Tag: small town virginia

Pasta Mortem–review

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 (Supper Club Mysteries Book 7)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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Stiffs and Swine–review

Tari Hann

This is the fourth book in the Supper Club series by Ellery Adams which has quickly become one of my favorite series for both the mystery itself and the camaraderie of the five people who have become fast friends, literally through thick and through thin. If you scroll back to May, you’ll see my review for the fifth book which I’m going to go back and go over a bit on my own before proceeding to the sixth book. This one had a very sweet and a little bit of a leaky-eye ending if you like that kind of sweetness. Not overkill just really cool!

My Goodreads review:

Stiffs and Swine (A Supper Club Mystery, #4)Stiffs and Swine by J.B. Stanley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It was late summer in Quincy’s Gap and our five friends had been invited to be guests of honor at a neighboring town’s Hog Fest. They were going to judge the hogs in a dress-up contest and also help at the pie eating contest. When one of the barbecue contestants, a loud obnoxious man named Jimmy, was found dead in his camper, Gillian was taken in for questioning since she had had a meltdown with this guy the day before. Since Lucy was a deputy, her help was more welcomed by Sheriff Jade Jones (Bennett developed a crush on her) than the rest but overall, the police there were friendly enough and did their job without being condescending like Donovan at Lucy’s home station was known for. James and Lucy’s former relationship was still a little strained but they still functioned well together as mystery-solving friends. James had felt himself drifting a little from Murphy since she seemed to have changed. Then she told him she’d signed a book contract. She’d been writing about murders in their town but said the characters were loosely based on them. Bennett was definitely not amused when he heard that.

On the home front, Scott and Francis at the library had a little mystery of their own which really ended up so awesome at the end! What a cool little sting operation they pulled with James’s, Lucy’s and Mrs. Hasting’s help. Jackson and Milla had become much closer and James was pleased to find out his dad had proposed to this lovely lady that he’d become so comfortable being around as a mother figure. During the trip, Bennett had been studying very hard for his chance on Jeopardy. When they got home, James had one more thing to take care of with Murphy. Even his beloved bookmobile that had broken down earlier got a happy ending.

I don’t think this mystery was so much focused on guessing the killer because at one point, everyone pretty much knew who, now they had to figure out how to nail the person. The showdown was pretty exciting and James got to be in the spotlight. Gillian was happy to have her freedom and had told the whole story about why she’d had that meltdown a few days ago with the obnoxious barbecue man. She got to do something that was very generous as well as suggesting something very generous as well. That’s what I love about all these people. Despite their personal demons, faults or whatever you want to call them, they are true friends to one another. Who wouldn’t love to be friends with any one of this awesome Flab Five group?

I’ve read the next book but may go over it quickly before moving on to the sixth book. At least I have a good two-book fix for awhile for this series, since the seventh one has recently come out!

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