Books Read - December 2018

Charles, Ann

• Don’t Let It Snow in Deadwood *****

Fiction.  Tenth in the Deadwood Humorous cozy mystery series.  The kids and Aunt Zoe are already at Violet’s parents’ house in Rapid City, but Violet, Doc, Harvey, Nat, and Cornelius are stuck in the snow on the way there.  Reid and Coop come to the rescue in a snowcat, but Violet’s worried that her sister Susan will ruin Christmas all the same.

Craney, Glen

• The Fire and the Light ****

Fiction.  The Catholics have condemned the Cathars, and Esclarmonde de Foix has been caught up in the ongoing battle to save her people.

Flowers, R. Barri

• Dead in Pukalani **

Fiction.  First in a mystery series.  The main character, a private investigator, is hired to find out who killed a woman’s sister. The sister was involved in gunrunning but was also having an affair with a married man, so there are many suspects.

Galenorn, Yasmine

• The Longest Night ***

Fiction.  Short story in the Starwood pagan series.  

• A Shadow of Crows *****

Fiction.  Fourth in the Wild Hunt urban fantasy series.  Ember is shocked to find out that Herne has a daughter that he’s never known about, and as they’re getting acquainted with her, they’re in search of a missing man whose fiancee has come to them for help.

Garrett, Danielle

• One Bad Witch ***

Fiction.  Ninth in the Beechwood Harbor Witch cozy mystery series.  Holly gets an extra assignment by the SPA to keep an eye on a new resident at the manor.  When the new resident takes up with Nick, Holly is torn between doing her job and keeping her friendship.

• Tide Dance ****

Fiction.  Tenth in the Beechwood Harbor Witch cozy mystery series.  A mysterious girl appears in town and needs Holly’s help.  She’s a selkie and has lost her pelt.

• When Good Ghosts Get the Blues ****

Fiction.  Third in the Beechwood Harbor Ghost cozy mystery series.  All she wants is a quiet romantic vacation with her boyfriend in New Orleans, but when a man is killed and the only witness is a ghost, her boyfriend is the prime suspect.

Goddin, Nell

• The Third Girl ****

Fiction.  First in the Molly Sutton mystery series set in France.  Molly is newly divorced and has moved to a village in southern France where she’s bought a house with a rental cottage on the property.  A young woman attending the local art school has disappeared, and it turns out she is the third one who has gone missing in the past several years.  When the girl’s parents rent Molly’s cottage for their stay, she is drawn into the mystery.

Hoover, Colleen

• Verity *****

Fiction.  A mediocore writer is hired to finish the last three books in a series by an incapacitated well-known author who was in a car accident.  She travels to the author’s home to go through her  records and acquaint herself with Verity’s books, but when she finds an autobiography, she realizes the horrifying truth.

Kinsey, T.E.

• In the Market for Murder ***

Fiction.  Second in the Lady Hardcastle mystery series.  Lady Hardcastle and her main, Armstrong, are asked by the local constable to assist in a robbery case at the rugby center.  While solving that case, they are drawn into the larger mystery of a murdered man.

Lavene, Joyce

• Dae’s Christmas Past ****

Fiction. Sixth in the Missing Pieces cozy mystery series.  Demon horses are called forth to kill humans in Duck, and Dae has to face an old shaman to rid the town of the beasts.

• A Finder’s Fee ****

Fiction.  Fifth in the Missing Pieces cozy mystery series.  Dae puts on an antique amber necklace and connects to Maggie, a tavern wench who lived 400 years ago.  Maggie begs Dae to help her retriever her bones so they can be buried next to her pirate lover.  The mayoral election is drawing near, but when Dae finds an old race car belonging to her opponent while searching for Maggie’s bones, she also uncovers the skeleton of a race car driver that sends her opponent to jail.

• A Haunting Dream ***

Fiction.  Fourth in the Missing Pieces cozy mystery series.  Kevin’s fiancee who he hasn’t seen in several years has shown up in town and puts the breaks on Kevin’s and Dae’s relationship.  A young girl goes missing, and several men have been murdered.  Dae is busy campaigning for re-election the next year.

