Body on Baker Street (A Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery)

Author:  Vicki Delaney
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Audio CD; Digital Book; Audiobook
ISBN #:  9781683312994; 9781683314615; 9781520080246
Crooked Lane Books
320 Pages
$17.70; $15.99; #26.42; $9.99 Amazon
September 12, 2017; January 9, 2018 (Paperback)

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Gemma Doyle and Jayne Wilson are busy managing the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium on Baker Street and adjoining Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room in anticipation of the store's upcoming book signing with the illustrious Renalta Van Markoff, author of the controversial Hudson and Holmes mystery series.  But during the author Q&A session, dedicated Sherlockian Donald Morris verbally attacks Renalta and her series for disgracing Sherlock's legacy, only to be publicly humiliated when the author triumphantly lashes back and gains the upper hand.  That is until Renalta collapses on the table - dead.

Donald insists he didn't do it and pleads to his friends to clear his name.  Fortunately, Gemma and Jayne have no shortage of suspects between the author's bullied personal assistant, her frustrated publicist, the hapless publisher, a handsome rare book dealer, an obsessively rabid fan, and world of other Sherlock enthusiasts with strong objections to Renalta's depiction of the Great Detective.  It's up to the shrewd sleuthing duo to eliminate the impossible and deduce the truth before the West London police arrest an innocent man.

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Gemma Doyle, along with her Uncle Arthur (I know, right?  Arthur Doyle?) are co-owners of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, and Gemma is co-owner along with Jayne Wilson of the adjoining Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room.  When Gemma receives a telephone call telling her that a famous author wants to do a short speech and signing of her books - in two days - Gemma is floored, but since the books are quite popular, she agrees, and scrambles to get everything prepared.

What she doesn't count on is the sheer number of fans who show up.  While not fond of the series herself, it appears many others are, and the over-the-top flamboyant author arrives as planned.  But during the Q&A session, after drinking from bottled water, she collapses and dies soon after.  When Gemma's friend Donald - who was heckling the woman - is practically accused of the crime, he begs her to find the person responsible before he's jailed.  Gemma reluctantly agrees, because even though she doesn't know who killed Renalta, she knows Donald didn't.   Gemma will need all of her sleuthing skills if she is to find a killer who is both clever and cold before Donald is unfairly convicted...

I loved the premise of the book, and I love Sherlock Holmes.  I own Doyle's complete book collection, and all of the DVDs by the many actors who have portrayed him.  To wit, I am a huge Sherlock fan, although not as rabid about it as Donald.

That being said, I knew it could only add to my enjoyment of this book, and enjoy it I did.  The book was written well and the plot moved along nicely.  There were plenty of suspects, plenty of red herrings, and plenty of action. 

The main problem is that Gemma, while good at  observation (she picks up on nuances, body language and things not said to come to a logical conclusion) also does things a normal person wouldn't do: breaking into a police station?  Really?  She also comes off as somewhat obnoxious and a know-it-all; she seems to actually enjoy one-upping the local police force.  She's a little hard to like as a person, and one should know if you want to be friends, you don't mock the police officers.

I'm also not convinced Ryan is the man for her.  Yes, she ruined his proposal; but he should know how her mind works and accept that, which he didn't.  A man who truly loved her would have just shaken his head and laughed, expecting it.  He wouldn't run away and leave her heartbroken.  If he can't accept her for who she is, he doesn't love her and perhaps she should move on with her life.

But the big thing was Moriarty the cat.  He apparently likes everyone except Gemma.  As a cat owner, I've found that cats don't like bad people, or people who have hurt them in the past.  The only other explanation is her scent.  (Gemma might want to change her shampoo or body wash).  A cat that likes everyone except you is telling you something important - and everyone around you.  (Perhaps he just doesn't like her superior attitude).

