Dead Men Don't Crochet (A Crochet Mystery #2)

Author:  Betty Hechtman

Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book

ISBN #:  9780425225004

Berkley Prime Crime

288 Pages

$7.99; $7.99 Amazon

December 2, 2008

⭐⭐⭐

The Tarzana Hookers are a motley crew of women, all of whom are not afraid to speak their minds.  Except Sheila, a timid, anxiety-ridden crocheter in desperate need of money, who sells her beautiful scars at a local consignment store.  When the owner stiffs Sheila, the boisterous ladies rally to her support.  Then the shop owner is found dead.  Molly Pink ignores the warnings from her homicide-detective boyfriend and sets out with her stitchmates to clear Sheila's name.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Molly Pink is a widow who worked for her husband's PR firm.  Now she works at a bookstore as an event coordinator.  She's also a member of the Tarzana Hookers, a group of women who crochet items for charity.  As a novice crocheter, she's also the target of sarcastic remarks from Adele, another bookstore worker who dislikes Molly because she got the job that Adele wanted.  One morning another crocheter named Sheila shows up miserable because she'd been crocheting beautiful scarves and giving them to a shop across the street for consignment.  It turns out that the old owner had passed away, and her nephews took over the shop; one of the brothers refused to give her the set upon price telling her that they weren't selling as well.

Sheila needs the money to make ends meet as she doesn't make enough working at a gym and is staying in a woman's home in return for part-time babysitting.  So the women agree to come with her for moral support while she demands the full amount owed her.  So they all head over to the Cottage Shoppe and wait for an opening.  After talking with Drew, Sheila comes downstairs disheartened that he laughed at her.  But then they hear a woman's scream and all run up to his office and find him dead.  While Sheila is afraid that the police suspect her, and no one seems to be looking in any other direction, Molly knows she can't abandon her friend.  Especially when they tell Sheila that she'll find the killer.  Now, Molly's in the middle of a situation she can't get out of: she needs to find a killer and keep her homicide detective boyfriend from finding out about it.  And, of course, the killer, who might be closer than she thinks...

This is the second book in the series and is a bit of an improvement over the first, but still there were things that bothered me.  I just can never get over the fact that amateur sleuths think it's perfectly fine to go snooping into homes and offices and they never seem to get caught, no matter what they do.  It's rather uncomfortable to read about.  Then, I wondered why Barry showed up when Molly and Dinah were suspected of being robbers.  Isn't he a homicide detective?  Why would he show up?  He wouldn't even have been notified since there was no dead body.

Aside from that, it was a decent book.  There weren't a whole lot of clues to the murderer, which was fine; but the worst thing is Adele.  I really, really dislike her as a person.  She's what I call the 'evil nemesis,' and it's just not needed in a book.  What's worse is the fact that she's trying to take over Molly's job, and Molly's okay with that.  She doesn't even see what Adele's really doing.  Either Molly has no backbone or she's just numb altogether.

Then there's her relationship with Barry.  She's sleeping with him, but wants a casual relationship, knowing that he wants more.  She's allowing him into her life which is giving him hope (he wants to marry her) but she's not figured anything out.  You know, if you find a nice guy and don't snap him up, someone else will eventually.  I got tired of her playing games with Barry and Mason, even though we're given a hint in the end.

All in all, the murder itself wasn't bad, and everything came together nicely in the end, and I really did like the way it all tied together.  So, saying that, I will continue with this series and hope that it improves over time.

https://www.amazon.com/Dead-Men-Dont-Crochet/dp/B0028I7DZ2/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3440892313

More on Betty Hechtman's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/betty-hechtman/

Before Chappaquiddick: The Untold Story of Mary Jo Koepechne and the Kennedy Brothers

Author:  William C. Kashatus
Genre:   Biography

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781640122697
Potomac Books
248 Pages
$29.95; $28.45 Amazon
June 1, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

On July 18, 1969, a car driven by Senator Edward M. Kennedy plunged off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, off the coast of Cape Cod.  Mary Jo Kopechne, a twenty-eight-year-old former staffer for Kennedy's brother Robert, died in the crash.  The scandal that followed demeaned Koepechne's reputation and scapegoated her for Ted Kennedy's inability to run for the presidency instead of acknowedging her as an innocent victim in a tragedy that took her life.

