Author Interview: Katie Tietjen

by
Katie Tietjen

I was a huge fan of Katie Tietjen’s first novel, Death in the Details, which follows war widow Maple Bishop just after the war has ended.  Maple is living in a tiny Vermont town and, though she’s a trained lawyer, ends up piecing together a living selling the dollhouses she creates.  She also makes “nutshells,”  tiny recreations of crime scenes.  The nutshells are based on the work of Frances Glessner Lee, the mother of crime scene investigation.  By book two, Murder in Miniature, Maple has earned the respect of the police in town and is now an official consultant.  The books are charming, thoughtful, and fascinating.  Katie was nice enough to answer a few questions about her books. read more

Cathy Pegau: A Murderous Buisness

by

Series debut

This is an “old school” read, with everything good that comes to mind when you hear that phrase, which is to say it’s well structured, well written, with vivid  characters and a plot that moves efficiently to the conclusion. While this is a series debut, it’s far from Ms. Pegau’s maiden novel, as she’s written an assortment of others in various genres, including other mysteries.  This one is set in 1912 New York, anchored by references to the recent sinking of the Titanic. read more

Esme Addison: A Brew for Chaos

by

Enchanted Bay Mysteries #3

Disclosure: this is the first book of this series I have read. I loved it so much I’ve already added the others to Mount-to-be-Read. If you like the magical mysteries of Heather Blake and Madelyn Alt, you need to read this series!

It’s fall and seaside Bellamy Bay, NC is getting ready for Oktoberfest. Aleksandra (Alex) Daniels is busy filling orders at her aunt’s apothecary shop, including secret herbal ingredients for newspaper editor Jonah Fox who is brewing up his special beer for the Oktoberfest beer competition. Alex is getting used to her recently-discovered magical heritage while keeping it a secret from her no-nonsense boyfriend police detective Jack Frazier. read more

Carol Miller: The Magician’s Deception

by

Fortune Telling Mysteries #4

Disclosure: this is the first book of this series I have read. Apparently the theme of each Tarot-themed book comes from the main card of a Tarot reading done at the beginning of the book. Although Amazon describes the series as “hilarious,” that was not my impression. It’s fun and cozy, but not laugh-out-loud funny.

Sisters Hope and Summer Bailey run Bailey’s Boutique, a mystic shop in Asheville, North Carolina which features palm and tarot readings, tea, and mystical gemstones. When Hope does a one-card Tarot reading for a customer, her Gram peeks at the next undrawn card. It’s the Magician, which means “beware the deceitful stranger.” It’s enough to give Gram pause and for her to consider cancelling her school reunion trip with her boyfriend “Because it’s almost Halloween, my dear, and everything is turned around on Halloween.” read more

Jack Anderson: The Return of Moriarty

by

If you’re a fan of Sherlock Holmes, you need to read this book. It’s like all the pastiches we love but the twist is that supervillain James Moriarty is the detective.

Thanks to Holmes, Moriarty’s criminal empire has been destroyed so after surviving the plunge over the Reichenbach Falls Moriarty assumes the identity of a wealthy inventor named Hugo Strahm. Spoiler: Moriarty does not change his evil ways when stealing this man’s identify. That’s to remind us we’re still dealing with an essentially evil character. read more

Ragnar Jonasson: The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer

by

This is the kind of terrific book that gets you to the middle and you aren’t sure what’s coming next. It’s the follow up to the excellent Death at the Sanatorium, though it’s billed as a standalone.  In fact, it picks up right where Death at the Sanitorium left off, resolving the question of what happened to the main character, Helgi. In the last book, Helgi was working on a master’s thesis based on an old crime; in this novel, he’s no longer a student, but a member of the Icelandic police force. read more

Fall Book Clubs: The Stars Turned Inside out and Sarah Stewart Taylor

by

Join us for our fall meetings on zoom!  Message me for a zoom link if you’d like to attend, all are welcome.  In October we’ll meet on Sunday, October 19 at 2 p.m. to discuss The Stars Turned Inside Out by Nova Jacobs.  Publisher’s description: Deep beneath the ground outside of Geneva, where CERN’s Large Hadron Collider smashes subatomic particles at breathtaking speeds, a startling discovery is made when the tunnel is down for maintenance: the body of Howard Anderby, a brilliant and recently arrived young physicist, who appears to have been irradiated by the collider. But security shows no evidence of him entering the tunnel, and for all of the lab’s funding, its video surveillance is sorely lacking. read more

Mariah Fredericks: The Girl in the Green Dress

by

I love the way Mariah Fredericks writes. Her prose sings.  And if you are going to write about one of the greatest of all prose stylists, F. Scott Fitzgerald, you’ve got to have game yourself. While Scott and the lovely Zelda are not the main characters in this novel, they certainly inform it in every possible way.  The main character is a much lesser-known writer of the time, Morris Markey.  Markey, a friend of James Thurber’s and James M. Cain’s, wrote for The New Yorker and wrote extensively (for the purposes of this novel) about the still unsolved murder of James Elwell in 1920, a “swell” found shot through the head in his library.  His house happens to be across the street from Markey’s and he is one of the last people to have seen him alive, very early the morning of his death. read more

Cate Conte: Claws Out

by

Cat Café #9

Maddie James, cat café owner and animal enthusiast,  works closely with family and friends to run her café, find felines new families, and solve mysteries. The solving mysteries part is Maddie’s secondary passion, as her first love will always be helping the poor kitties find their forever homes and making sure they are well cared for in her keeping. Her café, J.J.’s House, is located on Daybreak Island off the New England Coast. J.J. is Maddie’s cat and mascot, as well as a demanding socialite. Maddie has been contemplating expanding her operation beyond the one café on Daybreak Island, and is presented with a timely and interesting opportunity in the form of a donated food truck. read more

Ellie Brannigan: Death at an Irish Village

by

Irish Castle #3

For those who enjoy a little Irish mystery, Ellie Brannigan’s Irish Castle Mystery series are a must read. In Death at an Irish Village, the third in the series, cousins Ciara Smith and Rayne McGrath have been tasked by their late Uncle to save Grathton Village and the McGrath castle. Not a very small thing to ask, especially with a year’s deadline attached. Of course, if they fail, they just have to sell everything and split the money between them. While that doesn’t sound like a very bad deal, it is for those who value their heritage and would like nothing more than to preserve it. Both women are a little daunted and overwhelmed with the task, but are determined to succeed. It hasn’t been a very smooth start, with several murders already hindering things, and Rayne’s crazy ex making her life hectic as she tries to continue to run her sewing business Modern Lace. read more