The Yellow Room

Author:  Mary Roberts Rinehart
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Paperback; Mass Market Paperback
ISBN #:  9783942637589; 9780821722626
Zebra Publishing
351 Pages
Various Prices
1945

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The corpse - somewhat charred around the edges- had been discovered in the linen closet.  She was wearing a silver fox coat and not much else.  No one had any idea who she was or what she was doing in the Spencer's Main retreat.  Certainly not 24-year-old Carol Spencer, who had only just arrived to open up the house for the summer.

Unfortunately Carol seemed to be the prime suspect, judging from the questions the police were asking.  But Carol had one advantage over the police: she knew that she hadn't done it.  Which left her that much closer to tracking down the true killer...and that much closer to danger.

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Carol Spencer's brother is temporarily home from World War II, being decorated in Washington, and will shortly be home for a brief respite before his wedding.  Carol's mother is insisting they open the family summer home in Maine, and after dutifully depositing her mother with her sister Elinor, she travels there.

Carol's fiancé was reported missing a year ago, and all - except his father - presumed him dead in the war.  Unfortunately, his father lives nearby, and she knows once she's home she'll have to listen to him go on about how Don will come back with them soon.

But when Carol arrives, accompanied by a trio of servants, all is not going to be well.  For one of the girls has gone up to the linen closet and come back hysterical.  It seems that there's the body of a young woman in the closet - or at least what is left of her.  There's been an attempt at burning her body, all her belongings are missing, and no one seems to know who she is.

But more than the police are interested in finding out about the dead woman: an injured solider named Major Dane is recuperating at another summer home, and he's more than intrigued by the situation.  But there's more than meets the eye:  an injured servant is in the hospital and being kept away by the police; Elinor arrives at Carol's request but is not only nervous, it's apparent she doesn't want to be there; and even Carol's brother Gregory arrives, to the surprise of everyone, including Major Dane.

But are any of the Spencers guilty, and if not who is?  Who was the young woman?  What connection does she have to the family?  And who is Major Dane and why is he so interested in this case?  These questions are answered, and more..

Mary Roberts Rinehart is a highly-respected mystery writer long gone but her books are still good.  However, they are yet a product of their time.  Every character - save the servants - smoke, and are constantly offering cigarettes to each other.  There is a war going on, and not only is food rationed, but gasoline and even camera film.  For those that enjoy historical fiction, Ms. Rinehart was quite prolific and her books are decent.

I did feel, unfortunately, that the beginning of the book started rather slow, and it was at first difficult to keep reading the book.  The action, as it were, didn't really become interesting until after the appearance of Gregory, which occurs at some point a little farther than midway into it.  Once his character appears, then questions are being answered quite quickly.

There are more than enough twists and turns throughout and quite a few surprises that I didn't see coming.  When the story ends it all comes together quite nicely, and one needs to remember that it is writers like Miss Rinehart who brought us some of the first mysteries. While these books aren't always as highly detailed as those today, one must remember that back then there were no such things as DNA testing, computers, etc., to help with the investigation.  It all had to be done slowly, and a lot of it by telephone or traveling to different areas, which made things slow going.  All in all, I will probably read another of this author's books.

https://www.amazon.com/Yellow-Room-Mary-Roberts-Rinehart/dp/082172262X/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2343814360

More on Mary Robert Rinehart's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/mary-roberts-rinehart/

Dead as a Doornail (A Kenni Lowry Mystery Book 5)

Author:  Tonya Kappes
Genre:  Mystery

Trade Paperback; Audio CD; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781635113341; 9781974907120
Henery Press Publishing
266 Pages
$15.95; $29.99; $4.99 Amazon
May 15, 2018

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Beauty is skin deep, but ugly goes clear to the bone.  And doesn't our Sheriff Kenni Lowry know that?  Well, she knows a lot of things.

Lucy Lowell takes great pride in writing negative reviews in the local newspaper for anything that does not go her way.  When Lucy is found dead, it appears to be from natural causes.

But Sheriff Kenni Lowry knows there is more to it because the ghost of her grandfather, the ex-sheriff, is standing over the body.

His presence can mean only one thing: Murder !

Since Kenni's relationship with Deputy Finn Vincent has heated up, Kenni is having trouble conducting the investigation without Finn questioning her every move.

Can Kenni unravel the mystery on her own or will she have to tell Finn the real reason she knows it was murder - the ghost of her poppa?

