A Biscuit, A Casket

Author:  Liz Mugavero
Genre:  Mystery

Five Stars

 

The small town of Frog Ledge, Connecticut, has wholeheartedly embraced Kristan "Stan" Connor's new business - preparing quality organic treats for dogs and cats. On a healthy diet, the animals may live longer...but one local farmer won't be so lucky. As Halloween approaches, Stan is asked to cater a doggie costume party hosted by the Happy Cow Dairy Farm. Part of a local co-op, Happy Cow specializes in organic dairy products, and farmers Hal and Emmalee Hoffman have started opening up the farm for parties, offering a "haunted" corn maze as an added attraction. When Hal's lifeless body is found in the maze, the police at first suspect his wife, but Stan soon learns the dairy farmer had plenty of enemies - from bitter family members to shady business associates. If Stan can't extract a kernel of truth from the labyrinth of lies, she may be the next one to buy the farm...(from the back cover)

 

********

 

I really didn't know what to expect, but I must say, this book was a delight to read.  The characters are not one-sided; you get to know them, and even though this is the second book in the series, the author explains enough (but not too much) about them that you understand who they are, and better yet, what they are feeling.  You don't go through the book trying to figure out why they would think the way they do.  I was caught up in the mystery almost immediately (and that is when it occurs, so there is no spoiler or surprise).  It is while we are immersed in the story that you begin to find out the type of person Hal was; and even so the people of the town.  You are left to solve the mystery along with Kristan (Stan), not in front of her or behind her, and that is a good thing.

 

The book takes place at Halloween (note, people!  This is a great book to re-read when it rolls around), and, as the blurb states, the Hoffmans have opened a corn maze as a way to bring in extra money for the farm.  The maze is closed as quickly as it is opened, and everyone in the co-op is more than willing to help, but that leads to more suspects.  Stan has determined to stay out of the investigation, but when she is begged to help by a friend of the family, she just can't say no.  Add to that you have a police officer, Jessie Pasquale, who really doesn't like her; the officer's brother, Jake, whom Stan really likes but doesn't want to say anything, also wants her to stay away, and Breanna, the youngest sibling and Stan's friend who asked her to investigate, and you have a tangled situation indeed. 

 

I would suggest you don't cheat and look at the end of the book to find the murderer (and I know some people do), because you will find, and you can trust me on this, that the journey to the end is well worth the wait.  Highly recommended, and I would also read the first in the series, Kneading to Die. 

 

I received a copy of this from the publisher but it in no way affected my review.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Biscuit-Casket-Pawsitively-Organic-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00FH1IE00

 



Sticky Situations

How would you handle a situation that can only be referred to as 'sticky?'  By that I mean, someone who wants to do a good turn for someone else, but it winds up leaving you in the muck.  Here's what I'm talking about:

Often I receive requests to read books by others, and generally, they're really pretty good.  But now and again, you're going to see a self-published author that JUST CAN'T WRITE.  I regularly haunt the bookstores (as I'm sure many of you do), and I have a friend who works at one of them.  Recently a local author came into her shop and wanted to know if she could sell copies of his book, which he had priced at $5 each.  It sounds like a reasonable price, in the beginning.  The books weren't really books, but only novellas; stopping at around 80 or 90 pages each. 

Here's where the problem begins: she told him I have a blog, and she'd ask if I would read the books and review them for him.  Since I've done this many times before, it didn't seem like a problem.  So I took them both home, and the same night I called and let him know I had them and would get to them in a couple of weeks because I had other books I had to finish first.  A couple of days later he called and asked if I had a chance to read any of them, and I told him no, I hadn't been able to get to them yet.

And then I read them.  And wished I hadn't.  One was a police procedural that had way too many errors, beginning on the first few pages.  Example:  A body is found fully clothed, but the attending detective tells everyone to "round up all the sex offenders."  Why?  If the body was fully clothed, and you hadn't even brought it to the morgue to check for sexual activity, why would you haul in all the sexual offenders?...and it went downhill after that...with error after error after error, and just plain bad writing.

