new friendships – Cuddle Up With a Cozy Mystery

Bound by Murder review

September 11, 2022 Tari Hann

This is the third book in the Antique Bookshop Mysteries by Laura Gail Black. These characters and the setting are just about as cozy of a cozy mystery as you’ll find! As you’ll see in my review I didn’t get a chance to read/review the second book but I do intend to go back and read it. I really loved this one and remember liking the first one a lot too! Can’t wait to see how Keith and Jenna’s story continues!

#CrookedLaneBooks #LauraGailBlack

My Goodreads review:

Bound by Murder by Laura Gail Black
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

For some reason, I never got around to reading book 2 of this series, but I did read the first book in 2020. Everything as far as characters started coming back to me, and I love how Rita’s taken Jenna under her wing like a mom or big sister. Add Keith to that (they had a few ups and downs in here but nothing that can’t be remedied!) along with a new friend and business owner named Shelby, and you’ve got an unstoppably cozy quartet of friends. I loved how they all talked about the case and supported each other, mainly the ladies since Keith most of the time couldn’t talk about it.

Oh there was the funniest part when the subject of Det. Sutter came up. I know he really had it in for Jenna in the first book, but he was so close to retirement in a couple weeks, he didn’t dare step outta line. It was hilarious what Keith told him he’d make him do if he pulled anything like wrongly accusing people. I’m pretty sure Jenna might want a frow row seat to that if it happened!

Now I really have this need to go back and read the second book because that sweet little Eddy pup stole my heart and I want to know his whole story. The author did a great job of catching readers up but not to the point of being repetitive or letting any spoilers out. If you’ve read neither first or second books, I think you’d enjoy this, although I do recommend at least reading the first book to get a firsthand experience of just what a jerk Sutter was as well as how Keith and Jenna got together and Jenna’s friendship with Rita started. Another great character was Jenna’s employee Mason who’d come a super long way from the first book! He was so cute with the girl Lily he wanted to date!

I started suspecting whodunit eventually and wow what a showdown! Even little Eddy pup got in on it. I can’t wait for the next book, so in the meantime, I’m definitely planning to read that second book!

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

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Murder at the PTA review

September 27, 2020 Tari Hann

This is the first book in the Maya & Sandra series by brother/sister writing team Lee Hollis. I love the characters they always come up with, sometimes funny and always memorable. The book spent a year as a B&N exclusive, but for some reason I never got around to reading it even though I do own the paperback. (It probably got buried under some other books I haven’t gotten to yet!) I was going to just order the Kindle version and was pleasantly surprised that I actually won a copy from a recent Goodreads giveaway. I’d also gotten it from NetGalley. Now I’m super anxious to get hold of the second book whenever that might be coming!

My Goodreads review:

Murder at the PTA by Lee Hollis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book a lot! I knew I’d like anything this author writes, because I love their other two series. It’s great how they can set a different tone for each series they’ve written. Maya and Sandra were the two most unlikely candidates for sleuthing partners, but they worked together really well once Maya adjusted to Sandra being a senator’s wife. She soon found out that Sandra wasn’t the typical prissy trophy wife but someone who was very committed to a new friendship and possibly sleuthing partnership. Sandra was pretty smart and able to read people well too.

Someone had offed the vice principal of the high school the night that Sandra had her first PTA meeting as president, and the woman’s sister hired Maya’s PI firm to prove that it was murder not suicide. What a crazy web of deception and secrets this all led to! I loved it, and the showdown was super exciting, at least to me. The wrap-up was great and whatever wasn’t already explained got mentioned as to the outcome. What a fun ending! Now I can’t wait for the next book!

I won a Kindle copy of this book in the Goodreads giveaway, but that in no way affected my review, and my opinions are completely my own.

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For Whom the Book Tolls review

September 19, 2020 Tari Hann

This is the first book in a new series called Antique Book Shop mysteries by Laura Gail Black, and I think she’s definitely got a hit on her hands with the series. I felt like Jenna and Rita were my old friends by the time the book ended, and I really can’t wait to read the next book. I hope Jenna eventually gets a dog or cat for the bookshop. At least in my opinion, I’ve enjoyed cozies about bookstores that have pets.

My Goodreads review:

For Whom the Book Tolls: An Antique Bookshop Mystery by Laura Gail Black
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really loved this new mystery! It’s a great concept for a cozy and pretty much everything I want in a cozy mystery as well. Rita was such a great new friend for Jenna and so was Mason, the young guy she hired for the shop who used to work for her Uncle Paul. I can’t even imagine how awful it would be to come to a new town all hopeful to reconnect with a fun and goofy uncle just to find him dead.

This of course put Jenna in the cross hairs of an ambitious detective who wanted to wrap up the murder in a nice neat package. His partner wasn’t downright mean like this guy was, so that was a definite plus for Jenna. I loved how she and Rita got along together, and once Mason joined them, they made quite the trio of friends. I definitely hope Keith makes the trio a foursome!

I hadn’t completely committed myself to guessing who did it, but it honestly didn’t surprise me much. The showdown was pretty exciting, and if I was Jenna, I’d be thanking my guardian angel for the help that arrived! I really enjoyed how the book went on a little more after the showdown and explanation. At that point, it was important to me because it showed how Jenna had cemented her friendship with new people in this new town. I’m so anxious now to read the next book!

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

View all my reviews