Booked for Death (A Book Lover's B&B Mystery)

Author:  Victoria Gilbert
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781643853079
Crooked Lane Publishing
320 Pages
$21.14; $12.99 Amazon
June 9, 2020

⭐⭐⭐

Nestled in the historic waterfront town of Beaufort, North Carolina, Chapters Bed-and-Breakfast is a reader's paradise.  Built in 1770, the newly renovated inn hosts a roster of special events celebrating books, genres, and authors.  It's the perfect literary retreat -- until a rare book dealer turns up dead in the carriage house during a celebration of Golden Age mystery author Josephine Tey.

The victim's daughter points the finger at forty-two-year-old widow and former schoolteacher Charlotte Reed, who inherited the B&B from her great-aunt Isabella.  Charlotte is shocked to discover that the book dealer suspected Isabella of being a thief who founded Chapters on her ill-gotten gains.  Charlotte has successfully learned the B&B business in a year, but nothing has prepared her to handle a death on the premises.

Armed with intelligence and courage and assisted by her vibrant older neighbor, a visiting author and members of a local book club, Charlotte is determined to prove her innocence and to clear her great-aunt's name.  But the murderer is still at large, and equally determined to silence anyone who might discover the truth behind the book dealer's death.  Now, Charlotte must outwit an unknown killer -- or end up writing her own final chapter.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Charlotte Reed is a fairly young widow who inherited a B&B in North Carolina from a late aunt.  She's using it to further her love of books, by hosting events centering around just that - books and authors.  While she has an assorted group of people staying for one of Golden Age mystery of author Josephine Tey's books, it can't be labeled a success -- not when one of the guests turns up dead during a costume party.

It turns out that the guest was not well-liked by anyone, including his wife and daughter, but who hated him enough to kill him?  With her reputation at stake - and a possible murderer in her home - what is Charlotte to do except try and find the person who did the deed...unless she's no longer alive to tell the truth to anyone...

This is the first in a new series and as such I was really looking forward to reading it; and I always welcome new books by seasoned authors, but this one just didn't completely cut it for me.  The book isn't bad, by any account; in fact, it's a decent start, and I do love the idea of a B&B that caters to book lovers.  Anyone who reads would love it.

While I enjoyed the character of Charlotte, she seemed to have a rather bland personality.  I get that she was the owner of a B&B, but she wasn't always so.  She just seemed to have one of those personalities of people you meet and then forget all about them the minute you leave.  There was no spark to her, if you will.  She, of course, has the innate curiosity that's expected; and she's also trying to find out more about her great-aunt Isabella, who left the house to her; more so because the murder victim hinted that Isabella may have acquired her extensive and valuable library illegally, and Charlotte is determined to find out if it's the truth.  But when she starts looking, the truth is a lot stranger than she expects.

Now, I'm not saying it's not believable, I'm just saying for myself, I found it a bit far-fetched in the long run.  While it's entirely possible, the entire plot just didn't seem to strike a chord for me, and because of this, it tampered my enjoyment a tad.  However, it's a decent start to a new book and others will probably find it more their cup of tea than I did. 

https://www.amazon.com/Booked-Death-Book-Lovers-Mystery/dp/1643853074/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3210948347

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

Murder at Redwood Cove (A Kelly Jackson Mystery Book 1)

Author:  Janet Finsilver
Genre:   Mystery

Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781616509309
Lyrical Press Publishing
198 Pages
$15.00; $7.19 Amazon
October 13, 2015

⭐⭐⭐⭐

If it weren't for the fact that she's replacing a dead man, Kelly Jackson would love her new job managing the Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast on the coast of Northern California.  But Bob Phillips did plunge off the cliff to his death...and Kelly's starting to think it may not have been an accident.  Bob's retired friends - the "Silver Sentinels" --  are also on the case, especially when Kelly is attacked...and another body turns up.  Kelly has her hands full with overseeing the B&B's annual Taste of Chocolate and Wine Festival, but she;s also closing in on the killer...who's ready to send Kelly on her own permanent vacation...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Kelly Jackson's family runs a ranch in Wyoming that's also open to guests in the summer, but she's decided she wants something else out of life, so she's now working for a corporation that owns the Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast, among others.  She's temporarily working as the manager since the last one accidentally fell to his death off a nearby cliff.  But one morning, she comes across a group of senior citizens in the conference room who call themselves the "Silver Sentinels" and they're sure it was murder.

Unfortunately, the deputy sheriff doesn't share their opinion.  But still, Kelly begins to wonder...and when she's attacked in Bob's office, she informs the sheriff, yet he doesn't take it seriously, telling her it was probably some kid looking for stuff to sell.  It's not before there's a serious incident that the sheriff finally believes her, and now Kelly, with the help of others and the sheriff, who asks her to be careful, is on the search for a killer who doesn't care who gets in their way...

This is the first book in the series and I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.  The protagonist, Kelly, isn't stupid enough to go off searching for clues without telling anyone, and she shares information with the sheriff instead of keeping it to herself.  (Even when he doesn't listen, she still tells him of her suspicions).  It's a nice change from the usual cozy mystery.  (She also actually wears makeup and tries to look her best instead of 'throwing on a little lip gloss' and whatever clothing she can find that hasn't been worn more than two days in a row - they may not seem like big things, but I don't know anyone who just throws on lip gloss, wears 'not too wrinkled' clothing, and 'runs fingers' through their hair before declaring themselves ready - just a personal opinion.)

The mystery itself was done well, with several suspects that Kelly was able to figure out in a short period of time.  She wasn't invasive in her questioning, and never accused anyone; actually trying not to let them know she was questioning them. 

While many of the characters weren't fleshed out, this is a first book, and we're given time to have that occur over the next in the series.  Kelly herself was given enough of a background that we knew about her upbringing, but I would have liked to have known more about what caused her rift with her ex-boyfriend.  Perhaps in the next book.  We did learn the background of several other characters, so that helps in the pleasure of reading this book.

When the ending comes and the murderer is caught, it wasn't a complete surprise (I read a lot of these) but I would have liked to have known more about the killer themselves; however, it didn't stop me from enjoying it and I found it quite satisfactory.  I will certainly continue with this series.  Recommended.

https://smile.amazon.com/Murder-Redwood-Kelly-Jackson-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00TNBLYD4/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3210588627

More on Janet Finsilver's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/f/janet-finsilver/

The Scourge of War: The Life of William Tecumseh Sherman

Author:  Brian Holden Reid
Genre:   Biography/History/War

Hardcover
ISBN #:  9780195392739
632 Pages
Oxford University Press
$34.95 Amazon
June 1, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

William Tecumseh Sherman, a West Point graduate and veteran of the Seminole War, became one of the best-known generals in the Civil War.  His March to the Sea, which resulted in a devastated swatch of the South from Atlanta to Savannah, cemented his place in history as the pioneer of total war.

In The Scourge of War, preeminent military historian Brian Holden Reid offers a deeply researched life and times account of Sherman.  By examining his childhood and education, his business ventures in California, his antebellum leadership of a military college in Louisiana, and numerous career false starts, Holden Reid shows how unlikely his exceptional Civil War career would seem.  He also demonstrates how crucial his family was to his professional path, particularly his wife's intervention during the war.  He analyzes Sherman's development as a battlefield commander and especially his crucial friendships with Henry W. Halleck and Ulysses S. Grant.  In doing so, he details how Sherman overcame both his weaknesses as a leader and severe depression to mature as a military strategist.  Central chapters narrate closely Sherman's battlefield career and the gradual lifting of his pessimism that the Union would be defeated.  After the Civil War. Sherman became a popular figure in the North and the founder of the school for officers at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, known as the "intellectual center of the army."  Holden Reid argues that Sherman was not hostile to the South throughout his life and only in later years gained a reputation as a villain who practiced barbaric destruction, particularly as the neo-Confederate Lost Cause grew and he published one of the first personal accounts of the war.

