Category Archives: Book Reviews

Reviews of Books

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Bran New Death & Peach Pies and Alibis

 A new series from Victoria Hamilton, who also writes the Vintage Kitchen Mystery Series, which I love.  Bran New Death does not disappoint!  From the setting, upstate small town in upstate New York to the protagonist Merry and her friend sidekick Shilo, everything is well crafted and written.  The mystery has all the twists and turns and reveals of family secrets that you want in a cozy mystery.

The basis for this book and indeed the series is that Merry has inherited this castle in the small town of Autumn Vale from a basically unknown family members.  She is a widow and pretty much alone in the world.  She moves into the castle with the expressed purpose of getting it ready for sale, but you definitely get the impression that she is there to stay.

The town has it share of quirky or eccentric characters, but they don’t overwhelm the plot.  The theme, muffin baking, is also kept low key.

Another highly recommended cozy mystery from Victoria Hamilton!

 

Next up, Peach Pies and Alibis by Ellery Adams.  I enjoyed the first book in this series, Pies and Prejudice.  These books are well written, the story line is well crafted and the characters are engaging.  The book definitely lives up to the series name – charming.  I would  call this second book in the series much more a paranormal than a mystery.  In the first book, the paranormal element was a light feature of the story but in this book it definitely takes center stage.

Fans of Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire series will probably enjoy this as a lighter version- no vampires or werewolves in sight yet, but an assortment of other “fey folk” and much magical action incorporated with realistic features.  Think fairies that pack guns!

Fans of paranormals will definitely enjoy this!

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Murder on the Rocks, Staged to Death, & Dipped, Stripped & Dead

staged on the rocks dipped

Three quick cozies that I finished.  The first, Murder on the Rocks, is the second book I’ve read with that title.  In this case, the rocks are actual rocks on the Maine coast line, while in the other one, it was ice in a drink. This was a book I read for the Cozy Mystery Corner on Goodreads.

It was an “okay” mystery.  The plot, setting, theme and the characters were fine, but for some reason it didn’t really grab me.  I can’t  put my finger on why.  There was nothing wrong with it, I just didn’t connect with the characters or get involved with the story.

Staged to Death was the second mystery.  Again, this one was just okay.  I will say that the writing style didn’t work for me.  Over use of adjectives, just wore me down.  Sample:

After checking Dylan’s progress, Caprice went to the coffeemaker and pulled out a lime-green, yellow-flowered canister. She and Bella both enjoyed flavored coffees….Caprice’s buttercup-colored 1950s vintage style stove that matched her retro refrigerator…

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After she set the royal blue dish with a spoonful of cream in its center on the floor, Caprice arranged the turquoise, yellow, and lime-green mugs on a tray with a crystal creamer and sugar bowl. She poured cinnamon-hazelnut coffee into the mugs, and then carried the antique tray with its picture of pink peonies under the glass into the living room.

This was a long book for a cozy, most seem to run around 270 pages, and this one comes in at 374, mostly adjectives or descriptors.

I saved the best for last.  Dipped, Stripped, and Dead, A Daring Finds Mystery was my favorite of the three.  I liked the protagonist Dyce, a divorced single mom, and her sidekick, Ben. The mystery was well plotted.   There were some interesting and humorous characters to add color to the story, a cross-dressing ex-Marine furniture maker for one and Dyce’s parents and son for others.  The romantic interest in the form of Cas was intriguing and I’m sure the romance will be developed more in later books. The dual nature of the mystery was well done, but I won’t say more than that.  This is a series that I will continue to follow.

 

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Mind Over Murder by Allison Kingsley

 I just bought this yesterday but it had been on my TBR list for a while.  I loved it!  I liked the little hint of paranormal, not too cutesy or over-the-top, just enough to add a twist to the story.  The character Clara with her unwanted “gift” is an interesting and likable character.  The story has enough of a cast of characters without becoming overwhelming or a distraction.  Even the “villain” is given a human face, which is different from many mysteries.   Also, I always enjoy a book shop theme in a cozy.  A good read for cozy mystery fans, I will definitely get the next ones in this series.

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The Lewis Man & Death in Four Courses

four courses lewis man I read a couple very different mysteries last night.  The first was Death in Four Courses by Lucy Burdette, the second in the Key West Food Critic series.  In this book Hayley is covering a foodie conference with her mother along for the ride.  Hayley’s mother is a great addition to the cast and Gloria becomes slightly more prominent as well.  The keynote speaker is murdered and Hayley’s friend is accused and this kicks off the sleuthing.  This was a good cozy mystery.  I didn’t like it as much as the first in the series, but it was still a fun, quick read.

