Month: November 2023

January Book Club: The Appeal

by

Join us on Sunday, January 14 at 2 p.m. on zoom for our book club discussion of Janice Hallett’s The Appeal.  Email us at store (at) auntagathas.com or message us on facebook for a zoom link.  Anyone is welcome.  Publisher’s description:  The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Hayward and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival. But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—or of the good intentions of those involved. As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head at the explosive dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material—emails, messages, letters—with a growing suspicion that the killer may be hiding in plain sight. The evidence is all there, between the lines, waiting to be uncovered. read more

Best of 2023

by

I was unable to limit my list to ten and present twelve titles this year, and the “also notables” at the end are excellent too.  My criteria is always a book that stayed with me and moved me throughout the year.  When I cast my mind back to reading these books the feeling of being captured by prose returns to my mind.  It’s such a magical experience – I think one hoped for by every reader – and sharing the books that provide that kind of reading experience is a real joy.  As will be obvious I have a real love for traditional detective work (Crombie, Cleeves, Griffiths, Stewart Taylor).  I also love the odd and memorable (Cotterill, Bennett) and I have a fondness for kick ass women (Allen, Lillie, Khan). I love a good gothic mystery (Goodman) and there are a couple of outstanding debuts: Danielle Arceneaux’s Glory Be and Michael Bennett’s Better the Blood.  Mysteries are finding a glorious diversity lately as illustrated here, with Muslim, Cherokee,  African American and Maori sleuths finding a voice. Full reviews can be found by searching the site, though with a few exceptions they are only to be found at Deadly Pleasures. read more

Best of: History Mystery 2023

by

There were some great and varied historical mysteries published this year.  Some old favorites (Alexander, Benn, Massey, Montclair, Willig and Winspear), some great early series installments (Flower, Nagendra), and some sparkling debuts (Connally, Kelly, Rao).  The fun was going all through time and all over the world – from Cecil B. DeMille filming The Ten Commandments on location in Egypt, to India, Scotland, England, France, Cuba and the east coast of the United States.  That’s one reason I love historicals – the travel.  The other reason is that they are the purest example of deductive reasoning around since they occur before computers and cell phones.  The detectives have to use good old shoe leather and old fashioned thinking to solve the crimes – the best of them are truly transporting. read more

Best of: Cozies 2023

by

Cozy-palooza! This year I’m presenting both my list and Carla’s.  Because we’ve read different books this year, our lists have no overlap.  Mine are presented alphabetically, Carla has ranked hers in order of preference and I know she spent lots of time on her list.  Full reviews can be found on the site, just type an author or title into the search box, and of course, all are available for sale. Sleuth on, fair readers!

Robin Agnew’s list

A Fatal Groove, Olivia Blacke. I love this new series featuring sisters Juni, Tansy and Maggie, who run a combo vinyl record-coffee shop in an Austin adjacent town in Texas. Juni is the series heroine, and she gets around town on her green tricycle.  I love the vinyl record store concept.  In this outing, the women are catering for the town bluebonnet festival, and when Tansy drops off a cup of coffee for the mayor at city hall, finding him dead, she’s instantly a suspect.  This clever mystery finds the sleuthing sisters looking into some local history with some frisson added to the story through Juni having to deal with old high school rivals.  The sisters’ relationship is lovely – nice and supportive – and the parameters of the town, the record store, and music in general make this series a standout. read more

Best of 2023: Reviewer’s favorites

by

Our reviewers, Margaret Agnew, Vicki Kondelik, and Carla Schantz, have all shared their top 10 lists with me.  If you’d like to know more about them, you can read about them here.  All of them are accomplished women and passionate readers.  I appreciate Margaret’s way with words, Vicki’s love of historical mysteries, and Carla’s passion for cozies.  There’s lots here to add to your TBR piles!  Full reviews can be found in most cases by searching the site, though Vicki has some classics on her list she didn’t review here.  Carla’s list can be found in the forthcoming Best of Cozies post. read more

Catriona McPherson: Hop Scot

by

Last Ditch #6

This hilarious breath of fresh air from Catriona McPherson has rocketed on to my all time favorite Christmas mystery list.  This series centers on Scot Lexy Campbell, who has settled in the strange land of California, and lives in a motel surrounded by an array of interesting characters who often help her solve crimes.  Her “real” job is working as a life coach, but honestly, sleuthing takes front and center stage for her.