A definitive bioography of a preeminent military figure by a renowned military historian, The Scourge of War is a masterful account of Sherman's life that fully recognizes his intellect, strategy, and actions during the Civil War.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

As one who owns several biographies of William Tecumseh Sherman, I was excited to learn of another one.  I will tell you that I married a man who grew up near Gettysburg, and after my first sight of the famous battlefield and cemetery, I was completely hooked on learning more about the Civil War.  I read anything I can get my hands on, from both the North and South perspectives.  It has been an interesting and eye-opening journey for me, and this biography only adds to that.

At a hefty 632 pages, it is not for those who will skim through it; and even though there are parts of it that are dry as can be, the author has done his research on Sherman.  He begins with Sherman's ancestors in England, and while people may not be interested, it tells a story.  He then goes on to detail Sherman's life when he first joined the volunteers; and decided to leave that life behind before the outbreak of the Civil War.  He tells us of Sherman's relationship with fellow soldiers; how his first impressions of Lincoln changed over time; his relationship with his commanding officer, General Ulysses S. Grant, as well as detailing his relationships with others who were close to him.

When Sherman was young his father died, and as was the wont of the time, many of the children were separated and taken in by relatives and close friends.  Sherman was lucky enough to live with the wealthy Ewings, and from this he fell in love with and married Ellen Ewing, whom, from all accounts, he had a very happy marriage with.  She was a major contributor to his life, and even when things caused him to lose his faith, hers stood firm.  Without Ellen, his life may very well have turned out differently.

With the war becoming more intense, Sherman applied himself to conscientiousness and determination in his duty.  He was lucky enough to be well-educated, read constantly, and was a gentleman; and because of this he treated his troops well. However, he demanded the loyalty he gave, and didn't tolerate laziness.  He never underestimated the south, and it served him well.

It also details the journey that Sherman took in his loyalty to Grant, who, because of this, remained his lifelong friend.  One must know that Grant did not offer friendship easily, nor have many who were close to him save his wife Julia, so this is quite important in his life.  These two complemented each other, even though there were times they disagreed, but Sherman's loyalty to Grant has never been in doubt, and indeed told of in his letters to Ellen.  Friends that he knew at West Point became his enemies in the war.

Every battle Sherman fought has been detailed heavily, listing the names of those who served with him closest, equipment, artillery, etc., and even the unfortunate lives of those lost during this time.  Indeed, it is not until we are well over halfway through the book before we get to the famous March to the Sea which caused so much devastation but also helped end the war between the states (and unless one has been living under a rock, it is known to them also).

While I hesitate to say any more about this book, I will tell you it is a comprehensive study of the general and the man himself.  It encompasses areas of Sherman's life that heretofore have not been completely mentioned in other books, and my only disappointment was the fact that because I was given an ARC of the book, it did not include the maps that I would so have loved to have seen.  (Although it did not temper my enjoyment one whit).  In the end, this is definitely a welcome addition to anyone's library who is interested in the famous general or the Civil War itself.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Scourge-War-William-Tecumseh-Sherman/dp/0195392736/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3209241992

For Whom the Book Tolls (An Antique Bookshop Mystery #1)

Author:  Laura Gail Black
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781643854519
Crooked Lane Books
264 Pages
$26.99; $12.99 Amazon
August 11, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Trouble follows Jenna Quinn wherever she goes.  Fleeing some unsavory doings in her hometown of Charlotte, Jenna accepts her uncle's gracious invitation to stay with him in small-town Hokes Folly, NC.  In exchange, she'll help him out in his antiquarian bookstore.  But soon after she arrives, Jenna finds her uncle's body crumpled at the base of the staircase between his apartment and the bookstore.

Before the tragedy even sinks in, Jenna learns that she's inherited almost everything her uncle owned: the store and apartment, as well as his not-so-meager savings and the payout from a life insurance policy...which adds up to more than a million dollars.  This is all news to Jenna -- bad news, once the police get wind of her windfall.  An ill wind, indeed, as a second murder cements Jenna's status as the prime suspect in both deaths.

Jenna can hit the road again, taking her chances that she can elude trouble along the way.  Or she can stick it out in Hokes Folly, take over the bookstore, and try to sleuth out her uncle's killer.  On the one hand, she's made some wonderful new friends, and she feels she can thrive in the genial small-town environment.  On the other hand, trouble knows her address -- and so does the killer, who is determined to write the final page of Jenna's story.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Jenna Quinn left Charlotte, North Carolina due to something that occurred recently and left her without a job, home, or boyfriend.  Her Uncle Paul owns a bookstore in Hokes Folly, and has invited her to stay with him and help him out while she decides what she wants to do.  Since she arrives early in the dark of the morning, she goes to bed without waking him.  But the next day she can't find him, and when she goes to the bookshop, she discovers his dead body on the staircase.  While half of the homicide detectives think she's committed the crime - Frank Sutter - the other half doesn't - Keith Logan.  With a little help from Paul's next door neighbor Rita, Jenna knows to keep her own self out of jail she needs to find who killed her uncle and why...

This is the first book in a new series, and I have to say that I really enjoyed it.  I like the fact that this time out the protagonist isn't someone who's going to have to struggle nor drives a beater of a car (not that there is anything wrong with that, but really, it gets tiresome).  I also like the fact that Jenna isn't stupid enough to take raw chances without telling other people where she's going to be.  She knows when to ask for help (as in asking Mr. Grimes the attorney) and doesn't run off on tangents. 

The mystery is extremely well done, and there aren't so many suspects that you can't keep track of them.  My only complaint is Sutter.  He's a nasty piece of work, even for a police officer.  I do hope in the future he 'calms down' a bit.  Even homicide detectives need to keep a level head when they're working.  I don't care that he doesn't like her, but he's the kind of guy you never want to invite to a social gathering.  I hope you get my drift.

I also like the secondary characters, even if they weren't fleshed out in this book.  Rita is the kind of woman everyone should have as a friend, and Mason is certainly an energetic twenty-year-old; I like the fact he's not sullen nor sits on social media all day. 

Everything about this book is a breath of fresh air in the cozy world; not only do we have an excellent mystery, we have a protagonist that is intelligent, attractive, and willing to trust others even though she's had a rough go of it; and the author doesn't 'hold us hostage' as to the events in Jenna's past.  I absolutely love that we don't have to wait for the next book to discover what occurred. 

When the ending comes and the murderer is revealed, it's a bit of a surprise and makes us realize the lengths people will go to just to get what they want.  It was believable and unfortunately, it left a bit of sadness in its wake, not only for the needless loss of life of Paul.  When all is said and done, I look forward to the next in the series.  Recommended.

https://smile.amazon.com/Whom-Book-Tolls-Antique-Bookshop/dp/1643854518/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3207842529

More on Laura Gail Black's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/laura-gail-black/

Dover One (A Dover Mystery Book 1)

Author:  Joyce Porter
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9789997528124; 9780881501346
Farrago Publishing
200 Pages
Various Prices Amazon
Originally Published in 1964

⭐⭐

Detective Chief Inspector Wilfred Dover is the most idle and avaricious hero in all of crime fiction.  Why should he even be bothered to solve the case?

For its own very good reasons, Scotland Yard sends Dover off to remote Creedshire to investigate the disappearance of a young housemaid, Juliet Rugg.

Though there's every cause to assume that she has been murdered -- she gave her favours freely and may even have stopped to a bit of blackmail -- no body is to be found.  Weighing in at sixteen stone, she couldn't be hard to overlook.

But where is she?  And why should Dover, of all people, be called upon to find her?  Or, for that matter, even bother to solve the damned case?