• A Spirited Gift ***

Fiction.  Third in the Missing Pieces cozy mystery series.  A fierce storm brews through town and brings a pirate ghost who needs Dae’s help.  During a meeting of mayors at the Blue Whale Inn, one of them is killed, and Dae needs her ghost relative to help her solve that msytery.

• A Timely Vision ***

Fiction.  First in the Missing Pieces cozy mystery series.  An elderly woman is murdered on the beach, and when her sister is accused of the crime, the mayor stands up to the police chief and refuses to let her be taken into custody.

• A Touch of Gold ***

Fiction.  Second in the Missing Pieces cozy mystery series.  Dae touches a piece of old gold, which leads her on a quest to solve a murder and to find a missing person that everyone thought was dead.

• A Watery Death ****

Fiction. Seventh in the Missing Pieces cozy mystery series.  Merfolk appear in Duck after the captain of a gambling ship is found murdered, and Dae must prove their innocence.

Leigh, Lora

• Shattered Legacy ***

Fiction.  First in the Legacies erotic fantasy series.  Four daughters of a sorcerer marry four immortal warriors.  An evil being, Jonar, is out to capture his granddaughter, one of the daughters.  The warriors set forth to beat him in battle.

Levy, Marc

• The Last of the Stanfields ****

Fiction.  Set in England, France, the US, and Canada, this mystery spans several generations and bounces back and forth between the 40’s, the 80’s, and the present time.  Beginning during the second world war with a young American pilot who crash lands in France, missing art and several love affairs tell a fascinating tale.

MacInerney, Karen

• Iced Inn ****

Fiction.  Ninth book in the Gray Whale Inn cozy mystery series set on Cranberry Island in Maine.  Gwen’s wedding is just a few days away, and the in-laws and wedding guests are showing up to the inn.  In town, someone has stolen all of the toys people have donated for a fundraiser, and it’s up to Nat to find them.

Neal, Toby

• Wired Courage *****

Fiction.  Eighth in the Paradise Crime thriller series.  Sophie gives birth to her daughter Momi, only to have her ripped from her side by her evil mother, Pim Wat.  Pim Wat plans to keep Momi for her own, but Sophie and her cadre of fighting men, headed by Jake and Connor, rush to find and save her.

Obama, Michelle

• Becoming *****

Non-fiction.  The story of America’s first black First Lady, an amazing woman who has led an amazing life, and who continues to give back to the people of this country.

Pandian, Gigi

• The Accidental Alchemist *****

Fiction.  First in the Accidental Alchemist series.  Zoe has been running for years, but settling in Portland is her shot at a normal life, or so she thinks.  When she opens one of her shipping crates, expecting to find some alchemical ingredients, she finds a stone gargoyle, one who comes to life right in front of her.

• Artifact ****

Fiction.  First in the Jaya Jones mystery series.  Jaya’s ex-boyfriend sends her a mysterious and very old ruby bracelet for safekeeping.  When she finds out that he has been killed, she travels to Scotland to find out what really happened and where the bracelet came from.

• The Masquerading Magician *****

Fiction.  Second in the Accidental Alchemist series.  A traveling magic show has come to town, and Zoe suspects the magician of being an alchemist.  Hoping he’ll be able to help her decipher the codes in Dorian’s book, she unwittingly lets her secret be known.

• Pirate Vishnu ****

Fiction.  Second in the Jaya Jones mystery series.  Jaya receives a treasure map from a man who is murdered that night.  It leads her on an adventure to India and back to San Francisco.  The mysterious Lane appears once again to save her life but soon disappears again.

• Quicksand ****

Fiction.  Third in the Jaya Jones mystery series.  Lane sends a first-class plane ticket to Jaya, and she jumps at the chance to visit Paris even though the school semester has just started.  When she arrives at the hotel, she finds out that the ticket hadn’t come from Lane, it was from a man named North, the man Lane had been hiding from for years.  He coerces Lane and Jaya to help him steal a treasure from Mont St. Michel, but an encounter with a rising tide brings danger to them all.

