Death of a Wandering Wolf (A Hungarian Tea House Mystery #2)

Author:  Julia Buckley
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781984804846
Berkley Publishing
288 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
June 30, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The only thing that Hana loves more than a good cuppa is finding a delicate porcelain treasure to add to her collection.  She's usually on the hunt for teacups but when she spots a rare wolf figuring at a local yard sale, she knows it's her lucky day.  Hana also knows the wolf is valuable and tells the seller that he's charging too little for it.  His reaction is peculiar -- he says he received the wolf from someone he doesn't trust and he just wants it out of his life.

Hana is inspecting her new prize when she finds a tiny microchip attached to the bottom of the porcelain wolf.  When she shows the figure to her police detective boyfriend, Erik, Hana is shocked to learn that the chip is actually a tracking device.  They decide to confront the seller about the sneaky sale but when they arrive at his house, they find him dead.  Erik and Hana now must hunt a calculating killer who has no intentions of crying wolf when it comes to murder...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Hana Keller helps run Maggie's Tea House, which her mother and grandmother own.  She also collects items by Hungarian artists - when she can afford them.  While shopping at a garage sale with her friend Katie, she comes across a beautiful rare wolf figurine made by a company in Hungary, and sees that it's only priced at $5, though she knows it to be worth much more.  Seeking out the owner of the home, she finds him sitting and sketching.  While speaking with him, he tells her that he just wants it out of his home, and refuses to charge more.  But she also finds that he himself is an artist - William Kodaly - and when she looks at one of the paintings he is about to sell it fills her with strong emotions that she can't name.  She also feels something when she touches Kodaly's hand, but blows it off.  Still, she buys two of the paintings and the wolf; yet when she pulls out of her parking spot, she sees a man looking at her and scratching his head, which bothers her.

Then she goes to meet her new boyfriend for breakfast, detective Erik Wolf.  When she shows him the wolf, he sees that it has a tracking device and immediately goes into cop mode.  Going back to Kodaly's home, they find him dead - murdered.  Now Hana has to wonder why there was a tracking device on the wolf, and if it was meant for her, since Kodaly had talked to her about knowing of her family.

But then things descend into chaos.  She has a spat with Wolf that obviously causes him pain; she meets his ebullient sisters; and there's been an attack on her.  Now she's moving from place to place while Wolf tries to keep her alive - and find out who wants her dead...

This is the second book in the series and I enjoyed it just as much as the first.  Hana is an intelligent woman who doesn't go around getting herself into dangerous situations, nor asking people inquisitive questions and accusing everyone of murder.  Her detective boyfriend actually does his job, while listening to her input and praising her when something she remembers turns out to be important to the situation.  Their relationship is growing in this book, and they seem to have a nice fit together; it blends.

I also like the fact that both of them have strong family ties.  (It does become annoying at times when a protagonist is estranged from their parents for some reason or another).  Wolf's sisters are delightful; they own their own booming business and immediately upon meeting Hana quiz her, then decide they want to use her as one of their models, even though she'd rather not.  It's quite fun to watch them manipulate her (in a nice way, of course).  Even her brother Domo shows his protective side, which is wonderful.

Yes, I know I've been praising this book, but there's a reason for that.  It's very good.  You don't have a brooding hero, nor an angry woman who broke up with her boyfriend beforehand.  These are two people who found each other, and the backstory is fascinating:  her family is Hungarian, and the women have "the gift," with Hana just discovering hers.  I love this.  Her grandmother hates wolves, thinking they're bad, so here comes Detective Wolf, and she wants to hate him but doesn't.  She knows he's good for her granddaughter.  Everything moves in sync, and it's interesting.

The mystery itself was intriguing: the wolf figurine played a key role, but even though we eventually find out why, it takes some time to find out the who.  The reason Mr. Kodaly was murdered comes from an unlikely source early on, but it's watching the pieces being put together that's the compelling part.  They come together slowly, and later in the book Hana starts to figure it out and passes the information to Wolf to complete.  They're a team, with her providing key information.

