A Deadly Eclair (A French Bistro Mystery #1)

Author:  Daryl Wood Gerber
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781683313410; 9781683316046
Crooked Lane Books
368 Pages
$18.35; $15.99; $1.99 Amazon
November 7, 2017

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It's always been Mimi Rousseau's dream to open her own bistro, but it seems beyond her grasp since she's been chased back home to Nouvelle Vie in Napa Valley by her late husband's tremendous debt.  Until her best friend Jorianne James introduces her to entrepreneur Bryan Baker who invests in promising prospects.  Now, working the bistro and inn until she's able to pay it off and call it her own, Mimi is throwing the inn's first wedding ever.

The wedding will be the talk of the town, as famous talk show host Angelica Edmonton, daughter of Bryan's half-brother, Edison, has chosen the inn as her perfect venue.  Anxious, Mimi is sure things are going to turn south, especially when Edison gets drunk and rowdy at the out-of-towners' dinner, but by the evening, things begin to look up again.  That is until six AM rolls around, and Bryan is found dead at the bistro with an éclair stuffed in his mouth.  And the fingers point at Mimi, whose entire loan is forgiven in Bryan's will.

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Mimi Rousseau is excited that the opening of her bistro is going to host a celebrity wedding - the niece of the man who funded her endeavor, Brian Baker.  When the first evening gets underway everything seems to be going swimmingly; the guests love the food and everyone seems happy with their rooms.  But the next morning the bride-to-be, Angelica Barrington, knocks furiously on Mimi's door.  She's found her Uncle Brian dead on the patio.

When Mimi hastens to see for herself, she sees that Brian is indeed deceased and when the police arrive she also learns that her cell phone was found nearby with a message for Brian to meet her.  Mimi attempts to convince Detective Tyson Daly that someone must have lifted her phone from the kitchen and she didn't send it.  While Tyson is a friend of hers, without witnesses he still has to consider her the main suspect, especially when a notarized letter is found in Brian's effects that gives Mimi full ownership of the bistro and inn in the event of his death.

But when a witness does eventually come forth that can attest to her whereabouts and she is cleared of the crime, there is still the matter of a killer lurking somewhere on her premises and it could be any one of the numerous people who were told they can't leave until he or she is found.  With a hotel full of suspects and a wedding put on hold, Mimi wants the murder of her friend solved - and soon.

I liked the premise of this book and really wanted to love it.  Unfortunately, I didn't.  I just didn't like Mimi at all; and one really needs to like the main character in order to like the book.  She tells the investigating homicide detective - Tyson Daly, a friend from childhood - that's it's her civic duty to discover the killer, but no, it's not.  It's his duty.  I understand that we want our protagonist to discover the murderer; after all, that's why we read the books, but Mimi is out-and-out obnoxious to people.  She's a get-in-your-face type of person when she asks questions.  She asks people where they were, checks on their alibis, and then confronts them again and demands they tell her the truth - even when it angers them.  Does she not realize one of these people is a killer?  It's rather difficult to like a protagonist who acts like this.  She hounds people constantly - and tells them it's all in the name of wanting to find her mentor's killer.  But isn't that Tyson's job?

It's one thing to overhear conversations, it's entirely another to corner people and harass them until they start yelling at you and threatening you.  This isn't mere curiosity, as she says; just read the conversation she has with David Ives outside the store and you'll understand.  She's basically conducting her own police interrogation without actually being an officer or in an interrogation room in a police station.  This is irresponsible.

And what does Tyson do?  He doesn't spend his time working on the case - he goes over to his mother's home and works around there, etc.  I'm pretty sure detectives don't go looking at real estate while a case is ongoing.  This guy seems like he just went into the job to impress people with the fact; Mimi is doing all the work and we never saw him question a single person - he didn't even take anyone down to the station.

I didn't feel that any of the characters were fleshed out, so we couldn't become involved with them.  There was practically nothing about Tyson, Jo, etc.; and we didn't really get to know anything about any of them.  This, of course, can be remedied in future books, so we will see.