William C. Kashatus's biography of Mary Jo Kopechne illuminates the life of a politically committed young woman who embodied the best ideals of the sixties.  Arriving in Washington in 1963. Kopechne soon joined the staff of Robert F. Kennedy and committed herself to his vision of compassion for the underprivileged, social idealism tempered by political realism, and a more humane nation.  Kashatus details her work as an energetic and trusted staffer who became one of the famed Boiler Room Girls at the heart of RFK's presidential campaign.  Shattered by his assassination, Kopechne took a break from politics before returning as a consultant.  It was at a reunion of the Boiler Room Girls that she accepted a ride from Edward Kennedy -- a decision she would pay for with her life.

The untold -- and long overdue -- story of a promising life cut short, Before Chappaquiddick tells the human side of one of the most memorable scandals of the 1960s.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

I would hazard a guess that anyone who knows who Mary Jo Kopechne is, probably knows that she died one night in July when then-Senator Edward M. Kennedy's car plunged off the side of a bridge.  Since then, there has been speculation and conspiracies as to how and why this happened, when Kennedy himself survived.

People have said that he drowned her because she knew too much about the Kennedys; that she was having an affair with Ted (Edward); etc., but I tend to believe it was merely an accident, and although many will disagree with me, I seriously can't believe that someone as high-profile as the senator was and still is, that he would purposely kill a young woman and then just walk away...

This book begins far earlier than Mary Jo's conception, beginning with her grand-parentage and explaining the type of people that her family was and where they came from:  a set of working class immigrants who came to this country to make it a better place and give themselves a better life.  Her family worked in the mines, which even now is dangerous and hard work, causing all manner of health problems.

But Mary Jo was born to Joe and Gwen Kopechne, their only child.  As such, she was pampered and loved, given every opportunity to make something of her life that was better than her parents'.  After all, isn't that what we as parent are supposed to do?  Want something better for our children and give them the chance to be better, to grow?  Joe and Gwen were no different than other parents, and they supported Mary Jo in whatever she wanted to do.

What she wanted to do -- and succeeded in doing so -- was go into politics and work for Senator John F. Kennedy while he made a run for president.  She worked hard, she worked long hours, and she pushed her way into becoming important for his campaign.  When JFK was elected, Mary Jo couldn't have been happier.  But then, unexpectedly, he was assassinated while driving through Dallas, and she was crushed.  It shattered her world.  

When she recovered, she went to work for his brother Robert, who was once John's attorney general, and worked longer hours and like a whirlwind to help him in his own campaign for the presidency.  But then again, RFK was assassinated, and Mary Jo's life once again crumbled to the ground; she had utter adulation for the Kennedys, and this truly devastated her, while she insisted she would never work for Ted, while other of the Boiler Room girls (Robert's staff) did so.

Now you can say that she was having affairs with these men, but you'd be wrong.  Robert was happily married to Ethel, and while John had a roving eye, it never roved in her direction.  Her zeal was to help the Democratic party and her loyalty was to the Kennedy brothers.  Unfortunately, the third time tragedy struck, it stuck hard and ended everything.

Senator Edward Kennedy never wanted to be president.  He didn't have the charisma of his brother John, and he didn't have the determination of his brother Robert.  He was the youngest Kennedy, and the last of four brothers (Joseph, Jr. was killed in WWII).  He'd lost three brothers and one sister at this point, and some say that he never recovered after Robert's death.  

It was a fateful night on Chappaquiddick when the accident occurred, and Ted made decisions that would change both his life and that of the Kopechne's forever.  Mary Jo's death never went away, and Ted threw himself into his work, playing a major part in getting laws passed that have benefited the American people, which included (but is not limited to) the COBRA health insurance provision; The Americans with Disabilities Act; and the Ryan White AIDS act.  You can say that Mary Jo's death left Ted a better person.

Now I am not praising Ted Kennedy at all; in fact, I've always believed that if he'd gotten help immediately she might have lived.  For myself, when John died so did my alliance to the Kennedys themselves.  And who knows what her life would have been?  Her death shattered her parents; it changed Ted.  Nevertheless, she left behind a legacy.  She was definitely a victim in this, perhaps someone who shouldn't have been there, perhaps willingly.  We will never know the truth.