So now I'm in the position of having to notify this person and tell him he needs to rewrite most of the book because it's just plain awful; and having to ask my friend if she read the book before she passed it on to me (guaranteed she didn't).  Don't get me wrong; if I read a book and it's terrible, I have no problem putting that on my blog.  You can't change bad writing, bad plot, or bad ideas no matter how hard you try.  I just hate the idea of dashing someone's aspirations, especially since it was self-published and he paid to publish it.  I'm going to put it as nicely as I can, and hope for the best, but I don't know how nicely you can say, 'you can't write.'

I'd be interested to hear how others have handled this situation, if you've ever had it happen.  If not, I'd still like to hear from you.

A Deadly Cliche

Author:  Ellery Adams
Genre:  Mystery

Four Stars

 

While walking her poodle, Olivia Limoges discovers a dead body buried in the sand.  Could it be connected to the bizarre burglaries plaguing Oyster Bay, North Carolina?  The Bayside Book Writers prick up their ears and pick up their pens to get the story...

 

The thieves have a distinct MO.  At every crime scene, they set up odd tableaus: a stick of butter with a knife through it, dolls with silver spoons in their mouths, a deck of cards with a missing queen.  Olivia realizes each setup equals a cliche.

 

Who better to decode the cliche clues than the Bayside Book Writers group, especially since their newest member is Police Chief Rawlings?  As the investigation proceeds, Olivia is surprised to find herself falling for the widowed policeman.  But an even greater surprise is in store.  Her father-lost at sea thirty years ago-may still be alive...

 

********

 

At first, I was a little leery about reading this book, considering I read the first and didn't like Olivia nor her actions.  I'm not going to say that everything has changed - I still don't like the way she parks wherever she wants, such as loading zones and in front of fire hydrants - but she seems to have become softer in this book, and actually shows that she truly cares for her fellow book club members.

 

When her friend Laurel is considering a job with a local newpaper, Olivia reluctantly agrees to help her by pretending to be her photographer.  They are investigating the home invasions that have taken place recently.  The people who were robbed are all known to one another, albeit tenuously in some instances, but there is definitely a link; and even though Laurel and Olivia are told to be careful, they still try to find that link. 

 

In the midst of this, there are a few subplots weaving through:  her co-members' personal problems and lives, (which are interesting, by the way), and Olivia's own life.  She has become involved with Flynn McNulty, the owner of the local bookstore, and although he wants to take the relationship to a deeper level, Olivia still finds herself buried in the past and isn't able to bring herself to forge any kind of a deeper relationship with him.  Eventually, we see the reasons why, but we are taken along on a decent journey to that destination.  It also eventually brings her to a different realization, but one in which you will have to read the book to find out.

 

I like the fact that Olivia was able to grow as a person; she is able to - reluctantly - begin to trust her newfound friends and is beginning see that living the solitary life isn't as satisfying for her as it once was.  In the end, I'm glad I capitulated and decided  to continue reading this series.  Maybe Olivia will turn into a real human after all.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Cliche-Books-Bay-Mystery-ebook/dp/B004H0M8JU/

The Witness Wore Red

Author: Rebecca Musser/Bridget Cook
Genre:  Non-Fiction

Five Stars

 

Rebecca Musser grew up in fear, living downstairs from her father's "real" family, and concealing her family's polygamous lifestyle from the "dangerous" outside world.  Covered head-to-toe in modest clothing, she attended Alta Academy, a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints school headed by principal Warren Jeffs.

 

In her teens, she became the nineteenth wife of her people's Prophet: eighty-five-year-old Rulon Jeffs, Warren's father, and watched as forty-eight additional wives were added to her marriage.  After she was widowed, Warren Jeffs threatened her with remarriage, so she pulled off a daring escape and sought to built a new life and family on her own terms.

 

But by 2007, though far from the church, she was no longer able to stand for the abuse and underage marriages still being perpetuated within it - ones that she believed put her own sisters at risk.  So Rebecca took the witness stand against Warren Jeffs, the new, self-proclaimed Prophet of the FLDS.

