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A Plus One for Murder
10.0
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Entrepreneur Emma Westlake is reinventing herself as a hired friend when murder gets in the way in...
Light My Pyre (Everwood Falls #1)
8.7
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EVERWOOD FALLS… a small supernatural community tucked up in the Colorado Rockies where witches,...
Paranormal Romance Cozy Mystery
A Sense for Murder
9.0
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Chef Sally Solari has - to her own bewilderment - built a reputation as a talented sleuth who keeps...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2051 KP) rated Bridges Burned in Books
Mar 19, 2019
Can Zoe and Pete Solve the Case Before They Burn Bridges?
It all starts with an explosion. One of the few houses in a new subdivision explodes after the residents report smelling gas. While EMT Zoe Chambers isn’t on duty, she rushes to the scene to offer whatever aid she can. While she is there, she stops the distraught owner from rushing in to see if his wife was home. Sadly, the wife’s remains are found in the rubble. The fire investigator also find evidence that the gas leak and explosion that killed her wasn’t an accident. While police chief Pete Adams, Zoe’s new boyfriend, immediately suspects the husband of setting things up, Zoe doesn’t believe it. It helps that she has begun bonding with the victim’s daughter. Both Pete and Zoe dig in their heels, certain that they are correct. Where will the facts lead? Will their relationship be destroyed before the truth is revealed?
With Zoe and Pete’s relationship being fairly new, this mystery really tests them. As always, both are prominent characters, even sharing time as our third person view point characters. That’s a good thing, too, since it allows us to better understand where they are coming from in their arguments and lets us see they both know when they might be wrong or did something stupid. But all this drama is only part of the book. While this might be a bit more of a procedural than the multiple suspect books I am used to reading, we still get plenty of twists and turns to the case and a climax that had me turning pages as fast as I could to see what would happen next. Obviously, Zoe and Pete are strong leads, but the rest of the cast are just as strong. Like the rest of the series, this book straddles the line between traditional and cozy with just a smattering of foul language and a bit more detail than in the books I normally read. Just know that going in, and you’ll be fine.
With Zoe and Pete’s relationship being fairly new, this mystery really tests them. As always, both are prominent characters, even sharing time as our third person view point characters. That’s a good thing, too, since it allows us to better understand where they are coming from in their arguments and lets us see they both know when they might be wrong or did something stupid. But all this drama is only part of the book. While this might be a bit more of a procedural than the multiple suspect books I am used to reading, we still get plenty of twists and turns to the case and a climax that had me turning pages as fast as I could to see what would happen next. Obviously, Zoe and Pete are strong leads, but the rest of the cast are just as strong. Like the rest of the series, this book straddles the line between traditional and cozy with just a smattering of foul language and a bit more detail than in the books I normally read. Just know that going in, and you’ll be fine.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2051 KP) rated The Sentry in Books
Apr 23, 2019
Wrong Place, Wrong Time – But for Whom?
It all started because Joe Pike stopped to put air in his tires. While he is at the service station, he notices two suspicious men about to enter a sandwich stop across the street. Pike follows them and stops them from beating up the owner, Wilson Smith. When Pike is waiting to talk to the police, he meets Wilson’s niece, Dru Rayne. Both of them are refuges from New Oreleans, feeling after Hurricane Katrina five years before the story starts. When trouble comes for the duo again, Dru calls Pike, who brings his friend and partner Elvis Cole in to help. Elvis begins to uncover clues that things aren’t quite what they appear to be. What has the innocent act of stopping at a service station and doing a good deed gotten the duo into?
Thanks to the multiple view point narration, we have an idea what else might be happening before Pike and Cole do, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested. There is so much going on that what we are privy to is only a small part of the story. There are plenty of twists as this thriller works its way to the climax. Along the way we get new insight into both Joe Pike and Elvis Cole. We do see a few of the recurring characters, but they don’t get enough page time for any real development. The new characters are engaging enough to help keep us invested in the story. Even though we get some passages from Cole’s point of view, his humor is missing here, and I would have enjoyed it. Even by this series’ standards, this book is violent. While these books always have more language and violence than my normal cozy mysteries, I felt what we got here could have been tone down without impacting the story in the slightest.