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Wilfred Dover doesn't want to investigate a missing servant girl in Creedshire.  After hearing that the girl was a slut, he at first believes that she's just run off with her latest boyfriend.  But the fact that she weighs sixteen stone makes a difference - no one that large could hide for very long.

Once he's convinced - with the help of his Detective Sergeant MacGregor - that something has truly happened to her, he's also convinced that someone in the upper class of people living on an estate (converted into single homes now) had something to do with it.  It's his job to find out what that is, even if he has to get up once in a while to do so...

Having loved Colin Watson's series, I was hoping that this series would be similar, but I was heavily disappointed.  Dover comes off as lazy, overweight, irritable, intolerant of others, and badgers everyone about everything.  He takes his sergeant's theories as his own and when his ideas don't pan out, he insists they were his sergeant's.  I think this is meant to be funny, but it's not.  Also, every character (except the sergeant) in the book is unlikable.  From the elderly man to the traveling salesman.  Not a one of them seem to have anything that makes one feel sorry for them.

When the ending comes and the murderer is revealed, it's rather unsatisfying.  You have no reason at all for the girl to be murdered, in my opinion.  This should have been fleshed out more, instead of leaving the reader hanging.  Sorry, but I'm not interested in reading any more in this series.  Do yourself a favor and pick up Mr. Watson's excellent DI series.

https://www.amazon.com/Dover-One-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B07XX255JK/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3206315191

More on Joyce Porter's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/joyce-porter/

Class Reunions Are Murder (A Poppy McAllister Mystery Book 1)

Author:  Libby Klein
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback: Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781496713032
Kensington Publishing
407 Pages
$7.29; $6.89 Amazon
January 30, 2018

⭐

Newly widowed and stuck in a middle-aged funk, Poppy has been running on cookies, infomercials, and one-sided chats with her cat for months.  There's no way on earth she's attending her twenty-five-year class reunion - especially after receiving a very bizarre letter from Barbie, the popular cheerleader who taunted her all through high school.  At least, not until Poppy's best friend practically drags her to the event...

Using the dreaded homecoming as an excuse to visit her eccentric Aunt Ginny, Poppy vows to leave Cape May with pride and Spanx intact.  Too bad Barbie is still the queen of mean at the reunion.  And worse, that her dead body is lying right in front of Poppy's old locker.  Singled out as the killer, it's up to Poppy to confront her past and clear her name.  But between protecting her aunt from disaster and tackling a gluten-free diet, can Poppy crack the case before she's voted "Most Likely to Die" by the murderer?

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

It's been six months since Poppy has lost her husband, and she can't seem to pull herself together.  She sits around eating and missing her beloved husband, John.  It doesn't help that her mother-in-law hates her and wants her out of the home she shared with him (which she won't leave).  When she receives an invitation to her twenty-fifth class reunion, she has no intention of going.  She's gained weight (obviously) and doesn't want to see the people who made her high school years miserable.  But she's convinced by her best friend Sawyer Montgomery to go - and she winds up taking her cat, Figaro, and heading to her Aunt Ginny's in New Jersey.

When she arrives she's surprised at the state of Ginny's large Victorian.  It's been neglected, and there is dust everywhere.  It doesn't help that the social workers are trying to put Ginny in a home, thinking she's getting senile.  Now Poppy is trying to keep her sanity while helping Ginny and trying to avoid her nemeses; but when she learns her old boyfriend Tim is going to cater the reunion, it's just about all she can stand.

Then, when Barbie, her main tormentor, is found murdered and Poppy might be the prime suspect, she figures the only way out of this is to find the person who wanted Barbie dead.  But with so many people who hated her, it's not going to be easy...

I wanted to like this book after reading the blurb, but there were so many things wrong.  I understand that she was grieving her husband, and sometimes you never get over it.  But staying home for six months eating your way to larger dress sizes?  It's not like she woke up one morning and looked at herself and said, "How did this happen?"  I really got tired of her complaining about her weight.  There are women of all sizes, and they're all beautiful in their own way, so the self-fat-shaming was getting to me.

I also didn't like Amber one whit.  She should have been taken off the case because she was part of the problem, hating Poppy in the first place.  And when I found out why Amber hated Poppy, it was like, are you kidding me?

Okay, then there's the ending, which really threw me.  Supposedly she adored her husband.  She's been mourning him (which is natural) but after six months, she wants to get involved with someone else?  How did she go from 'I miss John so much' to 'this is going to be great' so quickly?  Nope.  Not buying it.  Sorry.  I won't be reading any more in this series.

https://www.amazon.com/Class-Reunions-Murder-McAllister-Mystery/dp/1496713036/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2205047423

More on Libby Klein's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/libby-klein/

Blown Away (A Kite Shop Mystery #1)

Author:  Clover Tate
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780425283547
Berkley Publishing
292 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
February 7, 2017

⭐

Emmy is finally living her dream.  She's moved to the coastal town of Rock Point, Oregon, and is starting a kite business.  Strings Attached features her own unique designed, inspired by everything from Picasso to Matisse's colorful cutouts.  Her spirits are soaring sky-high the morning of the grand opening - until she stumbles upon a dead man washed up on the beach.

The body belongs to local chef Miles Logan, and the gash across his chest indicates he's been murdered.  The sheriff suspects Emmy's best friend, Avery, who used to date the chef.  Emmy is sure Avery would never hurt anyone, but her pal doesn't have an alibi for the night of the murder.  With Avery's freedom and the fate of her kite shop up in the air, Emmy takes it upon herself to follow the string of clues and solve the murder before the real killer takes flight.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

When Emmy moves to the coastal town of Rock Point, Oregon, it's to live her dream of opening a kite shop.  She figures that since the other kite shop in town sells different types from hers, there's plenty of room for two.  But she doesn't figure on the dead body she finds on the beach, nor the fact that her roommate Avery is suspected of killing the man.  So Emmy decides to find out who really did kill him, and hopes that she can get there before Avery is sent away for good...

I picked up this book because it had a different premise, but it would have been better if I'd just left it alone.  How big is this town that two kite shops can sustain in it?  Are there really that many people that fly kites in this town?  To be fair, even though I live in a large city (and have always made city living my life) I've never seen anyone flying kites anywhere, and I haven't flown any since I was kid.
Now, I'm not saying people don't; I'm sure they do or they'd stop making them.  I'm merely pointing out that this town has a lot of kite-flyers.  Just sayin'

At any rate, Emmy comes off as self-important and thinks others are beneath her.  She seems to think she's smarter than everyone, including the police.  This is not the type of protagonist that I'm interested in reading about, and I won't be reading any more in the series.  Sorry.

https://www.amazon.com/Blown-Away-Kite-Shop-Mystery/dp/0425283542/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3204922312

More on Clover Tate's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/clover-tate/

Pies and Prejudice (A Charmed Pie Shoppe Mystery)

Author:  Ellery Adams
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780425251409
Berkley Publishing
266 Pages
$7.52; $2.99 Amazon
July 3, 2012

⭐

When the going gets tough, Ella Mae LeFaye bakes pie.  So when she catches her husband cheating in New York, she heads back home to Havenwood, Georgia, where she can drown her sorrows in fresh fruit filling and flaky crust.  But her pies aren't just delicious, they're also having magical effects on the people who eat them -- and the public is hungry for more.

Having discovered her hidden talent for enchantment, Ella Mae makes her own wish come true by opening The Charmed Pie Shoppe.  But with her old nemesis Loralyn Gaynor making trouble, and her old crush Hugh Dylan making nice, she has more than pie on her plate.  And when Loralyn's fiancé is found dead - killed with Ella Mae's rolling pin -- it'll take all her sweet magic to clear her name.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

When Ella Mae LeFaye discovers her husband cheating, she runs home to her birthplace of Havenwood, Georgia and her mother.  While she finds comfort in baking, it's her mother and three aunts who convince her that her pies hold miracles, and she needs to open a pie shoppe.  But her childhood enemy, Loralyn Gaynor, wants the building for a third beauty salon, and is attempting to get her fiancé to buy it for her.  Ella Mae wins out, and Loralyn vows revenge.