It's blowin' up a storm and only Kenni knows how it'll end.

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Kenni Lowry is sheriff in the small Kentucky town of Cottonwood.  She's taken over where her grandfather, Poppa, left off after he died.  Except he's not really dead, not to her: whenever there's a murder, he shows up to help her out.

Right now, Kenni has problems.  When she's given a gift certificate to a day spa from her boyfriend, Deputy Finn Vincent, she expects to have a relaxing afternoon getting a manicure and pedicure.  While it starts out that way, it sure doesn't end the same.  While there, local Lucy Ellen Lowell shows up demanding that Tina, owner of the spa, give her a color, manicure, and anything else her little heart desires.  Tina refuses, and her employee Cheree adds that Lucy keeps cancelling appointments, so they can't make time for her, especially since Polly Parker and her entire wedding party have shown up to get their nails done for a 'pre-wedding preview' of color.

Lucy isn't happy, and when she leaves she tells Tina she's going to write a review of her shop.  It seems Lucy is well known for writing her bad reviews, and has cost businesses customers by them.  In fact, it seems the only person who even likes Lucy is her husband Darnell.  So when Lucy is found murdered by Darnell, Kenni has a whole stack of suspects to sift through.

But it's not going to be easy, nor is it going to be comfortable.  It seems Kenni has been volunteered by her mother Vivian and best friend Tibbie to be the maid of honor in Polly's wedding after the original one backed out.  And Kenny - reluctant as she is - has pretty much figured out why.  It appears that Polly wants a Gone with the Wind-themed wedding, and the dress Kenni has to wear looks like the famous dark green curtain dress, and it is Ug-ly with a capital U. 

So now Kenni is juggling a murder investigation along with trying to avoid her mama at all costs.  Then things get even more heated when Finn asks her to come home to Chicago for Christmas, and she sure doesn't want to face her mama over that; and just when she thinks she has the murder all sewn up she knows it can't be right because Poppa hasn't left.  Yes, Kenni's in a whole heap of trouble, and she'll need all the help she can get to figure this one out...

Once again Tonya Kappes has written another delightful Kenni Lowry mystery.  This one is packed with plenty of action and Kenni wrestling with problems - like those mentioned above and also the fact that she knows she's going to have to come clean with Finn about her Poppa's ghost eventually.  It leaves her very little down time, and a multitude of suspects who may or may not be telling her the entire truth. 

It's a magnificent romp of a mystery that shows us Kenni has what it takes to be sheriff in this town full of looney characters, and one of the best books I've read this year.  I can't say enough about this series except that while this can be read as a stand alone, I hope that you'll start at the beginning to get the full effect of Kenni and the eccentric people of Cottonwood.  I loved every minute of it and look forward to the next installment.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Dead-As-Doornail-Tonya-Kappes/dp/1635113342/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2340488865

More on Tonya Kappes's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/k/tonya-kappes/

Aunt Dimity's Death (Aunt Dimity Mysteries Book 1)

Author:  Nancy Atherton
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Mass Market Paperback; Audio CD; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781568655253; 9780140178401; 9781522606727
Penguin Books
256 Pages
Various Prices
November 1, 1993

✮

Lori Shepherd thought Aunt Dimity was just a character in a bedtime story...

...Until the Dickensian law firm of Willis & Willis summons her to a reading of the woman's will.  Down-on-her-luck Lori learns she's about to inherit a sizable estate -- if she can discover the secret hidden in a treasure trove of letters in Dimity's English country cottage.  What begins as a fairy tale becomes a mystery - and a ghost story - in an improbably cozy setting, as Aunt Dimity's indomitable spirit leads Lori on an otherworldly quest to discover how, in this life, true love can conquer all.

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Lori Shepherd has nothing.  She temps for a job, lives with two roommates, and has had her childhood stuffed toy, her only companion, destroyed.  So her life is in shambles when she receives a letter from Willis & Willis, Attorneys.  When she arrives at their home, she discovers that her childhood stories of Aunt Dimity weren’t fairy tales made up by her mother; Dimity was an actual person, her mother’s best friend.  And now both her mother and Dimity have gone, and Dimity wants her to come to England and write the introduction to a children’s book made up of those stories.

But Lori has another surprise - both her mother and Dimity have written her posthumous letters detailing why they never told her about their connection, and her mother has left a photograph - the only clue to Dimity’s past life when her mother met her.  She wants Lori to find out about the photo, because it will explain what Dimity would never talk about - her past.  So, with the accompaniment of Bill, (Willis, Jr.) Lori sets out for London to find the truth and learn more about this fairy tale which wasn’t one at all...