Also, (I hope this isn't going to be a trend in future books) but I really hate it when (as the author wrote toward the end of the book) political leanings are inserted.  The only time you should read about politics is when you're reading non-fiction or a book that deals with the subject.  Fiction authors shouldn't offer their personal feelings by adding characters that will eventually insert their political beliefs into the story.  Admittedly, it was only a paragraph or two, but I got the idea that this character will be recurring in future books.  Just my opinion. 

In the end, I felt the reason for the murder was flimsy; someone would definitely have to be unhinged in the first place to imagine what the killer imagined would eventually take place.  Obviously, they didn't trust in who they were or family members or they wouldn't have even have allowed this to cross their mind.  It just didn't seem like it was a strong enough reason for murder, so was a bit of a letdown.  But, as it is the first in the series, I will read the next to see if it improves.

https://www.amazon.com/Deadly-%C3%89clair-French-Bistro-Mystery/dp/1683313410/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2073903820

More on Daryl Wood Gerber's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/daryl-wood-gerber/

Much Ado About Muffin (A Merry Muffin Mystery #4)

Author:  Victoria Hamilton
Genre:  Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Audio CD; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780425282588; 9781515950363
Berkley Publishing
304 Pages
$7.19; $25.20; $7.99 Amazon
August 2, 2016

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Opera singer Roma Toscano may have a crippling case of stage fright, but she certainly is stirring up drama in Autumn Vale, New York, as she prepares for an upcoming performance at Merry's Wynter Castle.  With her flamboyant style and flirtatious personality, Roma attracts fans as well as critics, including the town's postmistress - and Merry's bitter foe - Minnie Urquhart.

But Roma and Minnie's heated rivalry goes cold after Merry discovers Minnie dead at the post office.  While every clue seems to be another ingredient in the investigation of Roma, Merry thinks the case is half-baked, and she's eager to get her mitts on the real killer...

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Merry Wynter owns Wynter Castle in upstate New York.  She's been in Spain for a couple of months because her late husband's mother wanted to make peace with her (another story).  When she returns home she finds things changed.  Her beau Virgil meets her at the airport and is surly toward her; her roommate Pish has taken in a temperamental opera star - Roma Toscano - that Merry dislikes, her friend Emerald has been taken in by a cult-like personality and is pushing Merry away, and the rest of her friends are acting like she's been gone a year.

But when she's out with Virgil's mother Gogi and they discover the body of the local postmistress, who has been stabbed with a letter opener that Merry recognizes as being owned by Roma, rumors begin to fly.  Everyone thinks the diva committed the crime, but Merry isn't so sure and takes it upon herself to find the killer and set things about her to rights...

Well, this book was a bit of a disappointment.  Merry went to Spain for a couple of months to make peace with her late husband's mother, and enjoy a vacation of sorts, but when she returns home everyone treats her like the enemy.  I guess in the town of Autumn Vale no one is expected to take vacations.  After all, why would you want to go anywhere else?  You're a traitor if you leave the city!  I think these people need a reality check.

Also, when she gets back to her castle she finds that her live-in friend Pish hasn't been taking care of her cat.  He tells her that Becket went for longer and longer walks and just never showed back up.  This is supposed to be her "dearest friend."  I don't know about you, but my dearest friend would not allow my cats to disappear.  If Pish couldn't handle it, he should have told her before she left so she could have made other arrangements.  (Honestly, with not much training, Becket could become an exclusive indoor cat.  I've adopted several feral cats and they're all indoor cats now).  Also, before anyone gets the wrong idea, the coyotes of New York are not the same coyotes that live around my neck of the woods.  Western and Eastern are different in that those in upstate are hybrids - yet another reason to keep Becket indoors.

Then Pish just invites Roma to stay at the castle without asking Merry first.  Plus, Roma is a pig.  She leaves things lying around everywhere, and our spineless Merry doesn't tell her to clean up the mess or find a hotel.  She doesn't even tell Pish that he needs to tell Roma to clean up.  As a matter of fact, in this book it seemed as if Merry was the boarder and Pish owned the castle, because he did whatever he wanted and Roma walked around dramatically, and they practically took over the place.  What kind of friend is he?  He ignores her cat and invites someone to stay rent free who trashes the place, leaving her to do everything, including cooking for the ungrateful witch.  I'd send her out to eat every single meal.  I guess Merry had two divas to deal with.

