Death by Committee (An Abby McCree Mystery #1)

Author:  Alexis Morgan
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; [Audio CD]; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781496719539; [9781974938094]
Kensington Publishing [Dreamscape Media]
288 Pages
$7.99; $17.26; $6.89 Amazon
January 29, 2019

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

After a rough divorce, Abby McCree only wants to stitch up her life and move on.  But other loose ends appear after her elderly Aunt Sybil passes away, leaving Abby to tend to a rundown estate, complete with a slobbery Mastiff of questionable pedigree and a sexy tenant who growls more than the dog.  As Abby gets drawn into a tight-knit quilting guild, she makes a twisted discovery - Aunt Sybil's only known rival is buried in her backyard!

Despite what local detectives say, Abby refuses to accept that her beloved aunt had anything to do with the murder.  While navigating a busy social calendar and rediscovering the art of quilting, she launches an investigation of her own to clear Aunt Sybil's name and catch the true culprit.  The incriminating clues roll in, yet Abby can't help but wonder - can she survive her new responsibilities in Snowberry Creek and still manage to patch together a killer's deadly pattern without becoming the next victim?

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Abby McCree is a recent divorceé who's been left her Aunt Sybil's big Victorian home and its contents.  She's also doing well financially due to the fact she escaped her marriage with half the proceeds of the company that she and her husband started and ran together, and her aunt left her a tidy sum as well.  So for now, she doesn't need to work, because it seems she already has a full schedule - even if it's not one of her choosing.

It seems she's also inherited her aunt's obligations to the town, which include running the Quilting Guild and chairing the town's Committee on Senior Affairs, even though she doesn't quilt and isn't a senior.  Somehow she hasn't been able to free herself of these duties, so decides to make the best of it until someone else takes over.

She's also 'inherited' her aunt's tenant, Tripp Blackston, an ex-soldier who's now a student at the local college and lives in the carriage house behind her home.  Tripp isn't the friendliest of people, but he handles his part of the bargain - doing chores around the home in exchange for reduced rent.  Last but not least, she's also inherited her aunt's mostly-Mastiff dog Zeke.  Yes, Abby definitely has a full life.

One day she's trying to cut the blackberry bushes in her yard when Tripp suggests that they hire goats, who will eat their way through.  Strange as it seems, Abby is willing to go along with it.  But she's not so willing to go along with what the goats seem to have dug up - a body buried in her yard, wrapped in a shroud that appears to be part of a quilt she recognizes as belonging to her aunt.

When the police determine it's the body of Dolly Cayhill, whom everyone thought was still out of town (which she does every year after Christmas, being a snowbird), Abby begins hearing rumors how her aunt and Dolly hated and were constantly trying to one-up each other.  She also hears that they got into a fight over the Senior Committee, and Sybil was accused of poisoning members of the guild using Dolly's famous crab dip.

Even though she and Tripp don't believe a word of it, it doesn't count - especially since Tripp is also in the rumor mill of being the one to move and bury the body.  While the sheriff, Tripp's friend Gage Logan, is investigating, he won't tell Abby anything and she doesn't want to sit around twiddling her thumbs while waiting to find out who murdered the woman.  After all, she has her aunt's reputation to protect, so what if she ruffles a few feathers?  However, those feathers don't want to be ruffled, and Abby soon finds that maybe the murderer isn't done with killing yet...

This is the first book in a new series, and I really didn't know what to expect.  I must say that I am pleasantly surprised by it.  The plot is well written and well thought out, giving the reader something to look forward to - and it's not another nosy amateur sleuth who walks around demanding answers and accusing everyone of murder.

She's also not one of those women who can't cook and eats fast food whenever she's hungry, or doesn't even have dog food in the house and needs to run to the store every night when she realizes she needs to feed her pet.  Abby, having once run her own business, bakes quite a bit when she's restless and keeps her pet in plenty of food and treats.

She's also not invasive in her questioning.  While she does ask questions, they're innocuous and basically just to get people to offer whatever information they want to give her.  She never presses anyone or makes them uncomfortable.  It's a breath of fresh air in the 'crime-solving' world.  I like the fact that she's not making enemies in town (although she did 'inherit' once again, enemies in the form of Dolly's friends). 

When the ending comes and the killer is revealed, the clues were there all along, and while I knew who the murderer was, it was enjoyable to watch it all play out; while Abby didn't knowingly put herself in danger, yes, she took a risk, but what kind of mystery would it have been if she played it safe throughout the entire story? 

All in all, an entertaining tale that is worth reading.  So get your self a cup of coffee (or tea, if you prefer), sit back, relax and travel with Abby on a lively journey of intrigue and discovery.  I look forward to the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Committee-Abby-McCree-Mystery/dp/1496719530/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2992730532

More on Alexis Morgan's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/alexis-morgan/

Sleight of Paw (A Magical Cats Mystery #2)

Author:  Sofie Kelly
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
9780451234537
Berkley Obsidian
336 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
September 6, 2011

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Kathleen never wanted to be the crazy cat lady.  But when Owen and Hercules followed her home from mysterious Wisteria Hill, she realized her mind wasn't playing tricks on her: Her cats have magical abilities.  And when a body is found Kathleen's favorite local cafe, she knows Owen's talent for turning invisible and Hercules' ability to walk through closed doors will give the felines access to clues Kathleen couldn't get without arousing suspicion.

With her pet partners, and perhaps the assistance of a certain handsome detective, Kathleen is determined to find out who killed Agatha Shepherd, an elderly woman who seems to have helped almost everyone in town at one time or another.  Someone is hiding dark secrets, and it will take a bit of fur-tive investigating to catch the coldhearted killer.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Kathleen Paulson is head of the library in the small town of Mayville Heights, Minnesota.  It's winter, and everyone is getting ready for Winterfest.  One night after helping her friends Maggie and Roma, when she sees an apparent argument between her elderly friend Harrison Taylor, and retired teacher Agatha Shepard.  When Agatha is found dead the next day by another friend, Ruby, Kathleen wonders if Harry's argument with the woman could be relevant.

But when she discovers that her friend Eric, who owns the diner, also had an argument and now has taken time off due to illness, her curiosity starts to get the better of her.  What's worse, she discovers that Ruby's boyfriend Justin has just been left a boatload of money from Agatha, who barely knew him; and when a young friend is arrested for the murder, Kathleen just can't sit still and allow things to happen.

