Books Read - July 2019

Anderson, Amorette

• The Case of the Love Spell ***

Fiction.  A private eye gets drawn into a case of murder, but when she is gifted a box of items from the murder victim that contains a book on witchcraft, she starts noticing changes in her life.

Barz, Vivian

• Forgotten Bones ****

Fiction.  A child’s body has been uncovered at the site of a car accident, and when his body leads to the discovery of dozens more, a local sexual predator is suspected.

Berneathy, Sally

• Death by Chocolate ****

Fiction.  First in the Death by Chocolate cozy mystery series.  A woman running from her past is befriended by a chocolatier who helps her with shelter, a job, and the end of a nightmare.

Booth, Stephen

• Black Dog ****

Fiction.  First in the Cooper and Fry mystery series.  A girl has gone missing, and when her body is found there are multiple possible suspects.  Cooper and Fry are determined to solve the mystery.

Charles, Ann

• In Cahoots with the Prickly Pear Posse ****

Fiction.  Sixth in the Jackrabbit Junction cozy mystery series.  Natalie is visiting her cousins in the Winnebago park, while she tries to figure out her relationship with Coop.  Diamond thieves are still after the sisters, and the girls can’t stay out of trouble.

Christian, Claudia Hall

• The Fey *****

Fiction.  First in the Alex the Fey thriller series.  Alex has lost her team and suffers agonizing injuries.  After over 40 surgeries, she is finally able to walk again and goes back into training.  Eleazar is coming after her soon, but he’ll destroy everything she loves before he kills her.

Crowley, Harper

• Pretty in Pink *

Fiction.  First in the Brady Investigation paranormal. Three members of a ghost hunting team find that there are no ghosts in the pink house.

Diede, Kimberly

• Whispering Pines ****

Fiction.  First in the Whispering Pines series.  Renee is raising two teenagers on her own, and when she loses her job, she re-evaluates her life.  She wasn’t happy working in the corporate world but isn’t sure what will make her happy.

Galenorn, Yasmine

• Witching Hour *****

Fiction.  Seventh in the Wild Hunt urban fantasy series and first in the Witching Hour series.  Raven BoneTalker is hired by a woman who believes her house to be haunted, though her live-in boyfriend is not a fan of Raven and resents her interference.  Raven is determined to help the woman, even if it means losing her friendship.

Garrett, Danielle 

• A Royal Witch ****

Fiction.  Eleventh in the Beechwood Harbor paranormal cozy mystery series.  When a princess is placed in the manor as a safe house but then is kidnapped, Holly and her friends set out to find her.

Henry, Angela

• The Company You Keep ****

Fiction.  First in the Kendra Clayton cozy mystery series.  Kendra’s friend is accused of murder, but Kendra believes she is innocent and goes out of her way to prove it.

McGowan, Claire

• What You Did *****

Fiction.  A group of college friends is gathering at Ali’s house for a reunion weekend, but when a woman starts screaming in the middle of the night and accuses Ali’s husband of rape, a lifetime of secrets unravels drawing them all down.

McGurl, Kathleen

• The Forgotten Secret *****

Fiction.  A woman leaves her husband and retires to an Irish farm she has inherited.  The farm has secrets from the past when another young woman falls in love with an Irish Volunteer who is fighting to gain Irreland’s independence.

Patterbee, Kee

• The Death of a Celebrity Chef ***

Fiction.  First in the Hannah Starvling cozy mystery series.  Hannah and her friends travel to a small town where a celebrity chef has died.  In investigating her death, they seek to prove that it was murder.

Pepper, Angela

• Wolves of Wisteria ***

Fiction.  First in the Wisteria Witches City Hall paranormal cozy mystery series.  Zinnia works at City Hall, and when she gets to work she finds out that one of her co-workers has been murdered.  The co-worker has written a tell-all book lightly disguising her co-workers  as characters in the book, and she has told all her secrets there.  Secrets someone is willing to kill for..

Selfman, Sylvia & Leigh

• Eclair Case of Murder ****

Fiction.  Second in the Rosie Kale cozy mystery series.  Rosie volunteers at the local crisis center, when she receives a call from a woman who wants to commit suicide.  By the end of the call Rosie has gotten the woman to promise to call back the next night, but by chance the bakery is catering an anniversary party, and Rosie realizes the woman caller is the woman whose anniversary it is.  But the next day the woman is dead, and everyone is convinced she committed suicide.  Everyone except Rosie.

• Haunt Flashes ****

Fiction.  First in The Ghost paranormal cozy mystery series.  Arden moves into a Hollywood bungalow that happens to be haunted by a man who died in the 40’s.  She is convinced he is evil until the whole story of his love life is played out, and she realizes why he can’t move on.