Well, first the title is misleading.  This is not a mystery.  There’s no murder, as one is wont to expect in a book labeled a mystery.  This is women’s fiction with a little paranormal thrown in (not much).  The “mystery” entails why Aunt Dimity would never talk about her past, and what Lori is sent by her mother to find out.  I have to tell you that when someone reads 'mystery' in the title, you really do expect a murder or two.  this should have been titled Aunt Dimity's Death, a Secret Book 1.  Because that's really all it is - a book about secrets, not a mystery.

What I did find out by reading this is that I don’t like Lori at all.  She’s snarky, demanding and rude, and I can’t see how Bill would even fall for her (as we know he will).  She treats him like garbage throughout most of the book.  She shows up at their door dressed like a bum, and Dimity’s will offers money for clothes, so he buys her decent clothing and accessories.  Does she appreciate it?  He shouldn’t have offered these to this ungrateful witch.  She could have nicely explained to him why she didn’t want them, but she’d rather treat him like dirt instead.  Then makes some comments after shopping (in her head) along the lines of how she can pick out clothes herself and she'd show him.  Does she want the nice, expensive luggage he buys?  No thanks!  She wants a beat up canvas carryall that she can just roll up afterward.  Sure, you’re traveling overseas for an extended period and want all of your clothes to be wrinkled when you get there.  So classy when you check into a five star hotel, right?  She's a jerk.

Unfortunately, Bill was the best part of the book; no matter what she threw at him, he never faltered.  He had a great attitude to life and seemed like the kind of person you'd like to spend time with.  Lori I could do without.  She’s going to become a nasty old woman who sneers at everyone.  You can tell by the way she treats everyone she doesn’t consider her ‘friend’.  Strangers who do nice things are best trodden underfoot.  I wouldn't doubt it if she treats Bill like garbage through the rest of this series.  Sorry, I won’t be reading any more of these.  You want to like the people you're reading about, and she just isn't likable.

https://www.amazon.com/Aunt-Dimitys-Death-Dimity-Mystery/dp/0140178406/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2340462844

More on Nancy Atherton's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/nancy-atherton/

Sowed to Death (A Farmer's Daughter Mystery #2)

Author:  Peg Cochran
Genre:  Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN : 9780425282038
Berkley Publishing
298 Pages
$5.93; $7.99 Amazon
July 4, 2017

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The county fair is the highlight of the year for the small town of Lovett, Michigan - especially for food-and-lifestyle blogger Shelby McDonald, who writes as the Farmer's Daughter.  She is submitting jams and jellies she's created from the produce she grows at Love Blossom Farm in hopes of harvesting a blue ribbon.

But the townspeople get more than just the excitement of hayrides, tractor pulls, and cotton candy when Shelby's neighbor and volunteer fireman, Jake Taylor, extricates the body of Zeke Barnstable instead of a dummy during a demonstration of the Jaws of Life.  The fact that Jake and Zeke were known to be at odds plants suspicion in the minds of the police.  As evidence against Jake grows, Shelby knows she has to plow through the clues to weed out the true killer and save her friend.

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When Shelby attends the county fair with her kids, she's watching the firemen give a demonstration of how the Jaws of Life work.  But when Jake Taylor is pulling the dummy from the car, it turns out to be a real body - and someone that Jake wasn't fond of.  So of course he's suspected of killing the man, and Shelby does what any good friend would do - she resolves to find the real killer before Jake can be set up for the crime...

This is the second book in the Farmer's Daughter mysteries, and I was really hoping it would get better; but unfortunately, Shelby still isn't a good example of a parent.  She allows her daughter to run roughshod over her, even though she's still a kid herself.  Why are we being treated to the trials and tribulations of being a pre-teen in love?  At what point is Shelby going to act the adult and tell her daughter to straighten up?  So this little girl sees her 'boyfriend' holding hands with another girl and tells her mom that no one loves her.  And this is supposed to endear her to us?  To show us just how immature she really is?  Um, no.  So then her daughter is accused of cheating by a teacher, and Shelby finds out it was the "popular girl" instead.  Amelia (the daughter) won't tell because she'll have to 'sit with the nerds'.  Hmmm...there's a whole lot wrong here.  1) Shelby allows her daughter to think being popular is more important than having integrity or telling the truth; and 2) letting her believe that 'nerds' are the worst thing ever.   (In the first book, she let someone steal from her son, and now she's okay with someone lying to save their own skin.  What kind of person is Shelby?  Spineless, that's what).