The motive for Kodaly's murder is as age-old as time itself, but still happens to this very day.  Life doesn't always follow the lines we expect it to, just as people will react to situations the way they want, regardless of the end result.  When we discover the murderer it comes to a fascinating conclusion that is actually rather funny, and was entertaining in the extreme.  I look forward to the next in the series, and hope that I don't have to wait too long.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Wandering-HUNGARIAN-HOUSE-MYSTERY/dp/1984804847/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3293383404

More on Julia Buckley's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/julia-buckley/

Death in a Budapest Butterfly (A Hungarian Tea House Mystery #1)

Author:  Julia Buckley
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781984804822
Berkley Publishing
288 Pages
$5.99; $7.99 Amazon
July 30, 2019

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

'
Hana Keller and her family run Maggie's Tea House, an establishment heavily influenced by the family's Hungarian heritage and specializing in a European-style traditional tea service.  But one of the shop's largest draws is Hana's eccentric grandmother, Juliana, renowned for her ability to read the future in the leaves of the bottom of customers' cups.  Lately, however, her readings have become alarmingly ominous and seemingly related to old Hungarian legends...

When a guest is poisoned at a tea event, Juliana's dire predictions appear to have come true.  Things are brough to a boil when Hana's beloved Anna Weatherley butterfly teacup -- which carried the poisoned tea -- becomes the center of the murder investigation.  The cup is claimed as evidence by a handsome police detective, and the beloved Tea House is suddenly endangered.  Hana and her family must catch the killer to save their business and bring the beautiful Budapest Butterfly back home where it belongs.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Hana Keller helps run Maggie's Tea House, her family's establishment in Illinois.  She's helping her mother and grandmother get ready for a meeting of the Maygar Women, a group of Hungarian women who meet there every month.  Hana knows about Hungarian women, since she is half-Hungarian on her mother's side. 

She's also a collector of Hungarian items, and she's found a beautiful teacup, a Budapest Butterfly, that is going to be used as a centerpiece for today's tea.  Everything is ready and the three women are prepared for the tea service; including a French pastry chef who works for them preparing the delicious food.  Hana's grandmother Juliana has even agreed to read the tea leaves for the women after they've finished.  It's been said that the females in the family have "the gift," but Hana's never put too much stock in it.

But Hana notices a woman she's never seen before, sitting by herself.  When she mentions to one of the ladies that the woman - Ava Novak, is beautiful, she's rebuffed; and no one will talk about her.  The afternoon is indeed busy, with the three women milling about making sure everyone has enough to drink and cleaning up the empty cups.  But then, while her grandmother is reading tea leaves on the table that is supposed to hold the Butterfly, Hana notices something -- her beautiful cup is missing, and it is being used by Ava!  Hana vows to get her cup back the first chance she can, without being rude, and wondering how she got hold of it.  Then Ava excuses herself to go to the bathroom, and Hana goes to her table to retrieve her cup but sees that there are things that shouldn't be, and goes to check on Ava.  Unfortunately, she finds her -- lying dead in front of the bathroom.

The police are called immediately, and two detectives -- Wolf and Benton -- are going to ask questions.  Hana's grandmother believes that wolves are bad, and doesn't want anything to do with him, but since he's the lead detective, she doesn't have a choice.  When everything is completed, Hana wonders who Ava Novak was and why one of these little old ladies wanted her dead.  She also doesn't like the fact that she's attracted to the tall, blond detective, but that will have to wait while she 'helps' him sniff out a killer...

This is the first book in a new series and I have to say that I was surprised.  I read another of Ms. Buckley's series and it just didn't draw me in, so the fact that I liked this book should say something in itself.  (I always try to give authors a second chance, as it were).

Anyway, I do like the characters in the book.  The women are interesting people, and even Hana's brother Domo has his qualities.  He comes off as being your typical male, if there is such a thing; yet it's apparent he's protective of Hana, which is a good thing.  Hana's grandmother is a comical character; she 'knows' things that her daughter (Hana's mom) would rather not believe in, yet she's strong and funny at the same time.  Hana, for her part, is not one of those idiots that goes around asking people inquisitive questions and accusing them of murder one after the other.  It's a breath of fresh air.

