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Christmas Dessert Murder

Joanne Fluke

8.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

The perfect stocking stuffer for fans of culinary capers, this holiday omnibus from New York Times...

Mistletoe and Murder

Connie Berry

9.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

In Connie Berry’s festive holiday novella Mistletoe and Murder, American antiques dealer Kate...

The Last Son of Venus by Dion Marc

Dion Marc

8.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Alone and in London for the first time, Alex Anderson is being hunted by the darkness as the fates...

MM Dark Urban Fantasy

Rockin’ Around the Chickadee

Donna Andrews

9.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Bells are ringing and alarms are sounding in Donna Andrews' latest cheery addition in the New York...

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2395 KP) rated Easter Basket Murder in Books

Jan 25, 2024 (Updated Jan 25, 2024)

Here’s to a Deadly Easter

Kensington has called on their go to trio for three new holiday themed mysteries, this time featuring Easter. Up first, Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone gets involved with a promotion for the local businesses leads to the theft of a golden Easter egg. Then Lee Hollis’s Hayley Powell finds the Easter Bunny dead at a community Easter egg hunt. Finally, Barbara Ross’s Julia Snowden’s Easter on the family island off the coast of Maine is interrupted when she finds a man in coat tails dead in the garden. Then, a few minutes later, he’s gone.

All three stories have fun with the theme, and present it in some clever ways. As is often the case, I found the first story the weakest, but the mysteries in the other two stories are strong. Still, I was engaged no matter which story I was reading. All three have some great Easter elements that made me feel like it was spring. And I love the community aspects we get. I’m only a regular reader of Barbara Ross’s series, and I was interested in the updates we got on the characters there. If you are looking for some new dishes to serve this year, you’ll be interested in the recipes we get with the second and third story. Each story is roughly 100 pages, so you can read them in a sitting or two. Overall, this is a fun anthology you’ll be happy hopped on to your to be read pile.

Kudos

ClareR (5950 KP) rated Thank You For the Days in Books

Sep 10, 2025

Thank You For the Days

Dan Brotzel | 2024 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Humor & Comedy

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Thank You For the Days is a thoroughly lovely read. Luke Milvaine, a man in his 30’s, seems to have lost his direction in life. He lives in the basement of his stepfathers house with his step-siblings living upstairs with their father. His mum died some years before and his dad is absent (he’s travelling around the world on business, and seems to have little time for Luke).

Luke inherits a cockapoo from an old school friend after he dies, he’s constantly yearning after the illusive Yasmine (who he refers to as ‘The One’) after a whirlwind holiday romance, and his job is really not what he wants to be doing.

To add challenge to his life, Luke decides to set himself a different challenge everyday for a year, and celebrates a different ‘Day’ every day. Some of them seem quite good, whilst others are FAR from good (shower with a friend, anyone? National Gimp day?).

I enjoyed seeing Luke grow throughout this book, and the way his relationship developed with his work colleague, Holly and his long-suffering stepdad. His bosses (a father and daughter who constantly bicker) were very funny, and some of the days he sets himself are certainly very challenging!

This book is a good reminder that we should make the most of the time that we have, and the people that we have in our lives.

Many thanks for the review copy that I received from the author (far too long ago, and I do apologise!), and this is an honest review!

Kudos

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2395 KP) rated Killer Kung Pao in Books

Jul 30, 2025 (Updated Jul 30, 2025)

Killer Kung Pao

Vivien Chien | 2020 | Mystery

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Did an Accident Lead to a Shocking Murder?

All Lana Lee wanted on that particular Friday night was to leave work to go hang out with her boyfriend, Detective Adam Trudeau. Instead, she witnesses an auto accident in the parking lot of Asia Village. When the participants, June Yi and Millie Mao, start threatening each other, Lana wonders what is behind their animosity.

But the next morning, Lana’s hair appointment gives her a ringside seat as the two start to go at it again in the shopping center’s salon. Then Millie is electrocuted. The whispers that June is guilty begin almost immediately, but Lana thinks that’s too easy. She may not personally like June, but she doesn’t want to see the woman sent to prison for a crime she didn’t commit. Can Lana find the truth?

I started this book on a holiday weekend, so I didn’t have as much reading time as normal. I felt like it started a little slowly, but that might have been me. Either way, when Lana started investigating, I was hooked, as she tried to find viable suspects and motives. The ending made perfect sense. I liked getting to see more of the supporting players since we were in Asia Village for much of the action. We get growth in a couple of them, a scene that left me laughing hard, and a subplot that I can’t wait to see where goes. It’s easy to see why this series is so popular. Hopefully, I can get to the next one soon.