At any rate, luckily the mystery was done beautifully; it took me awhile to figure out who the murderer was (and I'm usually very good at that).  The motive was believable, and Gemma's putting everything together was done nicely.  This is what makes the book a good way to spend a quiet evening.  I look forward to the next in the series.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Body-Baker-Street-Sherlock-Mysteries/dp/1683312996/

Goodreads:

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

Lowcountry Bonfire (A Liz Talbot Mystery Book 6)

Author:  Susan M. Boyer
Genre:  Mystery, Suspense

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Audio CD; Digital Book; Audiobook
ISBN #:  9781635112306; 9781635112276; 9781515951940
Henery Press
244 Pages
$31.95; $15.79; $18.69; $6.99 Amazon
June 27, 2016

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Private investigators Liz Talbot and Nate Andrews have worked their share of domestic cases.  So when Tammy Sue Lyerly hires them to find out what her husband is hiding, they expect to find something looney but harmless.  After all, this is the guy who claims to have been a DEA agent, a champion bull rider, and a NASCAR driver.  But when he turns up dead the morning after Liz and Nate deliver incriminating photos, Tammy Sue becomes the prime suspect.  Questioning the truth of Zeke Lyerly's tall-tales, Liz and Nate race to uncover small town scandals, long buried secrets, and the victim's tumultuous past to keep Tammy Sue out of jail and the case from going up in flames.

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PIs extraordinaire Liz Talbot and Nate Andrews have been hired by Tammy Sue Lyerly to find out if her husband Zeke is having an affair, even they're surprised when they tell Tammy Sue that Zeke has indeed been doing the horizontal mambo with a local bimbo.  Not so much surprised by that, but the fact that Tammy Sue is standing outside in her yard - across the street from Liz' parents home - setting fire to Zeke's prized Mustang and screaming wildly.  Also in attendance is Liz' brother Blake, the island of Stella Maris police chief, the volunteer fire department, and what seems like half the town itself.

But what no one expects is when Blake orders Pete Carter to open the trunk in order to prevent an explosion - and finds the body of Tammy Sue's wayward husband.  How he got there and why is a mystery, and with Tammy Sue seeing him and fainting dead away, the mystery only deepens.  Liz and Nate are now employed by the town to investigate, and with Tammy Sue as the only suspect, Liz knows better.  While the woman may have torched her husband's car, she knows there's no way she would have murdered the man she loved.

When Liz and Nate start digging deeper, they come up with not only more suspects, but start finding out that Zeke, a notorious teller of tall tales, may actually have been telling the truth.  But is that what got him killed?  Or was it something closer to home and someone he trusted who decided to end his life?  Since it appears the killer is now aiming for them, it will take all their sleuthing skills to find a killer before one of them find their own life extinguished...

This is the sixth book in the Liz Talbot series, and as such, the author does not disappoint.  She dives right into the action from the beginning with Zeke's body discovered almost immediately.  Now this could be a detriment, since we don't get to know the man; and oftentimes when this happens we don't care one way or another about the dead person.  Do we like or hate him?  Is he a jerk who regularly cheats?  Is he a nice guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time?  But have no fear - as the story progresses, so does the life of Zeke.  We learn all about him, his history, his relationship with his wife; and this is the meat of the story.

Yes, we're out to find a killer, the same as Liz; but we also discover things about Zeke that bring him to life after death.  And this, my friends, makes all the difference.  We learn who he was, what he felt and thought; and because of this, there is a sorrow to his death that makes us as determined as Liz to find a murderer.

The mystery is raw, driven, and well thought out; secrets are discovered and even the nicest seeming people become suspects.  In between all of this, we are treated to southern hospitality on Stella Maris; with people who are concerned about manners and the fact that you must eat - a lot - to maintain your strength and sanity; and any breach of etiquette is considered a sin.  It is a delightful addition and with just enough levity to keep the story from being too dark.

And, of course, we have Colleen, the ghost of Liz' best friend whose mission is to protect Stella Maris from interlopers and also to help Liz - when she can.  Though not as prominent in this book as in others, the few scenes she does appear in are memorable. 