But this book gives an interesting take on Mary Jo's presence; it delves into her life and brings forth the young girl she was and the young woman she became.  It gives her life meaning, and makes her more than just a victim on a late July night.  It tells the story of how she became the person she was, and gives her loss a heavy sadness.  I read this book hoping to gain insight into Mary Jo, and I was not disappointed in the outcome.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Before-Chappaquiddick-Kopechne-Kennedy-Brothers/dp/1640122699/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3438996673

Motif for Murder (A Scrapbooking Mystery #4)

Author:  Laura Childs
Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Mass Market Paperback
ISBN #:  9780425212042; 9780425217986
Berkley Prime Crime
263 Pages
[Various Prices]; $7.59 Amazon
October 2, 2007

⭐⭐

In the terrible wake of Hurricane Katrina, Carmela wants to get Memory Mine back in business -- and her relationship with her ex-husband, Shamus, back on its feet.  But when Shamus is kidnapped from their home, Carmela hurries to tell his uncle Henry and finds the man murdered in his library.  As a memorial to the late Uncle Henry, Carmela puts together a sentimental scrapbook of memories and keepsakes.  What she doesn't realize is that her altered book holds a clue to finding the killer and the kidnapper.  And the murderer will try to close the book on Carmela once and for all...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Carmela Bertrand recently reconciled with her estranged husband, Shamus Meecham, and is living once again in their large home in the Garden District of New Orleans.  She's lucky in that her scrapbooking shop, Memory Mine, survived Hurricane Katrina when so many other businesses did not.  One morning Shamus announces he's going to make breakfast for her (with Carmela's misgivings, as Shamus is messy), and when she hears a crash downstairs she assumes it's him.  But when she arrives in their kitchen, the mess is much larger, and includes broken glass -- because Shamus has been kidnapped.  After calling the police, she runs for help from Shamus's Uncle Henry, who lives a few doors down, she finds him in his study, shot through the head.  When Carmela's dogs jump on the man, he falls over, revealing a book stuffed beneath the cushions of the chair, which Carmela puts on an end table.

Then she calls for police for Henry, but they've arrived at her home, and before she can get a word in edgewise regarding Henry, Shamus's sister runs over screaming about him and passes out.  Now there's both a kidnapping and a murder.  And Glory -- who hates Carmela -- has just kicked her out of her home and given her five minutes to get out.

So Carmela needs to find Shamus since it seems the police aren't making any headway, and she also wants to know who killed Henry.  Even though she's warned to leave it alone, Carmela isn't willing to do that.  Especially when she figures out there's more at stake than just the kidnapping.  It could mean her own life as well...

First I have to say that while I enjoyed this book, I'm pretty sure that Glory couldn't have just kicked Carmela out of the home she'd been living in without serving eviction papers, even if it did belong to Glory.  Carmela was living there with her husband, who's missing, not dead, and if she could just walk up and tell her to leave, there'd be a whole lot of nervous people in this country whose relatives don't like them.  Just sayin'.  So that kind of threw me.  (I'm pretty sure in Louisiana you have to give at least five days' notice, so the police following her around didn't make any sense at all.

Other than that, since this is the fourth in the series, I've decided to go back and read them in order and this was the next on my list.  I thought it was decent in the fact that Carmela is no dummy, and can hold her own in a war of wits, but she's not very smart when it comes to Shamus.  I've always felt that he's been keeping her around as eye candy, and using her when it's convenient for him.  Carmela, citing that "she loves him," puts up with his rude behavior toward her. 

Of the first four books, this is my least favorite so far.  It didn't take her long to find Shamus, and when she did, she allowed him to call people outside by himself.  What if the kidnappers had seen him and found him?  Then they'd all be kidnapped.

Also, it appears when it comes to business, neither Glory nor Shamus have any real knowledge of determining character.  They seem to lend to people they like, regardless of whether it makes sense to have that person investigated further before parting with huge amounts of money.  This also bothered me.