Plus, Shelby has three men who want to date her and she's agonizing over it because she doesn't know if she's ready to date.  Yes, folks, a love quadrangle.  And one of those men is her brother-in-law.  While this may not be creepy to some, I can't even imagine sleeping with either of my brothers-in-law (shudder).  Too close to home, if you get my drift.  Uncle goes to Daddy real fast in that case.  Maybe she should think about things and allow the kids to spend time with the other two men (since they already know Uncle Frank).  She might come up with a few surprises, anyway.

All in all, not much improvement over the first in the series.  Shelby has no idea how to deal with a daughter, and when her son Billy gets older who knows what will happen then.  She'd better get married fast so at least there'll be one parent in the family.

https://www.amazon.com/Sowed-Death-Farmers-Daughter-Mystery/dp/0425282031/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2336254838

More on Peg Cochran's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/peg-cochran/

No Farm, No Foul (A Farmer's Daughter Mystery #1)

Author:  Peg Cochran
Genre:  Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9780425282021
Berkley Publishing
303 Pages
$7.19; $7.19 Amazon
September 6, 2016

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On her blog, The Farmer's Daughter, Shelby McDonald is growing her audience as she posts recipes, garden tips, and her experiences raising two kids and running Love Blossom Farm in the small western Michigan town of Lovett.

Working the farm is demanding but peaceful - until that peace is shattered when the minister's wife is murdered on Shelby's property during a fund-raiser for a local church.  But the manure really hits the fan when Shelby's good friend veterinarian Kelly Thacker emerges as the prime suspect.  Shelby decides to dig in and find the murderer by herself.  As more suspects crop up, she'll have to move fast - before someone else buys the farm...

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Shelby McDonald is a widow who lives on the family farm with her twelve-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son.  She's offered her farm for a church fundraiser, and everything seems to be going along swimmingly when she steps into her mudroom only to find the body of the minister's wife.  Stunned, she can't think who would want to kill the woman.

But she plans on staying out of the investigation until her best friend Kelly, the local veterinarian, asks her to investigate, because Kelly believes her fiancé Seth could have possibly committed the murder.  What's a woman to do?  Of course she agrees and hopes to find the true killer before the killer finds her...

Well, since this is the first in a new series, I usually give the author a pass and at least offer two stars if the book isn't up to par...and I did try, indeed I did.  But there was so much I just couldn't get past to give it any more than that.

She has her daughter - did I mention she's twelve? - sneaking out behind her back with a fourteen-year-old boy and everyone around her thinks it's just fine except for her.  Are her friends hillbillies who think girls need to be married at thirteen or they become old maids?  What the heck is the matter with them?  She's twelve, for heaven's sake!  I hope Shelby's not surprised when she's a grandmother in a year or two.  Mom doesn't want to confront her daughter figuring it's a phase.  Can you say spineless?  Because that's what Shelby is.  Tell your daughter no, and tell the boy's mother no.  Bad parenting is what it is.  Also, she might want to think about having her kids do a few chores around the farm.  They live there, too.  Would it be so difficult if they collected eggs or fed the chickens?

And speaking of bad parenting, someone steals her son's zucchini that he was going to enter in the county fair.  Her son is eight.  He's a child.  So when she finds out who steals it, she confronts the woman, and the woman's response is that her own son just needs to win the contest.  So that makes it alright?  Theft is fine as long as it benefits someone else?  Her son's feelings don't matter?  So what does she do?  She asks her about the murder!  That's right, asks her about the murder.  It's perfectly fine to steal her son's zucchini and break his heart as long as she gets information.  Are you freakin' kidding me?  I would have left, and as I was going out the door, I would have told her that she can forget about it because I was going to the fair judges to tell them what she'd done.  How many times has this woman done this in the past, and if she gets away with it once, she'll do it again.  But it's okay because she could ask questions about the murder, right?  Yeah, go home and tell your boy that you told her you knew what she'd done but you didn't do anything about it because you wanted to ask her a question.  That will make him feel better.

Then we come to the subject of Kelly who thinks her boyfriend is capable of murder.  Why is she marrying him then?  Are there no other men in this town?  Sorry, but if you believe the man you're going to wed has committed murder, then maybe you should back out of the marriage.  Don't make him mad or you could be next...