In this outing McPherson has flipped the script, and sent Lexy and her buddies home (Lexy’s home, anyway) to Scotland for Christmas.  While it was a trip planned for just her and her fiancée, their buddy Roger the doc says he needs to get out of town and buys them all swanky airplane tickets – how can they refuse? read more

Sally Goldenbaum: A Twisted Skein

by

Seaside Knitters Society #6

Intrigue and knitting abound in Sally Goldenbaum’s most recent addition to her Seaside Knitters Society series, A Twisted Skein. This is the sixth book, and follows yarn studio owner Izzy Perry and her friend Birdie as they investigate the death of one of Birdie’s fellow birders. A murder would be enough for anyone to have to deal with, but Izzy Perry also has a knitting themed fashion show she is sponsoring looming overhead as well. This makes her yarn shop busier than usual as everyone comes in to either to buy yarn and supplies, or to work on a project or two for the big show. The stress of the show is bad enough, but then she starts to fear that the police aren’t going to look deep enough into the murder. That they will go after the easiest and most obvious suspect, someone no one in the knitting circle can believe would be behind the murder. As such, there is only one thing to do: get out their knitting needles and their detective glasses and delve into things for themselves. read more

Victoria Laurie: Coaching Fire

by

Cat & Gilley Life Coach #5

No one can claim that Victoria Laurie’s latest addition to her Cat & Gilley Life Coach series is a slow burn. This fifth book, Coaching Fire, starts off with Cat Cooper and Gilley Gillespie in the heat of things, and that sets the pace readers can expect. Cat and Gilley are in the lone star state of Texas for the famous Rose Festival, where Gilley’s new paramour, Stuart Jacobs, is heading the creation of all the royal court garb. But it isn’t all fun and games. A murder occurs on the very night Cat arrives in Texas and it puts pressure on Gilley’s new squeeze. At a time when he needs every last set of hands working on the Rose Queen’s court, he loses one set to police suspicion. Determined to help, Gilley and Cat join forces once again to help stop a killer before they get away with murder, or perhaps even commit another. read more

V.M. Burns: Murder on Tour

by

Mystery Bookshop #9

There is a lot that goes into getting a book written and on shelves. After the author thinks it’s finally done, it then has to pass through the publishing gauntlet. Once it makes it through that, then the author must go about promoting their book to ensure sales stay up and their next book has a better chance of getting published. Often times they must promote at events with other authors who have many other books published and have a solid fan base. In Murder On Tour, V.M. Burns portrays our protagonist Samantha Washington’s struggle to be not just a published author, but a confident one. It does not help her ego any to be a last minute addition to a book festival, and that her table isn’t in a very ideal location. Luckily she has her grandma Nana Joe present to keep her confidence up and boost her morale. But, once behind the scenes, Samantha finds out that things are not all they appear to be. The infighting between these well-known authors is shocking and Samantha does her best to stay out of it. read more

Lauren Elliott: Murder in a Cup

by

Crystals & CuriosiTEAS #2

Lauren Elliott’s second book in her Crystals & CuriosiTEAS series, Murder in a Cup, does not disappoint. Shay Myers is determined to make her new life in Monterey Peninsula a success and, given the popularity of her shop, that seems to be more than possible. With the help of her sister Jen, a local misfit teenager named Tassi, and of course her loyal dog Spirit, Shay has plenty of help in running Crystals & CuriosiTEAS. Serving tea and selling knick-knacks isn’t Shay’s only business, she also provides services as a Seer, such as reading tea leaves or palms. Given that she is a self-taught Seer, logical minded Shay is always a little nervous about exploring this more mystical side of herself. Luckily local pub owner and friend Liam has his Gran coming into town and she is a well versed Seer. Unfortunately for Shay, Gran is also more than a little pushy and has her committing to doing a group event reading before she’s really comfortable with it. read more