Then there's the problem of Emerald being taken in by a cult-like person named Crystal who is living off of her and making Em go back to work in a dive bar, even disciplining Em's daughter Lizzie, and she allows her to do this.  Does anyone say anything?  No!  Not until Merry comes back and decides to investigate and discover things aren't adding up.

Plus, this is the place to go if you just want to leech off people - Roma is leeching off of Merry, Crystal is leeching off of Emerald, and even when Minnie (the postmistress) dies, no one goes to her house and tells the leeches there that they have to leave!  I'm sorry, but they should have been told to get out instead of acting like squatters.

I didn't understand why she had to go around town asking everyone to forgive her for taking a vacation.  Jealous, maybe?  Who does that?  'Gee, I'm sorry I went on a nice vacation.  Next time I'll just go camping in them there woods, okay?' 

In the end, the mystery was just okay; although it made sense, by that time I was already irritated by the people of this town and the fact that Pish isn't a very good friend after all.

https://www.amazon.com/Much-About-Muffin-Merry-Mystery/dp/0425282589/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2048704497

More on Victoria Hamilton's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/victoria-hamilton/

The Pint of No Return ( A Sloan Krause Mystery #2)

Author:  Ellie Alexander
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781250108654
Minotaur Publishing
304 Pages
$26.99; $13.99 Amazon
October 2, 2018

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No other festival compares to Oktoberfest in Leavenworth, Washington.  The whole town is buzzing with excitement over this year's activities and eagerly awaiting Nitro's latest offering Cherrywizen, made with locally sourced cherries.  But local brewmaster Sloan Krause is tapped out.  Between trying to manage the pub, her pending divorce with Mac, and her mounting feelings for Garrett, she's fermenting in internal turmoil.

To complicate matters, dreamy movie star Mitchell Morgan and his production crew have arrived in the village to film during the authentic, Bavarian brewfest.  Mitchell has his eye on Sloan and a taste for Nitro's Cherrywizen.  Sloan escapes his advances for good when she finds Mitchell slumped over the bar.  Is this a case of one pint too many, or has Mitchell been murdered by microbrew?

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Sloan Krause is settling into her new job as a brewmaster for Garrett Strong, who owns Nitro, a nanobrewery that's new in town.  It's Oktoberfest, and they're excited about the business it will bring in.  They also soon discover that there's a film crew in town doing a documentary on breweries, and they want to feature Sloan, as a groundbreaking female brewmaster.  She agrees, thinking the exposure will be good for Nitro.

But once she sees the emcee of the documentary - Mitchell Morgan - she tries to distance herself.  He's an egomaniac and a jerk who delights in making everyone around him miserable.  But it's no fun when she comes across his body one evening with a broken growler from Nitro nearby.  While Sloan isn't considered a suspect, she knows that April Ablin, a town realtor and self-proclaimed "town representative" and Mitchell got the growler before they left the bar.

Still, there's a girl who shows up at the scene named Kat who accuses Sloan's friend Lisa of the murder but Sloan can't believe Lisa capable.  But what does she really know about Kat?  Not much; but she and Garrett hire her anyway on the off chance that she's telling the truth that she's stranded and has nowhere else to go.

With all of this, her soon-to-be ex-husband Mac is striving to get her back and it seems will go to any lengths to do so, including putting himself right where Sloan doesn't want him to be.  Now with a murderer on the loose, and Sloan wondering about Lisa and Kat, can she help track a killer before anyone else is in danger?  Or has she already gotten too close and the killer has their sights set on her?...

I liked this book better than the first, although there were a couple of things that bothered me.  One is how April said how she's going to make it a bylaw that everyone in town has to wear traditional German outfits - with the men in lederhosen and the women wearing dirndl dresses.  Um, no.  You can't force a private business to do what you want them to.  She can't force them to decorate their interior the way she wants, nor can she force a dress code on them.  Anyway, I can't see anyone in town being stupid enough to want to walk around in lederhosen all the time.  I wouldn't call her a nemesis, as Sloan does, I'd call her a complete moron.

