January Book Club: Mini Cozy Con

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For our January book club – meeting on Sunday, January 18 at 2 p.m. eastern – we’ll be hosting three outstanding cozy writers who between them have written 80 (yes, that’s 80) books.  We’ll be discussing the past, present and future of the cozy novel as well as talking to some really wonderful women.  This all takes place on zoom, and all are welcome to join.  Message me on facebook or instagram for a zoom link.  Check the website for reviews of many of their novels. read more

Jacqueline Frost: A Wonderful Christmas Crime

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Christmas Tree Farm Mystery #6

Every Christmas season there’s a murder in the town of Mistletoe, Maine. Every year Holly White, the Gumdrop Gumshoe, solves the case. Until this year, that is. Holly and hubby Sheriff Evan White are expecting a baby and both are determined that Holly will not risk her life or that of their unborn child chasing murderers.

The plot revolves around the theft of heirloom antique Swedish Christmas goat figurines from the collection of Holly’s friend Alice. A dead body is found at the crime scene making Alice the prime suspect. Antiques Roadshow is in town along with a huge antique show, which means there are several people who might know how valuable Alice’s antique Swedish Christmas goats are. And is there any connection between the theft of the antiques and the theft of giant inflatable snowmen from front yards around the town? read more

Charles Todd: A Christmas Witness

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This novella is set in Dec. 1921 after the events of the forthcoming novel A Day of Judgement, which is set in July 1921.

A few days before Christmas, Chief Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent to Kent to the home of Lord Edward Braxton, a retired Army Colonel who has survived an attempted murder. As the newest Chief, and one who has no children to spend Christmas with, Rutledge takes the case.

The Colonel, who prefers his Army title to ancestral rank, is cantankerous, uncooperative, and convinced that someone will kill him before he sees another Christmas. The problem is, he can’t describe his attacker in detail or think of a specific person who means him harm. Since he spent the war as part of the staff for Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, referred to as “Butcher Haig” by Hamish because his orders sent many good soldiers to unnecessary deaths, any number of people could want Braxton dead: soldiers who survived as well as loved ones of soldiers who died. read more

Beth Lewis: The Rush

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Set in the late 1890s in the Klondike during the gold rush, this is epic story telling in the good old fashioned sense of the word, with the sweep of books like Gone with the Wind, Hawaii or Shogun. Author Lewis familiarizes the reader vividly with the hardships of simply surviving in the hostile climate of Klondike (then as now a part of Canada, not Alaska) while staking out a claim and mining in the hotly competitive hunt for gold.

The story is grounded in three female main characters, Kate, Ellen and Martha, who are loosely based on real women of the time, but come to vivid fictional life as the author applies her writerly magic. Kate is a reporter being paid a great deal of money to go on the trail and write about the men seeking claims, but who is also pursuing a search for her missing sister on her own time.  Ellen lives on her claim with her feckless husband, Charlie, who despite his best efforts is terrible at mining and only manages to steadily lose all their money.  Martha owns a hotel in the town of Dawson (where all the adventures begin), which also serves as a bar and a house of prostitution. read more

Leslie Meier: A Matter of Pedigree

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Series debut

The prolific Leslie Meier has long enamored readers with her Lucy Stone Mystery series (31 books and counting) and she’s now branching off with a new series.  The new series follows Carole Capobianco in Rhode Island, where she and her husband Frank are starting to move up in the world. Frank invented a revolutionary new device, the Bye-Bye Toilet, which has made the Capobianco family millionaires practically overnight. As their two children have moved out for careers and school, the pair of empty nesters are looking to move into more upscale and plush living accommodations. This is saying something, as their current apartment is quite upscale. read more