When there's a shouting match at a bank between Loralyn and Ella Mae, but all customers can see is Loralyn's fiancé, and he's later found dead - with Ella Mae's rolling pin as the weapon, she's put in the hot seat as the lead suspect.  But the police don't have enough to charge her, so she's released.  Now Ella Mae is on the hunt for a killer to free herself, but if she doesn't find one, she'll be cooked herself...

I enjoy Ellery Adams books, and I really wanted to like this one.  While it starts out okay, I need to say that toward the end it got too "woo-woo" for me.  I'm not one who likes paranormal, fantasy, witches, etc. (I do like ghosts if they're interesting); and when things were winding up at the end I started rolling my eyes.  For the most part, I like books to be believable, and this one went off the rails.

Ella Mae started out fine, and I even enjoyed her ability to make 'magical' pies.  I thought it was a cute touch to the book - but when she picked up the baby names book and started looking at them, that was it for me.  Seriously?  This is when she discovers the truth?  And it's in her name?

I would have also liked to have known more about her time in New York.  Didn't she even care about her belongings?  Were her clothes tainted with her husband?  Who just leaves everything behind?  Not even packing a suitcase?  Also, some of the pie recipes sounded gross.  I would also like to know how the rolling pin got out of her home and into the burning building.  It was never explained.  (It was explained how it disappeared out of the truck, but not how the original rolling pin got out of her house.  Who took it and when?

I also felt many of the characters were caricatures.  Tainted horse farms but no one wonders why the Gaynors weren't involved?  That should have been the first thing the police should have looked at.  Why didn't they look at Loralyn as being involved, either?  An intelligent cop might have been able to connect the dots the minute they realized Ella Mae had no motive.

At any rate, I won't be reading any more in this series.  Sorry.

https://www.amazon.com/Pies-Prejudice-Charmed-Shoppe-Mystery/dp/0425251403/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3204902378

More on Ellery Adams's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/ellery-adams/

The Study of Secrets (A Lila Maclean Academic Mystery #5)

Author:  Cynthia Kuhn
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781635116151; 9781635116155
Henery Press Publishing
250 Pages
$29.99; $15.95; $4.99 Amazon
May 26, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

There could be nowhere more fitting for English professor Lila Maclean to spend her sabbatical than in a proper Victorian mansion.  The whimsical Callahan House seems to have materialized from the pages of the mystery novels she is researching, with its enchanting towers, cozy nooks, and charming library.  Unfotunately, it also features a body in the study.

Residents of Larkston have long believed that the Callahan family is cursed - the murder on the estate sets the town buzzing.  Wild rumors are fueled by a gossipy blogger who delights in speculation, and further crimes only intensify the whispers and suspicions.  A newly discovered manuscript, however, appears to  expose startling facts beneath the fictions,  When Lila steps in to sort the truth from the lies, it may cost her everything, as someone wants to make dead certain that their secrets stay hidden.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Lila Maclean is an English Literature professor at Stonedale College.  She's taken a sabbatical at the home of Bibi Callahan, whom Lila has recently discovered is her favorite author, Isabella Dare.  While no one knows the secret but her, Bibi was so taken with Lila that she asked her to stay and help organize her files during her sabbatical.

But when Lila accidentally comes across an old manuscript of Bibi's that has never been published, she doesn't expect it to cause problems, she merely wants Bibi to publish it.  But while Bibi insists it's a work of fiction, there's some truth to it.  It's the tale of the night her only sister Ilse disappeared, and her own thoughts as to who could be involved.  Unwittingly, Lila lets it slip that the manuscript exists when the Larks visit - three women who have been friends with Bibi since childhood - and when one of them is later found dead and the manuscript is missing, it now becomes a murder investigation.

While the police are looking into the murder, they don't believe the manuscript has anything to do with it.  Bibi asks for Lila's help in finding out where the manuscript is, and who could do something like this; but when Lila starts finding answers, they aren't the ones Bibi and her friends want to know.  And without anyone to help her searching for clues, she must depend on herself - and maybe the reluctant detective assigned to the case - to ferret out a killer who might just get away with murder...

This is the fifth book in the Lila Maclean Academic Mysteries, and as such, is just as good as the others, which is saying something.  Lila's life has always been a bit stressful; not just being a professor who's trying to achieve tenure, but her recent breakup with another homicide detective still has her reeling.  While she's found a moment of peace with Bibi, the murder changes all that.

Still, Lila seems to thrive on mystery in her life.  She's intelligent, thorough, can manage her professional life and her personal one even while one or the other isn't going the way she'd like it to go.  Lila is a woman I think I'd like to have as a friend.  Her intensity, dedication to her work and friends, and generous nature are all part of this book.

But the story goes deeper than what Bibi wrote in the manuscript.  For of course, she only has her version of what might have happened to work with.  When the ending comes, the murderer is revealed, more than the  truth comes out, it's both sad and horrifying, in a way; yet when there's closure - in more ways than one - it allows people to move on with their lives and decide what they truly want.

Ms. Kuhn's ability to tell a story that pulls the reader in from the beginning and keep them there through the end is shown in this book.  She brings you easily into Lila's life, the people around her, and you get to experience her thought process as she investigates.  It's a captivating tale of murder that leaves you wanting more.  Highly recommended. 

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Study-Secrets-MacLean-Academic-Mystery/dp/163511618X/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3359573717

More on Cynthia Kuhn's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/cynthia-kuhn/

Little Bookshop of Murder (A Beach Reads Mystery #1)

Author:  Maggie Blackburn
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781643854380
Crooked Lane Books
$21.04; $12.99 Amazon
July 7, 2020

⭐⭐

Summer Merriweather's career as a Shakespeare professor hangs by a bookbinder's thread.  Academic life at her Virginia university is a viper's pit, so Summer spends her summer in England, researching a scholarly paper that, with any luck, will finally get her published, impress the Dean, and save her job.  But her English idyll ends when her mother, Hildy, shuffles off her mortal coil from an apparent heart attack.

Returning to Brigid's Island, NC, for the funeral, Summer is impatient to settle the estate, sell her mom's embarrassingly romance-themed bookstore, Beach Reads, and go home.  But as she drops by Beach Reads, Summer finds threatening notes addressed to Hildy: "Sell the bookstore or die."

Clearly, something is rotten on Brigid's Island.  What method is behind the madness?  Was Hildy murdered?  The police insist there's not enough evidence to launch a murder investigation.  Instead, Summer and her Aunt Agatha screw their courage to the sticking place and start sleuthing, with the help of Hildy's beloved book club.  But there are more suspects  on Brigid's Island than are dreamt of in the Bard's darkest philosophizing.  And if Summer can't find the villain, the town will be littered with a Shakespearean tragedy's worth of corpses -- including her own.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Summer Merriweather has returned home to Brigid's Island for the funeral of her mother.  The two haven't spoken since Summer left her fiancee at the altar several years ago.  But she believes her mother, who was healthy in every way, was murdered, even if the police aren't listening to her.  They don't listen even when she finds threatening notes - "Sell the bookshop or die" - or when there's an attack on her.  So Summer, her Aunt Agatha, Agatha's daughter Piper and Piper's daughter Mia, set out to solve the murder themselves.  But will Summer find a killer before she's the next victim?...

