I’ll admit to being shallow, it was the cover of Natural Thorn Killer that grabbed me.  It really stood out from the other mysteries on the shelf at Barnes and Noble.  The second thing of interest to me is the setting, Portland, Oregon, my birthplace.  And the third thing, it didn’t really need a third, were the Swedish touches.  I’ve been taking Swedish on Duolingo and loved seeing the Swedish words included in the text.

Britta returns to her Aunt’s home and floral design studio and wine shop after a bad marriage.  There is a bad guy developer looking to buy up the character filled neighborhood and replace it with new higher-end buildings.  He ends up murdered right in the flower shop, dropping Britta into the middle of the investigation.  There is a lot going on in this first book of the series besides the murder investigation and a good-sized cast of characters that make up the community.  I enjoyed this first in a new cozy series and will read more in the series.

Busy Body is the next book for me in the Agatha Raisin series.  In this one, a PITA Health and Safety officer meets an untimely demise.  The chief suspect hires Agatha’s agency to clear her name.  Meanwhile Agatha takes on a new detective, Simon, who partners up with Toni to help solve the case.  Agatha’s team ends up putting themselves in danger to solve the crime.  Appearances from series regulars, Charles, James, and Roy Silver add fun to the story.  A fun installment in the series.

I have started back on the Hannah Swensen series by Joanne Fluke.  I checked in with my Fictfact account and picked up where I left off with Peach Cobbler Murder.  I really am glad that I’ve picked up this series again.  In this book, Hannah has competition in the form of a new bakery in town cutting into her business.  When the competitor ends up dead, Hannah needs to clear her name and jumps into the investigation.  Along with the murder investigation, there are romance story lines for Hannah and her mother.  Enjoyable cozy mystery with a great setting and familiar characters.

I saw a post about this book and it sounded interesting so I picked it up at the library.  The killer’s wife of the title is Leigh Wren.  She has moved away, changed her name, altered her looks and started over in an effort to build a new, safe life for her son and herself.  This life gets blown up when one of her husband’s victim’s family members uncovers her new identity and exposes her to the media.  As this is happening a new serial killer is continuing the “work” of her husband, leading suspicion to land on Leigh.

This was okay.  For some reason, I didn’t really feel a sense of tension or urgency that one would expect to feel with this type of story line. It felt a little flat to me.

I revisited my old Fictfact account and it has reminded me of series I haven’t been back to in a while.  One of these was the A Five-Ingredient Mystery series by Maya Corrigan.  I picked up Final Fondue to continue with the series.  In this case Val’s grandfather, is perfecting his fondue into an entry for the town’s festival at the same time he is hosting paying guests in his home.  Val’s past is coming back to haunt her in the form of an angry ex-client, her old boss from the city, and her ex-fiance.  Val deals with all this and a murder in her backyard.  The relationship between Val and her grandfather is really the driving force in this series and it is shown very well here as Val helps her grandfather and he pursues and professional license.

In The Tell-Tale Tarte  a local actor dies in the street in front of Val.  She is shocked by the striking resemblance of the victim and her grandfather.  The story involves a reclusive writer, a long-lost child, threats to Val’s cafe, and her grandfather’s new investigation business.    Val is juggling many balls in this book and adds a private catering contract to the mix, in part to investigate the mystery.  The ending felt a little rushed to me, but I did enjoy the development of Val’s grandfather’s character.  It is great to see an older person being independent and spreading their wings in retirement.  He now has a newspaper column, he’s a local celebrity, and an investigator.  Fun, quick cozy mystery.

  I saw a tweet about Dorothy Whipple from @Persephonebooks and realized that I had never read anything by her.  I picked up Someone at a Distance to rectify that situation.