Also, since when do bars (and a brewery is a bar) serve meat and cheese trays?  As I've stated before, I eat at breweries (Las Vegas has great food anywhere you go) but their menus consist of food that actually go well with beer:  burgers, pizza, sandwiches, wings, etc.  Never have I seen any - even in towns I've visited with friends - meat and cheese trays.  I would guess people who drink beer don't say, "hey, you know what I'd like right now?  A meat and cheese tray!"  Just a thought...

Also, it's fine to think of Mac's family as her own, but eventually she'll go onto another relationship, (hopefully with Garrett) and so will Mac as one can hope; since he cheated on her and she forgave him he pretty much got away with it, so he'll do it again if she takes him back.  What happens then?  Are they going to leave their respective spouses to go 'have a family day?'  Or bring them with?  That would be an uncomfortable scenario, and I can't even imagine my husband doing something like that if he had a previous spouse.  I wouldn't be happy about it.  She needs to think about who's been there for her every time she needed someone, and it wasn't Mac.  Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying cutting ties because of her son Alex (whom I like very much) and who deserves to be around his relatives, but if she spends too much time with them it's less likely she'll be able to forge a new relationship.

Aside from these things (sorry, I'm big on details) this was definitely a step up from the first in the series, although that one wasn't bad at all.  I liked the mystery much better in this one; there were plenty of suspects to sift through, and a few clues here and there.  Everything had a nice continuity and made it an easy read.

We're getting to know the characters a little bit more each time and that's always a good thing; there was enough characterization to keep things going.  While we didn't get a lot of insight on the town businesses and people this time - it was Oktoberfest, after all, and that took center stage - still there was a little more information on the brewing process as there was in the last book, which was interesting.

There was also a nice subplot on Sloan's origins which I imagine will be expanded on in future books, and also her feelings for Garrett are beginning to grow; he obviously cares about Sloan and I look forward to seeing how their relationship progresses.

In the end, there were enough twists and turns to keep everything moving along nicely, and when the murderer was unmasked, it came as a surprise, which is a good thing.  I truly enjoyed this book and look forward to the next in the series.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Pint-Return-Sloan-Krause-Mystery/dp/1250108659/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2437895573

More on Ellie Alexander's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/ellie-alexander/

Death on Tap (A Sloan Krause Mystery #1)

Author:  Ellie Alexander
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover;  Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781250108630;
Minotaur Books
320 Pages
$16.21; $13.99 Amazon
October 3, 2017

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Sloan Krause has spent her life in Leavenworth, Washington, honing her brewing skills as the region's first female brewmaster - everyone in town agrees that she's got a nose for hops and a real talent for concocting delicious microbrews.  Ever since marrying into the Krause family and joining the cheery brewhaus they've owned for generations, she's had big plans to expand the family business by creating new, handcrafted German ales.  But when Sloan walks in on her husband, Mac, shagging the barmaid, she knows it's time to give him the boot.

With this recent, particularly unpleasant, turn of events, she decides to strike out on her own and take her brewing talents elsewhere.  Luckily, Nitro, the hip new nanobrewery in the Bavarian-themed town, sees her potential and hires her on the spot to help craft Northwest-inspired ales and to whip up a tasty new bar menu.  Nitro's owner, Garrett Strong, has the brew world abuzz with his newest recipe, Pucker-Up IPA.  His watering hole is the new cool place in town, and Mac can't help being green with envy at their success.

But just as Sloan is settling into her new gig she finds one of Nitro's competitors dead in a fermenting tank, clutching the secret recipe for the IPA.  When Mac is arrested, Sloan knows her her ex might be a cheater, but a murderer?  No way.  Danger is brewing in Beervaria and suddenly Sloan is on the case.

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Sloan Krause is a brewmaster at her husband's family's brewery, Der Keller.  On a day off, she decides to work anyway, and walks in on her husband while he's having sex with the new waitress.  She leaves and immediately throws him out of their home, then finds a new job at a rival brewery that has just started up.  Garrett Strong is a quiet man who keeps his cards close to his chest, but after tasting his new brew, Sloan realizes he knows what he's doing.

She's fairly happy in her new position, helping him with the menu and anything else that needs to be done.  But when they finally open for business, a rival brewmaster, Eddie, who is surly by nature seems even more so this evening, and it doesn't help that when Sloan arrives the next day she finds Eddie's body in one of the vats.

