
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2395 KP) rated Pink Lemonade Cake Murder in Books
Sep 5, 2023
Once again, fans of the series will know what to expect. The mystery is decent, but the story is padded with lots of talk about food, even for a culinary cozy. And the sub-plot involving Mike slows down the beginning of the story. I also had a hard time buying how the police deal with Hannah’s sleuthing in this book. And yet, I still do like checking in on the characters, and the recipes sound delicious as always. The cliffhanger makes it obvious we are back in the soap opera territory I had hoped we’d left behind. If you are curious about the series, start with the early books to see why so many people read it.

Barbecue Can Be Deadly
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Sho Tanaka is fired up to support his sister, Jenny, and spice up his life post-nursing career...

Murder on Oak Street (A South Shore Mystery #1)
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New York, 1904. After two years as a coroner’s physician for the city of New York, Daniel...
Historical Mystery Cozy

Taryn K (444 KP) rated Yarned and Dangerous (A Tangled Web Mystery) in Books
May 5, 2018
I am a crocheter and a yarn hoarder, so that could be why I didn't quite understand how Josie could consider selling the yarn shop Eb's late wife Cora left behind in favor of going back to the designer who was making her crazy in New York. She was so stifled and couldn't come up with amazing clothing designs until she started going through the inventory with a member of the local knitting group. Yet all through the book, this mental struggle between "It feels so welcoming," and "No, I'm just going to get rid of the inventory and sell it off," just bothered me, which is why it's an 8-star review and not a 9.
The villain is not immediately obvious, which I appreciated, since it's usually obvious by chapter 5 who did it, if not why they did it. I chased a few wild geese before finding out who the culprit was, so I enjoyed that.
It is a good book, as is the second book, and I'm looking forward to book 3 in the series.

BookishWoo (317 KP) rated Pawsitively Poisonous: A Witch of Edgehill Mystery #1 in Books
Jun 20, 2020
I had actually read the 2nd book in the series first for review and enjoyed it so much that Melissa sent this one to me also.
The cover alone would have been an instant buy for me, the silhouetted witch against the bright green is so eye catching it literally screams out to you pick me up and read me (You know you want too)!
With Melissa being a professional pet sitter you just know that this would have a nod to pets, and she certainly did not disappoint. Edgehill is a small quirky town whose identity revolves around cats. With everything from the business names to the town fair having a cat related theme and name.
The characters are spot on and you cant help but fall in love with the main Protagonist Amber Blackwood and yes, she is a witch, from a long line of witches who keep their identity secret, for good reason!
Being a cozy mystery you are dragged into a plot line that keeps you on the edge of your seat and has you invested in the characters right through to the end. This leaves you wanting more and I can guarantee that you will move straight on to the second book in the series as you are left with so many unaswered questions about Amber and her family.
So if you are looking for a quick, quirky, fun read you should definitely go and grab yourself a copy!
Melissa sent me my copy of Pawsitively Poisonous for free in exchange for an honest review

Debbie (52 KP) rated A Skeleton in the Family (Family Skeleton Mystery #1) in Books
Aug 9, 2018
Cozy Mystery 291 pages
Takes place in Penny Cross, Massachusetts
This is a mystery novel so I won't be going into much detail. I don't want to spoil anything.
This book is about a college Professor, Georgia, who hasn't been able to hold down a position for more than a year at time. Her boss's always want her to write a book but she can never find time with all she has to do.. She is a single mom of a teenage daughter, Madison.
She has received a teaching job at her hometown college where her parents teach. Her parents have tenured at this college and have taken a sabbatical for the semester. She moves back home to help with her finances.
Her daughter doesn't know that the family has a secret. That secret is the living, walking, talking skeleton called Sid. Sid followed Georgia home one day when she was 6 years old. He has been with them since. Sid doesn't want Madison to know that he is around. He does everything to keep himself away from her.
One day Sid talks Georgia into letting him out and have a little fun. He goes in disguise. He sees and recognizes someone while he out. This starts him to remember some of his pass but not enough. So they decide to start finding who he really is and what happened to him.
Who is Sid? Where did he come from? Why is he able to walk and talk? What happened to him?
All of questions are answered in this book. This is a good book and a fun mystery. I recommend that you give it try.

Death In Provence
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The first entry in a clever, lighthearted mystery series set in modern Provence—a delightful blend...
Fiction Contemporary Cultural France Cozy Mystery

Chicken Scratch (The Sisters, Texas Mystery Series Book 1)
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When Madison Reynolds finds herself widowed and penniless before forty, she does the only thing she...
mystery cozy mystery murder crime fiction adult

Murder on West Lake (South Shore Mystery #3)
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A scream shattered the tranquil air, echoing off the ice-covered lake, and Daniel's heart froze. He...
Historical Mystery Cozy Mystery Romantic

Midge (525 KP) rated Murder from Scratch in Books
Mar 18, 2019
Santa Cruz restaurateur Sally Solari’s life is difficult enough at the busy Gauguin restaurant. So she’s worked up when her dad persuades her to take in Evelyn, her estranged blind cousin whose mother has just died of a drug overdose.
But Evelyn proves to be lots of fun and she’s a terrific cook. Back at the house she’d shared with her mum, Evelyn’s heightened sense of touch tells her that various objects - a bottle of cranberry juice, her grandfather’s jazz records - are out of place. She and her mum always kept things in the same place so Evelyn could find them. So she suspects that her mother’s death was neither accident nor suicide, no matter what the police believe.
The cousins’ turn detective and Sally and Evelyn are thrown into the world of male-oriented kitchens, and the cut-throat competitiveness that can flame up between chefs. With a long list of suspects in the frame, will Sally be able to find the perpetrator or end up getting burned?
Leslie Karst’s delightful writing style is well-paced and complemented by some interesting characters, some of whom were annoying but helped to make the story as good as it was. There was some romantic and spicy love entanglement, too. Written in the first-person narrative and sharing Sally’s innermost thoughts, Leslie Karst includes some wonderfully amusing moments and vivid descriptions especially of some of the food, such as fall-off-the-bone pulled pork and salmon with habanero-lime butter. An ex-lawyer, the highly organised and extremely likeable Sally demonstrated admirable sleuthing techniques and her cousin Evelyn, although with her own problems, exuded warmth and friendliness.
The book had a natural, steady pace and I was kept guessing right until the surprising reveal. Delightful and entertaining, MURDER FROM SCRATCH is a quick, light, highly recommended read for all cozy mystery fans.
{Thank you to #NetGalley, #Crookedlanebks and Leslie Karst for the free copy of #MurderFromScratch and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.}