Books Read - November 2018

Allan, Barbara

• Antiques Maul ***

Fiction. Second in the Antiques cozy mystery series.  Mother and daughter decide to run a stall at a local antiques mall.  When the owner of the mall is killed and her dog is the suspect.  Mother and daughter work together to solve the mystery.

Amitrani, Riley

• The Haunting of Alfred House **

Fiction.  A young couple move into a house only to find it already inhabited by a taxidermist and his subjects.

• The Haunting of Carver’s Arms Pub ***

Fiction.  A rash of burglaries in a small village bring two out of town police officers to investigate.  When the ghost of a murdered woman announces her presence, an old crime is finally solved.

• The Haunting of Excelsior Hotel ****

Fiction.  A hotel has an infamous reputation that everyone who stays in room 33 ends up dead, but when a young woman is desperate for a place to stay, the hotel owner agrees to rent her the room.

• The Haunting of Luciano House **

Fiction.  A childless couple moves to their dream house in England, where they run into the ghosts of an angry man who killed his wife.

• The Haunting of Magnolia House **

Fiction.  A little girl has gone missing, but years later when a new couple move into the house they realize she’s still there.

• The Haunting of Perry Property ***

Fiction.  A young pregnant woman moves to a lovely little cottage not knowing that it was once the site of a cult’s mass murder.

• The Haunting of Prescott House **

Fiction.  Three college girls rent an abandoned mansion to study up for their exams.  They don’t know a family was murdered there years ago until the ghosts come calling for revenge.

• The Haunting of Sanderson Mansion ***

Fiction.  A family moves into a home where a man and his mistress were once murdered, and when the homeowner begins having affairs of his own, the dead mistress comes calling.

• The Haunting of Shawcroft House ****

Fiction.  A couple renovates an old school only to find that the ghosts of the children are coming after them.  

• The Haunting of Sunnyday House ***

Fiction.  When a former POW returns home to find his wife remarried, he murders the whole family.  When a college freshman is hired to dog sit, she finds that the POW is still roaming the house.

• The Haunting of Westmore Hospital ***

Fiction.  A mad doctor is responsible for six murders, and years later when a young woman ends up in the hospital, he comes calling again.

• The Haunting of Woodchester Mansion **

Fiction.  A young couple set up shop at an abandoned mansion to see if they can draw out any spirits who happen to live there.  They do.

Aukes, Rachel

• The Tidy Guide to Writing a Novel ***

Non-fiction. Guide to writing a nonvel.

Avey, Sydney

• The Lyre and the Lambs ***

Fiction.  Sequel to The Sheep Walker’s Daughter.  A Basque woman moves into her daughter’s house and tells the story of a troubled young man who dies in the back yard.

Black, J. Carson

• Dark Side of the Moon ***

Fiction.  Second in the Laura Cardinal police procedural.  A young couple is murdered by a lake, and Laura is called in to solve the case.  A group of ecoterrorists steals plutonium waste, and when the two cases come together, Laura is caught up in the race to solve the crimes.

Bledsoe, Alex

• Back Atcha ****

Fiction.  Third in the Witch Tales series.  Tanna and Ry are involved in three more cases.

• The Book of Cunning Women *****

Fiction.  Fourth in the Witch Tales series.  Tanna and Ry are involved in three cases.

• Croaked *****

Fiction.  Second in the Witch Tales series.  Tanna and Ry get involved in three new cases.

• The Hum and the Shiver *****

Fiction.  First in the Tufa fantasy series.  Bronwyn is a war hero newly returned home to Needsville, Tennessee, but not everyone is glad she’s home.  As she recuperates from her vast injuries, and old boyfriend comes calling.  The family has receives signs that a death is coming for one of them, but when it happens, Bronwyn is fired up to see justice done in the Tufa way.

• Sight for Sore Eyes ****

Fiction.  Fifth in the Witch Tales series.  Tanna and Ry are back for three new stories.

• Time of the Season ****

Fiction.  Three short stories, one standalone, one in the Tufa series, and one in the Witch Tales series.

• The Firefly Witch ****

Fiction.  First in the Firefly Witch story collection.  Ry Tully interviews the Firefly Witch for his newspaper, and she asks for his help in doing some research.  They fall in love.