She's warned off the case by Marcus Gordon, the local homicide detective who's also taking a liking to her; but since he recently thought she was guilty of a murder herself, she doesn't much care what he thinks.  She's wondering what Harrison and Agatha were arguing about.  It has something to do with a missing report card envelope, and since she also saw Eric and Ruby apparently arguing about the same thing, she wants to know if it has anything to do with the murder.  She believes if she could find the envelope, she might discover the truth. 

Helping her are her two cats Owen and Hercules, whom she rescued as kittens from Wisteria Hill, an abandoned estate that is now home to a feral colony of cats cared for by the local veterinarian and volunteers (of which both Marcus and Kathleen are two).  What no one except Kathleen knows, though, is that Hercules and Owen are special.  Really special.  Hercules can walk through solid doors and walls, and Owen can become invisible.  They also have an interesting way of being able to help her, and she finally accepts the fact that they want her to investigate - with their help, of course.  Kathleen just hopes it won't put her in the sights of a killer...

This is the second in the Magical Cat Mysteries and I found it to be just as delightful as the first.  Kathleen's wonderful cats are at it again, determined to find out who killed an elderly woman and why, and Kathleen's just along for the ride.  Of course, they need her to transport them to where they want to go, and she reluctantly does so, hoping no one will notice her talking to them and thinking she's a crazy cat lady. 

Her ever-present friends Maggie and Roma, the vet, are also back although they don't play as large a part this time out.  I love how Kathleen can take each piece of evidence that's dropped in her lap and (sometimes literally) and match it to what she knows to come to the correct conclusion.  I like the fact that not only is she smart in business, being able to run the library smoothly with competent help, she's also able to think on her feet, and this has saved her more than once.

And I absolutely love that she knows how to cook.  It gets really tiring to read of protagonists who eat fast food all the time, have no idea how to boil an egg, and their refrigerators are constantly empty.  I mean, how can you solve murders if you can't even remember to buy food for your pets or a gallon of milk?  How can you put together clues if you can't put together a grocery list?  Kathleen, fortunately, is the type of woman I think I'd be friends with (since I also love to cook and keep food in the house for my cats).

She's also loyal to her friends and they to her.  Even though she's only been in Mayville Heights a short time, having moved from Boston (another story), she's managed to forge real relationships that show she actually cares about the people around her.  Now if her friends could actually get her to care about Marcus, too...

While there were a few red herrings thrown around, and we pretty much knew who the killer was from the beginning, watching her - with her cats' help, of course - is where the real fun is.  Nothing is easy for her to discover, but she not only does so, (as we know she will) she also manages to help another friend along the way which only cements the fact that Kathleen will go above and beyond to help those she loves.  It's a lovely addition to the tale, and I love how it all turns out.

When the ending comes and the killer is revealed, it really isn't a surprise, as I mentioned above, yet I found the climax quite enthralling as once again, Kathleen depended upon her own wits and still managed to put her love for her pets first and foremost in her thoughts.  It's heartfelt.  It's loving.  It's how people who love their pets feel.

As you can tell, I was absolutely delighted with this tale and look forward to the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Sleight-Magical-Cats-Sofie-Kelly/dp/0451234537/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2991544753

More on Sofie Kelly's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/sofie-kelly/

Wedding Bel Blues (A Belfast McGrath Mystery #1)

Author:  Maggie McConnon
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781250001894
St. Martin's Publishing
311 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
May 31, 2016

⭐

Belfast McGrath has spent the last fifteen years avoiding her big, bustling, brash Irish family.  But when her five-star culinary career goes up in flames, she retreats to Foster's Landing - where she's immediately tapped as her cousin Caleigh's maid-of-honor.  It's a perfect recipe for disaster...especially when Bel learns that the wedding preparations include Caleigh having one last one-night stand.

When Caleigh's lover plunges from the second-floor balcony during the reception, Bel can't help but think his death was no accident.  Soon Detective Kevin Hanson, who just happens to be Bel's long-ago love, arrives on the scene - looking hotter than ever.  Heartbreak and homicide hardly help Bel to feel more at home, but if she is going to make a new beginning for herself, including putting the past behind her, she must first steer clear of a cold-hearted killer.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

I thought this would have a decent plot from the blurb, but it was pretty weak and nonsensical.  Bel has returned home after being fired in disgrace for something that wasn't even her fault.  Now she's had to move home with her tail between her legs, and is taking part in her cousin's wedding.  While there, she meets a handsome man who winds up being thrown to his death from the balcony of her family's manor house, and she wants to find the murderer so that one of her family members won't be found guilty.  To complicate matters, an old boyfriend is now a police detective, which makes it slightly awkward for her.  But finding a killer won't be easy, especially if she's looking in all the wrong places...

This could have been so much better, but it wasn't.  Her family owns a crumbling manor house that they rent out for weddings, and Bel's brothers all play in an Irish band for these weddings.  So are they only renting to people who are Irish?  Because I can't imagine that most people would hire an Irish band unless they were.  There must be an awful lot of big Irish families around there to keep the manor running.  I was wondering why they just didn't sell the place and live somewhere else.  I wouldn't live in a money pit.

Honestly, the book would have been more interesting if there were a ghost running around haunting the place; I couldn't see a single reason why they kept it - except for the fact that it was a plot device to give Bel a job in the long run.  Speaking of which, I didn't understand why she was fired when everyone knows that fresh fish might very well have bones in it.  That's why you don't just shove the entire thing in your mouth and instead pick it apart to eat it.

Plus, the blurb states as how she runs into Detective Kevin Hanson, her "long-ago love," so you're naturally thinking that they'll probably rekindle something, right?  Wrong.  Why was he even given the role of being an ex-boyfriend?  That didn't make any sense since it really added nothing to the story and he'd moved on long ago.

And the ending?  Well, let's just say that it sucked.  Big time.  Personal opinion and all that.  Because of it, I won't be reading any more books by this author.

https://www.amazon.com/Wedding-Bel-Blues-Belfast-Mysteries/dp/1250001897/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2987767100

More on Maggie McConnon's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/maggie-mcconnon/

Deadly Ride (A Britton Bay Mystery Book #3)

Author:  Jody Holford
Genre:   Mystery

Digital Book
Lyrical Underground Publishing
217 Pages
$5.99 Amazon
October 22, 2019

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

As editor-in-chief of the Britton Bay Bulletin, Molly steps in for a sick reporter to cover the Classic Car Crawl, an exhibit of vintage automobiles.  Her main challenge is not being driven to distraction by the presence of her hunky boyfriend, Sam Alderich, a fellow car enthusiast whose auto shop is sponsoring the event.  But when she and Sam discover the co-founder dead in his car, Molly quickly shifts gears to solve the murder.