When all is said and done, the killer finally caught and truths discovered, we learn that all actions have an equal reaction.  And what might seem like harmless fun may cause more than pain.  Cruelty comes in many forms, and mindless cruelty is the worst of all.  Highly recommended, and I eagerly await the next in the series.

https://www.amazon.com/Lowcountry-Bonfire-Liz-Talbot-Mystery/dp/1635112273/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2135668204

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

The Tell-Tale Tarte (A Five-Ingredient Mystery #4)

Author:  Maya Corrigan
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781432840457; 9781496709172
Kensington Publishing
304 Pages
$26.20; $7.99; $5.99 Amazon
June 27, 2017

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The last thing Val needs in her life is an unsolved murder, especially when the victim, an actor famed for impersonating Edgar Allan Poe, happens to be dressed exactly like her Granddad.  To keep an eye on Granddad, whose latest job takes him to the home of Rick Usher, a local author inspired by Poe, Val gets herself hired as a cook in Rick's House of Usher.  When she discovers the actor wasn't the only one doing an impersonation, separating the innocent from the murderous becomes a real-life horror story.  But Val must decipher a killer's M.O. sooner rather than later...or she can forget about finding poetic justice.

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Val Deniston lives with her grandfather in Bayport, Maryland and runs a cafe in the local fitness club, and does catering on the side.  While helping her friend Bethany search for a wedding dress, they see a man who resembles her grandfather's new look - black coat, beard, tinted glasses - and thinks it might be him.  When the man falls in front of a car, she dashes toward him, relieved her fears were unfounded, but still helping give him CPR.  Unfortunately, no amount of CPR could save the man, still unknown to her and the people nearby.  Later that night she she finds out from her boyfriend Gunnar the man's name - Emmett Flint, an actor in the same troupe as Gunnar.

When Val goes to her latest job, a book club, it's when she's serving dessert that she sees the "noted author" invited is not only not the author, it's her grandfather Don who, for some unknown reason, is impersonating Rick Usher, the author in question.  Rick has made a career of writing in the style of Edgar Allan Poe and has quite a group of followers himself.  But when she questions his assistant Clancy, also attending the dinner, she discovers only that 'Rick' is supposedly hoarse from an ailment and Clancy is answering all questions.

As time progresses it is discovered that Emmett may not have died from natural causes, and Val is worried for her boyfriend Gunnar, who is the main suspect, and also her grandfather, who is now spending time with Rick himself.  So when Val is offered a job catering dinners at Usher's home, she agrees in order to try and find out who killed Emmett and why.  Will there be another murder or will poetic justice prevail?  Val will have to move fast to find the answer...

As a huge Poe fan, I once made a trip to Baltimore just to visit his grave, and own all his books (and wrote an essay on him while in school) so this book was one I was looking forward to reading.  While the plot had interesting points, and I did like the fact we have the murder almost immediately - which is always a nice thing so you aren't subjected to pages and pages of needless detail - it also moved slowly for the first quarter of the book.

Reading further, I was somewhat torn; partly because her grandfather seemed a bit of a con man to me: he used her recipes to get a job writing a food column for the newspaper, and then expects to continue so he can write a cookbook.  This did not endear me to the man, and grandfather or not, she should have set him straight about who gets the credit and where, especially since he's secretive on other things as well.  He seemed more like a "user" than a loving grandfather.  It also seemed like they were nothing more than business partners (and not very equal-sided, either).  As for the relationship between Val and Gunnar, there doesn't seem to be any "oomph" attached.  They just seemed boring when they were talking to each other.

Eventually the suspect list was narrowed down to a select few, and then you have the meat of the story.  Putting it together at the end was interesting, and it all came together nicely at last.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Tell-Tale-Tarte-Five-Ingredient-Mystery/dp/1496709179/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2124053233

More on Maya Corrigan's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/maya-corrigan/

Brewing Up Murder (Coffee Cup Mysteries Book One)

Author:  Neila Young
Genre:  Mystery

Trade Paperback, Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781940215990
Red Adept Publishing
197 Pages
$11.99; $5.99 Amazon
July 19, 2017

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As the owner of Mystery Cup Café in Wilton, Missouri, a town made famous by a string of long-ago murders, Blake Harper is used to the mysterious.  When her barista is found strangled in a mound of coffee beans, Blake vows to find the killer, even though her sister, the town's lead police detective, tells her to stay out of it.