Sorry, but Shelby is a weak woman; she seems to be apologizing to everyone and walks on eggshells around her daughter.  Grow a backbone, woman!  So, in the end, I will read the next in this series and see if it improves.  Perhaps Shelby will have grown up by then.

https://www.amazon.com/Farm-Foul-Farmers-Daughter-Mystery/dp/0425282023/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2336215801

More on Peg Cochran's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/peg-cochran/

Farewell, My Cuckoo (A Birds of a Feather Mystery #4)

Author:  Marty Wingate
Genre:  Mystery

Digital Book
Alibi Publishing
$4.99 Amazon
April 10, 2018

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Wedding bells are ringing in the small British village of Smeaton-under-Lyme.  Julia Lanchester's second-in-command at the local tourist center is finally getting married, and the lovebirds are giving Julia and her live-in boyfriend, Michael Sedgwick, ideas about their own future.  But before anyone can say "Will you," Michael's flighty older sister, Pammy, crashes the party, fresh off a breakup and lugging all her worldly possessions around with her in a tangle of plastic bags.

Before long, Julia's cozy cottage starts feeling more like Pammy's bachelorette pad.  To keep herself from going cuckoo, Julia throws herself into her pet projects at work - until death disrupts her plans.  First a body is found on the estate.  Then the police discover that Pammy was the last one to see the man alive.  And soon Julia gets the feeling that if she ever wants her home - or her boyfriend - back, she'll have to get to the bottom of this mystery, even if it means breaking a few eggs.

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When Julia Lanchester and Michael Sedgwick, her live-in boyfriend, return from a wedding of two locals, love is definitely in the air.  Julia can sense that Michael is about to propose, and it seems that he very nearly does, when his sister Pammy arrives on their doorstep...with everything she owns.  It appears that Pammy's latest relationship - with a married man - has broken up and she's nowhere to go.  So Julia and Michael reluctantly allow her to stay for one night in their tiny cottage until she can reach her friend Amy.

But one night turns into two, then three, then...well, you get the idea.  It doesn't look like Pammy is going anywhere soon, and neither is Michael's proposal.  So they try to get on with their lives, with Julia running the TIC (tourist information center) at the Fotheringill estate, and Michael, who works with Julia's father Rupert, is reluctantly filming a sequence with Julia's old beau, Gavin Lecky.  Michael doesn't like Gavin at all, and he likes him even less when Gavin spies Pammy and is instantly taken with her.

But Julia has another problem, too.  A man's body was found by her friend Willow who works at the school and is engaged to Lord Fotheringill's son Cecil.  Willow has become distraught at finding him, and no one seems to know who he is.  At least Willow has the comfort of her aunt Lottie to help her when Cecil is not around.

Then Julia has an unfortunate encounter with a man at a tea shop, and is not happy when he shows up in the village at the shop of her friend Nuala.  It appears he's interested in Nuala, and Julia knows Linus, Lord Fotheringill, is also interested in her so she decides to step in and take a hand.

A nice family of four has also arrived at the TIC to explore the estate and like it so well they return the next weekend.  When Julia figures out that they may have encountered the dead man (before he was deceased, obviously) she decides to contact them in the hope they may have information regarding who he is.  She actually becomes chummy with the mother who is a graphic designer and starts helping them design pamphlets for the TIC.

Then there's the problem of a local farmer who was certified organic but Julia discovers he has ruined his fields.  He knew Bob and even employed him once in a while, and Julia begins to wonder if he didn't do the man in because he knew what was done.

But the only thing anyone truly knows is that the poor dead man was named Bob, and nothing else.  Yet somehow, someone must have, because poor Bob is now dead and at the morgue.  And somehow, again, these stories become interlaced and have more of a connection to Bob than anyone realizes.  It is nearly too late when Julia starts putting it all together and what a tale it becomes...

This book, as all the others in the series, was a true delight to read.  Julia Lanchester quietly puts up with Pammy, who's flighty and seems to have no direction in life.  It is only when Gavin enters the picture does it seem that Pammy might actually want to do something worthwhile; and Julia sees it as a way to eventually get back the home that Pammy has made her own.

There's enough intrigue and mystery here to keep anyone interested, and while at first it seems there is a lot going on, it all comes together nicely at the end.  Julia has more patience than I ever would given the situation at hand; but unfortunately I didn't care for Pammy very much.  While she may have seemed like a nice enough person, she rather insinuated herself in Julia's home and roving about the village while insisting she'd leave soon.  Nothing pointed to her leaving, and family or not, she seemed to me to be an opportunist, one of the worst type of people there are.  She was also too whiny for my taste.  (I'm hoping Gavin will redeem her).