With a showroom full of suspects - including the co-founder's longtime partner, much-younger wife, enigmatic ex, and car owners with grudges and grievances - Molly soon starts to feel like she's spinning her wheels.  And after things take a turn for the worse, it's all she can do to steer clear of trouble and stay out of a killer's clutches...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Molly Owens is the editor-in-chief of small-town newspaper Britton Bay Bulletin and in a relationship with Sam Alderich, who owns his own garage and is sponsoring a classic car show that's been held in other cities, but never Britton Bay.  He's excited to meet his two idols, who are co-founders of the event - Jet and Brian.  But when he and Molly do meet them, Jet, a man in his seventies, is making passes at Molly...and they find out that not only does he have an ex-wife who's there but his current wife is only 24 and she's there, also.

It's also pretty evident that Jet doesn't care who he sleeps with, but all Molly wants to do is avoid him.  When Sam is checking to see that everything is locked up for the evening one night, he finds Jet sitting in his car.  It's not long before he discovers the man dead.  Molly also discovers that there's plenty of suspects from the ex- and current wife, to fellow car enthusiasts and a nosy reporter that's come on the scene.  Every one of them had motive.  But which one killed him?  When Molly gets too close to the truth, she'd better watch herself or Jet will have company...

This is the third book in the series and I liked it as much as the other two.  The plot was interesting, and I liked the fact that none of Molly's friends were suspected of murder.  What a nice change- I also like the fact that Sam owns a garage and he isn't the usual police officer or attorney.  This time out, Molly's main reporter is out ill so she's taking a turn interviewing the drivers, and what she hears (or overhears) leaves her with questions when Jet is killed.

But of course, Sam's friend, police deputy Chris Beatty, is taking the lead on the investigation and even though he tells Molly to leave it alone, neither he nor Sam believes she will.  And they're right.  There's red herrings thrown about, but not as many as you think, and it seems that no one has an alibi, since everyone is alibiing each other in one way or another.

There's also the subplot of how Molly's relationship with Sam is growing.  After being hurt by her last boyfriend, she doesn't want to let Sam know how much she cares, but watching them figure it out is a pleasant diversion.  I'm not big on romance novels but I love the fact that there's romance attached to the mystery, but it's never confused with it.  By that I mean the murder never takes second place to the romance, and that's how it's supposed to be.

I also liked the fact that we were given some background on a couple of minor characters which Ms. Holford has managed to do in each of her books; bringing us into the lives of everyone who surrounds Molly.  It's what a true cozy should be - when you enter the town, you learn a little more about each resident as time goes on.  It made for an enjoyable read.

When the murderer was discovered, it wasn't much of a surprise, but then it's more about the journey to find the truth in mysteries, anyway.  And this was a very good journey indeed.  I look forward to the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

https://smile.amazon.com/Deadly-Ride-Britton-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B07N5FV2F9/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2983519358

More on Jody Holford's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/jody-holford/

Bound for Murder (Blue Ridge Library Mystery Book 4)

Author:  Victoria Gilbert
Genre:    Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781643852430
Crooked Lane Books
[Pages TBA]
$26.99; $12.99 Amazon
January 7, 2020

⭐⭐⭐

Taylorsford Public Library director Amy Webber's friend "Sunny" Fields is running for mayor.  But nothing puts a damper on a campaign like an actual skeleton in a candidate's closet.  Sunny's grandparents ran a commune back in the 1960s on their organic farm.  But these former hippies face criminal charges when human remains are found in their fields -- and a forensic examination reveals that the death was neither natural nor accidental.

With Sunny's mayoral hopes fading, Amy sets her wedding plans aside, says "not yet" to the dress, and uses her research skills to clear her best friend's family.  Any of the now-elderly commune members could have been the culprit.  As former hippies perish one by one, Amy and her friends Richard, Aunt Lydia, and Hugh Chen pursue every lead.   But if Amy can't find whoever killed these "flower children," someone may soon be placing flowers on her grave.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Amy Webber is the director of the Taylorsford Public Library, and her employee Sunny is also her best friend.  When the county has to do some digging on Sunny's grandparents' farm, they find human remains.  Amy is asked by the grandparents to contact former members of their long-ago commune and let them know that the authorities might be coming by to question them.  Her grandfather says as how he just wants to give them a heads-up, so Amy agrees.

But the remains turn out to be those of a young black man who disappeared after supposedly going to California.  But if that's the case, why was he here?  And why didn't he let anyone know he was returning?  She also has the interest of an investigative reporter dogging her every steps, the current mayor's wife trying to sabotage Sunny's campaign by spreading rumors, and no time to plan her wedding.  Amy knows she'll have to keep things on the down low if she doesn't want to be underground...

I really don't know what to think about this book.  The idea of someone being murdered many years ago, someone who lived in a commune, was interesting.  Now present day, they find his body and people who were in the commune at the same time are being killed off.

But I began to wonder why Amy was being targeted.  She never found out anything from any of them that could be used as evidence, all of it was about Jeremy Adams, the dead man, and peoples' reactions and relationships to him.   She wasn't learning anything earth-shattering; nothing that could help the murder investigation.

Below are spoilers which I've hidden so please read them at your own risk:

It still bothers me - after three previous books - that Amy doesn't mind Kurt protecting her and her family, but treats him like a criminal, when he's long left those days behind him and become a wealthy and respected art collector who's refined and treats people well. She's decided it's fine to keep secrets from the police but then tells Kurt that if he doesn't spill the beans, as it were, she's going to the police herself. It's not her story to tell. That's the best way I can put it. She's awfully judgmental about Kurt and his past, but doesn't want to hear it when someone from the commune tells her that Sunny's grandparents probably tried hard drugs. I fully expected her to put her hands over her ears and say, "lalalalala" any minute. Hypocrite, much? She preaches 'do as I say, not as I do.'