Seeing as how her husband's prints were on the vat, and his lighter was found near the body, he's arrested for the murder.  But Sloan knows that even though he cheated on her, he's no murderer, and she's decided to try and find out who might have wanted the rival brewmaster dead.  If she doesn't, Mac will be railroaded for the crime, and leave her son without a father, which she isn't willing to do...

First off, even though the blurb states it, Eddie was not found with the recipe in his hand.  In fact, that tidbit - where it was found and by whom it was taken - wasn't even mentioned until much later in the book.  Just getting it straight.

Anyway, this book was fine for a first effort, but I found a few things that bothered me.  All Sloan does is drink beer, but no mention is made that she even has any kind of a "beer belly."  Not even a little "pooch."  People who drink beer constantly - and she doesn't go to a gym to work out - would have some physical traits if they didn't do something about it.  She drinks a lot of beer.  In fact, that's all anyone drinks in this town.  She gets stressed, someone hands her a pint of beer.  There's a lot of stress in her life.  Point made.  She mentions once that her husband Mac is starting to get a belly, but never even mentions anything about herself - even though we never see Mac take a drink.

Secondly, she makes food for Nitro but I have issues with that.  She pulls chicken out of her fridge and cooks kebabs - for how many people?  A hundred?  Two?  How many chicken breasts did she have in there?  40 or 50?  Because ten or so kebabs is not going to feed all the people that showed up for opening night.  And it would take a long time to cook for that many people than what she supposedly did.  (Who keeps that much food at home, anyway, on the off chance they might have to cook for that many people?)

Plus, she only makes things with beer.  Who eats cupcakes, shortbread, and brownies made with beer?  And since when are they served at a brewery?  Personally, I don't drink, but I eat at a brewery or two in town, and they've never had common desserts like that at a bar.  Who would buy a cupcake or cookies at a bar?  This didn't ring true.  Maybe a fancy chocolate cake (three layers, heavy frosting) or a streudel (which would be more in line with a brewery) but not shortbread.  Never shortbread - unless the breweries of Washington have no imagination and the diners are willing to pay $5 for a brownie.  I don't see it.  (Or maybe I just eat at upscale breweries that don't serve food you can buy at any convenience store in town).

I also see that we're probably at the beginning of (ho hum) another love triangle.  Her husband cheated on her; and since she forgave him, he'll probably do it again.  The best she can do is cut her losses and tell him goodbye.  Honestly, I abhor love triangles, and if it goes that way in the second book, I am done with the series - especially since he cheated on her.  Honestly, I am so tired of books that have love triangles.  In real life, women don't usually have two boyfriends hanging around; and if the situation were reversed and this were a man with two women, you'd think him no better than a gigolo.  Garrett is obviously the better man - look at what he did when she was at the hospital.

The book was a light on the mystery and heavy on brewing information.  The brewing information wasn't boring, I'm not saying that at all; but I didn't think the mystery was all that interesting.  Yes, we had a dead body, and yes, we were finding out who wanted to commit the crime, but I didn't see that any of the suspects had a real reason to kill him.  Just breaking up with someone isn't enough to want them dead, in my book.  Any there was no real investigation going on by anyone.

Most of the book was on Sloan trying to help get Garrett's business off the ground, and worrying about Mac's family and how they were dealing with things.  It was okay, but not engrossing in any way.  They aren't that interesting of a family.  The parents are lovable, I get it; but they handled the brewery long before Sloan arrived and she should allow them the benefit of the doubt.  The book wasn't supposed to be about Mac's family, but that's what I felt it was about.

Anyway, it was fine for a first in the series book, but not anywhere near the I-can't-wait-to-read-the-next-in-the-series feeling I like to get from a book.  However, I will read the second and see if it improves at all...or if we have, as I said, a love triangle - which will end the series for me.   