Brackston, Paula

• Return of the Witch *****

Fiction.  Sequel to The Witch’s Daughter.  Tegan is living in Willow Cottage not realizing that Gideon has returned and is hunting her.  Elizabeth returns hunting Gideon and is hoping to save Tegan.

• The Winter Witch ****

Fiction.  A young mute woman is married off to a widowed drover, and while she has powers of her own, she runs into trouble from one who is even more powerful and wants what she has.

• The Witches of the Blue Well ***

Fiction.  Short story of a young girl who loses almost everything before coming into her own power as a witch.

• The Witch’s Daughter *****

Fiction.  Elizabeth is being hunted as a witch, but she can’t let herself be caught, so she escapes in the only way she knows how.  Three hundred years later, she’s working as a doctor, but there’s a warlock hunting her who won’t stop until she is his.

Charles, Anne

• A Bunch of Monkey Malarkey ****

Fiction.  Second in the AC Silly Circus paranormal series.  Madam Electra and Bruno have to solve the mystery of one of the monkey brothers being stuck in a catatonic state after a half-finished spell has gone crazy.  

Clarke, Alexandria

• Missed Connections Book 0 ****

Fiction.  First in a trilogy.  Veronica Bauer is taking revenge on the men who raped her and murdered her mother years ago.  When she finds herself in trouble with the police, an old friend comes to her aid.

• Missed Connections Book 1 ****

• Missed Connections Book 2 ****

• The Professor Book 0 ****

Fiction  First in a trilogy.  A woman working on her Master’s degree gets caught up in an on-campus secret society that enables the rich and powerful.  Before too long she finds her life and that of her boyfriend in danger.

• The Professor Book 1 ****

• The Professor Book 2 ****

Coyle, Cleo

• Through the Grinder ***

Fiction.  Second in the Coffeehouse cozy mystery series.  Clare manages the Village Blend coffeehouse, but when three of her customers end up dead from apparent suicides, which the police believe might be homicides, and her new boyfriend is the main suspect, Clare goes out of her way to prove him innocent.

Crabtree, Elisabeth

• Deadly Magic ***

Fiction.  First in a cozy mystery series.  A woman working at a toy store gets swept into a murder mystery and becomes a target for the murderer.

Creech, Sarah

• Season of the Dragonflies ***

Fiction.  Magical realism story of a family of women who run a perfume company using magical flowers.  Selling it only to wealthy women, the perfume has special attributes.

Crosby, Bette Lee

• Memory House ***

Fiction.  First in the Memory House series.  Annie is getting over her failed relationship with Michael and is looking for something new in her life when she finds Ophelia and the Memory House.  She finds she has a lot in common with the older woman, and they form a close friendship, which ends up changing Annie’s life for the better.

Galenorn, Yasmine

• Fury’s Mantle ****

Fiction.  Fifth in the Fury Unbound urban fantasy series.  Fenrir the Wolf has returned to the world and is bringing on Ragnarok.  They lycanthropes are rampaging through the forest and villages, and Lord Tam decided to return the Underbarrow to the Shining Lands.

Gruley, Bryan

• Bleak Harbor ***

Fiction.  A teenager is kidnapped in a small town, and there are many suspects, but no one suspects the one person it truly was.  A genius on the autism spectrum.

Books Read - October 2018

Bevill, C.L.

The Bureau of Extraordinaires *****

Fiction.  Steampunk story set during and just after the Civil War.  Silas underwent some scientific experiments against his will by a Dr. Morrow.  As a result, Silas has been turned into a man/beast and is called an Extraordinaire.  With the help of his cohorts and the lovely Agatha, he must stop the scientists from carrying out their evil plan.

Bronte, Charlotte

• Jane Eyre ****

Fiction.  An orphan attends boarding school where she ends up teaching, afterwards finding a job as a governess to a young girl in the country.  The master of the house falls in love with her, but as they plan on marrying, sinister things begin happening in the home.

Cannon, Sarra

• Sacrifice Me ****

Fiction.  First in the Sacrifice Me Seasons paranormal series.  Franki loses her job right before her birthday, and when a mysterious invitation appears at her doorstep for a club downtown, she can’t resist going.  It’s a strange atmosphere, but the strangeness is only beginning for her as her life is threatened.