I really wanted to like this book because I love books about books, but I was heavily disappointed.  I have to tell you (and anyone who knows me or has read my reviews already knows) I am a big believer in details.  I notice them.  I notice many things about books including little details that escape others, or things others don't really care about in the first place.  But what I noticed here isn't little, it's staring us in the face:  at the heart of this book, I'm seeing that it's supposed to be about feminists.  There isn't a single strong male in the book, nor, believe it or not, a single strong woman.  Having a PhD doesn't qualify as being strong; and the Shakespeare quotes throughout seemed just weird and out of place.  However, while all the main characters are women,  the men are either angry, stupid, inept, 'smelly', or practically non-existent.  This is just my opinion, although I do realize others might disagree, which is fine with me.

The women are also too 'trippy' for me.  Old hippies and flower children are not my idea of a fun or interesting cozy mystery.  Some women are supposed to be "free spirits" (of which I have no liking whatsoever in the first place) so perhaps this wasn't the best book for me to choose.  I also don't really care for books with witches.  I'm just not interested.  But back to the women - neither (the late) Hildy, Agatha, Piper, nor Summer have husbands nor are in relationships.  Not even Mia's father is in the picture.  What was the author's purpose in this?  That you can't be a strong woman if there's a man in your life?  While I don't like romance to take center stage in a cozy, I do like to see that the main character not only has a good mind for solving murders, but can handle other things in her life just as well (although the MC did tell us early on she couldn't handle relationships, so oh, well).

I likewise had a hard time believing Summer truly cared for her mother.  Sure, she shows anger at her mom's death, but she ran away from the town and never contacted her mother again?  That screams guilt, not love.  And we're supposed to feel sorry for her?  Not to mention the murderer was the easiest one to identify that I've ever come across.  The person practically screamed "I did it!" the minute they stepped onto the page.  (The author moreover needs to research before she writes things.  She states as how the African Grey Parrot, Mr. Darcy was “getting old,” but African Greys can live 40 to 60 years.  Nineteen is not old for them.)

The ending was a big disappointment; I think it may have been written to keep the reader interested enough to read the next in the series, and it didn't seem plausible why the killer was threatening Summer when the person had never even met her before.  So there was that.  But perhaps I'm just the wrong audience and hopefully many others will enjoy this book.

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Bookshop-Murder-Beach-Mystery/dp/1643854380/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3201846235

More on Maggie Blackburn's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/maggie-blackburn/

Murder on the Silver Screen (A Movie Palace Mystery #3)

Author:  Margaret Dumas
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback: Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781635116199; 9781635116198
Henery Press Publishing
266 Pages
$31.95; $15.95; $16.99 Amazon
June 23, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

When Nora Page agrees to use the Palace movie theater for the launch of a new online game, she has no way of knowing that the event will end in murder.  But when one of the theater's owners is accused of the crime, the future of the Palace could be in danger.

With help from Trixie, the lively ghost of a 1930's usherette, Nora sets out to solve the crime, all the while dealing with the latest manipulations from her lying ex, the meddling of a Hollywood mogul with revenge on his mind, and the mysterious delivery box of classic movie memorabilia.

Oh, and then there's the séance.  Will Nora's friends be able to contact the ghost of the Palace?  Nobody is more excited to find out than Trixie.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

I have to tell you that I am a huge classic movie fan.  So much so, I own thousands of them (that's right; thousands).  Because of this, this series is tailor-made for me.  Not only do I get to solve a mystery, I get to hear someone else's take on the films I love so much.  (I also have to add that Fred Astaire is my very favorite actor of all time; I've seen and own everything he's ever done, and therefore this book is my favorite in the series.)

Nora Page is an ex-screenwriter who left her cheating husband to manage a classic movie theater in San Francisco.  She's since upgraded what she can afford to, and has come to love it in the short time she's been there.

This day, however, isn't going to go well: after texts and e-mails, one of the four owners of the theater, Tommy, a tech mogul, has decided he wants to use the theater (along with other places in the world) to announce a new game that will set the world spinning - a game created by S Banks, who is well-known in the gaming world.  He's also called a meeting with the other three members, which Nora also attends.  At this meeting, she briefly meets the elusive S Banks, which doesn't matter to her since she's not happy with the outcome of the meeting.

But she needs to go on, and when the time comes for the big unveiling, Tommy and S Banks are on her silver screen streaming live from Palo Alto.  But when S takes a sip of his energy drink, he collapses in front of millions of people and is later declared dead.  When Tommy is accused of the murder, he asks Nora's help in proving him innocent.

As if that weren't enough, her soon-to-be ex-husband Ted sends her something that could be worth millions - if she could prove it - and Otis Hampton, a Hollywood producer, is also asking for her help in getting revenge on Ted.  It's obvious Nora's plate is full, but this is ridiculous.  She's got more problems than Jean Arthur in Easy Living - but it isn't going to be easy to get out of this situation...especially when there's talk in the gaming world that she's the guilty party...

This is the third book in the series and an excellent addition as such.  The mystery is thoroughly entangled, and there are red herrings aplenty.  Along with the murder, we also have Trixie, the ghost of an usherette who haunts the Palace and whom only Nora can see and hear, taking s bigger part this time as there are others who know about her tragic death in the theater and wish to contact her; and while Nora isn't keen on a séance, she accepts it, although Trixie is thrilled by the idea of others being able to communicate with her.  Then there's the problem with Ted, who isn't making it easy for her to get a divorce, which is seriously putting a cramp in her new relationship with the enigmatic Colombian Hector.

When the murderer is discovered and the reasons for it explained, it is both sad and twisted at the same time, and although I learned the identity before Nora, (I read a lot of mysteries), the journey to get there is the most important part, and the author is an exceptional storyteller, bringing you into the world of Nora and her friends.  The characters come alive on the page, and you are part of the story.

I absolutely love this series and this author.  Ms. Dumas has an extensive knowledge of classic films, and she manages to find a way to make those she chooses germane to the story she is telling us.  Hopefully, she's opening an entire new generation to the movies that created Hollywood and if only a handful of people watch these films because of her books, they will live on forever.  Highly recommended.

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Silver-Screen-Palace-Mystery/dp/1635116228/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3343523102

More on Margaret Dumas's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/margaret-dumas/

The Final Vow (A Living History Museum Mystery Book 3)

Author:  Amanda Flower
Genre:   Mystery

Trade Paperback
ISBN #:  9781097892341
Independently Published
270 Pages
$14.99 Amazon
October 4, 2019

⭐⭐⭐

Summer weddings at Barton Farm's picturesque church were standard procedure for museum director Kelsey Cambridge - until the Cherry Foundation, which supports the museum, ordered Kelsey to host her ex-husband's wedding on Farm grounds.  Ambitious wedding planner Vianna Pine is determined to make the bride's Civil War-themed wedding perfect.  But each time Vianna's vision threatens the integrity and safety of the Farm, Kelsey has to intervene.  And when she finds Vianna's dead body at the foot of the church steps, everyone's plans fall apart.  With both the wedding and Barton Farm at risk of being permanently shut down, Kelsey has to work hard to save her own happily ever after.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Kelsey Cambridge is the director of Barton Farms and is dedicated to preserving history.  Right now she's having to deal with a pushy wedding planner, Vianna Pine, who is planning the wedding of her ex-husband Eddie and his fianceé Krissie.  She's fighting Kelsey at every turn, who refuses to change anything about the farm to please Krissie - whom, she's told times over, gets what she wants.  Krissie's parents are wealthy, and she's their only child, so this is pretty much true.

What she's fighting about now is putting lights in the bell tower of the church, which Kelsey has told Vianna no since it's unstable up there.  But when Vianna's body is found below the church, and Kelsey sees someone running away, it's apparent it wasn't an accident.  Now both Eddie and Kelsey's friend Benji want Kelsey to prove their respective loves innocent, and unfortunately, she just might have to do so if she's going to save her job and her beloved farm....