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Tap-Mystery-Sloan-Krause/dp/1250108632/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2435515649

More on Ellie Alexander's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/a/ellie-alexander/

Death of an English Muffin (Merry Muffin Mystery #3)

Author:  Victoria Hamilton
Genre:  Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Audio CD; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780425258859; 9781515950356
Berkley Publishing
304 Pages
$7.19; $24.99; $7.99 Amazon
July 7, 2015

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They say one's home is one's castle, but when it comes to Wynter Castle, Merry would like it to belong to someone else.  But until a buyer bites, she could use some extra dough, so she decides to take in renters.  The idea pans out, and Merry's able to find a handful of tenants eager to live in a real castle.  The only problem is most of them are crumby, tea-swilling old biddies.

The Legion of Horrible Ladies, as Merry calls them, is led by the terribly nasty - and fabulously wealthy - Cleta Sanson.  The abrasive Englishwoman keeps everyone whipped into a frenzy - until she meets an embarrassing end behind a locked door.  Evidence reveals that Cleta was murdered, yet non one is privy to how the deed was done.  Merry knows she must quickly find the killer before another of her guests gets greased...

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Merry Wynter inherited Wynter Castle from her late uncle, and has decided to temporarily take in renters.  When her friend Pish says his aunt wants to stay, Merry is delighted.  But Aunt Lush shows up with a group of four other women - all well-to-do, whom Merry has termed the Legion of Horrible Ladies.  Now Merry's stuck with a demanding group of older women who don't seem to want to leave, and one of them - Cleta Sanson - outdoes all the others with her nasty barbs against others.  But since she's paid for the time, Merry's stuck with her or faces a lawsuit.

When Cleta is found dead it's at first considered natural circumstances.  But the coroner discovers that Cleta was murdered, and since the likely suspects are all staying at the castle, Merry doesn't want a murderer under her roof and does a little investigating on her own, hoping one of them will let something slip that leads her to the killer...

I was really hoping that this book, the third in the series, would improve over the last but it was not to be.  A lot of the book rehashed the characters from other books and it got tiresome hearing how what a good friend Pish was.  As a matter of fact, we really didn't get to know anything about most the guests, so never got to connect with them.  As far as the locals go, I can't in all honesty like Juniper, who doesn't listen to her employer and is mouthy; nor Emerald, who seems to have "found religion" of a sort and spouts it to Merry every chance she gets.  That's annoying in itself.

I also didn't feel the connection between Merry and Virgil.  I get that they're interested in each other, but there's no spark at all.  They seem to be just two people who sort of leeched onto one another for lack of better prospects around.  I also wondered about Merry's age.  When the books began she was thirty-nine, but now it's less than a year later and she's 'almost' forty-two?  How fast do people age in this town?  Some people even age backwards.  In the first book, Hannah mentions how she's thirty (stated "Binny left when Hannah was fifteen so it must have been fifteen years ago"); but now she's in her twenties.  Curious, indeed.

Of all the characters, I disliked Lauda as much as Cleta.  She was pushy, annoying, and rude; and we're supposed to believe she was the poor put-upon niece.  If I were Merry, I would have just handed her a refund check and told her to hightail it off my land.  I wouldn't put up with a rude, nasty person like that.  She really wasn't much different than her aunt and all Merry did was trade one for the other.  In Lauda's case, though, she could have removed her from the premises.  There's also something said to Lauda that pertains to the murder which didn't make sense to me because it would have to be proven in order to be valid.

I also didn't get why Merry would allow five people (plus herself, Pish, and assorted employees) to live at her home and cook for each and every one of them.  Just because someone is paying you rent doesn't mean you're responsible for all their meals.  I've yet to see a landlord provide meals to all their tenants (if people are staying for months you in effect become a landlord, not an innkeeper) three times a day.  Maybe breakfast, but send those people out to eat.  Not to mention the recipes in the back are horrendous - Chicken Spaghetti?  Bacon and Peanut Butter Muffins?  (What is it with the bacon muffins?  She had bacon muffins in the first book, too).  Just my opinion on the recipes, though...

Anyway, as you can tell I wasn't enthralled with this book.  It was merely average as far as cozies go.  There was nothing to make it stand out and even when Merry discovers a little bit more about her father's family in each book, it's not really interesting enough to make me care anything about any of them, Merry included.  She's got a rather morose type of personality, lamenting about one thing or another all the time.  At least she's beginning to change a little bit toward the end of the book, so that's a good thing.