Thanks to the multiple view point narration, we have an idea what else might be happening before Pike and Cole do, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t interested. There is so much going on that what we are privy to is only a small part of the story. There are plenty of twists as this thriller works its way to the climax. Along the way we get new insight into both Joe Pike and Elvis Cole. We do see a few of the recurring characters, but they don’t get enough page time for any real development. The new characters are engaging enough to help keep us invested in the story. Even though we get some passages from Cole’s point of view, his humor is missing here, and I would have enjoyed it. Even by this series’ standards, this book is violent. While these books always have more language and violence than my normal cozy mysteries, I felt what we got here could have been tone down without impacting the story in the slightest.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2051 KP) rated And Then There Were Crumbs in Books
Nov 22, 2019
Unfortunately, the Mystery Got Crumbs
Looking for a fresh start, Kate McGuire packs up and moves from New York City to Coral Cay, Florida, where she lands a job working at The Cookie House. On her first day on the job, Stewart Lord stalks into the bakery. He is a real estate developer who has decided to buy up Coral Cay and turn the entire island into a resort for the rich and famous, and he has The Cookie House in his sites as his first purchase. He makes the owner, Sam, a rock bottom offer, but only leaves with some cinnamon rolls he demanded from Sam. A few hours later, Stewart is dead, and Sam’s cinnamon rolls are the culprit. The police arrest Sam, but Kate doesn’t think her new boss is a killer. Can she prove he didn’t poison Stewart?
Between the fact that this is a culinary cozy and it is set in the Florida Keys, I was ready to sit back and enjoy. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations. I was captivated at first. The setting is very real and fun and comes to life. Kate quickly makes a lot of fantastic friends, and I enjoyed hanging out with all of them. The further I went into the book, the more frustrated I became with the pacing of the mystery. We spend significantly more time watching Kate work to save and transform the bakery while Sam is in jail than we do getting clues to who might have killed Stewart. It’s a shame because there is a good mystery here; we just needed more of it. All the baking certainly made me hungry for bread and cookies, but there aren’t any recipes at the end of this book. Plenty of people seem to love this book, so if the premise interests you, I recommend you pick it up and judge the results for yourself.
Between the fact that this is a culinary cozy and it is set in the Florida Keys, I was ready to sit back and enjoy. Unfortunately, it didn’t live up to my expectations. I was captivated at first. The setting is very real and fun and comes to life. Kate quickly makes a lot of fantastic friends, and I enjoyed hanging out with all of them. The further I went into the book, the more frustrated I became with the pacing of the mystery. We spend significantly more time watching Kate work to save and transform the bakery while Sam is in jail than we do getting clues to who might have killed Stewart. It’s a shame because there is a good mystery here; we just needed more of it. All the baking certainly made me hungry for bread and cookies, but there aren’t any recipes at the end of this book. Plenty of people seem to love this book, so if the premise interests you, I recommend you pick it up and judge the results for yourself.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2051 KP) rated Knot in My Backyard in Books
Feb 5, 2020
Murder Hits Close to Home
Martha Rose’s neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California used to be peaceful and quiet until a local private school built a baseball stadium in the open space that used to boarder her street. She and her neighbors have tried to fight it, even after it was built, but no one is willing to listen to them. While out for a walk one morning, Martha finds the dead body of Dax Martin, the school’s baseball couch. The police begin to quickly focus on her neighbor Ed Pappas, who had a fight with the victim recently, but Martha doesn’t believe he is guilty. Can she prove it?
Quilting doesn’t play as big a part of this mystery as it did the first in the series, but it is still an active part of Martha’s life, as are her quilting friends. It’s hard to complain since this book is filled with a strong mystery. Martha strikes out early, which only adds to her drive to solve things, and makes the solution more satisfying for us when she does. Some of Martha’s attitude and actions early on were a little frustrating for me, but it made me appreciate the character growth we saw in her later in the book. The rest of the cast are great, and I enjoyed spending time with them, returning characters and new characters alike. When I read the first book in the series, I found some needless political comments off putting, but they were absent in this book. The plot does bring up a few political issues as a natural part of the plot, but they are kept in the background here – the book never stops to peach and they only come up very briefly. As a Los Angeles resident, I enjoyed seeing places I know pop up in this book, especially a few key scenes that took place near where I played ultimate Frisbee for years. Overall, this is a fun second mystery that will please cozy mystery readers.
Quilting doesn’t play as big a part of this mystery as it did the first in the series, but it is still an active part of Martha’s life, as are her quilting friends. It’s hard to complain since this book is filled with a strong mystery. Martha strikes out early, which only adds to her drive to solve things, and makes the solution more satisfying for us when she does. Some of Martha’s attitude and actions early on were a little frustrating for me, but it made me appreciate the character growth we saw in her later in the book. The rest of the cast are great, and I enjoyed spending time with them, returning characters and new characters alike. When I read the first book in the series, I found some needless political comments off putting, but they were absent in this book. The plot does bring up a few political issues as a natural part of the plot, but they are kept in the background here – the book never stops to peach and they only come up very briefly. As a Los Angeles resident, I enjoyed seeing places I know pop up in this book, especially a few key scenes that took place near where I played ultimate Frisbee for years. Overall, this is a fun second mystery that will please cozy mystery readers.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2051 KP) rated The Murder Pit in Books
Apr 22, 2020
Body in the Coal Chute
Life is going well for Daisy Savage. Recently remarried, she, her husband, and their blended family are settling into the old fixer upper they just bought. While her husband, Jake, bemoans the work, Daisy fell in love with the place despite the work. The house seems to have quite a few secrets, and Daisy finds one in their basement’s crawl space – an old coal chute. Unfortunately, that discovery also comes with a dead body, and the victim is someone that Daisy recognizes. With the small-town rumor mill kicking in, Daisy finds herself as a suspect. Can she figure out who really killed the victim and why he was dumped in their basement?