I was torn between liking and hating this book.  I have always liked the history angle of the farm, but I absolutely cannot stand Krissie, who was worse than a bridezilla.  She was a blackmailer (yes), and if I were Kelsey, I wouldn't allow my child to spend a single minute in her company - and would have no hesitation in telling Eddie nor an attorney or judge of Krissie's 'hobby.'  Also, what kind of people threaten to take away a mother's child if she doesn't "toe the line" with them?  I honestly had a hard time getting through this book because of her.

When the characters aren't likable, it makes for a difficult read (unless said unlikable character is the murder victim).  Unfortunately, Krissie isn't.  But the mystery itself was done well with plenty of suspects, and I was surprised at the murderer, since there weren't any clues leading to the killer.  I would have at least liked to have something to look for, but they were practically non-existent. 

In the end, at least Kelsey is coming to an understanding of who she wants to be, which is a good thing, and it might help her become more human in the long run.  When the killer is discovered and everything is put together, one understands how unhinged people can become when they allow their pasts to stand in the way of their future - which is exactly what Kelsey has been doing all this time.

https://www.amazon.com/Final-Living-History-Museum-Mystery/dp/1097892344/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3199129081

More on Amanda Flower's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/f/amanda-flower/

Murder, Plain and Simple (An Amish Quilt Shop Mystery)

Author:  Isabella Alan
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780451413635
Berkley Obsidian
368 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
September 3, 2013

⭐⭐⭐

With her snazzy cowboy boots and her ornithophobic French bulldog, Angie doesn't exactly fit in with the predominantly Amish community in Rolling Brooke, but her aunt's quilting circle makes her feel at home as she prepares for the reopening of Running Stitch.

On the big day, Angie gets a taste of success as the locals and Englisch tourists browse the store's wares while the quilters stitch away.  But when Angie finds the body of ornery Amish woodworker Joseph in her storeroom, the future of Running Stitch looks bleak.

With evidence mounting against her, Angie is determined to find the culprit before the local sheriff can make an arrest.  Rolling Brook appears to be a simple place, but the closer Angie gets to the killer, the more she realizes that nothing in the small Amizh community is as plain as it seems...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Angie Braddock recently left Dallas, Texas because her late aunt left her a quilting shop, Running Stitch, in the Amish town of Rolling Brook, Ohio.  Her Aunt Eleanor married an Amish man and gave up her Englisch ways to join their community, and now the shop was hers.  To tell the truth, Angie didn't mind leaving, considering after a seven-year relationship, her boyfriend broke it off, telling her he couldn't commit to marriage.  Now she's in a new place with new people and trying to find her way.

It's also apparent that the woodworker next door, Joseph Walker, doesn't want her there.  He's insistent the shop belongs to his family and he'll find the deed her aunt hid to prove it.  But Angie stands her ground - and the next morning when she enters the shop, accompanied by Danny Nicholson, a reporter, she finds the body of Joseph in her storeroom, killed by one of her tools.  Now she's under suspicion of murder, and since the sheriff won't let her off the hook, she's determined to find the killer on her own.  But asking questions could be detrimental to her health - permanently...

This is the first book in a series, and I really wanted to like it.  Although many of the characters seemed authentic, I didn't think that the town trustees were all Englischers when this is supposedly an Amish town.  How did that happen?  Maybe things like that don't bother others, but I'm a great believer in details, and it's details that I pay attention to.

I also didn't care for the 'nemesis' angle.  Why on earth would anyone open a quilt shop directly next door to one that is obviously popular?  For the sole reason of taking away all the customers and forcing the Amish in the quilt circle to choose sides?  Nope; not interested.  I much prefer series where someone isn't out to ruin the life of the protagonist.  So if this continues in the next book - or even plays a major role - then I will stop reading (although I do like to give at least three books before I make a decision, the nemesis thing really irritates me in books.)

Then there was the ending, which didn't make sense to me at all.  Things the murderer did just didn't seem like they made any sense, but I have hidden this in a spoiler, because even though this is an older book, others may not have read it yet, so if you haven't read the book, please don't read the spoiler below:

1) How did the killer know that a property deed would be hidden in a quilt? Is this where all the Amish keep their important papers? I seriously doubt it. Yet for some odd reason, the killer knew that the quilt must be the hiding place when no one else even thought of it. 2) Why did the murderer keep the deed at all? What good would it have done them? Were they going to just show up with it after someone else was convicted of the murder like it appeared out of nowhere? How would they explain that little detail? It would have made more sense if they had just left the deed in Joseph's hand for Angie to find. 3) Since when do Amish people sew their important papers into quilts? Why would her aunt do that in the first place? If she wanted Angie to have the shop, wouldn't it have made more sense to leave the deed with her attorney to prove the shop belonged to Angie? This didn't make any sense at all. Because of these things, I had a hard time believing the ending. No one who wanted to prove ownership would just hide the deed in a quilt and then not tell the heir where the deed was unless they were crazy or didn't want the heir to know. I had a hard time not rolling my eyes at this.

Unfortunately, because of the way things were explained, nothing Angie's Aunt Eleanor did made any sense to me.  As I stated, I will read the next in the series, but there's no saying at this point whether I will even finish that book or not.  Sorry.

https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Plain-Simple-Amish-Mystery/dp/0451413636/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3197769016

More on Isabella Alan's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/isabella-alan/

Staging Wars (A Laura Bishop Mystery Book 2)

Author:  Grace Topping
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781635115949; 9781635115918
Henery Press Publishing
254 Pages
$31.95; $15.95; $4.99 Amazon
April 28, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Laura Bishop's new home staging business is growing in popularity, though not with her nemesis.  Laura has long suspected established interior designer Monica Heller of sabotaging her fledgling company -- and having an affair with her late husband.

when the ultra-chic Monica is caught at the scene of a murder, Laura is plenty happy to imagine her languishing in a prison cell with bedsheets far from her normal 600-thread Egyptian cotton.  But her delight is short-lived.

When Laura's friends land on the police's radar, Laura must overcome her dislike of Monica to help solve the crime.  Not an easy task since Laura and Monica have been at war since the second grade.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Laura Bishop is a widow who's been trying to make a new life for herself with a home staging business. She's with her employees at the town square for the Louiston Small Business Fair.  They have their booth in front of a funeral home, and the owner has allowed them to use the restroom when necessary.  When her employee Nita runs to her telling Laura there's a body inside, she laughs and tells her it is a funeral home.  But then Nita tells her it's a man with a knife in his back and everything changes - although Laura doesn't know that yet.

She's also concerned that things have been happening to sabotage her business - like when she ordered a moving truck but the order was cancelled and there isn't any others available.  Laura soon discovers that an old school nemesis, interior designer Monica Heller, is dipping her hand into the home staging business, and she's sure the woman is causing her problems.  But when she finds Monica standing over the body of another man who'd been stabbed in the back, she wonders if the two murders are related.

While she doesn't want anything to do with either one, when a nun who was once her teacher asks her to help Monica, she folds and agrees.  But when she starts looking into the murders, what she discovers is more than she bargained for, and it might just get her killed...

This is the second book in a new series and I loved it as much as the first one.  While the author is new to the cozy mystery genre, she's very good at it.  Her characters are beginning to come to life, and Laura is beginning to realize that closing herself off from anything not related to work could be harming her.  She's also hosting a visit from her Aunt Kit, her late mother's sister, and we're getting an insight into her childhood and how it helped to shape her into the person she is.

The mystery was done very well, with two different men who didn't know each other, and while it seemed that they had nothing in common, we soon see how wrong we were when the pieces of the puzzle start to come together.  The portrait it paints is one of greed and how it affects others and changes them.  Laura is an intelligent woman who can see the bigger picture and look for things that might seem insignificant but aren't.

