Books Read - June 2019

Amphlett, Rachel

• Scared to Death *****

Fiction.  First in the Detective Kay Hunter police series.  A girl has been kidnapped, and her parents haven’t called the police hoping to get their daughter back safely.  Their gamble failed, and the girl was dead before they found her.  Kay’s team is brought into find the kidnapper, but another girl goes missing.

Anderson, Catherine

• Silver Thaw *****

Fiction.  First in the Mystic Creek romance series.  Amanda and her daughter are hiding out from her abusive husband.  Jeb happens on them during a snowstorm that makes their home uninhabitable and invites them to take shelter with him. Though Amanda is afraid of him, she has no choice but to stay with him, and as the days wear on, an attraction grows between them.

Bahrami, Beebe

• Cafe Oc: A Nomad’s Tales of Magic, Mystery, and Finding Home in the Dordogne of Southwestern France *****

Non-fiction.  A memoir of an anthropologist/writer who finds home and peace in Sarlat, France.

• Cafe Neandertal: Excavating Our Past in One of Europe’s Most Ancient Places *****

Non-fiction.  A memoir of an archaeological dig in the south of France.

Blair, Rickie

• From Garden to Grave ***

Fiction.  A woman returns home to deal with the affairs of her aunt, who has disappeared and is presumed dead.

Blythe, Bianca

• Murder at the Manor House **

Fiction.  First in the Starving Starlet cozy mystery series.  Cora accompanies her friend, Veronica, to England to stay with Veronica’s new in-laws, the Duke and Duchess of Hawley.  When the Duke is murdered, Cora is determined to find the killer.

Brassett, Pete

• She ***

Fiction.  First in a mystery series set in England.  Munro and his DS solve a crime of a serial killer who dismembers her victims.

Briggs, Patricia

• Moon Called *****

Fiction.  First in the Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series.  Mercy becomes involved in a power struggle between werewolves and rushes to help save a kidnapped girl.

Budewitz, Leslie

• Assault and Pepper ****

Fiction.  First in the Spice Shop cozy mystery series.  Pepper runs her spice shop at the Pike Place Market in Seattle.occasionally giving out cups of tea to the homeless.  One morning she finds one of them dead on her doorstep with a cup of spilt tea at his side.  The police think he’s been poisoned.

Coehlo, Paulo

• The Devil and Miss Prym ****

Fiction.  Set in a small village in southern France, this is the story of whether man is inherently good or inherently evil.

Crater, Theresa

• The Judgment of Osiris ***

Fiction.  Short story in the Power Places series.  An Egyptologist and his wife are leading a tour of the Egyptian temples, when he is poisoned by a rival and experiences a dire vision.

• Under the Stone Paw ****

Fiction.  First in the Power Places series.  Anne learns about her family’s big secret, but she has just two months to get caught up on all the training she’ll need to help the light come back into the world. There are forces all over the world trying to stop this from happening, but a core group of people, the Keepers of the Keys, might possibly have a chance.

Flower, Amanda

• Assaulted Caramel ****

Fiction.  First in the Amish Candy Shop cozy mystery series.  Bailey leaves New York to visit her Amish grandparents in Ohio when she learns that her grandfather is sick.  He’s being pressured to sell his candy shop, but the man who wants to buy him out is murdered in the kitchen, and Bailey becomes the prime suspect.

• Criminally Cocoa ***

Fiction.  Second in the Amish Candy Shop cozy mystery series.  A young Amish girl meets the Big Apple when Bailey takes her on rumspringa.  Bailey has a TV show to shoot, but someone on the set is sabotaging her.

• Lethal Licorice ***

Fiction.  Third in the Amish Candy Shop cozy mystery series.  A candy competition has arrived in town, and Bailey is ready to compete.  But it’s an Amish competition, and one of the other competitors is incensed that Bailey was allowed to enter.  When she is found murdered, Bailey becomes a suspect.

• Premeditated Peppermint ***

Fiction.  Fourth in the Amish Candy Shop cozy mystery series.  The Christmas festival is in town, and Bailey’s ex shows up with a TV crew to shoot an episode of his cooking show in Harvest.  His executive producer makes an impression on Bailey as an outstanding businesswoman, but when she is found strangled and Bailey’s ex becomes a suspect, he begs Bailey to help him.

Galenorn, Yasmine

• The Silver Mist *****

Fiction.  Sixth in the Wild Hunt urban fantasy series.  Ember and the rest of the Wild Hunt travels to the Olympic Peninsula to help a friend and to save another from the Tuathan Brotherhood.