She also has no business judging Kurt for his past when she gives P.J. and Carol (the grandparents) a pass for theirs. He's done NOTHING to harm her, and has even helped and protected her. She makes it difficult to like her. Amy actually says of Carol and P.J.: "...knowing P.J. and Carol, I can imagine them covering up an accidental death if they thought they were protecting a friend or the commune." But then continues to look at Kurt askance and with suspicion every time he opens his mouth. All this shows is that Amy is a judgmental, holier-than-thou prig. How can anyone find her likable after this?

IT would also be nice if there were more local color than just Lydia's garden. We have plenty of details on the color of peoples' eyes, but what does that matter in the long run? We didn't even find out what month it was until 81% of the book was gone. I would have liked to have learned more of the surrounding area or the town itself.

In the end, it wasn't a bad book, but we pretty much knew who the murderer was from the beginning, just because of certain things that were said, and I won't say any more than that except to say it was a decent enough cozy; just not enough to draw me into the story.

FYI, Amy saying 'wine is the best medicine' tells me that she might have an addiction problem of her own. Drinking doesn't solve problems; it just temporarily masks them. The problems will still be there when you sober up. In fact, the only thing anyone did for enjoyment was drink. Surely there's more they can do in town than just go to dance recitals and drink; but on the other hand, the local liquor store owner must be a millionaire. Just sayin'

https://www.amazon.com/Bound-Murder-Ridge-Library-Mystery/dp/1643852434/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2982394254

More on Victoria Gilbert's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/victoria-gilbert/

Kernel of Truth (A Popcorn Shop Mystery #1)

Author:  Kristi Abbott
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780425280911
Berkley Publishing
278 Pages
$7.54; $7.99 Amazon
March 1, 2016

⭐⭐

Opening a gourmet popcorn shop was never on Rebecca Anderson's bucket list.  But after a failed marriage to a celebrity chef, she's ready for her life to open up and expand.  She has returned to her hometown of Grand Lake, Ohio, with her popcorn-loving poodle, Sprocket, to start a new business - naturally called POPS.  As a delicious bonus, Cordelia "Coco" Bittles, a close family friend who has always been like a grandmother to Rebecca, owns the chocolate shop next door, and the two are thinking of combining their businesses.

But when Coco's niece, Jessica, discovers her on the floor of her chocolate shop, those dreams go up in smoke.  The local sheriff thinks Coco was the victim of a robbery gone wrong, but Rebecca isn't so sure.  As suspects start popping up all over, Rebecca is determined to turn up the heat and bring the killer to justice in a jiffy!

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

When Rebecca is making caramel topping one morning, she hears someone screaming and runs next door to find her friend Coco's niece Jessica.  When Rebecca investigates further, she sees that Coco is dead.  Now Rebecca wants to find who killed her friend, and why.  But doing so could put her in more danger than she realizes...

I really wanted to like this book, I really did.  It had a different premise and I liked that.  The first sentence should have been a precursor to the rest of the book.  But it wasn't.  I just didn't think much after that was believable.

First, this is a cozy mystery, and this woman swears like a sailor.  I know it doesn't bother some people, but I really don't care for cozies where the protagonist is throwing out cuss words like yesterday's trash.  Personal opinion, people.

I also didn't understand a popcorn shop that was open for breakfast.  Who buys popcorn for breakfast? What popcorn shop sells coffee?  They sell specialized popcorn and sodas.  That's pretty much it.  And if I found one that did sell coffee, I sure wouldn't eat there.  A substantial breakfast is so much better for you than a sweet popcorn bar.  I really can't imagine - unless there's no diners in this town - that it would be as popular as indicated.  Popcorn shops are specialized shops, not restaurants.  Then, have you ever eaten a popcorn ball?  They're nasty, sticky things and you're picking popcorn out of your teeth constantly.  I would have believed it if she sold specialized cones, tins, or bags of popcorn instead - because that's what popcorn shops sell. 

Then, when the rumor started that she killed Coco, this town was awfully quick to believe it.  I would hope that if it came down to it, they'd try her in another city, because she sure couldn't get a fair shake here.  What happened to innocent until proven guilty?  I guess if she hadn't done stupid things, it might have been easier on her, but since I didn't like her anyway - she was snarky and nasty - it really didn't matter.  Her husband probably didn't pay any attention to her because of the snark.  Who wants to spend time around someone like that?  I sure don't.

But the last was the animal cruelty.  I don't believe in it, and I certainly don't believe it's necessary in a cozy.  It wasn't necessary here.  There are several other ways that the scene could have been handled without the animal cruelty.  I will never read a book by an author who does this without a very good reason - and there wasn't one here.

In the end, we already knew who killed Coco practically from the beginning, and throughout the book it was proven time and again, so no surprise there.  Unfortunately, there just wasn't a lot for me to recommend this book.  I won't be reading this author again.  Sorry.

https://www.amazon.com/Kernel-Truth-Popcorn-Shop-Mystery/dp/0425280918/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2980904923

More on Kristi Abbott's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/kristi-abbott/

White House (A Lara Wright Mytery Book One)

Author:  S. T. Mason
Genre:   Mystery

Digital Book
Amazon Digital
116 Pages
$3.81 Amazon
December 9. 2018

⭐⭐

Lara is a writer who cannot write - a fact that is quickly causing her a financial and emotional headache.  So when her best friend, the impossibly enthusiastic Gem, suggests a weekend in the Scottish countryside, it seems like the perfect way to break her writer's block.  A quiet place to get her most recent article finished is exactly what Lara needs in her life right now.

But what she couldn't have anticipated is that things would go wrong, so wrong, so quickly.  Before she knows it, there is an awkward hot tub incident, a body in the wine cellar, and whole lot of secrets to uncover.  Cut off by snow and terrible Wi-Fi in the rugged Highlands, it's down to Lara to unravel the mysteries of White House before anyone else gets hurt.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

When Lara reluctantly agrees to accompany her best friend Gem on a weekend house party, she doesn't expect what she considers a group of close-knit people who don't really talk to each other.  She certainly doesn't expect to see a dead body in a utility room.  And she doesn't expect that she's the one everyone is depending upon to solve the murder...

I honestly don't know how this got five stars.  It's extremely short, and there's no character development at all, not even from Lara.  All I could glean from her personality is that she's a judgmental spinster who would really like to be anywhere except where she is.