I also like the fact that Detective Spangler is warming up to her and not being as hard-nosed as he was in the first book; it makes it so much nicer in the long run.  I, for one, don't like police officers who treat the protagonist as if they were insects to be swatted away; and we're learning that Spangler has a human side, which makes him all the more likable.  While I saw what was happening with her Aunt Kit, I was pleased to see that my hopes in that area are coming to fruition.

When Laura had put it all together and the murderer was discovered, it was a refreshing scenario that I know has probably not been done before; and I enjoyed it immensely.  The ending was satisfying and gave us something to look forward to.  Kudos to Ms. Topping on a very fun cozy and I look forward to the next in the series.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Staging-Wars-Laura-Bishop-Mystery-ebook/dp/B084BT29GG/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3343519676

More on Grace Topping's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/t/grace-topping/

Mums and Mayhem (A Magic Garden Mystery Book 3)

Author:  Amanda Flower
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781643852980
Crooked Lane Books
336 Pages
$24.49; $12.99 Amazon
July 7, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐

World-famous fiddle player Barley McFee arrives in blustery Bellewick, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, for a grand homecoming concert organized by jeweler Bernice Brennan.  Fiona Knox, owner of the Climbing Rose Flower Shop, is starting to regret volunteering to help with the concert.  Bernice is an exacting taskmaster, and Fiona has enough tension dealing with her paretns, who have traveled from Tennessee to visit Fi and her younger sister, Isla, and to reveal a secret about Fi's birth.  But when Barley is found dead in his trailer during the concert's intermission, and his death is shockingly tied to Fiona's father, Fiona discovers there are more secrets surrounding her family than she realized.

Much to the chagrin of handsome Neil Craig, Chief Inspector of the County Aberdeen Police, Fiona delves into the case to clear her father's name.  To make matters worse, Fiona learns that Duncreigan, the magical garden that she inherited from her godfather, is dying.  At some point during the concert, someone broke into the garden and cut the centuries-old climbing rose -- the source of the garden's magic -- from the standing stone.

The stakes are higher than ever and Fiona could lose all that she's grown unless she's able to dispel this terrible curse and dig up the truth -- fast.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽  

Fiona Knox is originally from Tennessee, but when she inherited a cottage and magic garden from her late godfather, she soon learned that this small part of Scotland was tied to her and she needed to remain.  So she opened the Climbing Rose Flower Shop and takes care of the garden, along with her caretaker, Hamish.

Barley McFee is a famous fiddler from Bellewick, and he's come home for a concert.  When he meets Fiona, he says something cryptic, then catches himself and leaves.  She's also looking forward to the visit of her parents as well as dreading it, because while she misses them, there's a part of her life that needs to know - and only they can fill in the pieces.  She's also worried about their reaction to the fact that her younger sister Isla has found a Scottish boy and intends to marry him and never return to Tennessee.  It's a lot on her plate right now.

But when Barley is found murdered during an intermission in the concert, she soon learns that her father might have been the last person to see him alive - and she's worried that he's a suspect.  So now she's on the hunt for the real killer, hoping to clear her father's name.  But if someone has killed once, they're ready to kill again - and Fiona might be in the line of fire...

This is the third book in the series, and I've read them all.  I have to say that of all Ms. Flower's books, I like this series the best.  A magic garden is intriguing, and the fact that it's set in Scotland makes it even more so.

What I don't like: First, Isla.  She seems much too childish to be engaged to anyone.  She thinks of nothing but herself and Seth, and is so immature that she wants to spend every second of her free time with him, and he's the same way.  These are teenagers, not grown adults.  Perhaps Isla should return to Tennessee, in my book; and Seth needs to grow up, too.

The second thing is I know I wouldn't have let the person who destroyed the garden off so easily.  Breaking and entering.  Vandalism.  Destroying someone's property.  Let them go to jail for awhile and think about what they did.  Someone so self-serving and who cares so little for another's property would be more than likely to do it again.  They are thoroughly unlikable as a person.

Aside from these two things, I like Fiona; she's level-headed and able to forgive people, which shows a generous heart.  She obviously cares for others deeply, and will not hold a grudge nor anger, allowing this generosity into her daily life.  Her relationship with her parents after what she discovers is a good example of this. 

The mystery was well-done and I enjoyed seeing all the pieces of Fiona's life come together.  I would love to see this series continue, and I have enjoyed it so far and would continue to do so.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Mums-Mayhem-Magic-Garden-Mystery/dp/1643852981/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3190395472

More on Amanda Flower's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/f/amanda-flower/

A Scandal in Scarlet (A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery)

Author: Vicki Delany
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Audio CD; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781683317906; 9781683850276; 9781974922963
Crooked Lane Books
320 Pages
$17.70; $15.99; $29.99; $12.99 Amazon
November 13, 2018 (July 9, 2019 TP)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Walking her dog Violet late one night, Gemma Doyle, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop, acts quickly when she smells smoke outside Scarlet House, the West London Museum.  Damager to the historic house is extensive, and Baker Street's shop owners organize an afternoon auction tea to raise funds to rebuild.

Excitement fills the air (along with the aromas of Jayne Wilson's delightful scones) in Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room, but before the gavel can fall, museum board chair Kathy Lamb is found dead in the back room with a long rope of decorative knotted tea cups wrapped tightly around her neck.

The suspect list is long, and the case far from elementary.  Does Kathy's killing have any relations to a mysterious death of seven years ago?  Gemma has no intention of getting involved in the investigation, but when fellow shopkeeper Maureen finds herself the prime suspect she begs Gemma for her help.  Detective Ryan Ashburton knows Gemma's methods and isn't happy when she gets entangled in another mystery.  But with so many suspects and so few clues, her deductive prowess will prove invaluable.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Gemma Doyle owns the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop in Cap Cod, and is half-owner in the adjoining Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room, along with Jayne Wilson.  While walking her dog Violet one evening, she sees a fire at the historical society, Scarlet House.  After the fire is extinguished it's determined it was accidental.  Now the society members need to raise money to restore the building.

Gemma is once-again roped into helping Jayne, and they meet with Leslie, Jayne's mother, and Kathy Lamb, the chair of the society.  While they are talking, Maureen McGregor enters.  She owns a shop across from Gemma and is disliked by everyone in town.  Once they decide to hold an auction, Kathy tells them that Maureen is the only person who didn't donate anything.  Gemma, in her way, convinces Maureen to donate something.

But the day of the auction, Maureen brings in a hideous painting and has a verbal altercation with Kathy.  Later, when Kathy can't be found, Gemma looks for her and discovers her dead in the storage room of Mrs. Hudson's.  Most people think Maureen killed her, and Maureen grudgingly pesters Gemma for help in proving her innocent.  But Gemma doesn't really think Maureen killed anyone, and decides to go along with it - upsetting her boyfriend, Detective Ryan Ashburton.  There's a killer on the loose, and if one person is dead, it's easy enough to figure out there might be another...

I've read every book in this series and I think this one is my favorite.  Probably because Gemma isn't as annoying in this book, talking down to everyone around her.  She actually listens to her employee Ashleigh, and doesn't hound Jayne constantly to help her.  She also spends more time with her Cocker Spaniel, Violet, and that's the biggest plus.  So the woman is coming around a bit.

I also like the fact that perhaps Detective Estrada is beginning to let up a little on her dislike of Gemma.  I know people don't mind a 'nemesis' in books, but I find them tiring.  The constant sniping at people gets old, so this was a nice change.  I do wish, though, that Gemma could make friends with Moriarity, especially since he proved his worth in this book.  I have several cats, and the only people they've ever disliked have turned out to be worth disliking.  I trust them implicitly when it comes to their 'radar' on people.