The ending I didn't care for at all.  While everything was resolved the way it normally would be, I didn't find it really believable, and it was less than satisfying.  While I may read the next in the series, if it isn't up to the standards of the first, I probably won't continue.  This book was heavily disappointing.

https://www.amazon.com/Motif-Murder-Scrapbooking-Mystery-Childs/dp/0425217981/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3434523973

More on Laura Childs's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/laura-childs/

Killer Queen (A Country Club Murder Mystery Book 11 )

Author:  Julie Mulhern

Genre:   Mystery

Trade Paperback; Digital Book

ISBN #:  9798656406024

Independently Published

228 Pages

$15.95; $6.99 Amazon

June 23, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Another day, another dead woman in Ellison's study.  Only this one claimed to be Mrs. Anarchy Jones as Ellison juggles mothers, daughter, unhappy wives, and near-miss murder attempted, one thing is clear -- someone will go to any lengths to hide the truth.  Can Ellison and Anarchy catch a killer before the body count rises?  Or will Ellison be the next corpse in the study?

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Ellison Russell is a wealthy, widowed artist with a teenage daughter who lives in upper class Kansas City, Missouri in 1975.  She's getting ready to go on a trip to Italy with her beau, homicide detective Anarchy Jones, and make something permanent of their relationship.  Luggage is packed, her housekeeper Aggie is staying at her home to care for her daughter, and all she needs is to head to the airport.  Or not.  After running an errand, she arrives home and Aggie isn't too happy: it seems there's a woman waiting for her in her late husband's study, and she's identified herself as Mrs. Anarchy Jones.  

Stomach drops.  Head spins.  And all she has to do is open the door and find out what's going on.  Unfortunately, what's going on is that Ellison has another dead body on her hands.  A woman that she's never seen before.  When she calls Anarchy, it turns out he's never seen her before, either.  So who is the dead woman?  Why would she lie about herself?  And what did she come here for?  Coffee.  Ellison needs coffee, now...

Just when Ellison thought she had her life in the right place it seems she doesn't.  Identifying the woman is easy, since everything in her purse is spilled out on the floor.  Monica Alexander.  The name means nothing to either of them, but a woman is dead, she's in Ellison's home, and now they have the task of figuring out why...

Again unfortunately, things aren't going to be easy.  Not only do they need to figure this out, Ellison has other obligations at hand: since she's not going to Italy, the next day suddenly got full:  she's agreed to play a fourth at bridge, and her father wants her to go golfing with him.  Golfing with her father means her mother isn't happy with her, and her father needs to intervene.  Little does Ellison know that these two innocuous events are going to change things, in more ways than one.

But even with this, things couldn't get worse, right?  Wrong.  Anarchy's mother has come unannounced for a visit, and he's not happy.  Especially when she wants to meet Ellison.  All Ellison can think is this woman can't meet her mother.  Not ever...

So what we have is basically what is just another normal day for Ellison Russell: artist, mother, widow, dead body magnet.  In fact,  the only thing that's going right is the fact that she can always depend on Mr. Coffee to keep her sane throughout the day.  (Not that I blame her; without coffee, I wouldn't even be moving.  We're very good friends, too).

Monica Alexander, however, is another puzzle Ellison needs answers for.  What she discovers is that Monica is the friend of friends, and she lives in another town altogether.  So why was she here?  And what did she want from Ellison?  It doesn't take long for Ellison to figure that part out, but the story doesn't end there.  What follows is a spider's web of secrets that keeps growing and lies that get entangled within one another as she looks for a killer.  Which she shouldn't be doing in the first place, especially when there's an attempt on her life.  But Ellison is made of stronger stuff, and she wants answers.  After all, it was her home (not that it's the first time, but still...).  

When Ellison discovers that Monica's trips to Kansas City were tied to people she knows, she has to decide what to do with her knowledge, since these are her friends and there's more at stake than a dead woman's justice.  What Ellison finally uncovers is darker than she ever imagined, and sadder than anything she's ever known.  Finding the truth could also put her relationship with Anarchy in peril, but Ellison knows what she needs to do is right.

I have been following this series from the beginning, so when I read of Ellison it's almost as if I'm a voyeur to her life, following her every move (although I'm glad I'm not the one finding the bodies) and it's probably one of the best series out there.  Ms. Mulhern has a way of bringing Ellison and the others to life, pulling them right off the pages.  These are characters that are animated and breathing on the pages, and I love being a part of their world, even if only for a fraction of time. 

Going back to life in the 1970s when there was no Internet and cell phones, when human interaction was at a premium and there was a lot more actual face-to-face contact made things different than they are now, and more on a personal level.  Ellison's world consists of people visiting instead of texting, talking with people to get information instead of using the Internet, and in many ways, it was a brighter one, bringing people closer together.