Then, the author needs to hire a proofreader.  It's quite disconcerting to read one word and know that another is actually meant.  Such as using "complement" instead of "compliment" or "poured" instead of "pored."  One does not 'pour' over a book unless one has liquid in their hands and wishes to destroy said book.  This was said more than once - that she was "pouring" over things she should have been "poring" over.  Please purchase a dictionary or a Thesaurus.  It will help greatly.  (And I have no idea what Simon meant when he said: ...someone is hiding in this lump or someone here hurt my pal..."  What is 'lump' supposed to mean exactly?)  Then, (again) "Miranda and Simon, you can go and look downstairs.  Daniel, you and I will cover downstairs."  Well, if everyone is looking downstairs, then what about upstairs?  Or the main floor?  A lot of 'too' was said instead of 'to,' as in 'belongs too this person.'  No, it does not.  If you're going to write a book, please take the above advice.  Thank you.

Even the blurb is incorrect - first, there is no "hot tub incident."  There is one scene where Lara is asked if she wants to get into the hot tub, she declines, and the host says he will get her in next time and leaves.  How is that an 'incident?'  Also, the body was found in what was referred to as the Utility Room, not a wine cellar.  Certainly, there was wine there, but it was not the cellar, since it was on the main floor off the kitchen.  There was also no WiFi at all, so the police could not get there, which necessitated Lara solving the murder.  (Why, you ask?  Because she writes spooky ghost stories she is apparently qualified to solve murders).

This could have been a nice little story, if very short, but on top of none of the characters being fleshed out, all we have are a group of people doing things they shouldn't have been doing in the first place.  The main suspects all had a nasty streak, so I really didn't care who the killer was.  It was very ho-hum as far as a plot.  I'm not sure I'd read another Lara Wright mystery by this author at this point.  There would have to be far more in-depth characterization, and more descriptions of the surrounding countryside so one could get a 'feel' for it.  Because of all grammatical errors and being so short, two stars.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L8MLLWC/ref=pe_385040_117923520_TE_M1DP

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2979942131

The Sweet Smell of Murder (A Chocolate Centered Cozy Mystery #1)

Author:  Cindy Bell

Genre:    Mystery

Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781517065850
CreateSpace Publishing
254 Pages
$10.99; $2.99 Amazon
September 18, 2015

⭐

Ally Sweet is happy to be returning for a short break to the small town where she grew up.  She is planning on using the time off to get over her messy divorce and she is looking forward to spending time with her much-beloved grandmother and relaxing making chocolates and anything chocolaty.  But then...the delivery driver for her grandmother's chocolate shop is found murdered.  The detectives investigating the crime have a prime suspect.  Ally's high school sweetheart, Brent.  Ally believes that Brent would never murder anyone, so with the help of her trusted feline friend, Peaches, she tries to uncover the truth.  The search for the killer leads Ally straight into the line of danger.  Will she be able to find the murderer before she becomes a victim herself?

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

When Ally Sweet returns home to her grandmother, she's surprised that an old school friend, Connor, is the delivery driver for her grandmother's chocolate shop.  He asks her out for a drink and she agrees, but he never shows up.  When they find out that he's been murdered, and her high school boyfriend is arrested for the crime, she's sure he didn't do it.  But finding out who to trust is another story altogether...

I thought this started out okay, but I have to say that Ally and Charlotte are two of the dumbest women I've read about.  First, they think Julian is absolutely wonderful for the mere fact that he's grown up in Blue River, but yet the townspeople easily suspect her high school boyfriend Brent of committing the murder.  How does that work?  Faith in one person but not another?  Then, she hates Luke and thinks he's a dirty cop because he was rude to her.  Yep.  that's it.  R-u-d-e.  How dare he?  So that automatically in her book thinks he's a bad guy.

FYI, if you're writing about chocolate, please at least know your products.  You don't dip caramels in chocolate unless you want to break your teeth.  It would have to be really, really hard caramel for the warm chocolate to attach to it.  You pour the chocolate over the caramel.  Just sayin'

MeeMaw?  Seriously?  I know this is stereotypical, but whenever I hear 'Meemaw' I think of some old crone sitting in a rocking chair cackling while chewing on a piece of straw.  Maybe people still do, but it sounds hokey to me and I can't imagine the grandmothers like it.  Also, where is Blue River?  We're never given a state or surrounding countryside or any description of anything to pull us into the story.  I would like to know what part of the country it's located in.

Now for the spoilers:

Ally smells the tobacco on Julian and thinks it got there because he was trying to see what Luke was up to, but she didn't ever smell it on Luke?   Is she completely besotted or completely oblivious?   Your choice.

From what I could tell, the entire book was how Ally was trying to get Julian away from Luke, so that pretty much sealed the deal on the fact that Julian was the bad guy, not Luke.  There was no reason at all that she should suspect Luke of being a dirty cop: nothing pointed to it, and Ally was allowing her emotions (to wit, her unrequited crush on Julian) to tell her what to do.  She is a stupid woman with the intelligence of a twelve-year-old having her first crush - still.  90% of the book was Ally going 'Julian, Julian, Julian'...it got nauseous after awhile.

Why would both Charlotte and Ally suspect Luke was up to something?  Because he didn't grow up there?  I had no idea growing up in the same town as you automatically makes one person trustworthy, while someone who moves there must be evil.  Is this really how they size people up?  How small-minded is this?  No, I will not waste my time reading about moony women who act like teenagers and haven't got a brain in their head.

Speaking of which, who goes into an abandoned building without telling people if you think it’s used for illegal activity?  This actually shows how moronic Ally is.  Then when she gets stuck, calls her grandmother (I refuse to use the appellation that Ally gives her) to find her - not even thinking that if someone followed her grandmother, she could be in danger, too.

I also wasn't pleased that the author killed off a seemingly nice person.  It begins the book on a sour note, and that didn't help.

In finale, here's a recap if you haven't read what I've written that, for the most part, explains the entire book:
Luke was mean to me.  He must be a dirty cop and I hate him and don't trust him.
I've had a crush on Julian forever, so Julian, Julian, Julian, Julian, Julian.  I love you, Julian (heart, stars in my eyes, deep sigh, flutter eyelids).
Oh, no!  I was wrong!  Well, I guess I'll transfer my affections to Luke instead.
The End.