Blake finds plenty of suspects, like the owners of a rival coffee shop and the handsome new bookstore owner.  But when new threats are made, she soon realizes the danger is centered around Mystery Cup and someone is targeting her personally.

Will Blake be able to solve the murder, find a new barista, and perfect her recipe for espresso brownies before she becomes the next victim?

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Blake Harper owns Mystery Cup in Wilton, Missouri and is seriously deciding to replace one of her baristas, a girl named Nikki.  She hired Nikki as a favor to a friend of her mother's, but Nikki doesn't even show up on time or do her job well.  When Nikki does realize she might be fired, she begs Blake for another chance and promises she'll improve.  She even offers to do inventory that night so Blake can relax at home.

Blake gives her the chance, but it doesn't turn out the way she hoped.  Seeing a light in her shop long after Nikki should be gone, she enters and finds the girl dead in a pile of coffee beans.  Shaken, she calls her sister Kyle - a police detective - and so begins the hunt for a killer; and the reason why Mystery Cup was vandalized and Nikki killed.

Not willing to leave the sleuthing to her sister, she decides to do a little investigating on her own.  But then something else occurs to up the ante and Blake realizes that Nikki might not have been the target after all and wonders if she might have been the one the murderer was after in the first place.  But can her investigating discover a killer or will the killer discover that she's trying to find them and put her permanently out of business...

I felt that the mystery itself was done well.  There were plenty of suspects and enough red herrings to keep mystery lovers interested.  The clues seemed to point in several different directions, and that was nice in that it keeps one guessing as to who the true murderer might be.  However, I do feel that the town and its inhabitants could have been fleshed out more.  I felt that if less attention had been paid to conversations about 'hot guys' and trying to find Blake a love interest, then we would have learned more about the town and its inhabitants.  We weren't really given any reason why it would be a big tourist attraction; surely murders that occurred nearly fifty years ago wouldn't bring them by the carloads into town unless they were ghost hunters.

There were also a few ridiculous things, like her brother, who is a doctor, making out with his wife in a coffee shop.  Nope, not gonna happen.  What man in his thirties does that with his wife?  And a doctor no less?  He's not a teenager, but I felt that every female in the book acted like one - and also the brother, if he does things like this.  Hopefully they'll grow up in the next book.

Aside from this, the book was very good and the mystery enjoyable, and I liked the main characters.  When the murderer was discovered it came as a surprise, and makes us realize that desperation can drive people to do things which we never thought possible.  Recommended, and I look forward to the next in the series.

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Brewing-Murder-Coffee-Cup-Mysteries/dp/1940215994/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2109709607

More on Neila Young:  https://www.amazon.com/Neila-Young/e/B073GJJJ57/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1

A Tale of Two Kitties (Magical Cats #9)

Author:  Sofie Kelly
Genre: Mystery

Hardcover; Audio CD; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780399284572; 9781541453654
Berkley Publishing
336 Pages
$14.06; $29.99; $11.99 Amazon
September 5, 2017

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With a well-placed paw on a keyboard or a pointed state, Kathleen's two cats, Hercules and Owen, have helped her to solve cases in the past - so she has learned to trust their instincts.  But she will need to rely on them more than ever when a twenty-year-old scandal leads to murder...

The arrival of the Janes brothers has the little town of Mayville Heights buzzing.  Everyone of a certain age remembers when Victor had an affair with Leo's wife, who then died in a car accident.

Now it seems the brothers are trying to reconcile, until Kathleen finds Leo dead.  The police set their sights on Leo's son and Kathleen's good friend Simon, who doesn't have much of an alibi.  To prove her friend innocent. Kathleen will have to dig deep into the town's history - and into her sardine cracker supply, because Owen and Hercules don't work for free...

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Kathleen Paulson is head librarian at a small town in Minnesota.  She has two cats - Owen and Hercules - with a little magic in them.  Not only can Hercules walk through walls and Owen make himself invisible at will, they understand what their human (and others) is saying, and help her solve crimes.