In the end, finding the killer might have been a bit of a surprise, yet the motive and reasons why show us what desperation can do, and it was rather sad in a way.  But the surprises don't end there, and give us a reason to look forward to the next book.  I will say that if you've never read this series, please don't start with this book.  Go back to the very first one -- The Deep End -- and you won't be disappointed; in fact, you'll probably be addicted.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Killer-Queen-Country-Club-Murders/dp/B08BRH2QVP/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3431217307

More on Julie Mulhern's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/m/julie-mulhern/

Chili Con Carnage (A Chili Cook-Off Mystery #1)

Author:  Kylie Logan

Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book

ISBN #:  9780425262412

Berkley Prime Crime

279 Pages

$7.99; $2.99 Amazon

October 1, 2013

⭐

Romance is supposed to be the spice of life.  But Maxie Pierce is so done with bad relationships -- well, almost.  She just has to get rid of the latest loser, Roberto.  Besides, she has more important things to worry about.  Her daddy, Texas Jack Pierce, king of the chili cook-off circuit, has been missing for nearly six weeks now.  In his place, she must team up with her irritating half sister, Sylvia, to promote the family business at the Taos Chili Showdown, to be judged by celebrity chef Carter Donnelly.

But when Maxie discovers Roberto's body in the chef's trailer -- only hours after publicly breaking up with him while wearing a giant red chili pepper costume -- she suddenly finds she's the one in the spotlight as the police pepper her with questions.  Now this Chili Chick needs to kick up the search to catch the real killer and get back to finding her father...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

This is my first foray into Ms. Logan's books, and I can't tell you whether I'll make another one or not.  Later on in the review, I'll inform everyone why.

Maxie Pierce and her half sister Sylvia have taken over their father's business -- which is to go from place to place selling his chili ingredients and making chili so that customers will try it and purchase items.  They belong to a group of people who travel from town to town doing this.  Maxie's job is mainly to wear the Chili Chick costume and dance around to draw attention to their trailer.  Sylvia mainly does everything else.

But it seems Maxie had a bad date the evening before with a man named Roberto, where he got into a bar fight and ignored her the entire evening, so when he shows up wanting to see her again, and pretty much telling her it's because she has a reputation on the circuit for being "easy." she has a very public fight with him.  Then, when hotshot television chef Carter Donnelly shows up, she tries to get him to try some of her father's chili that she had already made, but her sister Sylvia tries to sabotage her by getting him to try some of her own creation.  What ensues is a very childish scene in which Maxie accidentally spills her bowl of chili on Carter while trying to get around Sylvia; and when she opens Carter's RV to get a towel for him, the body of Roberto tumbles down on her.

Later on, she finds that Sylvia's been arrested for Roberto's murder, and Maxie decides to help her by finding out who killed him.  She's also hoping for help from the hot security guard Nick -- whom Sylvia also has her eye on -- but he wants her to leave it to the police.  So Maxie's working on her own, and trying to stay away from a killer...

This is the first in this series, and unfortunately it's going to be the last one that I'm going to read.  First off, Maxie and Sylvia are downright nasty people.  Sylvia is self-centered, selfish, mean, and an out-and-out horrible person, while Maxie is just annoying.  We never get to find out why they hate each other.  From what we're told, Sylvia is two years older than Maxie.  So Jack left Sylvia's mother when she was younger than that to marry Maxie's, so it can't be memories of him leaving her, because there wouldn't be any.  We also find out that he spent every summer with both his daughters, so it isn't because he never spent any time with her.  So what's the reason?  Her mother poisoning her against her father?  Yeah, that's healthy.

Then we find out that Sylvia doesn't care whether her father is found or not.  She's only in it for what she can get out of it (and I'm not explaining that any further).  Maxie, however, loves her father and is in it so she can figure out where he is and bring him home.

But when Sylvia is arrested, she's on her own, and her personality doesn't get any better, either.  We never find out what makes either of them tick, nothing about their personalities.  We don't find out about Nick's background either.  There just wasn't anything to bring us into the characters, to liven them up, to make them a little bit human.  They were just words on a page.