I also like the fact that both Hana's mother Maggie and her grandmother are married, and the men aren't just wallpaper.  They have parts in the book that matter, and Hana didn't return home because of a broken relationship, lost her job, etc.  She actually likes what she does and makes enough money to have her own apartment.  The one thing I will say is the fact that you don't have to 'feed' cats.  They aren't dogs.  I've owned animals my entire life, (mostly cats), and you can leave food out all day and unlike dogs, they won't eat everything in the bowl.  They'll eat until they're full and walk away.  It doesn't make them fat or lazy.  (I give mine one can of wet food in the morning and leave the hard food out the rest of the day - it's fine).

But back to the book: the mystery was well drawn, and while we knew one of the ladies was a murderer, there were three women who came to the forefront.  Finding the reason behind the murder was a different story, and it brought out a Hungarian legend that seemed to come to life, but of course, didn't; leaving it, while not a full-on deep mystery, still believable enough to carry the book.

Hana and Wolf faced their attraction to each other and while there were misunderstandings, it didn't overshadow the mystery.  I did like the fact that when Hana found something out or remembered something, she went to Wolf immediately instead of keeping it to herself or going off to find out more, which made their relationship more realistic because they kept spending time together.

In the end, when we discover the murderer, as I stated above, it might not have been deep, but people have been known to carry things close to them for years, so it was conceivable.  While it was rather sad at the same time, and things could have been avoided, it was still interesting enough to keep me reading in one sitting.  I've also decided I might have to find a Hungarian restaurant somewhere around me.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Budapest-Butterfly-HUNGARIAN-MYSTERY/dp/1984804820/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3291373580

More on Julia Buckley's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/julia-buckley/

In Cold Chamomile (A Tea and Read Mystery #3)

Author:  Joy Avon
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781643852881
Crooked Lane Books
$26.99; $12.99 Amazon
February 11, 2020

⭐⭐

Callie Aspen can't think of a more appropriate place to spend Valentine's Day than her adopted hometown of Heart's Harbor, Maine.  When she's not helping out at Book Tea, her great-aunt Iphy's vintage tearoom, Callie's adorning Haywood Hall with hearts and roses for the big Valentine's event, where townspeople will fall in love with sweet treats, heartwarming music, and delightful books.  But tension is brewing: The librarian argues with the expert who is on hand to appraise precious volumes.  And Iphy is shocked to recognize the baritone who's slated to sing at the event as an old acquaintance - one she'd hoped she'd never meet again.  And then, when a dead body is discovered, the stirring spoon of suspicion points at the many people who has reasons to want the victim dead.

When Iphy's old acquaintance draws the attention of Deputy Ace Falk, Callie finds herself in a spot.  Ace, as usual, doesn't want Callie involved, but how can she ignore Iphy's anguish over the fate of a man she cares for more than she will admit?  Bringing the killer to justice may endanger Callie's budding relationship with Ace - and, quite possibly, her own life.

Callie and the Book Tea crew may think they have this case in the bag, but un-kettling truths are yet to be decanted.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Callie Aspen is looking forward to the Valentine's Day event that is being held at Haywood Hall, an historical mansion in Heart's Harbor, Maine.  Everything is going well and she's excited about the way it's turned out.  However, it seems that the town's librarian, Miss Forrester, has persuaded a television antiques appraiser to appraise books at the event, and he seems pretentious to her.

Then, the baritone who was scheduled to appear has been replaced by another man - Sean Strong - and her Aunt Iphy seems shaken by this fact, but won't tell her why.  Everything else seems to be going along swimmingly, until the librarian's assistant comes to her and asks her to call the police, stating as how the appraiser is dead.  What Callie doesn't know is that Mr. Strong and her aunt have a history, Deputy Falk's sister is having issues of her own, and now it's all beginning to cause problems for Callie herself.  Will she be able to find the truth or will her questions put herself or someone else in danger from a killer?...

I was looking forward to reading this third book in the series, but I'm left wondering exactly what was going through the author's mind when she wrote it.  The reason I state that is the fact that this book is nothing like the first two in the series, and it seems as if an attempt is being made to create an entirely new series after only two others have been written.  Why, you ask?

