Category Archives: Book Reviews

Reviews of Books

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The Cakes of Wrath by Jacklyn Brady

This is the 4th book in the A Piece of Cake Mystery series.  Rita has inherited her husband’s cake business in New Orleans and is running it along with her mother-in-law, who has her own ideas about how things should go.  The setting alone makes this a worth while series to read.  I haven’t lived in New Orleans, but I have visited a couple times and loved it.  In this outing in the series, Rita is suspected of the murder of a fellow business owner’s wife and has to work to clear herself since the police seem pretty sure she’s their “man”.

The character of Rita is strong, independent (almost to a fault), and intelligent.  It takes a forceful personality to survive in the catering/pastry business and Rita is built to thrive in it.  The other recurring characters have shown growth and the relationships have developed through the course of the books.  There is the introduction of some new characters this time and the notable absence of one of Rita’s love interests.  I do like how the author is handling the dreaded “love triangle” in this series, it is a more mature, realistic approach.

The mystery is well crafted and includes modern elements of drug addiction and rehabilitation, including NA.  This gave the cozy a more up to date feel.

This is a series that I always look forward to the next book.  Highly recommended fun cozy mystery!

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Devil’s Game by Joanna Wylde

This is the third outing in the Motorcycle club themed romance series, Reapers Motorcycle Club, by Joanna Wylde.  This book deals with some of the issues that occurred in Reaper’s Legacy just from Em’s perspective this time.  Em is the much overprotected daughter of “Picnic”, President of the Reapers MC.  She gets involved with Liam/Hunter from a rival MC and this book is their love story.

This was very entertaining with aspects of suspense, crime and erotic romance all rolled in together.  I have enjoyed this series for a fill in during the Sons of Anarchy hiatus.  While Devil’s Game was not my favorite in the series, it was still an enjoyable, quick read.

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3 Reads Today

Three very different recent reads are shown above.

The Last Place You Look was a free book on Amazon for Kindle.  I haven’t read the author before to my knowledge.  The book centers around a wife and mother, Faye, who has life start to throw a series of curve balls at her one after another.  Alicia, the birth mother of her adopted son, who also happens to be Faye’s husband’s sister reappears after a long absence.  Faye develops a cough that leads to the discovery of a shadow on an x-ray and a whole new slew of medical tests and procedures.  Faye’s friend, Susie, has set her sights on Faye’s husband, Nick and Nick isn’t trying very hard to avoid her.  Faye’s father attempts to reconnect after “abandoning” her many years before.  The story is interesting and I found myself rooting for Faye to overcome each of these difficulties.

Faye is a strong character, who finds even more strength as she overcomes each obstacle thrown in her path.  Nick, her husband is an utter jackass.  His behavior and Susie’s  is just appalling and it makes you root even harder for Faye.

I did enjoy this book although I will say I wasn’t thrilled with the resolution at the very end, but it worked, it just wasn’t the ending I wanted for Faye.

On the Rocks is by Erin Duffy, the author of Bond Girl.  This is classic chick lit/beach read material.  Abby, the protagonist, is in the middle of trying on her perfect wedding dress with her best friend in tow, when her fiance, Ben, who she has been dating for 10 years, breaks up with her via a Facebook status update.   Abby then goes through the crying, catatonia, and ice cream break up phases, until her friend Grace convinces her to go away for the summer to get over Ben.

Not really original, but a decent beach read nonetheless.

Death Cart is one of this month’s reads for the English Kindle Mystery Club on Goodreads. I really thought I would like this book because of the combination of archaeology and murder mystery, similar to Elly Griffiths’ work, which I love.  This one simply didn’t work for me.  The characters were mundane and not well drawn.  I didn’t really get their attraction to one another as friends or lovers.  They were all mainly Phd candidates or University staff and yet they didn’t come across like that at all.  The police officer seemed like a cartoon character.  On top of that the pacing seemed overly slow.  Perhaps a good editor could tighten the plot and more emphasis could be placed on character development.  I did find the archaeological detail interesting and enjoyed that.

 

 

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Cat Nap by Claire Donally

This is the second book in the A Sunny & Shadow Mystery series.  In this book, the uneasy friendship between Sunny and Jane continues to develop with Will stuck in the middle.  This is an unusual love triangle for a cozy mystery.  The norm is that the female protagonist has two men she can’t or won’t decide between.  There is also the addition of another possible love interest, Tobe Phillips.  Mike, Sunny’s father, also shows growth in this book, both in his recovery from his heart attack, his independence, and his social life.

The mystery in this book centers around the death of Jane’s ex-husband and proving Jane’s innocence.  The ending had quite a twist and I didn’t figure it out all.  Shadow continues to provide his point of view to the story which is very well done.  The setting and the difficulties of living and working in a Northern climate are described in realistic detail.  After reading many southern series, this was a nice change.

I am definitely going to continue with this series, good characters and well written mystery plot!

 

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Sloane Monroe Book 2 & 3

This was a 3 book set that I picked up on offer from Amazon.  I read book 1, Black Diamond Death, quite some time ago and now I finally came back to finish book 2, Sinnerman, and Book 3, I Have A Secret.  I really like the character of Sloane, she is fiercely independent, brave and uncompromising.  It is this last characteristic that leads to many of the situations she ends up in.

Sloane is a PI, who still mourns the death of her sister at the hand of a serial killer.  She uses this grief over her sister’s unsolved murder as motivation to solve crimes and see criminals brought to justice.  There are some romantic elements throughout the books, but I don’t want to say too much and give any of the twists and turns away.

The strength in these books is the investigative work Sloane engages in to solve the crimes.  This is not an unprofessional sleuth, who just stumbles across clues and suspects, but rather a methodical hard working professional.

