In the last couple days I have read the above 4 cozies.  I enjoyed Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter by Blaize Clement a great deal, perhaps in part because the author took some risks and broke some of the cozy rules so the book has a different feel to it than a standard cozy.  Dixie Hemingway, pet sitter and retired deputy, becomes embroiled in a mystery by finding victim(s) throughout the book as part of her pet sitting duties.  As readers, we get a lot of insight into why Dixie acts the way she does and what she is thinking.  Dixie is a  fully developed character and the dynamic between her and the detective investigating the murders is well done.  The character of Marilee is also particularly good, as a character she is not all good or all bad but rather a realistic mix, who can engender sympathy one minute and anger another.  I am really enjoying this series, even with reading it out of order.  Well done, believable characters and realistic motives, intriguing mystery plot and little more like “soft boiled” than cozy. Highly recommended.

Buttercream Bump Off is the 2nd book in the cupcake bakery mystery by Jenn McKinlay.  The partners in the Fairy Tale Cupcake Bakery business find themselves immersed in another murder, at the same time as the development of some tension among them.  There are many suspects and an additional sidekick  in the form of Marty, a hanger on at the cupcake store.  Romantic tension is ratcheted up for more than one character in the book so it will be interesting to see how that develops in the ongoing series.   Very enjoyable read in a fun series.  

Last Licks by Claire Donally is the third book in the Sunny and Shadow Mystery series.  This particular outing in the series had a really interesting Shadow part of the story, in fact I would say it overshadowed the rest of the book.  In this book, Sunny’s boss Oliver is injured and ends up in a rehab facility where a murder or at least suspected murder occurs.  Sunny investigates with the help of Will and seems to more or less stumble upon the culprit after uncovering other mysteries.  I did enjoy it and would continue with the series, I just found books one and two stronger.  

A Tale of Two Biddies by Kylie Logan picks up where book one left off. It is summer and the island is having a Bastille Day celebration in aid of tourism.  The literary ladies are drawn into the murder of a local with a habit of messing up badly and angering lots of people.  This leads to a plethora of suspects for the murder and the literary ladies follow the leads and search the island for clues.  The book makes lots of references to The Tale of Two Cities and the mistaken identity plot twist and that is well done and adds to the mystery plot.  The resolution was very clever and I didn’t guess it at all. Fun series and I look forward to reading more in it.