That, my friends, sums up this book.  I need to stop reading self-published books (but I probably won’t).

https://www.amazon.com/Sweet-Murder-Chocolate-Centered-Mystery/dp/1517065852/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2976631801

More on Cindy Bell's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/cindy-bell/

Have Yourself a Beary Little Murder (Teddy Bear Mystery Book 3)

Author:  Meg Macy
Genre:   Mystery

Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781496722652
Kensington Publishing
304 Pages
$15.95; $9.99 Amazon
September 24, 2019

⭐⭐⭐

Sasha and her sister Maddie are thrilled that the Silver Bear Shop and Factory has won the Teddy Bear Keepsake Contest, which means they get to produce a holiday specialty toy, a wizard bear named "Beary Potter."  Promising to be just as magical is Silver Hollow's annual tree-lighting ceremony and village parade.  Only one hitch:  the parade's mascot, Santa Bear - played by Mayor Cal Bloom - is missing.

After a frantic search among the floats, Bloom is found dead.  When the outfit is removed, it's clear the mayor's been electrocuted.  Who zapped hizzoner and then stuffed him into his Santa Bear suit?  While the police investigate the grisly crime, Sasha attempts to track down the murderer herself, with some help from the Guilty Pleasures Gossip Club.  Can they wrap up this case in time for Christmas - or will Sasha meet her own shocking end?

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Sasha's mother is frantic.  As organizer of the local Christmas parade, she can't locate Santa Bear, played by Mayor Cal Bloom.  He was talking with them awhile ago, but no one has seen him.  When Sasha's ex-husband Flynn suggests that Cal likes his liquor and might be behind a local factory, they find him on a bench, apparently asleep.  But when they remove the head of Santa Bear, he's most definitely not asleep.  And when the hands are removed, they can see that he's been electrocuted.

Now Sasha's mother wants her to find a killer, since she's convinced that Allison Bloom couldn't, nor wouldn't, murder her husband.  But with a new homicide detective in town, and her boyfriend Jay telling her to leave it alone, Sasha decides that if she's discreet enough, she might find the truth.  But will the truth lead her to a killer, or lead the killer to her?...

I really wanted to like this story since I enjoyed the first two so much.  But there were inconsistencies and things that were just wrong bothered me this time around.  So please DO NOT read any further until you have already read the book!

First, Flynn and his fianceé Cheryl Cummings, a local newscaster, are with Sasha's mother when she finds the body.  Cheryl immediately starts photographing the dead man on her phone until Sasha tells her that the police wouldn't appreciate it.  Then Flynn and Cheryl leave instead of waiting around as witnesses.  Which they shouldn't have done, and Flynn, as an attorney, should know that.  I don't care that he was once considered a murder suspect, he should have waited.

Then, not too long after, Sasha sees Cheryl and a news crew.  The widow and family haven't even had time to be notified and she's already putting it on television?  Without the okay of the police?  And pointing Sasha out to reporters?  Sorry, but she should have been fired for that.  A murder under investigation and she's telling reporters to badger a witness?  This is unacceptable.

Then Officer Digger Sykes walks over and talks about the mayor’s death in front of people, which I can’t imagine any officer doing no matter what the reason.  He shouldn't be a police officer if he's going to allow his personal feelings to get in the way of him doing his job.

Cats aren't dogs.  If a cat is leaving "presents" it's not angry, but anxious.  They want to be with you but can't, so will find something that smells like you and merge the scents...and they only do this if you've been gone awhile - not if you've been gone less than a day.  I've been gone for five days at a time, and my cats have plenty of food and water, and never once left me a 'present.'  So Maddie is obviously not a very good 'cat mommy'.  Does she ever play or spend time with Nyxie?  That might be part of the problem.

Justifying her mother's behavior by saying she thought she probably needed to "feel appreciated by someone other than her husband and family" indicates that if her mother did have an affair, she'd be okay with it.  Seriously?  What kind of person who loves their husband and children needs to seek attention from another man?  I can't see how this is acceptable.  If your spouse looks elsewhere and you excuse it by saying they needed to 'feel appreciated' then your marriage isn't that great to begin with.  I have enough self-esteem where I don't go begging people to like me.  Nothing good ever comes from going down that road.

Also, when Sasha found out the detective was involved with someone close to the case, why didn't she immediately go to the Chief of Police and have him removed?  That should have been the very first thing she should have done - and told him that Flynn was the one who informed her.  (Her ex-husband is an unlikable snot so it would have served him right).

I felt there were just too many characters to keep track of.  In a mystery, you'd like a finite number so you could keep track of them, but in this book there were at least 100 different people.  Who can decide who's a murderer with that amount?  Why were they all there?  Did the author not want to use the same character twice?  I was also wondering why Sasha kept using their first and last names, especially since only two characters had the same first name.

Is there a special reason why all these characters had to be identified by first and last names?  Why did we need to know the first and last name of the server?  When a waitress brings you food, do you say, "thanks, Janet Johnson?"  Wouldn't it be easier (on the readers) if you just said 'the server brought our food,' especially if said server had nothing at all to do with the murder or the victim?  Although there would have been less pages, we didn't need to hear everyone's first and last name every time they were mentioned.  We only really needed the names of the victim, suspects, police officers, and those truly involved in the case one way or another - we certainly didn't need the names of characters Sasha only interacted with once (see Janet Johnson).

Who calls an employee by their first and last name?  I can't count the times she kept saying "Renee Truman."  There was only one Renee, so we knew who she was.  Reading everyone's first and last name constantly got annoying.  No one does that in real life.  (Can you imagine?  "Hello, Renee Truman.  It's about time you got here, Renee Truman.")

Then, as far as the cookie contest went, I would think getting a recipe off of Pinterest wouldn't be allowed, as it's actually someone else's recipe, not yours or a family member's.  In every baking contest I've ever seen, the recipe has to be out of those two categories.  You can't take someone else's recipe without first contacting that person and asking them and then acknowledging them in the contest - which is really them winning a prize, not you.  So that didn't make any sense.  This would be instant disqualification if people knew it was someone else's recipe.  (Lawsuit, anyone?)

I also don’t think Barbara could possibly be her mother’s best friend if she refused to allow Maddie to rent the Time Turner, or that she rented Lois’s home to someone else when she knew Sasha wanted it.  Barbara didn’t even give Sasha the courtesy of telling her she was going to do it.  How can you be friends with someone who dislikes your children that much?  I can’t think of any other possible reason she would do it.  I would have dumped her as a friend the minute she refused to rent anything to one of my kids if she didn't have a very good reason to do so - and she didn’t, or hopefully it would have been mentioned.

I really didn't see the need for involving everyone in town in the murder.  If anyone was surprised at the murderer, it's because there were so many people to keep straight.  The red herrings all pointed to only one person - Allison.  In that case, we weren’t given any clues as to who the real murderer was.