Gray, Lisa

• Thin Air *****

Fiction.  First in the Jessica Shaw thriller series.  Jessica is a private investigator working on a missing persons case that is 25 years old.  She learns that it involves a murder.  Meanwhile, a police detective is investigating a new murder in the same general area.

Griffiths, Elly

• The Crossing Places *****

Fiction.  First in the Ruth Galloway mystery series.  Ruth lives on the edge of the Saltmarsh, an eerie and dangerous place to wander.  When human bones are found, the police ask for her expertise in dating them but find the bones are thousands of years old, not the recent bones of a missing girl.

Higgs, Steve

• Spooky Shopping Mall Case 1 ***

Fiction.  First in the Harper Folly cozy mystery series.  Amanda is a police officer who also works as a private investigator, and her first case takes place at a shopping mall where odd things are happening in elevators.

Jones, Stacy M.

• Harper’s Folly ***

Fiction.  First in the Hattie and Harper Magical cozy mystery series.  Hattie always wanted Harper to come live with her, but Harper is business in New York working on a magazine and her marriage.  But when both come tumbling down, she’s off to visit Hattie in Little Rock.

Kaye, M.M.

• Death in Kashmir ****

Fiction.  First in the Death In... mystery series.  Set in India in 1946, Sarah is enjoying the last days of the Raj by going on a ski trip to Kashmir.  She gets caught up in a spy mystery when her new friend is murdered, and Sarah is left to finish her mission.

Lester, Paula

• Ghostly Trails ***

Fiction.  First in the Sunnyside Retired Witches Community Cozy Mystery series.  Zoey and her frenemy, Hope, are drawn into a case of a poltergeist who kills.

Lourey, Jess

• The Adventure of the First Problem ***

Fiction.  Prequel to the Sophie’s Cypher series.  Sophie and Bel are in the cemetery to decode a cypher on a mausoleum, when Sophie ends up trapped inside with a dead body and an unconscious little girl.

Menuhin, Karen

• Murder at Melrose Court ****

Fiction.  First in the Heathcliff Lennox mystery series.  Lennox’ butler finds a dead man on the manor’s front porch, and all he has on him is a pieces of paper with the Countess’ name on it.  Apparently this wasn’t a murder.  But Lennox goes to spend the holidays at his uncle’s estate, only to find out that his uncle is about to wed said countess.  When she is murdered, Lennox becomes the prime suspect.

Moore, Ann

• Leaving Ireland *****

Fiction.  Second in the Gracelin O’Malley trilogy.  Grace and her daughter, Mary Kate, travel to the New World with the hopes that their troubles are far behind them, but when an evil man discovers that Grace is running from the law, he threatens to tell the police when they arrive.

• ‘Til Morning Light *****

Fiction.  Third in the Gracelin O’Malley trilogy.  Grace and the children are settled in San Francisco, and she is looking forward to marrying captain Reinders.  Unbeknownst to her, her brother Sean is also living in the city, and her one true love is on his way to find her.

Mosse, Kate

• The Taxidermist’s Daughter *****

Fiction.  Connie and her father ply their trade as taxidermists, but secrets from the pass might destroy them.  Connie has lost all memory up until after an accident she had as a child, and her father is pleased she can’t remember the awful night it happened. When men begin disappearing, Connie is swept into the investigation as bits and pieces of her memory slowly come back to her.

Smith-Padgett, Gayle

• Passion for Provence ****

Fiction.  Memoir of a couple’s residence in France.

Stafford, K.P.

• Money, Murder and Mayhem **

Fiction.  Cozy mystery. 

• Mrs. Pickles’ Perilous Parting ***

Fiction.  Cozy mystery set in a theatre.  Jess is trying to keep her theatre going, but when her female star is murdered, she doesn’t know who is responsible.

Stone, Victoria Helen

• False Step ****

Fiction.  Victoria is having an affair with her husband’s best friends, but then her husband had cheated on her at least once too.  She wants a divorce but is afraid of scarring their daughter.  When her husband finds a lost toddler, he’s touted as a hero, but Victoria finds clues that maybe he isn’t as innocent as he claims.

Weldon, Sarah Jane

• Baa’d to the Bone ***

Fiction.  Beau is a young border collie getting ready to work at his new farm.

• Dead on Doughnuts ***

Fiction.  Two young women head off to Austria to work as baristas during their gap year.

Workman, P.D.

• Vegan Baked Alaska ***

Fiction.  First in the Auntie Clem’s Bakery series.  Erin and her friends are on an Alaska cruise but get into trouble when she sees one of the crew throw another man overboard.