The Madness of Mercury is the first in the A Zodiac Mystery series by Connie di Marco, who also writes the Soup Lovers Mysteries as Connie Archer.  This series is set in San Francisco, with the protagonist, Julia Bonatti, being an astrologer, who is targeted by a religious cult leader at the same time she is being asked for help by an elderly client in fear of her caretaker.

The plot unfolds as Julia deals with the cult disrupting  her life and business and the businesses of other occult shop owners and  business people in the community.  Julia is also trying to ease the mind of Evandra, who feels she is in danger due to the terms of a trust and will.  Julia uses her star charts and investigative skills to follow up on all the threats and uncover what is really happening.  Who is the charismatic cult leader and what does he really want?  Is Evandra really in danger?  If so, from who?  Should Dorothy let Richard back in her life?

Great start to a cozy series!  I look forward to reading the next one.  Just one note, it would be helpful to have an appendix explaining the horoscope system and terms.

This is another volume from the Penguin Books Great Foods Series.  Samuel Pepys was a noted diarist, an adminstrator for the Royal Navy, and a member of Parliment who lived from 1633 -1703.  This book is a compilation of diary entries primarily focused on food and as such can be rather choppy to read.  It is a celebration of Samuel Pepys’ love of food and indulgence, actually overindulgence and celebration of food to the point of gluttony.  The sheer quantity of food and drink that he regularly cataloged in his diary is overwhelming, often eating to the point of vomiting and illness the next day.  Even horrible historic events don’t seem to put him off his appetites.  In one entry, he mentions going to see a man being drawn and quartered and stopping off at the tavern to have oysters.  Other entries casually mention the plague killing hundreds, midst discussions of his meals.

Some interesting facts that popped up.  He discusses being introduced to a new drink from China, tea in 1660.  I didn’t know that was when tea was brought over from China.  In another entry, he states that he saw his first women acting on a stage in 1661. He was also not shy about discussing his extramarital affairs or the embarrassments of his guests.  He even discusses his home renovation projects.  It is an interesting look into the life of a man, who happened to be a “foodie” before the word was coined.  I do think the book would have benefited from the addition of a time line for those of us who have been out of school for many years and don’t remember all the historically significant events for the years of the diary.

This is a book I received as part of the Penguin Books Great Food Series.  It is a collection of essays on a varied selection of topics ranging from the history of roasting suckling pig to Alcoholism and Gluttony.  I personally enjoyed the lighter topics included in the collection.

One essay was written about The New Year’s Coming of Age told as though each of the special days/holidays was a character, ” …The last of Lent was spunging upon Shrovetide’s pancakes…”  The humor was well done and the references to the nature of the days was still applicable today.  Another of the essays I thought was well done was titled, The Peach.  It was brief tale about resisting temptation and how torturous it can be, particularly in the time this essay was written, circa 1800.  The divide between the haves and have-nots was insurmountable and to be placed in the situation of the narrator, having access to seemingly unlimited wealth, but none of his own was making his life  a misery.

This was not my favorite in the series, but it was still an interesting addition to the Great Food Books.

  A Whisker of Trouble is book 3 in the A Second Chance cat Mystery series, so named because the protagonist, Sarah Grayson is the proprietor of a second-hand shop called Second Chance.  Sarah has a black cat named Elvis who is preternaturally intelligent and helps her in her investigation along with “Charlotte’s Angels”.

Sarah is hired to clean out a home of someone who has recently died and discovers a dead body on the premises.  The family wants her and the PI team of Charlotte’s Angels to help solve the case.  The investigation uncovers a counterfeit wine scam, elder fraud, and other misdoings in the second-hand/trading community.  But is it enough motive to kill for?  Sarah, Elvis, and her team follow-up on the leads, trying both to stop a killer and to save other seniors from being defrauded.

A fast paced cozy with a very current theme and fun, engaging  characters to make an interesting read.

  This is a new author and a new series for me, A Deep Fried Mystery.  Talia Marby has returned home to nurse her broken heart and to look for a new job after leaving one that made her miserable.  In the meantime, she is working at the fish and chip shop she worked at in high school and living in her Nana’s bungalow while trying to sell it.

The fish and chip shop is part of a strip of shops, which like most small independent businesses straddle the line of financial solvency .  The possible opening of new shop in their midst has the shop owners in a tizzy with battle lines drawn resulting in the death of one of them.  Talia finds herself drawn into the investigation in an attempt to clear her friend’s name.

Talia’s back story is well done here and interesting.  The setting of the fish and chip shop is fun and engaging.  The whole cast of background and what I assume will be recurring characters are interesting and colorful adding depth to the story.  The mystery has several suspects and red herrings to keep the reader guessing. Talia as a sleuth is relatable and  intelligent.  Fillet of Murder is a really good first in a cozy mystery series.

