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Divorce Can Be Murder by Victoria Pade

 I picked up this one at my local second hand book seller.  I hadn’t heard anything about it but the cover and title intrigued me.

Jimi Plain is a technical writer and a single mother of 2 girls.  She has an ex, who is the girls’ father.  He is active “off screen” through broken promises and phone calls interwoven in the story.  Danny is her policeman cousin and Nell is her Grandmother.  At the beginning of the book, Jimi is moving her girls into the house with Danny and Nell somewhat regretfully but financially necessary.  Other characters include Linda, a good friend and neighbor in the middle of a divorce, and Audrey, a nun and counselor, who runs a divorce recovery group.  Although Audrey is a main character, and Nell and Danny both are regular church goers,  the story line is not preachy or full of religious references or moral “lessons”.

The Divorce group is at the center of the murders and the plot twists and turns.  The character of Jimi was interesting and sympathetic.  The other members of the divorce group seemed to me to represent the gamut of reactions to divorce and were very well done.  Jimi’s girls also gave realistic faces to teen children of divorce.  The representations of divorce and the impacts not only on the couple divorcing but others around them were particularly well done.

There were many intersections in the relationships among the characters and this led to red herrings in the mystery plot line. I did figure out the culprit at chapter 25 out of 35, however there was one piece I was wrong about and I did doubt myself a little bit so the book was still very engaging and the twist right at the end was unexpected.

A warning, simply because many cozy readers don’t like cursing at all, there are about two instances of cursing in the book but no sex.  That is a non-issue for me, but I do know that some readers expect their cozies to be clean.

I enjoyed this book and would read another in the series.  I am glad to have stumbled across it.

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Dying in Style by Elaine Viets

 This book was this month’s read for the Cozy Mystery Corner Group on Goodreads.  I was pleasantly surprised by this cozy.  Sometimes fashion themed cozies are filled with shallow brand name dropping characters, but this was not like that at all.  Josie is a single mom, who works as a mystery shopper to support herself and her daughter.  She carries out her job wearing a series of costumes to fit in with the nature of each of her jobs.  The descriptions of how she gets into character are quite funny.

She gets involved in a series of murders related to poor reviews she gives a designer store that is in financial trouble and slated for a takeover.  The police suspect Josie of the murder and she begins to investigate in order to clear her own name.  Josie at times seems to charge headlong into danger without much of a plan, but on the whole she is a likable character.  Her mother, Jane, her daughter, Amelia and her friend, Alyce, are interesting sidekicks.  Jane’s plot line is particularly interesting and timely.

I really enjoyed this cozy and will be interested to see how the characters grow and change throughout the series.

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Wicked Autumn by G.M. Malliet

 

I read this one as the group read this month for the English Kindle Mystery Club on Goodreads.  I have previously read two other books from this author, Death of a Lit Chick and Death of a Cozy Writer.  The two books appeared to be a parody of cozy mysteries, perhaps some kind of satire, but they didn’t really work for me in that form.

This book started out with very much the same tone as the previous books, but then seemed to change  somewhat at around page 100, as though the book couldn’t decide whether it was a cozy or a parody. That was about when we got heavily introduced to the sleuth Max, ex MI5 agent turned village Vicar.  Max as a character just didn’t seem very real.  The whole dramatic event turning him from MI5 agent to a man of the cloth, who just doesn’t seem very religious or all that interested in the village didn’t really work as a character.    He only really sparks to life during the investigation of the murder.

Overall, I was disappointed with this.  Many characters seem cartoonish, not well drawn.  I assume it was intentional, perhaps meant to be a parody, however not funny enough for me for a parody.  The pacing was slow.  I usually finish cozy mysteries in one sitting.  This one I kept finding excuses to put it down and get up and do something else.  There were some point of view issues and other little style points I wasn’t crazy about.

While I will probably not read another in this series, I do know many people really enjoy G.M. Malliet’s writing and she has  won an Agatha for a previous book and that Wicked Autumn has been nominated for an Agatha, so perhaps it is just me.

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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!