Claflin, Stacy

• Sweet Desire ***

Fiction.  First in The Transformed paranormal series.  Gessilyn is a witch on the run from her coven who are after her.  As she learns about her powers, she needs to stay one step ahead of them.

Clarke, Alexandria

• The Haunting of Riley Watson Book 0 ****

Fiction.  First in a paranormal trilogy.  A fake medium, Lucia, is hired by a resort owner to help his young daughter who is haunted by spirits after the death of her mother.  When the resort is snowed in with only 12 people, tensions run high when one of them is murdered.  Was it by a human hand or by an angry ghost?

• The Haunting of Riley Watson Book 1 ****

• The Haunting of Riley Watson Book 2 ****

• The Haunting of Winchester Mansion Book 0 ****

Fiction.  First in a paranormal trilogy.  A young couple travel the country renovating and flipping houses, and when they end up in Black Bay renovating an abandoned mansion, they get drawn into the mystery of what happened to the wealthy family that used to live there.

• The Haunting of Winchester Mansion Book 1 ****

- The Haunting of Winchester Mansion Book 2 ****

• Little Girl Lost Book 0 ****

Fiction.  First in a paranormal trilogy.  Bridget has been roaming the world for ten years when her best friend notifies her that her young sister is missing.  She returns home to find her sister and suddenly begins receiving telepathic messages from her begging for help.

• Little Girl Lost Book 1 ****

- Little Girl Lost Book 2 ****

• Witch Myth Christmas Book 0 ****

Fiction.  First in a paranormal trilogy.  Noelle Summers is a winter witch, but when someone comes to town messing with Christmas, she has to resort to her witchy powers to catch the culprit and restore balance in the town.

• Witch Myth Christmas Book 1 ****

• Witch Myth Christmas Book 2 ****

• Witch Myth Wildfire Book 0 ****

Fiction.  First in a paranormal trilogy.  The Summers coven has fallen under a curse, and the sicker they become, the stronger the need for a healer, so they look outside their coven to find the particular person who can help them, then they kidnap her.

• Witch Myth Wildfire Book 1 ****

• Witch Myth Wildfire Book 2 ****

• Witch Myth Yew Hollow Book 0 ****

Fiction.  First in a trilogy.  Morgan Summers is a medium but hates talking to ghosts.  When one seeks her help in solving a murder, she has to agree to help in order for the ghost to move on into the afterlife.

• Witch Myth Yew Hollow Book 1 ****

• Witch Myth Yew Hollow Book 2 ****

Du Maurier, Daphne

• Rebecca *****

Fiction.  A paid companion meets a wealthy widower in Monte Carlo, and when they fall in love, he takes her back to his palatial home in Cornwall, where she competes with the memory of his first wife.

Evans, Holly

• Chaos Conspiracy ****

Fiction.  First in the Sacrificial Magic paranormal series.  A mercenary witch is matched with a demon to solve the case of missing people who have disappeared into a cult.

Hayden, Roger

• The Haunting of Bechdel Mansion Book 0 ****

Fiction.  First in a paranormal trilogy.  A young couple buy an abandoned mansion and set about renovating it when they find that it is already inhabited by a group of ghosts.  A family was murdered years ago in the house, and some of the townspeople are determined to keep the killers’ identities secret.

• The Haunting of Bechdel Mansion Book 1 ****

- The Haunting of Bechdel Mansion Book 2 ****

Holmberg, Charlie N.

• The Paper Magician ****

Fiction.  First in the Paper Magician fantasy series.  Ceony is apprenticed to Paper Magician Thane, and when his ex-wife attacks him, Ceony is his only hope to survive.

Morton, Kate

• The Clockmaker’s Daughter ****

Fiction.  A multi-time period tale of a ghost and the artists who surround her and a missing rare blue diamond.

Olson, Melissa F.

• Bloodsick ****

Fiction.  First in the Old World Tale paranormal series.  Sashi, a witch had kept away from werewolves for her whole life, but when she meets one in need of healing, she must help him.