The grandfather of one of her employees, Mia, has arrived in Mayville Heights for Thanksgiving.  While Mia is excited to see her grandpa, she's not as happy to find out her Grandpa Leo has asked his twin brother Victor to come as well.  The reason she's not happy is apparent to anyone who knew them back when...as in back when Victor ran off with Leo's wife, depriving Leo's son Simon of a mother and eventually Mia of a grandmother she would never know.  But the tale gets sadder when shortly after leaving Leo's wife Meredith died in a car accident.

Now Leo is dead; murdered.  And with suspects aplenty, and the police thinking it had to be Simon, Kathleen takes it upon herself to find out who really killed Leo, and why.  But can she catch a killer before the police convict the wrong man and throw away the key?...

I love mysteries, and I love mysteries that have animals, especially cats.  This one was no different.  Kathleen's two magical kitties are indeed endearing; Hercules is quieter and Owen is feisty, but both do their part to help her any way they can.  While no one else is aware of their abilities, she depends on them for advice, and they never let her down.

The book had a very nice plot, and I enjoyed watching as Kathleen sifted through suspects one by one.  But unfortunately, I kept getting sidetracked by subplots that had absolutely nothing to do with the murder,.  (Marcus and Eddie going to Minneapolis, for one).  It's a quirk of mine, but I really don't care for subplots unless they actually connect to the main plot somehow - for example, if when Marcus returned he mentioned something the person they were going to see had said something - but no, nothing except to give Kathleen more time to investigate without police presence.

Aside from that, there were enough red herrings thrown in and enough suspects thrown around to confuse matters, and that's what a mystery is all about.  In the end, when we learn the identity of the killer and the reasons why, we knew there was no other way it could have ended; and that's what a mystery is all about.  Recommended.

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Tale-Two-Kitties-Magical-Cats/dp/0399584579/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2099628660

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

Bearly Departed (A Teddy Bear Mystery)

Author:  Meg Macy
Genre:  Mystery

Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #"  9781496709639
Kensington Publishing
288 Pages
May 30, 2017

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As manager of the family teddy bear shop and factory, thirty-one-year-old Sasha Silverman leads a charmed life.  Well, except for the part about being a single divorceé with a ticking biological clock in small-town Silver Hollow.  And that's just kid's stuff compared to Will Taylor, the sales rep who's set on making drastic changes to the business her parents built from scratch - with or without Sasha's approval...

But before Will digs his claws in, someone pulls the stuffing out of his plan...and leaves his dead body inside the factory.  Reeling from shock, Sasha's hit with more bad news - police suspect her hot-tempered Uncle Ross may have murdered him.  Sasha knows her uncle would never do such a thing, and she's launching her own little investigation to expose the truth.  As she tracks Will's rivals and enemies for clues, Sasha can't get too comfy - or she'll become the next plaything for a killer...

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Sasha Silverman and her family own a teddy bear shop in Silver Hollow, Michigan.  She and her sister Maddie run the shop, along with her Uncle Ross who heads production; and they also have several employees.  One of these employees is their sales rep Will Taylor, who's a thorn in everyone's side and has just returned from a business trip.

It seems on this particular trip he met their father, and now tells everyone that they're possibly moving production to China which will lower costs - and means that employees will lose their positions.  Sasha is determined that this will never happen, but before she can speak with her father, Will is murdered - found dead in their shop with his mouth full of stuffing.

While at first it seems her uncle is the most likely to have killed Will, when details of his life are made public the suspect list starts growing, and soon there's enough of them to put her uncle all but in the clear.  It also doesn't help when Sasha's cheating ex-husband turns up unexpectedly, and she finds out he's moving back home.  Trouble looms for both the shop and Sasha, and now she has to decide how to tackle both situations without losing either her living or her sanity...

I really wanted to like this book more than I did.  It had a cute premise (a teddy bear shop) and a mystery to boot.  But it just had Too Much Detail.  Too much detail on homes and businesses, and too many characters.  The amount became staggering, and unfortunately, because of that none of the characters had any depth.  I didn't really care for Sasha or her family.  Her mother even came off as rather unlikable, so it wouldn't pain me not to see her in future books.