At the end, while I didn't feel we were given any clues as to who the murderer was, it was satisfactory and everything came out alright.  As I said, this is fine for a mystery and can be read in a few hours or so.

https://www.amazon.com/Death-English-Muffin-Merry-Mystery/dp/0425258858/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2432370851

More on Victoria Hamilton's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/victoria-hamilton/

Bran New Death (A Merry Muffin Mystery #1)

Author:  Victoria Hamilton
Genre:  Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  97804252588352
Berkley Publishing
305 Pages
$6.39; $7.99 Amazon
September 3, 2013

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Merry is making a fresh start in small-town Autumn Vale, New York, in the castle she's inherited from her late uncle, Melvyn.  The house is run down and someone has been digging giant holes on the grounds, but with its restaurant-quality kitchen, the place has potential for her new baking business.  She even has her first client - the local retirement home.

Unfortunately, Merry soon finds that quite a few townsfolk didn't like Uncle Mel, and she has inherited their enmity as well as his home.  Local baker Binny Turner and her crazy brother, Tom, blame Melvyn for their father's death, and Tom may be the one vandalizing her land.  But when Tom turns up dead in one of the holes in her yard, Merry needs to prove she had nothing to do with his death - or her new muffin-making career may crumble before it starts...

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Merry Wynter inherited her Uncle Melvyn's castle in upstate New York.  While it needs a lot of work, she decided to do just enough to get it sold.  But when she arrived she saw giant holes all over the property.  With the help of her real estate agent, Jack McGill, who has volunteered to fill in the holes, and the arrival of her best friend Shilo, Merry is determined to make it work.

But what she doesn't count on is the people in town didn't much seem to care for her uncle, nor do they care for her.  Trying to make friends isn't going to be easy.  At least the local sheriff's mother Gogi,  who runs a retirement home, has hired her to make muffins for the residents - if she can get a license to do so; but at least it's a start.  But when Gogi asks her to look into Melvyn's accident, Merry is surprised.  Gogi thinks it was murder, and Merry reluctantly agrees to do so.

But it isn't going to be easy, especially since she's identified the person responsible for the holes and he later turns up dead in one of them.  Now, since she was seen threatening him and it was on her property, Merry begins to wonder if Gogi isn't right.  Two people are dead.  How many more will there be unless she can find out the truth?...

For the most part, I enjoyed this little mystery of a woman who has left a nightmare of a job - and the rumors surrounding the reason she left - to move to a little hamlet that might welcome her.  But instead she finds more rumors - this time surrounding her uncle and his death.  And when a local man is found dead on her property, she soon becomes embroiled in the murder mystery.

Yet with the help of her best friend and a local real estate agent, she's beginning to unravel things that someone has worked very hard to keep hidden, and it soon she realizes that her uncle might indeed have been murdered.

But what I didn't like was the fact that the local sheriff - who at first seemed to like her (and I am sure that will grow in other books) - could actually think she committed a murder, left town, and came back to get someone to 'find the body.'  Why do I say this?  It's not really a spoiler, but there is a scene where Lizzie finds a camp on Merry's property, and when she leads Merry to it later, inside the tent is a body.  The body has been there awhile and I assume is decomposing (because this person was missing before Merry even arrived in Autumn Vale).  Yet Sheriff Grace asks Lizzie if Merry led her to the body instead of the other way around.  How much sense does that make?  Merry would have to arrive unknown to anyone, wander around the woods, find the camp, kill someone, then leave town (again without anyone seeing her) and come back and act like she didn't know what was going on.  Especially since when she arrived in town she didn't know where the castle was and had to ask the sheriff for directions.  Really?   If the sheriff believes even for a minute that Merry killed someone, she shouldn't have anything to do with him.  The author could have done better than this if she thought about it.  Plus, Merry herself doesn't seem all that sharp on the uptake.

Then there's the ho-hum factor.  It's the fact that it's always the same: the protagonist arrives to a new place from whatever she's running from, and never has any money.  Never.  She always arrives on the edge of bankruptcy.  Just once I'd like to see her get where she's going with a healthy bank account.  I'm so tired of reading about women who are struggling just to get by and have to start a new life.  This time it's because she blew her money in the stock market.  As I said, Merry doesn't seem to be all that sharp on the uptake.

