart and I can’t wait to see how their budding relationship develops. I hope that Sunny can eventually bring herself to dating Brad, the chief deputy who obviously had it pretty bad for her all those years, even after she rejected him in high school. As abrasive as Brad started out in the story, I wasn’t sure I was going to like him, but he did have a good side and finally came around. At least he wasn’t constantly warning Amy off the case or telling her he’d toss her in jail for interfering.

I’m really anxious to read the next book, in fact I had started it but since there was only one book ahead of it, I thought I’d be happier if I read book one first. But that’s just me. 😉

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Ditched 4 Murder–review

July 18, 2018July 18, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the second book in the Sophie Kimball series by J.C. Eaton aka Ann Goldfarb and Jim Clapp, a husband and wife writing team. I had such fun reading the first one and if it’s possible, this one was more fun than that book was. I love humor in cozies and this book has plenty–and it’s so easy and fun to picture it!

My Goodreads review:

Ditched 4 Murder by J.C. Eaton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was even funnier than the first one, especially the ending with the showdown and wedding reception. I could really picture this happening in a funny mystery movie!

Phee Kimball was settled in, living in Arizona and working for Nate Williams, a retired police detective, who had opened his own investigations company in Arizona. Life was never dull in the first book with Phee’s mom Harriet around. Now toss in Harriet’s sister, Ina, who was getting married to a guy named Louis. It was one madcap thing after another with the crazy wedding plans that Ina had dreamed up. Add two murders to this mixture, and you end up with a great mystery that has a fun twist at the end, as well as a very different but funny wedding reception. Shake well after adding a bat for extra hilarity.

It was fun and different to get to a certain point in the book and be fairly sure of who was doing what. All that needed to be done was go after the perp and hope that all the puzzle pieces fell into place and that the sheriff arrived in time. Nate has to be a saint to put up with Harriet causing Phee to need to leave the office or hysterically call him at all hours. He seems like a great guy to work for. I like the new character of Augusta, the office assistant too. Ina was Harriet…on steroids. Even Harriet got fed up with her phone calls and worrying about the wedding details.

This series is just so good that I will be moving along to book 3 next.

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Souffle of Suspicion–review

July 17, 2018 Tari Hann

This is the second book in the French Bistro series by well-known cozy author, Daryl Wood Gerber. Daryl writes the Cookbook Nook series (another series that I love!) and also the Cheese Shop series under the name of Avery Aames. I really love it when a series is new and I’ve actually read the first book and was familiar with the characters. This book could definitely stand alone, but if you’re anything like me, you’ll do whatever you can to try and read things in order. It doesn’t always happen that way, mostly because I like getting advance reader’s copies of books from NetGalley, which is where this one came from. Enjoy and bon appetit!

My Goodreads review:

A Soufflé of Suspicion by Daryl Wood Gerber

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was another awesome addition to the French Bistro series! I enjoyed reconnecting with the characters I’d grown very fond of from the first book, and I’m happy that Mimi and Nash’s relationship is growing, as well as (finally) Jo and Tyson’s. Mimi’s mom and Stefan’s dad seemed really happy together too.

When Chef Camille’s sister Renee took over the Sweet Treats Festival from the previous owner, then Renee was found dead at Camille’s house, it may have looked a little like her sister had something to do with it. Mimi had a feeling she knew who it was, but the problem was, she may have possibly just hired that person as help for Camille when she came back. With the Sweet Treats Festival and Crush Week going on, the bistro and inn were enjoying some major success, and Camille had definitely needed the extra help. Mimi was worried that she was getting a little too close to the truth when a couple of things happened that could have been taken to mean someone was trying to scare her. But of course, she didn’t give up and the real killer was found. I liked this showdown for a change, it was safe and a lot calmer (to me the reader lol) than I usually find in my cozies. I hadn’t guessed the killer until it was supposed to be known.

It was fun visiting with some of my favorite characters in the Napa Valley and I’m looking forward to the next book!

I received an advance reader’s copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. I voluntarily read and reviewed it.

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