• Murder by the Book ****

Fiction.  Second in the Izzy Greene cozy mystery series.  Izzy’s friend Flo is to be interviewed for her novel on TV, which is to be followed by the prime spot in the book fair.  But when her spot is taken by a competitor who ends up dead, Izzy realizes her book was full of secrets nobody wants to be let out.

• Murder Over Miami ****

Fiction.  Fourth in the Izzy Greene cozy mystery series.  Izzy travels to Miami to attend the wedding of her college roommate, but when the bride is killed on her way to the ceremony, Izzy becomes the prime suspect.

• Murder She Typed ****

Fiction.  First in the Izzy Greene cozy mystery series.  Izzy belongs to a writing group, and a newcomer, Sondra, joins, looking like she just stepped out of a magazine.  While out hiking, Sondra passes Izzy on the trail, and after a scream, Izzy believes she has been murdered, but without any proof, the police won’t believe her.  She sets out to discover the truth.

• Murder Takes a Holiday ****

Fiction.  Third in the Izzy Greene cozy mystery series.  Izzy is invited to a posh Christmas party, and when the hostess asks for her help in determining if her boyfriend is cheating on her, Izzy is happy to help.  But when someone breaks into her condo, she realizes she, herself, is a target and goes on the offensive.

• Nothing Bundt Murder ****

Fiction.  First in the Rosie Kale cozy mystery series.  Rosie works at a bundt cake bakery, and when she and her boss cater an event and her boss’s rival ends up poisoned, Rosie is determined to prove her boss is innocent.

Strang, Phillip

• Death Unholy ****

Fiction.  First in the DI Tremayne thriller series.  Clare and Tremayne are drawn into a murder case involving an ancient pagan cult and a small village that practices the old ways.

• Murder is a Tricky Business ***

Fiction.  First in the DCI Cook thriller series.  Cook and Ahmed are trying to find a missing woman, but when three people are killed, supposedly because they know a secret she has been keeping and a high-level governmental personality gets involved, they realize they might never learn the answers.

Weiss, Kirsten

• Bound ****

Fiction.  First in the Doyle Witches paranormal cozy mystery series.  The three sisters are grieving the upcoming loss of their beloved aunt, but when Jayce is arrested for murder, Karin is determined to find the real killer.

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.

Books Read - May 2019

Baptie, J.V.

• The Departed ***

Fiction.  Second in the Scottish police series.  It’s 30 years later, and Helen now heads up the detective bureau. The case she is on involves the murder of a woman, but it has ties 30 years in the past to a missing woman case.

• The Forgotten ***

Fiction.  First in the Scottish police series.  Helen is just starting out as a new detective in Edinburgh, and her first case involves the deaths of several men who seem to be connected to an old crime.

Berry, Connie

• A Dream of Death *****

Fiction.  First in the Kate Hamilton cozy mystery series.  Kate arrives in Scotland to visit her sister-in-law who needs her help, but before she can tell Kate what the mystery is, she is murdered.

Blake, Heather

• A Witch to Remember *****

Fiction.  Ninth in the Wishcraft paranormal cozy mystery series.  Darcy’s pre-wedding party is to be held at Divinitea, the local tea shop, but when it suddenly catches on fire and they find the body of the owner inside, all eyes point to Dorothy as the culprit.

• To Catch a Witch ****

Fiction.  Eighth in the Wishcraft paranormal cozy mystery series.  Darcy is involved in the planning of a big race in town, but when one of the racers disappears and is found dead, she has to get involved in the investigation.

Bradbury, Laura

• A Vineyard for Two ****

Fiction.  Cerise is recovering from losing her husband, her parents, and her patron all within 6 years, and when she learns that her patron, Maxime, has left her joint ownership of Le Domaine du Cerise with his grandson, Clovis, she is incensed.  She doesn’t want a partner, she wants her independence, but how does she reconcile that with her growing attraction to Clovis?

Cadell, Elizabeth

• My Dear Aunt Flora ***

Fiction.  Three women move to the country and live their lives in a small village.

Chase, Deanna

• Soul of the Witch ****

Fiction.  First in the Witches of Keating Hollow witchy series.  Abby Townsend returns to Keating Hollow to care for her father dealing with cancer.  She hasn’t been back in years and is nervous about returning to the place her magic failed her.  When she runs into her ex-boyfriend, old passions are ignited, but she has a boyfriend back in New Orleans to deal with.

Dane, Lauren

• Triad ***

Fiction.  First in the Witches Knot urban fantasy series.  Amelia meets a man she’s been dreaming of for months, and the connection between the two is immediate.  When she meets his best friend, she realizes that she has a connection with him also.  A demon lord has been called into the realm to destroy her family and claim their power, but she and her two men must combat him.

Garrett, Danielle

• Big Ghosts Don’t Cry ***

Fiction.  Fifth in the Beechwood Harbor Ghost Mysteries series.  Scarlet has new powers, but one of them gets her into trouble when she forcibly sends a ghost to the Otherworld.  Only the ghost ends up in Limbo and is in danger of being used by a demon to travel into our world.