The Lewis Man by Peter May is book 2 in the Lewis Trilogy.  Fin is such a sympathetic and even noble character and he pulls you into the story.  This is an emotional and suspenseful read as Fin explores Marsaili’s family background in the wake of a body that has been discovered in the peat. At the same time Fin’s son is dealing with his own issues with Donna and his daughter.  The overarching theme in both the books I’ve read so far is memory.  In this book, personified by Tormod MacDonald, Marsaili’s father and dementia sufferer.  The search for the truth and the consequences are what drives the plot.  Excellent read.  I can’t wait to read the next book, The Chessmen.

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Organize Your Corpses & Beef Stolen-off

organize beef

I have been looking forward to Organize Your Corpses for  a while, the theme of a professional organizer really interested me.  This cute cozy mystery did not disappoint.  The main character, Charlotte Adams, was likable and professional (for the most part).  She has enough flaws to be human and seem like a real person.  The mystery was well done with an interesting twist at the end.  Well written, with a plot that flowed at a good pace.  I look forward to reading more in this series.

Beef Stolen-off is the second book in the Clueless Cook Series.  I liked the first one enough to read this one.  There is quite a complicated plot line involving a haunted lake house, cattle rustling, a stroke victim unable to communicate something vital, and a whole slew of cowboys and cattle ranchers along with the already established characters from Jordan’s apartment building and newspaper job.  The mystery tied up neatly in the end and there was a reappearance of a love interest from the first book.  This was an okay cozy mystery, but it seemed to me that there were too many characters and it made it difficult to get invested in any of them.

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Defending Angels by Mary Stanton

 

I have had this book sitting on my nightstand for a while (I was cheating and piling new books on top of it instead of below).  I purchased it at the strong recommendation of a friend and really against will.  🙂

I don’t generally read paranormals and I really don’t read religious reads and I really don’t care for “angel” books, so…anyway.

After reading it, I have to admit it held my attention and skipped along at a pretty good pace.   I had some issues with the book but not what I would expect. There is really no “preachiness” that I thought for sure would be there. The angels are not the sickly sweet, Lifetime TV movie types so that was good as well.

If I had to characterize this, I would definitely say that it is much more of a paranormal than a cozy.  The mystery takes a back seat to the celestial beings. I don’t want to reveal too much but it is hard to discuss my issues with the book without saying something.  The protagonist, Brianna, behaves…really strangely at times and doesn’t really sleuth.  Things that should terrify and upset her don’t really and other times she is a violent rager with no real cause.  She doesn’t have concerns or ask questions that I (and any rational person) would.  This may be due to something revealed towards the end, but that was not really made clear, it is just my supposition.

My other issue is that the ending felt really rushed…We had the reveal for the story on the temporal plane, but when it came to the celestial one, it just ended quickly and with no detail.  It seemed really odd because the angel story was the main story line throughout.

I am intrigued enough that I will buy the next one and see if it resolves these issues.

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buttoned up bowled over

 

Last night I read these two cozies, Buttoned up is book 4 in Kylie Logan’s A Button Box Mystery series and Bowled Over is book 2 in Victoria Hamilton’s A Vintage Kitchen Mystery series.

The Button Box Mysteries are a fun series that took a darker turn in this outing, incorporating elements of voodoo and black magic and I quite enjoyed it.  As in many cozy mysteries, you do have to practice some suspension of disbelief in Josie’s involvement in the mystery but it did not hamper my enjoyment.  There were plenty of clues sprinkled throughout and I was able to solve the mystery about half way through but wasn’t 100 percent sure I was correct.  The romantic element of the book has some twists and turns in it as well.  Unlike many other cozies, this series does not have a large cast of  quirky recurring secondary characters, however Nev and Stan are both in this book.  This is definitely a series that I will continue to read.

I just recently started the Vintage Kitchen Mystery series with A Deadly Grind, which I enjoyed so much that I went out and bought this one right away.  I really like the protagonist in this series, Jaymie Leighton.  She is a very active sleuth, following up on leads and investigating connections, not just falling into solving the mystery.  In this book, more of Jaymie’s background is revealed and the setting is developed further, a small town on the Canadian-US border.  Unlike the Button Box series, there are many recurring characters which are handled well, they add color but don’t detract from the plot. The theme, all things vintage and kitchen, is fun and adds a lighthearted element to the mystery without overwhelming it.  Another series that I will continue to read! Freezer I’ll Shoot is the next book.