 

********

 

I read this book because living where I do (Nevada), we are very close to the polygamists and I was interested more in how Warren Jeffs was prosecuted.  I have seen the polygamists firsthand many times, and my sister lives in San Angelo, Texas, where the trials took place, so between us there is a slight knowledge of what goes on.

 

However, it is only slight; and this woman, Rebecca Musser, is one of the most courageous women I have ever heard of.  She could have done what others have; just left the 'cult' and gone on building a new life, but she chose to come forward and expose the abuse.  Abuse that she herself felt at a very young age; when her father's first wife would beat her and her siblings every time her mother and father were away.

 

It saddened me to hear how every one of her brothers were driven from their home and left on the side of the road to fend for themselves; we have many of these "lost boys" here in Las Vegas where they have luckily managed to find help and a new life.  Her sisters, being more valuable to the FLDS, were traded for favors, as one might trade a book for another.  While Rulon was alive, girls were married from the ages of eighteen on.  Rebecca herself was 'married' off to this old man, and while she achieved a semblance of status in the FLDS, she also had to spend nights with him - and I don't believe I need to go into detail.  Her entire life, she was taught 'boys are like snakes,' and to have nothing to do with them.  She knew absolutely nothing about sex when she married, and was horrified at some of things required; she began to find ways to avoid spending "her night" with Rulon.  After six years with him, once he died, she never wanted to marry again.

 

However, Warren had other ideas.  For years, while his father was ill, he was taking over the FLDS and instituting new 'laws.'  There would be no more television, no radio, no playing outdoors, no toys, etc.; only work and school lessons.  As horrific as it sounds, nothing compared to the fact that he decided eighteen was too old to be married.  He began giving young girls, as young as twelve, to older men, some nearly eighty.  He married a twelve-year-old himself.  

 

Rebecca's sister, Elissa Wall, (who wrote her own book, Stolen Innocence, also recommended), brought suit against Warren Jeffs because of a forced marriage, and Rebecca volunteered to help the Texas Rangers bring Warren down.  She worked with them for months on end, putting her own life, and that of her family's on hold so that Warren could not ruin the life of another young girl.

 

What is in this book sickens and saddens me.  These people blindly follow 'the prophet,' and cover pedophilia under religion.  I ask anyone if they would allow their pre-teen daughter to be 'married celestially' to someone as old as their own grandfather?  If you are in your right mind, I think not.  Her own mother saw nothing wrong, being raised in it herself. 

 

The title refers to the fact that Warren Jeffs refused to allow the color red because 'it was the color of the devil.'  To show her own independence and freedom from him and the FLDS, she wore it to court every day.  Kudos to Ms. Musser.

 

This is a powerful book, strongly written; and a compelling read.  For anyone who has any knowledge of Warren Jeffs and the FLDS, highly recommended.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Witness-Wore-Red-Brought-Polygamous-ebook/dp/B00BAXFZQK/

 

 

Iced to Death

Author:  Peg Cochran
Genre:  Mystery

Four Stars

Gigi Fitzgerald, owner of Gigi's Gourmet De-Lite, knows how to put her clients' cravings on ice.  But catching a slippery killer is more of a challenge...

Gigi's business may be hot, but her homelife is leaving her cold.  Her sister, Pia, has dropped in for an unannounced visit and, much to Gigi's chagrin, has immediately fallen for handsome bar owner Declan McQuaid.  So when Declan asks Gigi to help him prep for a big engagement party, she's not only dealing with the heat of the kitchen and her own feelings for Declan, but Pia's jealousy.

However, Gigi's rising temperature quickly chills when the host of the party is found stabbed to death with an ice pick in the back of the pub.  Now, as Gigi's beau, Detective Mertz, hones in on Declan as a possible murderer, Gigi will have to shave down the growing list of suspects quickly, before Pia's newfound love interest finds himself locked in the cooler...(from the back cover).