However, I have hidden the entire thing in a spoiler due to the fact that not only has this book not as yet been published, but there are people who probably have not read the first two in the series and so will have not noticed the changes.  I have, and I did.  Please be aware that this spoiler not only contains major plot points, but major points regarding the ending (although not of the murderer or the reason why the victim was killed.  So please do not read unless you don't mind the ending exposed.

First, there are the little things (which really don't need to be in a spoiler, but I added them anyway: For the people who had their books appraised - in this day and age it's so easy to get to a computer (and I'm sure local libraries have them even if you don't), why didn't any of these people check beforehand to get an idea of what their books were worth? Even if they didn't exactly know for sure, they would have gotten a rough estimate. Sorry, but they deserve to be cheated. NEVER would I sell a book without checking its worth online. Plus, anyone who worries about what other people will think really are morons.

The police hear from several people that they were cheated out of their books and they just shrug their shoulders and say, 'Oh, well, not our problem?' They don't look into it to see if they're telling the truth or what kind of history this guy might have had? I'm sorry, but if there was a con man out there with the history this guy had, the FBI would have been all over it. Is the author attempting to make police officers look inept? Chances are the police would have already been following everything he'd been doing and would welcome these people to give their stories so they could catch him.

Ace is a complete ass in this book, but maybe he was meant to be so we'd be glad to get rid of him. In the first two books, he was nice, and was obviously attracted to Callie and it didn't make him crazy that she was doing her own 'side investigating' because well, that's the way she's wired and who wants to change someone, anyway? Why would Ace believe the worst of Callie without listening to her side of the story regarding Peggy instead of jumping to conclusions? Why didn't Peggy tell him the truth instead of allowing him to treat Callie that way? Well, thanks a lot. You invest two books in teasing us about the relationship between Callie and Ace, but then Ace, who's supposedly an intelligent police officer, now all of a sudden decides he "can't handle" the fact that his girlfriend reluctantly involves herself in the investigations? What kind of wimp is he? Has he no emotional intelligence at all? He also doesn't know if he can handle everything thrown at him because the sheriff has been ill? Seriously? He needs to retire from the force right now...and Callie needs to find herself a real man. Ace needs to disappear altogether (which the author seems to want him to do, anyway) and bring in a man who can handle whatever the world throws at him and doesn't resent a woman for being who she is. Who wants a police officer boyfriend who has a meltdown if he has an 'emotional crisis?' He may as well put on a dress right now.

Then, what the hell is up with Peggy? She practically chased Quinn in the last book, almost begging Callie to talk to Ace and keep Quinn from leaving town and didn't want him to go. Now she's trying to convince us that she only wants 'friendship?' What. A. Crock. She suddenly decides she doesn't want to get involved after she's already sort of involved with him and introduced her kids to him - and even left her kids with him while she ran off somewhere? What kind of mother is she, anyway? Allows her kids to get close and then decides to change her mind? Then she decides to get a job out of town to get away from the man she wanted to be around in the last book? We're supposed to buy this stuff?

To top it off, what's wrong with Iphy? She spends her life building her business and just walks away without a care in the world to run off with an old boyfriend for three months. She doesn't even ask Callie if she wants to stay and run the tearoom. How is Callie supposed to order supplies and pay bills? And since Iphy was the one who was doing the cooking and baking all of the pastries, what is Callie going to serve? One can only assume that the tearoom will close shortly and Iphy will have lost everything, since there is no alternate baker in place, Callie more than likely isn't on Iphy's bank account or supplier list, etc. Little things like this add up.

I didn't like the ending at all. Why? Well, here's a recap: Iphy runs off and her business more than likely will shut down due to just leaving and not having a contingency plan in place. Peggy runs off and leaves after letting everyone know that she wanted Quinn in her life. Ace runs off and leaves when he decides (after two books) that he can't handle his job and can't handle the fact that Callie is who she is. Why didn't the author just put Callie back on the road again as a tour guide if she was going to eliminate the other major characters in the series? What's next? Callie and Quinn fall in love and decide they were meant for each other all along? Because they're really the only two people left in the book that matter at all. You can't write two books establishing characters and relationships and then just get rid of everyone except Callie in the third book and expect people to be pleased (I seriously have no idea how it got any five star ratings unless those people didn't read the first two books.)