I also liked the fact that while there were plenty of suspects, it took awhile before you come to the conclusion of who the murderer is.  Many times you can figure it out almost immediately, but this book took longer, and that's always interesting.  The mystery itself was done nicely, and while there were clues, it took some time to decipher them.  Because of this, I will read the next in the series.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Scandal-Scarlet-Sherlock-Bookshop-Mystery/dp/164385027X/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3190355008

More on Vicki Delany's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/vicki-delany/

The Ninja's Illusion (A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery #5)

Author:  Gigi Pandian
Genre:   Mystery/Suspense

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; [Audio CD]; Digital Book
ISBN:  9781635112542; 9781635112511; [9781515963745]
Henery Press Publishing [Tantor Audio]
294 Pages
$31.94; $15.95; $24.97; $6.99 Amazon
May 29, 2017

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A fabled illusion performed by a stage magician who claims to possess real supernatural powers.  A treasure from the colonial era in India when international supremacies vied for power.  A phantom trading ship lost over 200 years ago.  And a ninja whose murderous intentions in present-day Japan connect the deeds of a long-dead trader who was much more than he seemed...

When Jaya travels from San Francisco to Japan with her stage magician best friend Sanjay -- a.k.a. The Hindi Houdini -- for his Japanese debut, she jumps at the chance to pursue her own research that could solve a tantalizing centuries-old mystery.

With the colorful autumn leaves of historic Kyoto falling around her, Jaya soon loses sight of what's real and what's a deception.  A mysterious ninja attempts to sabotage Sanjay's trick, along with Japan's most controversial magician, Akira.  Ancient folklore blurs the lines between illusion and reality when a magician's assistant appears to be a kitsune, a mythical fox spirit.  As tricks escalate to murder, Jaya and her friends must unravel secrets hidden in the ancient capital of Japan, before one of their own becomes the next victim.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

When Jaya Jones, a history professor at a San Francisco university, has a break Thanksgiving week, she intends to travel to Japan to see her best friend, Sanjay, known as the Hindi Houdini, perform his magic.  But before leaving, she receives a cryptic call from him telling her not to come.  Jaya, who also is a well-known treasure hunter who finds artifacts and turns them over to the countries where they belong, is meeting with Professor Nakamura as well, refuses to stay and goes anyway.

Once she reaches Japan, Sanjay refuses to tell her anything except that 'it's complicated.'  When she meets the magician he'll be working with, Akira, she finds the man rude and arrogant.  His assistant, Yako (whose real name is Yoko), is supposedly a kitsune, a fox who can take human form.  While Jaya doesn't believe it, she still wants to know what is really happening.  Yet with the appearance of Sanjay's mentor Sébastien, a retired French magician who still creates mechanical wonders for others, it only complicates things.  Once Jaya learns that tricks have been sabotaged and a mysterious ninja is following them, she wants Sanjay to stop.  When he refuses, and Akira is murdered, Sanjay still intends to continue, making Jaya worried for him.

But then another magician enters the scene, even more attacks are occurring, and Jaya begins to discover that her own research regarding helping Professor Nakamura might have something to do with what's going on with Sanjay's rope trick.  It also might have deadly consequences for one of them, if she doesn't find the truth, and soon...

This is the fifth book in the series, and I have to say I've loved every one of them.  I also have to say that unfortunately, I've read the sixth one first, so this is a bit of a 'backtrack' for me, which I usually don't do; but this is how much I love this series.  (To clarify, if I miss a book, I usually won't go back and read the previous one, but continue on.)

At any rate, the mystery is top-notch, blending Jaya's research with Sanjay's magic, and it works.  We are drawn into the tale easily, and the descriptions of the area around Jaya is rich and colorful.  It makes one want to visit one of the temples, or at the very least, spend time in Kyoto itself.  As a bonus, we get to see Jaya as she is at her most confused regarding her personal life, and deciding what she really wants; giving us more insight as to the type of person she is.

There is plenty of suspense and enlightenment of Japanese history regarding the treatment of foreigners in ancient times. For myself, I found it fascinating; but I usually do with with Ms. Pandian's books.  She is a writer who does her research well, and every time I choose one of her books I know that not only will I be entertained, but learn something new.

When the ending comes and the killer is revealed, it is a bit of a surprise, but there are clues leading up to it and we learn the identity the same time as Jaya; yet the author gives us enough of a tight climax that makes it all worthwhile.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Ninjas-Illusion-Jones-Treasure-Mystery/dp/1635112540/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2138737571

More on Gigi Pandian's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/gigi-pandian/

My Fair Latte (A Cafe Cinema Mystery #1)

Author:  Vickie Fee
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback: Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781635115826; 9781635115796
Henery Press Publishing
258 Pages
$31.95; $15.95; $4.99 Amazon
March 3, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Broke, unemployed barista Halley Greer is shocked when she inherits an Art Deco movie palace from the great uncle she remembers meeting once as a child.  She moves to the charming tourist town of Utopia Springs, Arkansas to claim her legacy.

In addition to the timeworn theater, she discovers she's also inherited a trash-heaped apartment, family secrets, her uncle's friends, a stealthy calico kitty -- and an adversary.

With a whole latte  help from her new friends, the feisty barista fixes up and re-opens the theater as a coffee and wine bar, showing classic films.  She generates some steam with a hunky local -- and risks getting burned.  The opening night of My Fair Lady looks like a big hit, and her new life feels like a bit of movie magic, until a customer turns up dead during intermission.

With the cops eyeing her as a suspect, Halley digs into the victim's life and runs into a tangle of blackmail and secrets.  Can Hailey and her friends unmask a killer before the curtain comes down for keeps?

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Halley Greer didn't even know her great-uncle Leon - but he's left her everything he had, which includes not only an old Art Doc movie palace, his apartment, boxes of his belongings, and a calico cat named Eartha Kitty.  Now she's moved to Utopia Springs, Arkansas to see if she can make a go of it.

Luckily, she's also inherited his best friends, George and Trudy Mayfield, who have made her feel welcome and introduced her to others, especially Kendra, who's Halley's age and owns Escape Rooms across the street.  While she and Kendra have become fast friends, Halley's decided to make the movie theater her own by offering a coffee and wine bar (and of course, movie snacks) along with the classic movies she intends to show, beginning with My Fair Lady.

What she doesn't count on is a dead body on opening night.  Or the fact that she's seen the man before, peeking in her windows.  Or the fact that the police think she's the main suspect.  So she and Kendra, along with a bit of help from Trudy and George, decide to hunt down the killer on their own- discreetly, of course.  But when Halley realizes that the police are onto them, they realize they need to up their game..but then again, so does the killer...

This is the first in a new series by Vicki Fee, who is a talented writer.  Even if you're not interested in classic movies (as I am), you should find this interesting.  Halley has a troubled past and is slightly broken emotionally, which makes her eager to reach out to the new people around her who want to become part of her new life.  It's subtle but lovely to watch.

The mystery itself is shrouded not only in the present, but the past also and comes off as completely believable.  Old stories and legends surround many areas of the country, and this one could be part of that.  I do love old legends and read about them frequently.

Much of the book is about Halley establishing her new life; deciding what will work in her theater as she meets the people of Utopia Springs; but it also brings her in contact with those same people who could, just as well, have one of them as the murderer.  While we aren't given a lot of background on many of those, we do learn about both Halley and Kendra's past, and it explains a lot about the people they are.  George and Trudy are a hoot, and I love the fact that they're playing major roles in the book.

When Halley discovers the murderer, it comes as a bit of a surprise, but the clues are there if you look for them.  I do like how the climax came about, and the reason for the murder was, while as old as time, thoroughly convincing.  This is a delightful start to a new series and I wait eagerly for the next.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Fair-Latte-Caf%C3%A9-Cinema-Mystery/dp/1635115795/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3186349302

More on Vickie Fee's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/f/vickie-fee/