The plot started out well, and I enjoyed the added puzzle about why the victim was left in Daisy’s basement. There were some good twists before we reached the end. Sadly, I did have some issues with the book. The characters are a bit thin. I get that some of them were supposed to be comedic, but they still could have been stronger. Daisy’s kids seemed to act younger than they were supposed to be. She homeschools most of the kids, but she seems to justify letting them play and not actually doing any work with them. (Yes, I get that in a cozy, the main character spends all their time on the case instead of their job, but that’s not the case here.) There were some timelines issues as well, nothing that affected the plot, but the author clearly lost track of time. On the other hand, I loved Daisy and Jake’s relationship, and I laughed quite a bit at the character’s interactions. I’ve read other books from Jeff Shelby in the past and enjoyed them, so I will read one of his books again. Hopefully, this was just an off book. Overall, I enjoyed it, but there are some issues that need to be resolved.
The plot started out well, and I enjoyed the added puzzle about why the victim was left in Daisy’s basement. There were some good twists before we reached the end. Sadly, I did have some issues with the book. The characters are a bit thin. I get that some of them were supposed to be comedic, but they still could have been stronger. Daisy’s kids seemed to act younger than they were supposed to be. She homeschools most of the kids, but she seems to justify letting them play and not actually doing any work with them. (Yes, I get that in a cozy, the main character spends all their time on the case instead of their job, but that’s not the case here.) There were some timelines issues as well, nothing that affected the plot, but the author clearly lost track of time. On the other hand, I loved Daisy and Jake’s relationship, and I laughed quite a bit at the character’s interactions. I’ve read other books from Jeff Shelby in the past and enjoyed them, so I will read one of his books again. Hopefully, this was just an off book. Overall, I enjoyed it, but there are some issues that need to be resolved.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2051 KP) rated Al Dente’s Inferno in Books
Feb 26, 2020
Nell’s Move Comes Complete with Murder
Nell Valenti has turned her love of food and her training as a chef into a career helping establish farm to table cooking schools. When she is offered a job setting up a school for Chef Claudio Orlandini in Tuscany, she jumps at the chance. Not only is she looking for some changes in her life, but Chef Claudio is her culinary idol. However, Nell is shocked upon her arrival to discover that the villa Chef Claudio owns is in worse disrepair than she expected, meaning the transformation is going to be more work than she’d expected. Then comes the news that a kick off dinner with some local dignitaries is scheduled for the next evening. Even worse, the dinner ends with some of the guests dead and Chef Claudio missing. What has Nell gotten herself into?
I picked up this book with high hopes. It’s fun to see a cozy in a new setting, and Tuscany appealed to me. Unfortunately, the language barrier made the book hard to get into initially. Yes, we need bits of Italian, and not all of the characters are going to speak English, but it felt like too many Italian words and phrases were thrown out, and we had to wait for the translation to appear or figure out what was meant in context. While it took a bit longer to be hooked than I would have liked, it did happen once the plot kicked into high gear. We are treated to a great mystery with plenty of suspects. As Nell pieces things together, I was in awe of just how well the clues were laid out for us. Nell is a good main character, and the core cast also comes to life for us as well. There are some laugh out loud funny scenes here, and, of course, we get a delicious sounding recipe at the end. The characters, plot, and setting make this a fun debut.
I picked up this book with high hopes. It’s fun to see a cozy in a new setting, and Tuscany appealed to me. Unfortunately, the language barrier made the book hard to get into initially. Yes, we need bits of Italian, and not all of the characters are going to speak English, but it felt like too many Italian words and phrases were thrown out, and we had to wait for the translation to appear or figure out what was meant in context. While it took a bit longer to be hooked than I would have liked, it did happen once the plot kicked into high gear. We are treated to a great mystery with plenty of suspects. As Nell pieces things together, I was in awe of just how well the clues were laid out for us. Nell is a good main character, and the core cast also comes to life for us as well. There are some laugh out loud funny scenes here, and, of course, we get a delicious sounding recipe at the end. The characters, plot, and setting make this a fun debut.
Tiny House Living: Ideas for Building and Living Well in Less Than 400 Square Feet
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Tiny House, Large Lifestyle! Tiny homes are popping up across America, captivating people with their...