Needless to say, this book completely disappointed me. The ending was bizarre for the reasons I've named above. If this is the way the series is going to go, then I won't be reading any more of these.

Having enjoyed the first two in the series, I really wanted to like this book.  However, with the way it was, this was not possible.  Sorry.

https://www.amazon.com/Cold-Chamomile-Tea-Read-Mystery/dp/1643852884/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3005725014

More on Joy Avon's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/joy-avon/

Murder with Lemon Tea Cakes (A Daisy's Tea Garden Mystery #1)

Author:  Karen Rose Smith
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781617739606
Kensington Publishing
296 Pages
$7.59; $1.99 Amazon
December 26, 2017

⭐⭐

Daisy, a widowed mom of two teenagers, is used to feeling protective - so when Iris started dating the wealthy and not-quite-divorced Harvey Fitz, she worried...especially after his bitter ex stormed in and caused a scene at the party Daisy's Tea Garden was catering.  Then there was the gossip she overhead about Harvey's grown children being cut out of his will.  Daisy didn't want her aunt to wind up with a broken heart - but she never expected Iris to wind up a suspect in Harvey's murder.

Now the apple bread and orange pekoe is on the back burner while the cops treat the shop like a crime scene - and Daisy hopes that Jonas Groft, a former detective from Philadelphia, can help her clear her aunt's name and bag the real killer before things boil over...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

After her husband's untimely death, Daisy moved with her two daughters from Florida back to Pennsylvania to open a tea shop with her aunt Iris.  With her oldest daughter Violet at college she knows something is bothering her youngest daughter Jazzi but isn't sure what it is.  But that has to be on the back burner because she's more worried about Iris, who seems totally in love with a married - but separated - man who owns a mens' clothing store.

She's also hosting his twenty-fifth store anniversary at her shop while going through his divorce.  It's not pleasant when his almost ex-wife shows up demanding more from the divorce than he's already given her.  When she's escorted out, everything seems to go back to normal.  But then Harvey is found dead, and Iris is the main suspect.  Now Daisy's determined to prove her aunt innocent, but that means finding a killer - who doesn't want to be found...

Since I've read Ms. Smith's other series and it was fine as far as easy reads go (until the final book, which I felt was too full of unicorns and rainbows) I thought I would give this one a try.  Now I wish I'd read something else.  The book was all over the place.

First, we're given descriptions of everything people are eating, and honestly, we really don't care.  We don't care about the menu the tea room is serving every day.  I'm just surprised they don't serve a traditional tea room menu, which certainly doesn't consist of soup or salad.  It's things like scones, finger sandwiches. tarts, cakes, etc. - but not soup or salad.  In fact, I don't know anyone who has soup and salad with hot tea.  It seems very odd to me.  Oh, well, to each his own.

Then, the story line seems not to be centered on the murder, but on Daisy's relationship with her daughters.  She misses her older daughter and now, for some odd reason, her fifteen-year-old has decided to look for her birth mother.  The reasoning didn't make sense to me, and it really took away a lot of time from the murder investigation.

I basically skimmed through the book because the plot line wasn't that interesting.  The conversations were rudimentary and it was almost as if the author didn't want the characters to feel any real emotion.  It felt as if everyone were just walking through their scenes. 

Just like the previous series, this one is more family-based than mystery.  What I mean by that is they're written more about the family life of the characters and the mystery seems almost as an afterthought - just something to pass the time while we decide what the family unit is going to do next.  This one is no different.  If you want a story about a widow with two daughters and her coping with life without her husband, this is for you.  If you're looking for a murder mystery you can sink your teeth into, you might want to pass.

https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Lemon-Daisys-Garden-Mystery/dp/161773960X/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2168656628

More on Karen Rose Smith's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/s/karen-rose-smith/