Lee Hollis: Death of a Tom Turkey

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Haley Powell #18

Lee Hollis’ latest Haley Powell mystery, Death of a Tom Turkey, is the perfect fit for a thanksgiving read. Haley Powell is a food writer and the owner of Hayley’s Kitchen restaurant in Bar Harbor, Maine. While food is her primary passion, she has developed a deep love and talent for investigation, too. She’s aided in her sleuthing by her husband Bruce, who is a crime reporter, and her brother in law Sergio, who happens to be the chief of police. Haley has a warm and soothing personality, perfect for putting people at ease and getting them to open-up and tell her things they might not be so willing to tell Sergio or any other officer of the law. However, even though she can often coax them to talk to her alone, she encourages them to speak to the police as well, sometimes going as far as to offer to go along with them as support so they don’t feel as intimidated or vulnerable. read more

Michael Falco: Murder in an Italian Piazza

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Bria Bartolucci #3

I have had the pleasure of reviewing Michael Falco’s Bria Bartolucci mysteries since the first book’s debut, and am delighted to be able to do so again. In this series, readers are transported to the lovely town of Positano on the Amalfi coast. Bria Bartolucci runs a B&B there known as Bella Bella, living with her son Marco and their dog Bravo. She’s truly living the dream that she and her late husband Carlo had hoped to achieve. She’s had many adventures already, making friends, integrating into the community, and solving mysteries along the way. There were even some new adventures she didn’t see coming, such as a blooming romance with local police Chief Luca Vivaldi, who also happens to be the brother of her best friend and partner in sleuthing, Rosalie. read more

Andrea Penrose: Murder at Somerset House

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Wrexford & Sloane #9

Murder at Somerset House is the ninth book in Andrea Penrose’s Regency mystery series featuring the Earl of Wrexford, a chemist and amateur detective, and his wife Charlotte Sloane, who, under the pseudonym A.J. Quill, is England’s most famous political cartoonist.  It is an attraction of opposites: scientist and artist.  Wrexford uses logic and the scientific method to solve crimes, while Charlotte uses intuition and her artist’s eye.  Gradually, though, they learn the value of the other’s method and will occasionally adopt it when confronted with a crime.  One of the strengths of this series, besides the central couple’s developing relationship, is that each book deals with a different aspect of Regency science and technology, or inventions that were originally thought of during the Regency period, but not developed until later.  Recent books have covered such topics as steamships, locomotives, and suspension bridges.  In this book, the development of an electrical telegraph (not fully realized until 1838), is central to the plot. read more

Catherine Lloyd: Miss Morton and the Missing Heir

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Miss Morton #4

Not so long ago, Caroline Morton lost everything when her titled father died, leaving only debts and forcing her into service. Her employer, Mrs. Frogerton, treats her as a member of the family, however, and she likes being in control of her own fate. That free lifestyle is threatened when a claimant to the Morton earldom steps forward. In this fourth installment of the Regency set series by Catherine Llyod, Miss Morton and the Missing Heir, things get complicated quickly.

Mr. Scutton, the claimant, and his family arrive in town and want to meet Caroline. Caroline would rather have nothing to do with the Morton estate, as she can’t inherit anything herself anyway, but the Scuttons are immediately quite interested in her. Mrs. Scutton asks after her personal life, Mr. Scutton is much too interested in her marriage prospects and who she is friends with, and both are not the most polite. Even when Mrs. Frogerton offers to let them stay in her house to get to know Caroline so they don’t have to stay in a hotel, as the Morton home itself is run down and uninhabitable. read more

Susie Dent: Guilty by Definition

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Series Debut

This book may not be for everyone, but for those who enjoy words, dictionaries, and a virtual visit to Oxford, it’s absolute catnip.  Set in the workplace of the Clarendon English Dictionary (a thinly veiled Oxford English Dictionary), the story follows the solution of the mystery of the missing sister, in this case that of dictionary diva Martha. She and her staff, Alex, Safi, and Simon, along with her boss, Jonathan, who makes infrequent appearances (he’s busy with a book tour), become the core group that solves the puzzle presented to them. read more