This plot seems at first straightforward, the story of  the breakdown of a marriage and its far-reaching impacts.  The strength lies in the authenticity of the voices.  This was such an immersive novel.  I was pulled into the lives of Ellen and Avery and their children and of course the manipulative and cunning Louise with her long-suffering parents.   The characters are so well written that they stand as real people and the world built in the novel flows seamlessly around the reader.  The character of Ellen stands out to me as similar to one of Barbara Pym’s “Excellent Women” as she picks herself up and soldiers on with the business of family and life.  The line acknowledging  that hope is a dangerous thing was  particularly  perceptive. Themes of familial love, entitlement, forgiveness, and regret are all wrapped up in this extraordinarily well written novel.  Highly recommended read!

Three of these are by M.C. Beaton, two in the Hamish MacBeth series and one in the Agatha Raisin series.  The Hamish books were both short fun mysteries.  Hamish, as usual, attracting the attention of the ladies, usually ones he’s not interested in, as he strives to solve murders in the small quiet village of  Lochdubh.  Sometimes solving them in spite of the higher-ups in the police force rather than along with them.  The Death of a Travelling Man, refers to a travelling con man trying to gain the benefit of laws protecting Irish Travelers, bringing distrust and mayhem to the quiet village.  The web of chaos he weaves eventually results in a murder that Hamish must solve. In the midst of this Hamish is saddled with a junior officer, who billets with him at the police station bringing disruption to Hamish’s quiet, somewhat lazy life.

A dating agency for the wealthy and/or titled is the subject of Death of a Glutton.  The Glutton being a woman with appetites that are larger than life.  The dating agency hosts a gathering at the Hotel, bringing with it the victim and a whole host of suspects. A new recurring character is introduced at the end of this book, sure to bring some aggravation to Hamish’s life.

There goes the Bride sees our indomitable Agatha attending James’ , her ex-husband’s wedding.  As usual, where Agatha goes, murder usually follows.  Between the bride’s family, the villagers, and the guests, there are a host of suspects and clues to muddy the waters.  Toni, Charles, and Roy Silver are all along for the ride.  The ending sees Agatha looking to make some big changes!  Fun mystery read in a great series.

I ordered Web of Belonging, after watching the ITV movie based on the book titled, Belonging.  A slice of life and the story of the end of a marriage, the feelings here are deep and authentic.  What happens to a family when the one marriage that is holding it all together destructs?  Jess is the glue of the family, the mother, the caretaker of her husband Jacob and the “oldies”, a group of Jacob’s elderly relatives who all live with her and Jacob and need varying amounts of care.  One day Jacob simply doesn’t come home.  A little heavy-handed with religion for me, but otherwise a very good picture of aging and the impact of care taking on a person and a marriage.

The Rules of Magic is a book club read and the prequel to Practical Magic.  I have never read Practical Magic, but I’ve enjoyed the movie a few times.  The Rules of Magic occurs in the same universe and builds up the background of the family and their magical inheritance.  Very well done magical realism and storytelling about the Owens family siblings, Franny, Jet and Vincent.  In many places a sad tale, with  messages about family, loyalty, being true to who you are, and especially love.  I enjoyed it and might pick up Practical Magic to continue.

I am continuing to work my way through the Agatha Raisin books that I was missing.  Kissing Christmas Goodbye and A Spoonful of Poison both see Agatha tackling cases though her detective agency with the assistance of her employees.  There is an additional staff member, Toni,  who adds a great deal of interest.  I believe that she reminds Agatha of herself in her youth.

In Kissing Christmas Goodbye, Agatha is hired by a woman who believes she is about to be murdered.  When her client does die, there are plenty of suspects and motives to sift through in this manor house type mystery.  A Spoonful of Poison sees Agatha working for a village fete, which ends in murder.  Agatha feels obligated to investigate as she is being blamed.  Lots of twists and turns and suspects to choose from here.  Both were fun, cozy reads in a wonderful series.