********

 



There were problems with the beginning of the book which irked me a little: Gigi has a diet meal company that she runs from home, which is fine.  She delivers her meals to clients three times day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner.)  I began to wonder: Why?  Why didn't she just make all the meals for the day the night before and deliver them all at once?  They had to be reheated anyway, so why make the trip three times a day?  It's an awful lot of extra work and driving, especially in winter.  It seemed she wasn't managing her time efficiently, and with all of the sleuthing she was doing, it must have taken only minutes in the kitchen for all of the meals, packaging, etc., and I began to think everyone lived a block away from each other.  She even added extra clients to her schedule, and had time along the way to stop and visit with all her friends in between the deliveries.  Wonder Woman does exist.  The other problem I have is bad grammar. The author kept repeating how people "felt badly" for others, when she should have said they "felt bad."  To feel 'badly' means that you are probably groping around in the dark.  This wasn't a one-time thing, it was used several times (and used correctly once). 

Aside from that, the book was a nice enough, if quick, read.   After leaving Declan's restaurant, Gigi nearly falls over a dead body in the dark parking lot.  Since the murder weapon belonged to Declan, he would naturally be the first suspected.  So when Gigi's sister Pia, who is infatuated with Declan, insist she help find the real murderer, Gigi reluctantly agrees even though she knows it won't please her police detective boyfriend, Bill Mertz.  It doesn't help that she told Mertz she wasn't able to go to the engagement party with him because she would be working with Declan, whom Mertz is jealous of, because he believes Gigi has feelings for Declan.  Not having read any previous books in the series, the only thing I can tell you is that she "blushes every time" she sees him and thinks he has a "hot body," but none of her actions in this book would indicate she has any true feelings for him; in fact, there isn't a lot of interaction between Gigi and Declan.

Gigi knows she should stay out of the investigation, but wants to help her sister, and doesn't believe that Declan is guilty.  Pretty soon, though, she has a whole roster of suspects to sift through, and all of them had a reason to want the man dead.  Just when she thinks she's found the killer and has the murder solved someone else dies, which throws her theory into the trashcan and she has to start all over again, looking for more clues and going over the ones she already has.

Fortunately, this book picked up after the first half.  There were enough red herrings to keep me interested, and although I can't say I was truly surprised when the murderer was discovered, it was a nice enough journey along the way, and one I think others will enjoy.

http://www.amazon.com/Iced-Death-Gourmet--Lite-Mystery-ebook/dp/B00EOAS0E0

A Skeleton In the Family

Author:  Leigh Perry
Genre:  Mystery

Paperback; Ebook; Audible
ISBN: 9780425255841
Berkley Publishing
304 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
September 3, 2013

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Georgia Thackery and her daughter, Madison, move back home when she gets a job at McQuaid college as an adjunct professor.  Her parents are both full professors there, and have decided to go on a sabbatical for several months, leaving Georgia and Madison the full use of their home while they are away.  Unfortunately, they have a permanent roommate, Sid.  Sid is a skeleton.  A real skeleton.  He walks, talks, and has lived in the attic of the Thackery home since Georgia and her sister, Deborah, were children.

 One day he convinces Georgia to let him leave the house with her and Madison to go to an Anime convention dressed as one of the characters.  It is there that he sees a woman from his past, and soon decides that he wants to find out how he died-and when-and asks Georgia's help.  But pretty soon things begin to happen that convince Georgia that Sid didn't die in the usual way-he was murdered-and the murderer may be looking for Sid just the same as Sid is looking to find out who killed him.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

I picked up this book because of its title, which was an unusual premise: you read about ghosts and such, but how often do you read about skeletons?  Exactly.  So the book had me hooked right from the title.  Which is a good thing in my view.  I was hoping that everything else about it would be just as good, and I am glad to say that I was not disappointed.

Sid is a skeleton who lives in Georgia Thackery's parents' home.  He has lived there some thirty odd years, ever since he saved the life of Georgia when she was only six.  He has become Georgia's best friend, and she can't imagine being without him.  Her sister Deborah, however, has ceased talking to him altogether, convincing herself that he doesn't exist (even though she can see and hear him).  And Sid, for his part, refuses to allow Georgia to tell her own daughter Madison of his existence, so Georgia can only spend time with him when Madison is either out of the house or asleep, which turns out to be tricky.