Hamilton, Lyn

• The Magyar Venus ****

Fiction.  Eighth in the Lara McClintoch mystery series.  Lara meets up with her old college buddies at a museum event.  An old boyfriend is the museum curator and has opened an exhibit of an ancient mother Earth goddess figuring, known as the Magyar Venus.  Lara drinks too much and doesn’t remember getting home, but she finds a large dent in her car.  When she finds out one of her friends has died, she worries that she might have been the cause.

Hanna, HY

• Silent Bud Deadly **

Fiction.  Second in the English Cottage Garden cozy mystery series.  Poppy takes a job planting a garden for a wealthy couple, even though she knows nothing about gardening.  But when the nosy neighbor next door comes to teach her how to transplant the roses and suddenly dies, Poppy begins to investigate her poisoning.

• Two Down, Bun to Go ****

Fiction.  Fourth in the Oxford Tearoom cozy mystery series.  One of Oxford’s dons, but when Gemma’s friend is accused of the murder, she jumps to the chance to prove his innocence.

Kimelman, Emily

• Betray the Lie *****

Fiction.  Eleventh in the Sydney Rye thriller series.  Sydney is recuperating at Robert’s Miami mansion.  When Hugh tells her he is about to be married, she offers the mansion as the venue, but when Santiago is kidnapped, Sydney and Blue rush to save him.

Lang, Essie

• Trouble on the Books ****

Fiction.  First in the Castle Bookshop mystery series.  Shelby takes over running the castle bookshop while her aunt is recuperating from knee surgery.  The manager of the castle is an over-bearing woman who tries to tell Shelby how to run the shop, but they end up in an argument overheard by some of the volunteers.  When Shelby finds the woman dead in the grotto, she gets embroiled in the murder mystery.

Lynn, Judi

• The Body in the Attic ***

Fiction.  First in the Jazzi Zanders mystery series.  Jazzi is renovating a house where her missing aunt used to live, but she stumbles upon the skeleton in a trunk in the attic.  Her aunt has been missing for 26 years.  Then another body is found buried in the backyard.  Jazzi assists the detective in his interviews with suspects, and they finally figure out who the murderer, or murderers, were.

Moore, Ann

• Gracelin O’Malley ****

Fiction.  First in the Gracelin O’Malley trilogy set in Ireland in the 1840’s.  Gracelin grows up in a loving, but poor, family.  At fifteen her father gives her hand in marriage to the local squire, son of an English lord, hoping that she’ll have a better life.  But the squire is a cruel man and causes Grace to lose two sons, before he is killed by Irish rebels.  The Great Potato Famine kills off a million of her countrymen, and her brother and her love fight to free Ireland from England’s vicious grip.

Noga, Cari

• The Orphan Daughter ****

Fiction.  Jane runs a small farm in Michigan.  Her son is in the Army, her ex-husband is with his new wife and their daughter, and Jane is just trying to make it day to day.  She still grieves the stillborn daughter she lost and feels like a failure as a mother.  She finds out that her half-sister and her husband have been killed in a car accident, and they’ve appointed her as their daughter’s guardian, a job that she takes unwillingly.  Lucy is unwilling to move to Michigan and leave her life in New York, but when her parents die, she has no choice.

Norton, Graham

• Holding ***

Fiction.  Guarda P.J. lives in Duneen, where he oversees the village.  A new development in town is paused when diggers find a skeleton buried on an old farm.  A 20-year-old mystery might have been solved, but when a second skeleton, this time a baby, is found on the same property, tongues start wagging in town about who the deceased were.

Owens, Delia

• Where the Crawdads Sing *****

Fiction.  Kya lives in the marsh with her family, but one by one they all left her.  Living off grits and mashed mussels, she ekes out a living selling seafood at the local market. Spending her days in wonder at the living marsh around her, she can’t imagine living anywhere else.  One day she meets a boy who teaches her how to read, and a whole new world is opened to her.  But the day a man is found dead at the bottom of a water tower, signs point to her, and she lands in jail.

Perkins, S.C.

• Murder Once Removed ****

Fiction.  First in the Ancestry Detective cozy mystery series.  Lucy is hired by a wealthy Texan to uncover the secrets of his ancestors, one of whom had been murdered.  The mystery deepens when it carries over to the present and Lucy’s life is in danger.

Santiago, Esmeralda

• When I Was Puerto Rican *****

Non-fiction.  Memoir of Esmeralda when she was a child living in Puerto Rico up through when she moved to New York with her mother and siblings.

Vilhauer, Ruvanee Pietersz

• The Mask Collectors ***

Fiction.  Grace and her husband, Duncan, get embroiled in a mystery surrounding a pharmaceutical company and a new drug meant to con people into believing it can cure their problems but is actually a placebo.