Ditched 4 Murder is the second in the Sophie Kimball Mystery series.  Sophie is a bookkeeper for a private investigation firm.  She moved to Arizona to be closer to her mother and family, as well as for the job.  A body turns up near to her mother’s house, when everything is already in an uproar due to her aunt’s wedding.  Soon there is another body and Sophie finds herself, and her aunt’s fiancée embroiled in the mystery.  Lots of the humor fell flat for me and I wasn’t crazy about the portrayal of the older relatives.  This was an okay cozy mystery.

Much like the Agatha Raisin series, I’ve read quite a few of these but not in any particular order and  it was quite a long time ago.  I’m going back now and trying to fill in some gaps.

Death of a Hussy follows a young cancer survivor taken in by her not so benevolent aunt, the so-called Hussy of the title.  The aunt is older now but had quite a colorful past which she intends to tell the world about in a no hold barred memoir.  Hamish must sort through all the suspects and try to find a motive for the murder while fending off the unwanted attentions of the lonely, somewhat desperate Alison.  I found Hamish to be somewhat more standoffish in this book than I remembered him from earlier reads, but I enjoyed this quick cozy mystery.

Death of a Prankster takes place on a country estate, where a group of people gather to try to ensure their place in the will of bullying prankster of a relative.  This is a take on the classic manor house mystery, with everyone a suspect and few iron clad alibis.  Hamish must sort through the suspects and their backgrounds to solve the murder.  A quite humorous reveal scene at the end of the book.  Another very quick cozy read in an excellent series.

This is book 2 in the Aector McAvoy series.  Aector gets permission to look into a death with an open verdict.  What he finds leads to a twisting, turning case involving very important people of the political variety and secret (or not so secret) sex clubs.  Aector juggles this case along with an outbreak of violence due to a drug turf war in Hull under the supervision of Trish Pharoah, his boss in the Serious and Organized Crime Unit.  Themes of bigotry, power, love and family are all explored here.

The depiction of the relationship between Aector and his wife, Roisin is particularly well done and is such a strong and moving relationship.  They truly are a couple united against all the forces that want to see them apart.  I am really enjoying this series and looking forward to reading more.

I have been trying to fill in gaps in M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin .  These three were actually all in a row and represent the time in the series in which Agatha opens her own detective agency.  This introduces some new recurring characters in the form of Patrick and Harry, who help at her agency, while keeping the mainstays of Mrs. Bloxby, Sir Charles Fraith, and James.

Agatha’s agency goes through the gamut of cases from lost dogs and cats, missing teenagers, divorce work (which Agatha really doesn’t like still stinging from her divorce) and of course the odd murder or three.  James really shows his true colors through the course of these three and Mrs. Bloxby comes into her own, more than she had in earlier books.  Really enjoyable mystery reads, with great characters and intriguing story lines.

Dying Light is book 2 in Stuart MacBride’s Logan McRae series.  There is a so much going on in the form of characters, connections, twists, turns and red herrings, so you really need to pay attention.  McRae has been transferred to a screw up squad based on the outcomes of book 1 and has a new boss, DI Steel, who I found thoroughly unlikable.  The case begins with a prostitute beaten to death and that is only the beginning.  The bodies stack up at an alarming rate leaving McRae to try to make connections to get ahead of the killer(s).  Just a FYI to readers, there is “on-screen” torture and the murder of children, very much a brutal book, but a good read.

  I am feeling back in a cozy-ish mood and picked up this one when I was out at Barnes and Noble.  I love the idea of the theme, the postmistress in a small town.  I have a small town near me that had a town post office and it was the hub of the town.  There was quite a protest when it was moved outside and people could no longer stop by there on their walk through town.  Needless to say I was eager to read about this.

So, I liked the theme and the main character, I read other reviews and some people didn’t seem to find her likable, but I didn’t have a problem with that.  The mystery was well paced with some red herrings to keep you guessing about  who the killer actually is.  Those were the positives for me.  On the other hand, I found some aspects of it too unbelievable.  Cozies can often stretch your ability to suspend your disbelief, but some of this went beyond my ability.  Still there is enough here to like to say that I would read another.