Books Read - January 2019

Ashford, Lindsay Jayne

• The Snow Gypsy *****

Fiction.  Two women born in different countries are brought together due to a linked past.  Rose is looking for her brother who went off to fight in the Spanish Civil War, and Lola who finds a newborn baby at the same moment she finds her mother and twin brother murdered by the Guardia Civil.

Beaton, M.C.

• The Dead Ringer ****

Fiction.  Thirty-second in the Agatha Raisin cozy mystery series.  Agatha gets involved with another murder, this time involving a group of bell ringers in a nearby town.

Belcamino, Krist

• City of the Dead ***

Fiction.  First in the Gia Santella thriller series.  Gia’s parents and brother were murdered, and now the mob is after her.  She wants to turn to the only person she has left, her godfather, but she’s suddenly unsure if she can trust him or if he is the one responsible for killing her family.

Bradbury, Laura

• My Grape Year *****

Fiction.  First in the Grape memoir series.  Laura travels to France on an exchange program, and she falls in love with the country and the people, not to mention the food and the wine.  She dreams of falling in love and hopes that her time in France will help that dream come true.

Calverley, J.M.

• Lokahi’s Triangle *****

Fiction.  Fourth in the Reef Kahili detective series set on the Big Island.  The bizarre death of a doctor brings Reef and his partner, Kalani, a case that hits close to home and involves the art of lomilomi healing and illicit drugs.

Garrett, Danielle

• Cupid in A Bottle ***

Fiction.  First in the Touch of Magic paranormal cozy mystery series.  Anastasia is working on a wedding, but when the groom declares his love for the maid of honor, the bride calls off the wedding.  This might all have resulted from a love potion created by Anastasia’s little sister.

Green, Cass

• In a Cottage in a Wood ****

Fiction.  A young woman sees someone on a bridge late at night and asks if she is okay.  They speak for a moment, and the second woman jumps off the bridge to her death.  The young woman is shocked to find that she has been left a cottage in a wood and finds herself in the middle of a mystery that has far reaching consequences.

Hanna, H.Y.

• Tea with Milk and Murder ****

Fiction.  Second in the Oxford Tea Room mysteries.  Gemma’s best friend has fallen in love with an art dealer, but Gemma is suspicious of him from the beginning, though she can’t tell why.  When he hosts a showing at his gallery and a woman who claims a previous relationship with him falls dead at Gemma’s feet, she wonders if she suspects him because he’s guilty or if it’s because she just doesn’t trust him.

Krentz, Jayne Ann

• Copper Beach ***

Fiction.  First in the Dark Legacy sci-fi thriller.  A woman is hunted for her psi abilities, and she is hired by a man who is willing to serve as her bodyguard, to find a lab book.

Kuhn, Cynthia

• The Semester of Our Discontent ****

Fiction.  First in the Lila MacLean Literary mysteries.  Lila is teaching her first semester at Stonewood College, and she finds the politics of academia disturbing.  When the head of her department insults her work and is then found murdered, she becomes a suspect.

Lackey, Mercedes

• The Fairy Godmother ****

Fiction.  First in the 500 Kingdoms series.  Elena (Cinderella) seeks to hire herself out when her wicked stepmother and stepsisters run away from their creditors leaving her alone.  But the one who hires her is a Godmother, and Elena’s whole life is changed.

• One Good Knight ****

Fiction.  Second in the 500 Kingdoms series.  Princess Andromeda lives a lonely life, for the most part ignored by her mother, Queen Cassiopeia.  But when the queen devises a plan to have Andie killed by a dragon, Andie and her Champion, Gina, and their rag tag army return with a vengeance.

Larsson, Asa

• Sun Storm ***

Fiction.  First in the Rebecka Martinsson mystery series.  Rebecca returns to her hometown and gets involved in a murder mystery.  She has to protect two young girls from their mother and their uncle’s murderer against the church.

Llewellyn, A.J.

• Uhane Hunter ****

Fiction.  First in the Danny Morales P.I. paranormal mystery series.  Danny sees ghosts.  Ghosts of victims, ghosts of murderers, ghosts of dogs, and ghosts of ancestral spirits.

Neal, TW

• Freckled: A Memoir of Growing Up in Hawai’i *****

Non-fiction.  A fascinating tale of a young girl growing up with hippie parents on the island of Kaua’i.

Pandian, Gigi

• The Cambodian Curse and Other Stories *****

Fiction.  Short stories in the Jaya Jones mystery series.

• The Elusive Elixir ****

Fiction.  Third in the Accidental Alchemist series.  Zoe travels to Paris to learn more about backward alchemy and to find another gargoyle who was captured in stone.  When she returns home, others are following her and bring nothing but trouble.

• Michelangelo’s Ghost ****

Fiction. Fourth in the Jaya Jones mystery series.  Jaya travels to Italy to track down the art studio of a centuries’ old artist at the Parco dei Mostri.  Her brother and his new girlfriend accompany her, and Lane shows up with a big surprise.

• The Ninja’s Illusion ****

Fiction.  Fifth in the Jaya Jones mystery series.  Sanjay flies Jaya to Japan to see his new magic show in which the magician he’s working with will be performing a famous illusion.  But when the magician is killed, and the murderer seems to have Sanjay in his sights, Jaya and Tamarind have to help solve the mystery.

Parker, Lehua

• Fractured Beauty ****

Fiction.  Anthology of fractured Beauty and the Beast fairytales.

• One Boy, No Water *****

Fiction.  First in the Niuhi Shark Saga trilogy.  Zader had a mysterious birth, and when Uncle Kahana found him lying on the lava at the beach, he took the baby home and gave him to his sister who raised him as her own son.  Zader is allergic to water, which causes all sorts of problems for him, but he’s a truly talented artist.  Uncle Kahana has not yet told Zader where he came from or who he really is.

Schumann, Katrin

• The Forgotten Hours ***

Fiction.  A woman remembers her best friend as a girl in an idyllic time that ended when the best friend accused the woman’s father of rape.  She doesn’t understand why her friend turned on her family, but the effects of that summer lasted well into her adulthood.

Shaw, Rebecca

• The New Rector ****

Fiction.  First in the Tales from Turnham Malpas series.  Very light mystery about people living in a village going through their lives with the occasional murder.