While I understand this is a first book, and we know they need to be tweaked, I felt without this much detail the book would have been more interesting, and we would have really been able to 'sink our teeth' into the murder.  But without character development, it's hard to know or care about them.

When the murderer was discovered, while it was no big surprise the ending was satisfactory.  Also, the writing is good, and the idea of a teddy bear shop has promise, so I hope to see that the author continues with this series.

https://www.amazon.com/Bearly-Departed-Teddy-Bear-Mystery/dp/1496709632/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2087634693

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

One Fete in the Grave (A Liv and Di in Dixie Mystery)

Author:  Vickie Fee
Genre:  Mystery

Mass Market Paperback, Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781496700667
Kensington Publishing
352 Pages
$7.99; $5.99 Amazon
May 30, 2017

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Party planner Liv McKay has outdone herself this time.  She's put together an unforgettable Fourth of July celebration for the town of Dixie, Tennessee - including breathtaking fireworks and an exciting Miss Dixie Beauty Pageant.  Maybe a little too exciting.

As the party is winding down, Liv's sense of triumph fizzles when the body of councilman Bubba Rowland is discovered on the festival grounds.  And now the prime suspect in his murder is Liv's mother's fiancé, Earl, who had a flare-up recently with Bubba.  To clear Earl's name, Liv and her best friend Di burst into action to smoke out the real killer before another life is extinguished...

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Liv McKay is a party planner in the small town of Dixie, Tennessee.  She's very pleased with the way her Fourth of July celebration has been going - everyone seems to be having a good time, and enjoying the day.  Well, almost everyone - town councilman Bubba Rowland has just been found dead in a porta-potty, shot through the rear of the receptacle, and with so many people attending the event, it seems Sheriff Dave Davidson has his work cut out for him trying to find a killer.

Liv McKay has a habit of finding bodies.  Well, not really, but they sure have a habit of finding her, and this time is no different.  While she didn't technically find the body of Bubba Rowland, she's thick in the middle of it, because the day after his murder, Liv's mother Virginia announces her engagement to Earl Daniels, who's been Bubba's business rival and a thorn in his side for years.  When it's discovered that Bubba was killed with Earl's shotgun, which was in his locked truck, it looks as if the sheriff has the crime locked up as well.  But with Liv's Mama pleading for her help to free Earl, Liv enlists the aid of her best friend Di Souther, and while the Fourth ended with a bigger bang than was what originally intended, their plan to unearth Bubba's real killer could send them both permanently underground if they're not careful...

What a delightful mystery to unravel.  It appears that it's already solved, with no access to the murder weapon by anyone except Earl, and he's so forthcoming about that information that he's practically putting himself in the electric chair.  But Liv believes he's innocent, and isn't about to have her mother's heart broken, so once again she enlists the help of her best friend Di to find out who got his gun and framed him for the crime.

It could have been a number of people who were attending the celebration, but sorting through the suspects isn't going to be easy, since there were so many there.  And to top things off, her mama's now decided she wants Liv to plan her over-the-top wedding, complete with swans and a gondola.  It also doesn't help that her sister Emma is dead-set against the wedding, and her father-in-law is acting strange to everyone.  So will Liv be able to set Earl free or will Emma get her way and the wedding will be called off due to imprisonment?

What a delightful read this turned out to be.  While I have enjoyed the series from the beginning, I believe this one is my favorite.  The characters are rich and lively, their growth apparent as the series progresses.  The interaction between them is realistic, and with just enough brass on Liv's part to be convincing without being exaggerated.

When we find out who the murderer is (because we know it just can't be Earl), it's believable and deftly done; the ending is satisfying and even a hint of the next book is given.  Ms. Fee is a talented writer and in this book she serves up a real slice of southern charm, wit, and humor.  I look forward to the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/One-Fete-Grave-Dixie-Mystery/dp/149670066X/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1965647711

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