Anyway, when all is said and done, it was written pretty well, and I liked several of the characters.  I'm hoping in the next book Merry will discover that her uncle left a little money tucked away for her, but we will see.

We don't know a whole lot about Merry except the fact that her husband passed away seven years ago.  They were married two years, and he's been gone over three times that length of time, but she still hasn't moved on.  It sounds harsh, but they weren't married that long, and while her memories are all good, even some of those would start to fade over that amount of time; yet she keeps mourning her loss, and that's why she can't move on.  I would have liked to have a bit more of a physical description than just she used to be a 'plus-sized' model.

At the last, there are a couple of recipes in the back that were just okay.  (I would rather have had the recipe for the carrot muffins instead of bacon, which I'll never make).  Other than this, it was an average mystery that can be read in one evening.

https://www.amazon.com/Bran-Death-Merry-Muffin-Mystery/dp/0425258831/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2431298248

More on Victoria Hamilton's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/victoria-hamilton/

Plaster Sinners (A Flaxborough Mystery #11)

Author:  Colin Watson
Genre:  Mystery

[Hardcover; Paperback;] Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780385173384; 9780413516701
Farrago Publishing
160 Pages
[Various Prices]; $3.99 Amazon
July 12, 2018 (Reissue)

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Sergeant Love is a sucker for a picturesque country cottage.  

But he finds himself quite literally knocked out by the little bas-relief plaster cottage that's on display at Flaxborough's antiques auction.  This pretty but rather crudely painted trinket mysteriously sells for hundreds of pounds having sparked a heated bidding war, while the Sergeant gets floored by a would-be cottage thief.

So DI Purbright, teamed up with a world-weary brother officer down from London, must dig deep into the dubious past of the local gentry, the laconic Moldhams, in their crumbling stately pile, to find out how the little plaster picture leads to a tale of heirlooms and murder.

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Sergeant Sidney Love has some time before he's scheduled to go to work, so he stops at an auction.  While there he sees a box of supposed junk items, and among them is a plaster cast of a little cottage.  Sergeant Love thinks his young lady would enjoy this, and he's decided to bid on the lot.  But while standing there he doesn't notice the man right behind him, the one who has a heavy doorknob in his hand.  He also doesn't notice when the man hits him in the back of the head with the knob, sending him straight to the floor.

While unconscious, the man attempts to remove the plaster picture from Sid's hands, which are underneath his body, but is unable to do so.  Upon waking, he realizes that no one has seen anyone about.  An ambulance is sent for, and they don't take him seriously when he tells him he's a police officer nor that some unknown person hit him.

While at the hospital, he is visited by Detective Inspector Purbright, who takes the matter very seriously.  After getting the details from Sergeant Love, he decides to visit the auction himself and tells someone there that they are not to release the contents of this lot, regardless of the purchaser.  He is surprised when the bidding tops nearly 400 pounds.

Once he discovers who the fingerprints on the knob belong to, things get even more interesting.  And when a detective inspector from London arrives because he knows of the attacker, the story becomes even more bizarre as they start digging into the origins of the box of rubbish.  When a body turns up in the river that is connected to the case, Purbright finds that he now has a murder on his hands as well...

This book is another delightful entry in the Flaxborough Chronicles written by Colin Watson.  It is quite as involved as all the others, and we are given bits and pieces throughout the story that all eventually connect to each other.  Purbright is always enjoyable to read about and I love the methods he uses while solving a case.

We follow Purbright and crew as they dig into the reasons why anyone would be interested in a cheap plaster cast of a cottage.  What we come away with is the fact that all is not what it seems, and someone was - and still is - willing to do whatever it takes to keep the cottage in the hands it was intentionally meant for.

The mystery itself was a tight one, with all the threads weaving together nicely at the end.  It is always fascinating to see the means people will go to in order to keep their secrets hidden, and makes me grateful that I will never know any like this group of miscreants.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Plaster-Sinners-Flaxborough-Mystery-Watson-ebook/dp/B07C92MWWX/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2430202320

More on Colin Watson's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/w/colin-watson/