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#24hourreadathon – Working Stiff, Murder Uncorked, Carbs & Cadavers

uncorked carbs murder uncorked

Three more cozy mysteries that I finished last night and early this morning.  I picked up all three of them at my independent local book seller, Booktrader of Hamilton.  I am sort of participating in the 24 hour readathon hosted by Brianna’s Bookish Confessions.  I jumped in last minute and just grabbed a pile off of my TBR stack.

http://24hourreadathon.blogspot.com/2013/12/24-hour-read-thon-sign-up.html

I had read a wine oriented cozy a while ago and I picked this one:  Murder Uncorked up because I thought that it was in the same series, but I don’t think so.  This was one of those OK reads, difficult to write about because everything was okay.  I did enjoy the information about  food and wine pairing, but I didn’t really “get” the protagonist or the romantic lead.  Sometimes I wasn’t sure if their behavior was supposed to be comedic, as in romantic comedy??  This book did read more like a romance than a mystery.  I am not sure if I would read another in the series.

I had wanted to read Working Stiff for a while, it was recommended highly on a couple of cozy mystery boards and blogs.  This was the first in a series and as usual there was time spent drawing the characters, the relationships and the settings in preparation for the rest of the series.  I liked this one enough that I will definitely try another in the series.  You do need to suspend your belief to a certain extent over the whole, “I was an O.R. nurse and I quit with no notice when I caught my surgeon husband with the HEAD nurse and got hired to be an Deputy Coroner with no forensic training just because I know the Coroner”… ok.

My favorite of the three by far was Carbs & Cadavers.  Loved Professor Henry James and his Flab Five crew.  The book was well written and the characters were fun and interesting (no stereotypes here).   The mystery was well crafted and had a nice twist near to the end.  There is a slight hint of  romance, but nothing that overwhelms the mystery.  I do like my mysteries with some romance, but not at the expense of everything else.  The supper club theme was fun and I look forward to seeing how it continues.  I didn’t find out until I was done that J.B. Stanley is another pseudonym for Ellery Adams, whose Charmed Pie Shoppe mysteries I like.

 

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shoe done it by Grace Carroll

Last night I couldn’t sleep so I read shoe done it by Grace Carroll instead.

The writing in itself was fine, but the mystery or at least the villain was obvious (at least to me) and the sense of place seemed off.   My  main issue was that the characters weren’t really that likable.  Grasping, shallow fashionistas, not really anyone I could relate to and I do like clothes and fashion.  I enjoy other fashion based cozies, such as Meg London’s Sweet Nothing’s Lingerie series, Annette Blair’s Vintage Magic Series and the Ellen Byerrum’s Crime of Fashion series, so it was definitely not the theme was the issue.

I was looking forward to this one for a while so it was disappointing that it didn’t work for me.

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Liver Let Die & Thyme Out

 I picked up this book today and read it mainly because I had accidentally bought the second book in the series and didn’t realize it until I went to read it.  Luckily my second hand bookstore had this one, so I was able to get it.

Fun, quick read with a food related theme.  The protagonist, Jordan, is covering a food column in a small local paper while the regular writer recovers from an accident.  The story was fun and the mystery had lots of twists and turns.  The included recipes are okay, but not really anything I would make.  The theme was interesting, but I did have one issue with it.  Jordan is a total non-foodie who got roped into the food column, hence the series name A Clueless Cook Mystery.  She starts completing her column by presenting other people’s recipes as her own…hmmm isn’t that a problem??  Maybe it is just me.

Other than that I enjoyed the characters and the mystery.  I will definitely read the second one since I already have it, Beef Stolen-Off.

The second book I read today was Katie Fforde’s Thyme Out .  I will have to say that as far as I am concerned Katie Fforde can do no wrong.  I love her books and read as many as I can find here in the US.

The heroine, Perdita, is a plucky gardener making a living, barely, through her own hard work.  This is a typical Katie Fforde protagonist, women who get on with life, not necessarily glamorous or wealthy but not victims either and that is what I like about them.

Perdita’s ex-husband unexpectedly reappears in her life and that drives the plot along with a family crisis.  I don’t want to say much more.  There is the all important happily ever after at the end.

Anyone who loves romances, not the young adult kind that all seem to revolve around teens, but one with real adults will enjoy this book.