Finding out that Madison is very into anime, Sid convinces Georgia - reluctantly - to allow him to come along to the convention dressed as one of the anime characters; and it is while there that he sees a woman who triggers memories of when he was alive.  Since Georgia has just met a reporter who is working part-time at the college, she asks to see the photos he took at the convention, and manages to track the woman down.

Unfortunately, I can't reveal any more of the book, because to do so would be nothing more than spoilers for what happens after this.  Believe me, though, when I tell you that every event after this initial discovery ties into what happened to Sid.  It begins with the woman - and I can tell you that she is a professor herself - and spirals into a series of events that pull Sid and Georgia deeper into the mystery surrounding his death.  It is a well-woven tale that surprised even me, given the subject.  Sid is humorous, and his interactions with Georgia are such that it is entirely believable that these two could have been friends for years.

The only thing that bothered me was the fact that I felt Georgia showed little emotion for anyone outside of Sid or Madison.  There was a love interest of sorts, but I never felt that there was any real connection between the two of them, although that may have been deliberate on the author's part.  At any rate, I think we'll be seeing more of Ms. Perry, and I am grateful for that.

http://www.amazon.com/Skeleton-Family-Mystery/dp/0425255840

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3386455578

More on Leigh Perry's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/leigh-perry/

Lending a Paw

Author:  Laurie Cass
Genre:  Mystery

Four Stars

 

Minnie Hamilton is a librarian in Chilson, Michigan.  She has convinced the library to purchase a bookmobile - with the help of an extremely large donation from a resident, Stan Larabee - and, of course, as the library's assistant director, she is the one who will be driving the bookmobile from location to location.

 

She also has a 'assistant' in her voyages; a cat named Eddie that followed her home one day and insists on going everywhere she does, especially when she doesn't want him to.  When he sneaked aboard the bookmobile one day, she decided to make the best of the situation and determined it would be his last trip with her.  But not only did the town's residents take to the little guy, he darted out the door when they were at a stop, and when Minnie chased after him, he led her right to the dead body of a local. 

 

At first she is going to let the police handle the investigation, but Eddie seems determined to keep her on the case, and when an employee at the library, Holly, believes she is the main suspect, she asks Minnie to help her find the real killer. 

 

********

 

I wanted to read this book because it had two things going for it that I really love - books and cats.  So for me, it had already started out well and I was hoping not to be disappointed.  I was happy to find that for the most part, I wasn't.  Eddie was quite a character, and being a cat owner myself, I can relate to some of his antics.  I enjoyed the fact that throughout the book Minnie began to grow closer to him, which, as all pet owners know, you can't help but do.

 

We have a basic description of Minnie - dark hair and eyes, short - but that's about it.  We also know that she moved to Chilson three years ago at the age of 33 when she received her degree in Library Science.  So she's 36, and one would think she had a previous life before moving, but we never learn much about it.  Only that in the summer she lives on a houseboat, and in the winter she lives with her Aunt Frances, who owns a boarding house (which is another story in itself).

It did seem odd to me that when she was out on a date everyone in town (at least everyone we learned about in the book) seemed to be out and about also and stopped to say 'hi' to her.  It was sort of funny, but also rather unbelievable.  The other thing was that even though I love cats, everyone in this town wants to be with Eddie.  I started to get the feeling that there were no other cats anywhere around this area. 

There were times I felt that the book should have been titled 'Eddie the Psychic Cat,' because he seemed to know everything that was going on, and I felt that unless the dead man were his owner, he probably wouldn't have run as far as he did to find the body (although I will concede it is possible) and gave Minnie so many clues that he practically solved the murder by himself.  Aside from that, the mystery was very good.  I'm pretty good at figuring out mysteries, but the murderer wasn't expected.  The thing is, even though a lot of people didn't like the man, I didn't feel that any of them had reason enough to kill him.  So I really didn't know why or who the murderer was, which is a good thing, because it keeps you interested along the way.  In the end, I would have liked to have seen more resolution with her Aunt Frances and her guests, but perhaps Ms. Cass is saving that for the next book.  

http://www.amazon.com/Lending-Paw-Bookmobile-Mystery-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00C5QUM0U