I really enjoyed the first two in this series, but this one had too many people that were needed, but the worst was how creepy it was that every family member was at Sasha's home and then just cleared out so that Sasha can, in the words of her ex, 'get a booty call'.  I'd be mortified if my family members knew that.  Some things need to be private.

Now I know that I've been going over details a lot, but I'm a pretty detail-oriented person, and I can't change that.  Nor do I want to.  I really like this author, but I had a difficult time with this book because of everything.  I didn't like the idea that every single clue was pointing toward Allison, and we weren't given the chance to investigate other characters, and I feel that this was because there were just too many of them - and a lot of them didn't even need to be there in the first place.

In the end when everything was revealed, it shows how a twisted mind can justify anything to suit them.  It was rather sad, but the story was written well, it just got bogged down by people.  Still, a pretty good mystery that got tangled in characters.

https://www.amazon.com/Yourself-Beary-Little-Murder-Mystery/dp/1496722655?

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2979737807

More on Meg Macy's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/meg-macy/

Lowcountry Boomerang (A Liz Talbot Mystery #8)

Author:  Susan M. Boyer
Genre:   Mystery/Suspense

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; [Audio CD]; Digital Book
ISBN #:9781635115468; 9781635115437; [9781515951964]
Henery Press Publishing [Tantor Audio]
256 Pages
$31.95; $15.95; $$24.99; $6.99 Amazon
September 3, 2019

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Private Investigators Liz Talbot and Nate Andrews are all set to enjoy some quality time on the beach.  That's until they get the news about Darius.  Darius DeAndre Baker, star of the hit TV show, Main Street USA, has had enough of the Hollywood high life.  After ten years of visiting everyone else's hometown, he returns to his own -- Stella Maris, South Carolina.

But the moving trucks have barely unloaded with Trina Lynn Causby, Darius's high school girlfriend, turns up dead, and the entire town reels as Darius is arrested.

Despite the mounting evidence against him, Liz and Nate believe Darius is innocent.  They dig through a scandalously long list of suspects, including Darius's three ex-wives -- who have all arrived in Stella Maris -- and his love child with Trina Lynn.

But Trina Lynn led a complicated life.  She had at least one stalker and two suitors -- one with a jealous wife who recently made a deliciously outrageous scene when Trina Lynn turned up at a charity ball.

As the danger mounts, Liz and Nate race to find a killer and clear Darius's name -- and keep him alive.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Liz Talbot is having breakfast with her friend and owner of The Cracked Pot, Moon Unit.  Moon, who is the girlfriend of Police Detective Sonny Ravenel of the Charleston police.  Moon tells her that she thinks Sonny wants Liz to know something, but she won't break a confidence and Liz has to "guess" it out of her.

It turns out that a local news anchor, Trina Lynn Causby, was recently murdered, and that the police are getting ready to arrest Darius Baker for the crime.  Darius is a recently retired television star, and has come home to the place he grew up, just wanting peace and quiet.  Sonny doesn't believe that Darius is guilty, but won't say who's pushing for his conviction.  When Liz's ghostly guardian angel Colleen (another story for another time) tells her that she needs to get to Darius's home pronto, she goes.

While she's trying to convince him that the police have him in their sights, he refuses to believe it.  That is, until they show up at the door and actually do arrest him.  Now Liz and her husband Nate Andrews, both Private Investigators, have been hired by Darius to find out who's framing him and why.  But unless they can find out and soon, Liz and Nate might not live to to solve another case...

This book is brimming with intrigue, suspense, and red herrings, and Liz and Nate are definitely kept busy throughout trying to get to the truth.  In this book, contact with Sonny is kept to a minimum - as in not at all - and Colleen is MIA for much of the book.  In this, most of the attention is focused on the couple trying to clear their client's name and find out who, and why, he's being set up.  It's a convoluted tale that brings into play three (crazy) ex-wives, witnesses who might know more than they do, and lots and lots of food.  Glorious food.

But the best part (aside from finding the killer, of course) are the humorous exchanges between Liz's Mamma and Daddy.  Her Daddy is sick, and milking it for all it's worth.  Her Mamma is trying to stay sane.  And there is a particularly hilarious chapter that involves all the siblings, her Daddy, Mamma, a didgeridoo, Chumley the Basset Hound, and pluff mud (a nasty, brown miasma).  That one chapter alone is worth the entire book.

When Liz and Nate get closer to the finding the truth, it puts them both in danger, but since they don't yet know who the killer is, they have no idea what to look for.  It's a precarious situation - and without the help of either Sonny or Colleen (who is protecting Darius while he's in jail) - it makes it harder for them to solve the case.  When Liz finally does figure it out, due to a an unexpected clue, it makes for an interesting conclusion, and one we couldn't have seen coming if it were right in front of us.

This is the eighth book in the series, and I must say that they just keep getting better.  I've come to enjoy spending time with Liz and Nate, and I've become fond of her parents (even more so now after the pluff mud incident, as I will forever refer to it).  She's intelligent, resourceful, brave, attractive, loyal, and the type of person I'd like to have around in a sticky situation. She can think on her feet, put things together quickly, and follow the clues to the right destination.  It's a delightful combination that makes for a very good mystery indeed.

Rarely do you come across an author who can make you laugh while keeping you following clues in a mystery, without missing a beat.  Ms. Boyer is one such of those authors, and her books should be read by anyone who wants a tale they can sink their teeth into without it going into the 'overly cutesy' territory.  I loved this book and look forward to the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Lowcountry-Boomerang-Liz-Talbot-Mystery/dp/1635115434/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2974998569

More on Susan M. Boyer's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/susan-m-boyer/

The Final Arrangement (Book One of the Cozy Flower Shop Mysteries)

Author:  Annie Adams
Genre:   Mystery

Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781482314489
CreateSpace Publishing
304 Pages
$9.99; $0.99 Amazon
January 30, 2013

⭐⭐

Quincy McKay is ready for a fresh start.  Finally free of her good-for-nothing ex, she can't wait to grow her aunt's struggling small-town floral boutique.  But her hopes wither and die when her biggest competitor is found dead and she's accused of murder.

Teaming up with her blunt-speaking elderly friend, and a dreamy cop, Quincy desperately digs for clues to prove she didn't do it.  But her mother's gossip network and the return of her crazy ex threaten to blight her investigation.