Two more new-to-me cozy mystery series, No Farm, No Foul from A Farmer’s Daughter Series by Peg Cochran and Cheddar Off Dead from An Undercover Dish Mystery by Julia Buckley.

Peg Cochran’s series concerns a widow, who runs an organic farm and writes a cooking/lifestyle blog whilst raising her children and being heavily involved in her local church in the small town of Lovett.  In this, the first in the series, a church  event is held on her property and is going well until one of the congregation ends up dead with an unexpected amount of cash on her person. Shelby investigates the murder, in between farming, cooking, blogging and dealing with the drama of raising children, especially one that is a teen.  There are hints of possible future romantic interests and plenty of interesting characters for recurring roles.  A fine start to a new series, particularly for fans of cozies with more of a church based focus.

Cheddar Off Dead runs in the opposite direction with more of city/contemporary feel.  Lilah is a chef with an interesting side gig as an undercover chef.  She will deliver the goods secretly and her clients can pretend to have made them themselves.  In this book, Lilah is present at the murder of Santa Claus, well not really Santa, but an actor set to perform in a Santa costume.  The killer sees her and Lilah is pulled into the investigation, pretty much against her will.  There is a Christmas theme, a loving family, a big dog side kick, a possible love interest, a victim with some enemies, and mobsters.  All these together make for a fun, quick, holiday cozy read.

This, Meow If It’s Murder, is first in a series, A Nick & Nora Mystery and a new-to-me author, T.C. LoTempio. Nick is a not so ordinary tuxedo cat and Nora is a former crime reporter who has returned home to run the family sandwich shop/catering business.  She is still keeping her foot in the door with  crime reporting locally and finds herself investigating a case that has been ruled an accidental death, but was it?  Nora is not so sure.

Each stone that Nora turns over seems to raise more questions than answers: from sisters who are dead or maybe not? to mobsters. to missing PIs.  to the local PD, who didn’t really seem to follow procedure. Nora uses all the skills she honed in her years of crime reporting to uncover what has really happened to Lola Grainger and who was responsible.

This was a really well written cozy and the cat, Nick,  reminded me of KoKo and Yum Yum in the famous Cat Who … series.  Nora is a methodical, intelligent investigator.  I look forward to reading more in this series.

  A Story to Kill is the first in a new series, A Cat Latimer Mystery Series.  Cat Latimer has recently inherited a house and the estate of her ex-husband, an economics professor at a small college.  She is a writer and is turning the house into a writer’s retreat B and B type business.  The book opens with the first group of guests due to arrive including a famous novelist who is writing a revealing memoir about his youth at the college.

Once the murder occurs, Cat has her hands full trying to clear her guests’ names and keeping them calm, hosting the victim’s spouse, worrying about keeping her fledgling business afloat and meeting her own editor’s deadlines.  Along with the main plot line, there is a subplot that concerns Cat’s ex-husband, his death and what really happened during their marriage, this is part is not resolved in this first book and appears as though it will be an over-arching mystery for the series.  There is also a romantic subplot, in the form of a hunky handyman, Seth.

Very enjoyable cozy read, classic college town atmosphere, engaging writer’s retreat theme, and an intelligent educated sleuth.

  Even Cat Sitters Get the Blues, is book 3 in the A Dixie Hemingway Mystery Series.  This is one of the series that I have been reading out-of-order as I have come across the books.  I started with one of the later books in the series and was immediately drawn to the character of Dixie and her world in the Florida Keys.

This book doesn’t involve the usual cats or dogs, but instead an iguana.  The reader is led on a twisting chase of government agencies, bioterrorism, biochemical weapons, secret labs, murder, and industrial espionage.  Dixie reluctantly investigates the murder while visiting her regular clients, including the recurring character Billy Elliott.  This is still early on in the series but you can see growth from where Dixie started out in the first book, recovering from the death of her husband and child.   There are some references to previous events, but not so much that it interferes with reading the book out-of-order.

This is a great series, well written  with detailed plots and rich characterizations  that are a cut above the average cozy mystery!

  A bout of insomnia last night helped me to finish this, Caught Read-Handed, the second book in the A Read ‘Em and Eat Mystery Series.  The mystery involves a local trophy wife who volunteers in the library amidst other extra-curricular activities.  Sassy and Bridgy become involved in the case when the brother of Sassy’s ex-boss, a veteran with PTSD is accused of the crime.  They track down clues, question suspects, and follow up on motives.  While all this is going on they still have to run their bookshop cafe, run the book groups that meet there, host Sassy’s ex-boss who comes to town to help his brother, and deal with a wild life issue in the form of an anaconda on the loose.

A cozy slice of Florida life with murder and mystery!