Books Read - February 2019

Bradbury, Laura

• My Grape Escape *****

Fiction.  Fourth in the Grape memoir series.  Laura and Francke buy a dilapidated stone cottage to renovate in order to rent it out to vacationers.

• My Grape Paris *****

Fiction.  Second in the Grape memoir seres.  Laura is in her third year of college and taking a year studying at the Sorbonne.  She’s wondering where their relationship is going and whether Franck will be returning to Montreal with her at the end of the year or if he will be staying in Paris without her.

• My Grape Village *****

Fiction.  Fifth in the Grape memoir series.  Laura and Francke and their two young daughters move back to France to renovate another rental cottage and also to buy their own home in Burgundy.  The girls starts school at Sacre Coeur, where Laura had spent her one exchange year in high school.

• My Grape Wedding *****

Fiction.  Third in the Grape memoir series.  Laura and Francke are in England, while Laura finishes her first year as a law student at Oxford.  They’re engaged now, but Laura is too busy stressing over school to concentrate on their upcoming wedding in Burgundy.  

Cleeland, Anne

• Murder in Hindsight ****

Fiction.  Third in the New Scotland Yard police thriller series.  Doyle has been approached by Savoie, the French gangster, who tells her not to trust Acton.  Williams has also told Doyle the same thing.  Acton still holds secrets from her, and when he takes up with a newspaper woman determined to be the next Lady Acton, Doyle is angered but determined to trust him.

• Murder in Retribution ****

Fiction.  Second in the New Scotland Yard police thriller series.  Deaths in the Russian and Irish mob are still happening, and Acton and Doyle are on the trail of the killers.  But Doyle suspects not all of the victims were killed by the mob.  Perhaps one was killed by her own husband in retaliation for an attempt on her life.

• Murder in Thrall ****

Fiction.  First in the New Scotland Yard police thriller.  DCI Doyle has been handpicked to work with DI Acton but has no idea he has been forming an attachment to her.  In the midst of several related murders, Doyle becomes a target.

Coehlo, Paulo

• Veronika Decides to Die ***

Fiction.  A young woman decides to kill herself but ends up at a mental asylum where she gets to know the other patients.  Her doctor tells her she has only a week to live, because the overdose she took adversely affected her heart, so she determines to figure out who she really is and what her purpose in life is.

Davenport, Kiana

• Song of the Exile *

Fiction.  Dismal tale of the atrocities suffered by prisoners at the hands of their guards in concentration camps.  Had nothing to do with the Hawaiian culture.

Dennison, Hannah

• Murder at Honeychurch Hall **

Fiction.  A woman travels to Devon to talk her mother into moving back to London but gets embroiled in a murder case where everyone is lying.  Couldn’t stand the mother, rude and obnoxious and a ditz.

Edwards, Martin

• The Coffin Trail ****

Fiction.  An Oxford don and his partner leave the big city to buy an old cottage in the Lake District.  He remembers the cottage from a short period of time that he spent there as a child.  His friend, Barrie, lived in that cottage, but when a woman is found murdered, Barrie is suspected of being the killer.  But Barrie died that same night.

Garrett, Danielle

• Newly Wed and Slightly Dead ****

Fiction.  Second in the Touch of Magic paranormal cozy mystery series.  Anatasia is working on a wedding for a high-society vampire and his human fiancee.  The groom’s mother is very much against the wedding, but when she turns up dead at the rehearsal dinner, the bride is suspect number one.

Hanna, H.Y.

• Dark Witch & Creamy ****

Fiction.  First in the Bewitched by Chocolate paranormal mystery series.    Caitlyn travels to the small Cotswold village of Tillyhenge to try to find information about her birth family.  She had been found as an infant on the side of the road and adopted by an American singer who recently passed away.  In Tillyhenge, Caitlyn is drawn into a murder mystery, during which she discovers magic and possibly the secrets surrounding her birth.

• Witch Mocha Morsel ****

Fiction.  Book 2.5 in the Bewitched by Chocolate paranormal cozy series.  Caitlyn chases after Nibs, who runs off into the forest at night.  She traces him to a cave under a bridge and finds herself face to face with a troll.

