Books Read - September 2015

Abbott, Victoria

• The Marsh Madness ****

Fiction.  Fourth in the cozy mystery series set in Harrison Falls, New York.  Mrs. Van Alst is invited to the Summerlea, the Kauffman estate, to look at some first edition Ngaio Marsh books.  Jordan and Kev accompany her to the luncheon, and the deal is made.  The next day, the police show up and accuse them of murdering Chadwick Kauffman.  While they’re trying to stay out of jail, Jordan learns that people are not what they seem, but that doesn’t prevent the police from concentrating on Jordan, Vera, and Kev as the prime suspects.

Allen, Jenny Jo

• Connecting with Crystals ****

Non-fiction.  Information on creating crystal divination sets for divination.

Allende, Isabel

• The House of the Spirits *****

Fiction.  This family saga set in South America is centered around three unique women, Clara, her daughter Blanca, and her granddaughter Alba, and the men in their lives.  In the midst of political unrest, these women are simply trying to keep their families together.

Beaton, M.C.

• The Wizard of Evesham ****

Fiction.  Eighth book in the Agatha Raisin cozy mystery series set in the Cotswolds of England.  Agatha is bored and tired of waiting for James Lacey to return home, so she looks around for any mysteries to solve.  Her hair is showing some grey roots, so she takes herself off to a hairdressing salon in Evesham that she’d heard good things about.  Mr. John’s has a lot of good energy, and Agatha is just relaxing when the owner, John, comes to work on her hair.  He’s handsome and flirty, and before she knows it, she finds herself falling for him.

Bevill, C.L.

• The Flight of the Scarlet Tanager *****

Fiction.  Teddy is on the run for her life, but seeing a young boy fall off a bridge into the ocean makes her forget her own danger, and she leaps off to save him.  Unfortunately, the ensuing news  coverage has film of her face, and the danger she fears hunts her down.  

• The Life and Death of Bayou Billy ***

Fiction.  Bayou Billy was an infamous thief who spent time living in two towns on opposite sides of the Mississippi river.  When he died, a feeding frenzy erupted, as both towns tried desperately to gain access to his remains, in the hope that it would be good for tourism.

• Missile Rats *****

Fiction.  Rick Skeets decides to join the military, and after interviewing several recruiters, he chooses the US Army.  Missiles are what interest him, so off he goes to basic training.  The Army isn’t everything the recruiter told him it  would be, in fact it’s very different.  As his eyes are opened to life in the military, he goes through advanced training, and then more training to become a Nike-Hercules technician.  As bizarre as his life becomes, he still prefers it to going home to live with his ma.

• Shadow People *****

Fiction.  Urban fantasy set in Texas and Oregon.  Penelope Quick is a creeper, a sneak thief, a cat burglar.  She had planned to wait on her friend, Jeremy, to do the creep together, but she needs money quickly in order to pay her blind mother’s quarterly fees at the retirement home, and Jeremy is out of town.  This house isn’t like most houses, it has a reputation of behind haunted.  It’s been known as a murder house since a man who lived there killed his wife, their four children, and even the family dog, before turning the gun on himself.  Penelope doesn’t believe in ghosts, something she reminds herself as she’s emptying the safe in the basement.  Until she hears a sound behind her.

Blackwell, Juliet

- The Paris Key *****

Fiction.  Genevieve is ending her marriage, and her elderly uncle in Paris has just died and left her his locksmith shop.  Genevieve had spent a summer there when she was 14 and recovering from her mother’s death, and to keep her mind occupied and the sorrow at bay, her uncle Dave had taught her how to open and work with locks.  Trying to have a fresh start in her life, she moves to Paris to take over Dave’s shop, and in doing so, learns who she is, and who her mother was.

• Spellcasting in Silk *****

Fiction.  Seventh in the paranormal cozy mystery series set in San Francisco.  Lily Ivory runs a vintage clothing store with a side business of helping the police solve otherworldly situations.  The magical issues in the city is ramping up, and the police need her help in resolving a situation in a local botanica, where the owner has been jailed in relationship to the suicide of a woman.  Lily must also find the owner’s granddaughter, who has gone missing.

Blake, Heather

• Some Like It Witchy *****

Fiction.  Fifth in the Wishcraft paranormal cozy mystery series set in Enchanted Village.  Darcy’s aunt Ve is running for mayor, and the town is arguing whether part of the forest should be razed to build more houses.  The forest, being sacred, is very important  to the Crafters in the village.  Darcy’s current assignment is to help her friend, Calliope, find a house to buy, and Calliope has her heart set on the Tavistock, but she has tough competition, and a bidding war has started.  Raina, the realtor, is late for the showing, so Darcy and Calliope decide to look around by themselves, only to find Raina’s corpse stuffed into a closet.

Galenorn, Yasmine

• Night Shivers *****

Fiction.  Sixth in the Indigo Court series.  Cecily and Grieve face another danger in the form of a giant wolf.  Fenrick sees her as a young and untried queen and hopes to take over her throne.  Cecily is determined to send him back from whence he came.

Greiman, Lois

• Unplugged ****

Fiction.  Second in the Chrissy McMullen cozy series.  Chrissy’s geeky acquaintance has gone missing, and Laney, her best friend, has asked Chrissy to find him.  Much to Chrissy’s chagrin, Laney has fallen for the millionaire geek and is desperate to know why he’s gone missing.  Rivera is brought back into her life when she goes to the police department to missing J.D. as missing, and he knocks her hormones out of kilter once again.

• Unzipped ****

Fiction.  First in the Chrissy McMullen cozy series.  Chrissy is a psychologist with a practice in Los Angeles.  She is treating one of her patients for impotency, when she suddenly finds out in a brutal way that he has been lying to her all along.  Unfortunately for her, the patient dies in her office, and she has to convince  police lieutenant Rivera that she is innocent of the murder.

Lavene, Joyce & Jim

• Be My Banshee *****

Fiction.  First in a new paranormal cozy mystery series set in Norfolk, Virginia.  Sunshine Merryweather owns the Purple Door Detective Agency.  Her lover has been murdered, and she has to solve the case and hire someone to replace him.  When a bean sidhe walks into her office during the interviews, Sunshine isn’t sure what to do with her.  The bean sidhe, Aine of Ulster, is not here to apply for the job, but to hire Sunny to find the last remaining O’Neill of the family she had been guarding for hundreds of years.

LoTempio, T.C.

• Meow If It’s Murder ***

Fiction.  First in a cozy mystery series set in Cruz, California.  Nora Charles has left a crime reporting job in Chicago to take over the family deli.  At first, she thinks she’s left that whole world of crime and mobsters behind her, but as she becomes entangled in trying to solve a murder, her old skills come into play.

Roberts, Anthony H.

• The Beautiful Shore ***

Fiction.  Short story about Jonah, a father who had lost a son and a faith, and how he found them again.