When Sylvia was exonerated -- which we knew she would be, so no surprise there -- is she grateful?  Nope. She goes right back to being the nasty person she is -- which should have made Maxie pack right up and go back to her home, wherever that is (we have no idea, of course).

Which means that the murder mystery wasn't interesting.  If you can't invest in the characters, why invest in the mystery?  In fact, when the book was finished, I turned the page and thought: where's the rest of it?  Yep.  That pretty much sums it up.  Where's Jack?  Who does Nick like?  Why do the women hate each other?  I absolutely detest books that give us cliffhangers.  I always feel like we're being "held hostage," in other words, being forced to purchase the next book in order to find out what happens next.  I abhor them.  Because of this, I won't be reading any more in this series.

https://www.amazon.com/Chili-Carnage-Cook-off-Mystery/dp/0425262413/ref=

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3430528429

More on Kylie Logan's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/l/kylie-logan/

15 Minutes of Flame (A Nantucket Candle Maker Mystery #3)

Author:  Christin Brecher

Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book

ISBN #:  9781496721433

Kensington Mystery

304 Pages

$7.99; $6.99 Amazon

August 25, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

When Stella's friend inherits a creaky, abandoned home in Nantucket, she knows it's the perfect setting for the town's annual Halloween fundraiser.  A deserted, boarded-up building on the property -- once used as a candle-making shop -- adds to the creepy ambiance.  But as Stella explores the shack's dilapidated walls, she discovers a terrible secret: the skeleton of a Quaker woman, wrapped in blood-soaked clothing and hidden deep within a stone hearth...

While police investigate, Stella wastes no time asking for help from friends with long ties to Nantucket's intricate history.  the key to the murder may lie within a scorching 18th century love triangle that pit two best friends against one another over a dubious man.  But before the case is solved, another life will be claimed -- leaving Stella to wonder who in Nantucket is friend, and who is foe...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Stella Wright owns a candle shop in Nantucket.  It's close to Halloween, and she's helping the girl scouts make a scary home for a fundraiser.  The home is owned by a friend of Stella's who lives in Canada, and he has generously given them permission to do so.  While looking at a building out back of the house known as the shack, which were typically used for curing meats and such, she discovers that it's the old shop of a candlemaker centuries ago.  But while exploring, she discovers that there's a skeleton buried in the hearth, and she calls her policeman friend Andy to inform him.  

When two anthropologists arrive to inspect the skeleton, it also brings others -- an annoying historian named Bellows who thinks he should be involved, and a documentary filmmaker who wants to televise the find and turn it into a sensation.  While the head anthropologist, Robert Solder, isn't interested, his assistant Leigh is.  But then Stella finds there's more to the story from an old diary of another woman, and this one leads to another skeleton being found...which also leads to murder.  Now Stella has to wonder who killed the person, why a major clue is missing and who has it, and if she can figure out the murder before the police do...

What follows is an intriguing story that puts a mystery within a mystery.  Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely devour tales like this; I love old historical mysteries within new ones, and this one made me glad that I've kept reading the series.  When Stella finds an old skeleton, she has no idea what she's discovered, nor what it will eventually lead to.

The people involved are those we've seen on the sidelines of the series so far - Clemmie, the coffee shop owner, and Agnes, who works in the library; we also get to see more interaction with Stella's cousins, and I find Ted and Docker a hoot every time.  They're just good ol' boys who happen to live in Nantucket and have an Eastern accent instead of a Southern one.

When the skeleton turns out to be related to one of the locals, Stella is even more intrigued, and now that she's involved in finding out who is a killer, she also wants to know more about the history of the dead person.  It's a lively tale of ghosts, history, loss, murder, lies, and eventually, the truth. 

When the murderer is discovered, it wasn't really a surprise, but there were enough red herrings throughout that makes you have to sift through them carefully to find the truth, and it shows how far someone will go to get what they want.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and wish I could read the next one right now.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Minutes-Flame-Nantucket-Candle-Mystery/dp/1496721438/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3428853012

More on Christin Brecher's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/christin-brecher/

A Death Long Overdue (A Lighthouse Mystery #7)

Author:  Eva Gates

Genre:   Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book

ISBN #:  9781643854588

Crooked Lane Books

372 Pages

$20.90; $12.99 Amazon

October 6, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐

It's summertime in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Bertie James's college class is having their 40th anniversary reunion.  The opening night reception is held at the Lighthouse Library and Lucy and her colleagues have assembled an exhibit of library artifacts showing how libraries have changed over they years.  After the reception, some of the women take a walk down the boardwalk to the pier, using flashlights to illuminate the dark path, but what's scarier than the dark is finding the former director of the Lighthouse Library floating lifeless in the water.