Can Quincy unearth the culprit, or will she be buried along with her business?

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

First off, I have to say that I absolutely hate it when the blurb is misleading.  Her "blunt-speaking elderly friend" doesn't show up until almost two-thirds of the book is gone, and her ex never makes an appearance.  So there's that...

Anyway, I picked up this book in a weak moment, hoping to really enjoy it, but it almost lost me on the first page when I read that she runs her aunt's floral shop but the air conditioning broke.  It's a floral shop.  No air conditioning.  I can only conclude that there were no floral displays anywhere about, including in the windows, since they would be complete trash, but she only mentions a few wilted leaves.  Where are the window displays?  Where are the flowers inside the shop when you walk in?  Every floral shop I've been to has flowers and plants everywhere, so you can browse.  But apparently all this one had is a few dead leaves.  There's no mention of having to throw out everything and calling someone to get the air conditioning working again.  Little details add up to big improvements.

It's difficult to really like Quincy at all.  I get that she has an abusive ex (so do I) but I never went around believing every man was like my ex-boyfriend.  I never treated all men like they were devil's spawn and should be avoided at every cost.  Quincy has a chip on her shoulder so large she must walk lopsided.  She never lets anyone into her personal space, not even her family.  She's walled herself away.  It's not a good look for anyone.  It's an especially bad look for the protagonist of a book.  You want to like that person, not wish you'd never started the book.

Quincy treats Alex - an inherently nice guy - like he's some monster, and even when he shows time and again that he really likes her, she pushes him away or imagines reasons why he hasn't called.  She's not even willing to give him a chance to explain.  Instead, when she discovers the truth, she'd rather feel like a royal ass and beat herself up mentally.  Yeah, that's healthy.

She also had an employee named Cindy that she should have gotten rid of in the first chapter of the book.  What an annoying, idiotic, narcissistic little twit; and her sister Allie is dumber than a box of rocks when it comes to her boyfriend, even though she must have known Quincy's past.  You'd think she'd have seen the similarities, but this woman either just ignored it or was brain-dead from being knocked around.

Then there's her mother:  Oh, dear.  Her mother is single-minded in the fact that she doesn't want her daughters to be single.  At all.  Even if it means they should be married to abusers, men who beat them up on a regular basis.  WTF?  Was she even concerned with Allie's well-being (until the end)?  Then, when Quincy does (reluctantly) find someone, her mother criticizes her choice and wants her to find someone she chooses, even if that someone lives in his mother's basement and plays video games all day.  Who is this woman???

Then, her mother, for some odd reason, has 'friends' who feel it's their "duty" to notify her of everything Quincy is doing.  Who wants a gaggle of busybodies as their friends?  Haven't they got their own lives to lead?  Also, why would Quincy tolerate this?  Personally, I would let it be known in no uncertain terms that what I did with my life was my own business.  Her mother's friends should worry about their own families instead of gossiping about someone else's.  What business is it of theirs, anyway, if she's out dining with someone who orders a beer?  (Mormons should be offended by this behavior, since it really puts them in a bad light.)  It also bothered me that a pointed question was made as to Mormons and premarital sex.  I hate to tell the author this, but I don't know of any religion (at least mainstream) that pushes premarital sex.  So the question shouldn't even have been made in the first place.  It was superfluous to the story.

I'm not saying there weren't some humorous situations, which was the saving grace of the book.  I found a few passages funny, but it wasn't enough to save the rest of it.  Quincy wanted to do everything on her own, and resisted help at every turn.  She'd been in an abusive relationship, but didn't think that she might find herself in a tight bind somewhere, so never told anyone where she was going - which was stupid.

I didn't get why she was a murder suspect when they had no proof she committed a murder.  Who would put their own flower spray on the top of a casket of a person they murdered?  There was no connection whatsoever between herself and Derrick, and the worst is, there were plenty of people with a connection to the man that had reason to hate him enough to want him dead, but not a single one was suspected in his murder.  Not.  One.  How much sense does that make?

There isn't really a lot of character development.  I never felt anything for Allie one way or another (and I should have, considering the situation); K.C. seemed abrasive and should have been given a softer edge; Quincy's mother was the worst example of a mother I've read in a long time; Alex was truly decent, but wasn't really given anything much to do except save Quincy; and Quincy had an attitude a mile long that didn't endear her to me at all.  The town was full of corrupt people who didn't seem to care that they were corrupt, and I must presume for the most part got away with it since we were never told if anything was done about it.

I also expected the two story lines to be connected somehow, but they never were.  (That of her sister's domestic abuse and the murder).  Usually in cozies, when there are two story lines, they come together in such a way that one actually would expect Allie's boyfriend Brad to be the murderer and trying to pin it on Quincy...but he wasn't.  So, yeah.  I also didn't understand why Quincy went into Brad's house when he told her to.  He didn't have a weapon, and she could have just either 1) screamed bloody murder until someone noticed; 2) kicked him in the family jewels and left; 3) used the pepper spray that K.C. gave her; or 4) K.C. could have come back and hit him with the Enforcer - but didn't (which makes me wonder why.  Three women against one unarmed man?)  In other words, Quincy talks big about being able to take care of herself but can't.  Why would she just allow herself to be led back knowing she was going to be knocked around?

I understand that there is a niche out there for self-published books.  However, I don't read them often, and this book is a prime example of why.  Many of them might have good writing, but I'm a big believer in details, and they just aren't there (as I've mentioned many times above).  Things that should be explained aren't, and things that aren't relative to the story are added.  Was this a mystery that added domestic abuse to keep from losing the reader?  Because it had nothing to do with the murder, as one would think.  Have a subplot, by all means; but also, have that subplot tie into the original mystery.  And for heaven's sake, tie up the loose ends.

At the end, there were no clues leading to the identity of the murderer, which was discovered when the murderer just blurted it out.  I always think the reader is cheated when there are no clues leading to the murderer.  I don't expect an author to just tell us at the beginning who 'did the deed.' but I do expect the author to at least allow us to try and solve the murder along with the protagonist.  In this case, everyone - including Alex, a police officer - was completely clueless.  Not a single person even thought it, not a single clue lead to it.  It's a cheat, and disappointing.  It could have been better, but wasn't.

https://www.amazon.com/Final-Arrangement-Cozy-Flower-Mystery/dp/1482314487/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2971335767

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/annie-adams/