My only issue with the books in this series is the seem too short.  There are characters I would like to see explored more but with all the detail in the investigative piece of the plot and the shortness of the books there simply isn’t time to develop them more fully.

Well written, quick-to-read mysteries with a strong, professional female lead.

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Angel’s Advocate by Mary Stanton

This is my second book in this series and I am still not really sure about it.  The concept of a Celestial court and justice system being  served by a terrestrial lawyer is interesting, but we still don’t really know much about how it works.  The setting of Savannah is detailed with loving care.  The focus on the setting is definitely something that the author is emphasizing.  Some pieces still seem a little disjointed and  Bree’s behavior is often unprofessional or irrational.  I get the sense that everything will be explained if the reader hangs in and continues reading the series. This series came highly recommended from a friend who had finished it, so I probably will continue.

 

 

 

 

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The Big Kitty by Claire Donally

I have had this book hanging around for quite a while and to be truthful, I don’t even remember where I picked it up.  It is not my normal type cozy, being told in part from the perspective of Shadow, the big grey cat pictured on the front of the book.

I am really glad that I finally read this, it was very well done, not overly cutesy or full of anthropomorphic animals.  The reader knows Shadow’s thoughts, but they are really from a cat’s perspective, not a cat with human emotions or perceptions.  I did enjoy it greatly.  The human characters of Sunny, Will and Mike in particular are well crafted.  Sunny is a character, who after leaving home and starting a career has returned to care for a parent, which is  a situation that many can relate to I am sure.   There are current elements involved in the story line, the victim’s son is a meth addict and this is integrated in the story line.  This gives the cozy a more modern feel than many cozies.

The mystery was fun and had quite a few twists and turns, including several attempts on the sleuth, Sunny’s, life.  Lots of  crime elements are included in the plot, murder, arson, attempted murder, fraud, drug production and use, and conspiracy, which makes for a a rich story line.  This is a very good cozy mystery series and I look forward to reading more of it!

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Witch Hunt by Shirley Damsgaard

This is the 4th book in the Ophelia and Abby Mystery series.  I am not a big reader of paranormal cozies, but I really enjoy this series.  Mainly due to the character of Ophelia, I like her a great deal.  She has shown tremendous growth over the span of the four books so far in the series.  In the beginning, she was very untrusting and closed off from everyone around her.  Over the course of time she has opened up to more people and relaxed her rigid outlook somewhat, fostered a child, and has come into more of an accord with her powers.

This story involves a 1%er motorcycle club that has moved into town and is causing all kinds of chaos.  Darcy’s cousin who comes to town to visit is implicated in a murder and Ophelia gets dragged into the investigation.  The mystery is interesting, however I figured one of the main things pretty early on and then I just spent time waiting for the mystery to be solved.  The resolution was interesting and watching Ophelia work through the clues was fun.  Tink is becoming more of a substantial character and the relationship between her, Ophelia and Abby is fun to read about.

There are only 7 books in this series and I have been told the 7th is the best so I am looking forward to completing the series.  Highly recommended paranormal cozy series!

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Christine Falls by Benjamin Black

I ran out and got this one from the library the minute I heard that Gabriel Byrne was going to be starring in the TV series, Quirke.  Benjamin Black is a pseudonym for a literary writer, John Banville.  The writing of this mystery definitely reflects the literary writing craft of Mr. Banville…a much more elegant style than the average genre novel.  That being said I definitely can appreciate  simplicity of sparse prose as well.

The book takes place in Ireland and in Boston with Quirke as a pathologist following up on a mysterious death of Christine Falls.  His adopted family via his brother, Mal, is wrapped up tightly in this mystery.  As the first book in a series, there is a great deal of explaining Quirke’s background and “family relations”.  As much as the writing was well done and the character of Quirke was interesting, the mystery fell flat.  Either Quirke was stupid or simply was being obtuse, but there is no way that he could be unaware of the Catholic Church and baby smuggling/orphanages, especially when he himself was plucked from one by the Judge.  The mortal danger that he put another character in through his seeming unawareness was just not to be believed.  Although perhaps we are to believe he is that dense, there seem to be many characters who hold him in disdain.

The book seemed more interested in making statements about “the evil Catholic Church” and “the 1950s repressive morals” than being a mystery. The ending falls completely flat.  The big “mystery” (which all the readers already figured out pages and pages before) is just  a “so what”?  This just didn’t work for me, however I am still interested to see how the TV series turns out.

 

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Rosemary and Crime by Gail Oust

 

This is the first in a new series with a Spice Shop Theme.  The protagonist, Piper, is a transplanted Yankee divorcee contending with an arrogant ex-husband, a moody teenage daughter, and opening a new business, into which she has poured all her money so  it must succeed.  She stumbles across a body of a fellow business owner and the mystery begins.  Piper is a good character, reminiscent of Diane Mott Davidson’s Goldy. In fact this book reminds me very much of the style of the Goldy Bear series, so if you enjoyed that there is a good chance that you will enjoy this one as well.

Usually in theme based cozies, I get concerned with the theme overwhelming the plot, but this is the first time where I think there could have been a bit more about the spices included here.  It doesn’t seem that there was anything said about them other than you need to restock and not have old spices.   Fans of culinary cozy mysteries usually expect a recipe or two or at least hints of some kind.

Other than that the characters were interesting, there was quite a bit of humor involved.  A slight love triangle seems to develop and Piper’s relationship with her husband seems to mature slightly.  The mystery included a variety of suspects and the reader follows along as Piper investigates in an attempt to clear herself.  The mystery was brought to a satisfying conclusion.  I will be reading the next one in this series