Hannah, Mari

• The Murder Wall ***

Fiction.  First in the Kate Daniels police mystery series.  A serial killer is on the loose, and Kate and her team are working hard to identify and stop him.  When her former lover becomes a possible suspect, Kate works without the bounds of the law to try and rescue her.

Harper, Karen

• Shattered Secrets *****

Fiction.  First in the Cold Creek mystery trilogy.  Tess returns to Cold Creek to sell her mother’s house, but she’s terrified of the memories, or lack of memories, she has of being abducted as a child.  When another child go missing, Tess works with the local sheriff to try to find her.

Heckart, Kelley

• Cat’s Curse ****

Fiction.  First in the Dark Goddess fantasy trilogy.  Cardea was a high priestess of Astarte many centuries ago, but she has been cursed to spend the rest of her days as a bloodsucker who must stay out of the sunlight.  Aedan is a prince whose clan has been cursed by Cat Anna to turn into a cat if he ever touches a woman.  Cardea and Aedan meet and fall in love, but their relationship is doomed from the beginning.

Hoffman, Alice

• At Risk ****

Fiction.  A family is struck by tragedy when their 11-year-old daughter contracts AIDS through a blood transfusion.  Each member of the family has a different reaction and coping method, but they’re trying to keep the family together.

Lackey, Mercedes

• A Tangled Web *****

Fiction.  Tangle tale of the Gods of Olympus, a Valkyrie, and her mortal husband.  Persephone is in love with Hades, but Demeter is trying to keep Persephone safe at home.  Hades comes up with a plan to have his love join him in the Underworld.

Larmer, C.A.

• The Agatha Christie Book Club ****

Fiction.  First in the Agatha Christie Book Club cozy mystery series.  Alicia decides to start a book club featuring her favorite author, Agatha Christie, but when reality begins to follow fiction, the whole club is swept up in an investigation.

• Evil Under the Stars ***

Fiction.  Third in the Agatha Christie Book Club cozy mystery series.  The club attends a cinema in the park, but when a body is found just a few feet away, they jump into the investigation despite the police warnings to stay out of it.

• Murder on the Orient (SS) ****

Fiction.  Second in the Agatha Christie Book Club cozy mystery series.  The club is on a 4-day cruise from Sydney to Auckland, when the wife of the captain is lost at sea.  It is unknown whether she committed suicide, it was an accident, or is was murder.

Martin, Faith

• The Birthday Mystery ***

Fiction.  First in the Jenny Starling cozy mystery series.  Jenny is a traveling cook who is hired to cater a birthday party for a wealthy set of twins at The Beeches.  On the morning before she arrives, a body is found in the pond, but the party is still scheduled to happen.  When both of the twins are poisoned, Jenny assists the local coppers in solving the murder. 

• The Winter Mystery ****

Fiction.  Second in the Jenny Starling cozy mystery series.  Jenny has been hired to cook at a farm over the Christmas holiday.  Two brothers run the farm, along with the younger generation.  One of the brothers, Sid, is a very kind, caring person.  His younger brother, Stan, on the other hand is feared by everyone.  When Sid is found dead at the kitchen table, Jenny steps in to help the police discover the murderer.

Swan, Penelope

• The Netherfield Affair ****

Fiction.  Fan fiction of the Pride and Prejudice world.  Elizabeth Bennett travels to the next mansion to care for her ailing sister.  While there she uncovers the theft of jewelry, though she is thought to be a suspect herself by her hosts.

Vanderah, Glendy

• Where the Forest Meets the Stars *****

Fiction.  Jo’s cancer is in remission, and she’s getting caught up with her graduate studies by spending the summer doing research in southern Illinois.  She’s staying at a cabin owned by a professor, and one evening she is surprised to see a young girl hanging around the cabin.  She tries to get the girl to go home, but the girl insists she is an alien from the Pinwheel Galaxy and cannot go home until she witnesses five miracles.