Which isn't to say I didn't enjoy her part in the book; she was just as important as any of the other secondary characters, we just can't like everyone, can we?  (I think a lot of it was the fact that she just moved in lock, stock and barrel without notice or even trying to go anywhere else and didn't care that she was trashing someone else's home).

But the tale was masterfully written; the writing crisp and lively, the settings descriptive and broad, and the characters animated and believable.  This is a village I would definitely want to visit, and these are people I love spending time with.  Julia belongs to Smeaton-under-Lyme; she truly loves the estate, Linus, her friends, family, and of course, Michael.  It shows in her dedication to her job and the people around her.  It shows in the fact that she doesn't want a dead man not to be mourned, and wants to find out as much about him as she can.

Julia has heart, and that's an important characteristic in any human being.  She cares.  And that, my friends, is what makes the Birds of a Feather mysteries so very good.  This is the fourth book in the series, and I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite as they are all so well done.  Highly recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Farewell-My-Cuckoo-Feather-Mystery-ebook/dp/B073YTFZ53/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2332835299

More on Marty Wingate's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/marty-wingate/

Death of a Bacon Heiress (Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery #7)

Author:  Lee Hollis
Genre:  Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; MP3 CD; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781496702524; 9781531835675
Kensington Publishing
320 Pages
$7.99; $9.99; $5.99 Amazon
March 29, 2016

✮

When Hayley is invited to do a cooking demo on one of daytime's most popular talk shows, it's a welcome distraction from her empty nest blues.  And the newfound fame certainly has its perks - especially when Olivia Redmond, the posh bacon heiress of Redmond Meats, offers Hayley a writing gig with a juicy paycheck.

But Hayley's good fortune fizzles fast.  The heiress is found dead with her pot-bellied pig, Pork Chop, squealing bloody murder beside her body, and clogged arteries aren't to blame.  It turns out Olivia's inherited a wealth of enemies over the years, and as Hayley trims the fat off a mounting list of suspects, it's clear that being rich and hot-tempered can be a recipe for disaster...

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Well, I hate to say it, but even I have to give up what little hope I was holding out for this series to improve.  I read and I read, hoping against hope that something, anything would change to make this series better.  Instead I came to a revelation that pretty much ended it for me.

I've realized that not a single woman in the book has a decent relationship.  Mona hates her [lazy] husband, Liddy keeps finding new boyfriends; and Hayley keeps a boyfriend for a few months and they break up.  You know, if this were a group of men instead of a group of women, there'd be a few choice words to say about them.  Losers.  Players.  Drunks. Jerks.  Good-for-Nothing.  But because they're women it's just bad choices?

The finality for me was the fact that in the last book Hayley and Aaron seemed to be progressing nicely in their relationship and falling in love.  But then out of the blue they decide to break up because they're not right for each other?  (No spoiler here since you see it coming from the first pages).  What?  Who wants to read a series where every female (or male) is lousy at relationships?  I have a great one, so do my sisters, friends, etc., but I guess they’re not right for each other but in the previous book they were right for each other?  WTH?  I guess three loser women can hang out together but I sure don’t want to read about them.  Maybe if they'd give up the booze for awhile (or at least go easy) they'd be able to figure out what was wrong with their lives and do something about it.  Not to mention a situation with Mona just seems so over the top.  Right...a woman with seven children.  Uh-huh.  Soooo believable...

I also couldn't get past the fact that a woman who owns a bacon empire would keep a pig as a pet.  A pig.  As a pet.  And makes her money in bacon.  Yeah, and I know a beef salesman that keeps a cow as a pet, too.  Another unbelievable scenario.  You don't keep your food as pets (unless you're the most insensitive mooch on the planet).

In the end, it's not that I'm promoting you need a man (or woman) to make you happy.  Many, many women do well without one (including one of my sisters).  But if you're going to write a series about three friends, why are all of them bad at relationships?  It's not plausible.  And Hayley has a crappy job that never gets any better, and no money.  Jeez, I guess I just got tired of being depressed every time I read one of these books.

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Heiress-Hayley-Powell-Mystery/dp/1496702522/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2329565297

More on Lee Hollis's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/lee-hollis/