Marcus X. Figuerola: Magic City Mayhem

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Magic City Mayhem is a fantastic Miami adventure by Marcus X. Figuerola. I should first clarify that this is more of a thriller than a cozy mystery. There is also quite a bit of creative swearing, so for those readers who do not like to read that in their books I would avoid this one. Also, anyone squeamish about corpse descriptions, demons, and necromancy won’t enjoy this adventure to its fullest. For those who enjoy a fantasy story in a modern setting with plenty of lore, world building, and creative use of magic systems and creatures, Magic City Mayhem will entertain. read more

Kemper Donovan: Sweet Spot

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Ghostwriter #3

This is the third book in a series that is strikingly original in many ways.  In the first book, Donovan’s heroine was not even named.  She was just functioning as a ghostwriter (and amateur sleuth) for a Hilary Clinton-esque politician, who had recently lost an election. In the second, after writing about the crime she and the Hilary character solved, she’s a mini celebrity, and she’s asked on a cruise as a writing instructor.  By book two, she has a pen name – Belle Currer – though it’s made very clear it’s not her real name. In book three, Donovan has chosen to model his story on the heartbreaking 2002 abduction of Elizabeth Smart in Utah. read more

Stig Abell: A Twist in the River

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Jake Jackson #4

 A Twist in the River is the fourth in Stig Abell’s Jake Jackson series, and unlikely to be the last. Set in a rural town, where Jake moved to escape his previous life as a cop in London, all of the action centers around the titular river. A missing jogger kicks off the classic “missing white woman” search, mobilizing the entire town, as well as the Tiktok crowd, into a frantic search for her. The longer she is missing, the more reporters flock to the location. But just when it looks like things will calm down – she’s found drowned with no signs of foul play – another body appears. And then another. read more

Anna Lee Huber: A Bitter Cut

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Lady Darby #14

Set in 1830s Warwickshire, this installment finds series heroine Keira, Lady Darby, settling into a new home on the grounds of her father in law’s estate, while getting ready to host a long run of large house parties which will culminate in a ball.  While she’s repaired her breach with stern father-in-law, Lord Gage (much thanks to her small daughter Emma), there’s new family trouble brewing in the form of her brother Trevor’s planned engagement to a wealthy young woman, Matilda, who has, it turns out, extremely abrasive parents. read more

Priscilla Masters: The Cliff’s Edge Murders

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Coroner Martha Gunn #8

When I started this book, which is set in the UK, I had to look up exactly what a Coroner does as it’s a position we don’t have in the US. In the UK it’s a judicial office, and the coroner works with the police in an investigation of a sudden and suspicious death, rendering a verdict on the type of death at an inquest.  So many of us have read mysteries containing an inquest – Rebecca being a famous example – that the whole concept was not completely mysterious.  As this book has a Coroner as its main character, the research was handy, and it allowed me to understand that the central character, Coroner Martha Gunn, has a close and working relationship with the police. read more

Liza Tully: The Forty-Year Grudge

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Merritt & Blunt #2

Two books in, this has already become a favorite series. Everything about this series sparkles – the characters, the storytelling, and the setting.  The two central characters are 60 something Aubrey Merritt, a world-renowned private investigator, and her young, green, recently married assistant, Olivia Blunt (who, it must be said, does the lion’s share of the work).  Blunt is in training to become a detective but so far Merritt is a bit scornful of her talents.  She is eager, thorough, and good at research, however, and she arrives at the solution at *almost* the same time Aubrey does. read more

Lee Hollis: The Chowder House Murder

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Series debut: Downeast Maine

The brother sister team that is Lee Hollis begins a new series with The Chowder House Murder. Halibut Cove, Maine, is the home to the Holbrook family: Audrey Holbrook, her mother Jill, and her grandmother Maggie are the heroines of this cozy. All three women have very different lives. Audrey works at The Chowder House and aspires to own her own business one day, creating delicious recipes for everyone in Halibut Cove to enjoy. Jill is the chief of police and is determined to dole out justice to anyone causing grief in her town. Maggie is retired from the family chowder dynasty, but well known and loved around Halibut, having her fingers in a bunch of different pies and a social circle that spans the entire town. read more

G.M.Malliet: The Bedridden Detective and The Daughter of Time

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I stumbled across G.M. Malliet’s write up of Tey’s classic, The Daughter of Time, on goodreads, and she agreed to share it with us.  Malliet, of course, is the gifted creator of the St. Just and Max Tudor books, among others.  She’s a lover of golden age mystery fiction – The Daughter of Time being a prominent example – and a perpetrator herself in continuing that tradition, with her own modern updates to the form.  Read on!

What if the most gripping mystery you ever read involved no car chases, no shootouts, and a detective who literally cannot get out of bed? That’s the premise of The Daughter of Time – and it works brilliantly. read more

Danielle Postel-Vinay: Murder Most Delicious

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Series Debut

There are several ways to judge a book.  If three are present – plot, character, and setting – the book (to me) is good, if not great.  The x factor is prose style.  This novel has three excellent elements – character, setting and lovely prose.  The plot is OK and I figured out whodunnit long before the last page, but the prose just sings as does the setting of the novel, and I was carried away.

That setting is a tiny Paris neighborhood, Gros-Caillou, abutting the Eiffel Tower. The arrival of American sommelier Olivia Beech to a local anchor restaurant, Chez Jacques, is something of a sensation, becoming even more so when, during a wine tasting, the eponymous Jacques falls dead at Olivia’s feet.  While Olivia has been gifted with an extraordinary “nose” for wine, covid has taken away her sense of taste, which for a sommelier is a disaster.  Surfacing from a career crisis in an attempt to reclaim her life, she’s pinned her hopes on a resurrection at Chez Jacques. read more

Shaina Steinberg: Echoes of Infamy

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Bishop & Gallagher #3

I usually have no problem catching up with a series when I begin with a later instalment, but due to the complex backstories of the characters in this one, I found myself having to peruse a synopsis of the first two books to figure things out. It’s set in 1948 Los Angeles, and the main characters, Evelyn Bishop and Nick Gallagher, met during the war working as OSS agents.  In this novel, they’ve finally married and Evelyn has taken over the family aeronautics company, while Nick is working as a private eye. read more