Parrish, Kat

• Magic in the Blood ****

Fiction.  First in La Bruja Roja paranormal series.  Aixa is a Red Witch living in a small town on the border.  When a rival witch allies with a drug lord to take over the town, Aixa uses her powers to fight back.

Pope, Christine

• Hidden Gifts ****

Fiction.  First in the Witches of Canyon Road paranormal series.  Miranda McAllister has been sent to Santa Fe for an arranged marriage to Rafe Castillo, who she has never met.  She’s had to leave her entire life, including her family, behind to marry a man who does not seem to want her, but she’s determined to fulfill a promise her parents made, a debt that must be paid.

Reine, SM

- Caged Wolf ***

Fiction.  First in the Tarot Witch paranormal series.  Rival biker gangs invade town, and Ofelia, a stripper bartender, chases them off with the help of a werewolf.

Tate, Kristy

• Witch Ways ***

Fiction.  First in the Witch Ways paranormal series.  Evie is a young girl who has no idea she is a witch.  But when her problems with fire get her kicked out of a private school, she starts training at a special school where she hones her powers.

Taylor, Nicole R.

• Crescent Calling ****

Fiction.  First int he Crescent Witch Chronicles paranormal series.  Skye has been fired from her job and has no prospects when an Irish barrister arrives in Australia to let her know that her estranged mother has died and has left her a business and home in Ireland.  She accepts her inheritance and moves to Ireland, where she finds out that her mother wasn’t just an ordinary human.

van Praag, Menna

• The Dress Shop of Dreams *****

Fiction.  Cora is a single-minded scientist, ignoring all else for her work.  When her grandmother, Etta, nudges her toward Walt, Cora is slow on the up-take.  When her parents were killed when she was a child, her heart froze and wouldn’t let anyone in.  Until now.

Webb, Wendy

• Daughters of the Lake *****

Fiction.  Kate returns to her parents’ house on the lake to heal her wounds after leaving her cheating husband.  While there, her father stumbles across a dead body in the water, and Kate has a violent reaction to seeing the woman, making her a suspect in the death.  What she can’t tell the police is that she’s been having dreams of this very woman, dreams that seem all too real.

• The End of Temperance Dare *****

Fiction.  A ghost story set in a former TB sanitarium.  A former reporter takes a job as manager of the renovated sanitarium cum artists retreat, and the woman who hired her dies on her first day.  She has a week to prepare before a new group of artists arrives, and unknown to her or to them, they all have ties to the sanitarium.

• The Fate of Mercy Alban *****

Fiction.  A gothic suspense set in Minnesota.  Grace Alban inherits her family home when her mother passes away, and though she hasn’t been home in 20 years, she arrives with her teenage daughter to take charge of the home.  A lost manuscript and old love letters lead her on a chase to find the truth in the suicide of a famous author years ago.

• The Tale of Halcyon Crane *****

Fiction.  A gothic suspense set in a remote island in Minnesota.  Hallie was raised by her father in Seattle after her family home burned down and her mother was killed.  When she suddenly finds out that her mother had been alive all this time, and that Hallie’s father had actually stolen her away and created a new life for them, Hallie returns to her family home to discover what really happened when she was a child.

• The Vanishing *****

Fiction.  A gothic suspense set in rural Minnesota.  When Julie’s husband commits suicide after bilking investors out of their hard-earned savings, she is left with no prospects until a wealthy stranger arrives to hire her to be a companion to his elderly mother, a famed author.  Julie finds the home haunted by a mysterious force.

Weldon, Phaedra

• Elemental Arcane ***

Fiction.  First in the Eldritch Files paranormal series.  Sam owns an occult shop in New Orleans, and when children begin changing into monstrous killing creatures, she and her friends are determined to destroy them and to find the real children.

Welling, ReGina

• A Match Made in Spell ****

Fiction.  First in the Fate Weaver witchy series.  Lexi is a matchmaker, but when a new musician moves to town, her matches are going haywire.  Not to mention she is falling for the musician. She’s running out of time to awaken to her power, and her fairy godmothers aren’t helping at all.