Helena Sanchez, the former director, wasn't much loved and spent the party being rude to almost everyone there.  As a result, Lucy finds herself in deep water as she rocks the boat, questioning several suspects.  But she'll have to batten down the hatches and fast before she's left high and dry...and right in the killer's crosshairs.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Lucy Richardson is Assistant Library Director at the Lighthouse Library in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  She also lives on the very top floor along with her cat, Charles.  The director, Bertie James, is meeting with several women of her college class, and Lucy, and another employee, Charlene, have been putting together a display of items to show how libraries have changed over the years.

When the women arrive everything seems to be going smoothly -- at least until the old director, Helena Sanchez, shows up and starts making snide comments.  It's apparent some of the women don't like her, but no one tells why.  While looking at the display, Helena sees an old card from a book pocket and gasps.  Shaken, she won't say why.  Then Bertie and some of the women -- courtesy of the fact that library volunteer Louise Jane has been telling "ghost stories" decide to take a walk down the pier.  But when Lucy sees something in the water, and that something turns out to be Helena, suddenly things take a nasty turn.

When it's learned that Helena was murdered, the women involved are told they can't leave until the culprit is found.  But then Lucy notices that the card is missing along with a letter opener, and tells her policeman friend Sam Watson, even though neither of them know what it means.  After finding a major clue, Lucy gets curious, and starts asking questions.  Questions that no one wants to answer...

This is the seventh book in the series, and I have to say that I'm glad I continued to read it.  I was not impressed by the first, but they've been steadily improving, and this one might be the best of the lot.  While I do enjoy the fact that Lucy's an intelligent woman who knows how to get things done, I do also wish she'd develop a bit of a backbone when it comes to Louise Jane.

And there's the rub: Louise Jane is probably the most unlikable character that I've ever come across.  She's mean-spirited, lazy, and lies.  Not someone you'd want to hang out with in real life.  She's determined to live in Lucy's apartment (please, no) and in making Lucy's life miserable.  What gets me is everyone just shrugs like 'what can you do?' around her.  Hello!  You can tell her where to get off, that's what.  She might have been amusing if she weren't so nasty and accepted the fact she's not qualified to work nor live in the library, but no one will tell her that.  She won't actually work in the library, either.  She goes around telling her stories wanting to be the center of attention.  I keep hoping that she'll be the next victim but I'm always disappointed.  Oh, well...(actually, it's because I detest the 'evil nemesis' portion of any book, and maybe if she'd actually realize she's a horrible person...

Anyway, now that I'm off my rant...the mystery was a delight to read.  It was well thought out and had just enough intrigue to make us want more.  Finding the body made Lucy wonder who hated her enough to kill her, but when she finds the other clue, she starts to put it together slowly; piece by piece until she figures it out.

I actually had it figured out before Lucy did, although I enjoyed watching her thought process as she deciphered everything.  She pretty much has a one-track mind and doesn't think of anything else around her while she's trying to help Sam solve a murder.  Which comes to the next subplot, and one that was rather humorous.  Since I can't tell you what it is because you'll probably be able to deduce it yourself the moment you read it, I hope that you will find the entire situation as entertaining as I myself did.  Unfortunately, I can't even give you a clue. but let it suffice to say that it will be worth the wait.

Some of the secondary characters are interesting, those women that know Bertie, and others are downright sad in the way things have turned out for them.  But then again, life doesn't always offer us everything we want, and we have to either deal with it or work harder to get it.  Still, it was engrossing to watch the dynamics between them all -- much as I imagine old friends come to be to each other.

There is also a surprise concerning Helena that no one saw coming, and a secondary mystery that only adds to the story, bringing with it a little bit of suspense that eventually comes to a head when Lucy figures out how to trap a killer.  All in all, a very nice read with a very nice ending and something to look forward to in the next in the series.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Long-Overdue-Lighthouse-Library/dp/1643854585/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3420613840

More on Eva Gates's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/eva-gates/