aunt_agatha

Scott Lyerly: The Last Line

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Debut

This dark theatre cozy is set in Avalon, Massachusetts, in the tiny Kaleidoscope Theater.  Theater owner and producer Ellie Marlowe, our main character, is opening a solid sounding show titled Murder in a Teacup. The attendance numbers look good and the show looks to be a success, with just one problem: the leading man is not a nice guy.  In the first few scenes, in encounter after encounter, the reader is shown (not told) of the man’s arrogant, demeaning, and downright rude behavior to basically all other humans in his orbit.  Since this is a murder mystery, he is quickly dispatched, though the question remains: did he simply have a heart attack?  Again, this is a murder mystery. read more

Ellen Byron: A Very Woodsy Murder

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Golden Motel #1

Ellen Byron always brings it.  In this series launch, exhausted TV writer Dee has found gold at the end of her particular rainbow.  In her case, it’s an abandoned mid century motel in need of lots of love at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  She wants to buy it and renovate it with her ex-husband and now best friend, Jeff, whose life also needs a bit of a reboot.  The two agree to the plan, sinking their savings into it.  They’re happily renovating when their first guest checks in: an old fellow sit-com writer frenemy of Dee’s.  He seems to be roundly disliked by everyone in town and in good cozy fashion he’s shortly dispatched.  (It’s the end of his particular rainbow.) read more

Kathryn Lasky: Mortal Radiance

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Georgia O’Keeffe #2

I truly enjoyed the first novel in this series, Light on Bone, despite initial reservations about Georgia O’Keeffe as a detective.  Lasky ably uses O’Keeffe’s artistic skillset to solve the crimes presented to her, and I am always in favor of a sleuth using an actual skill they already possess.  Set in and around Taos, New Mexico, Georgia in this instalment is staying at the home of Mabel Dodge Luhan, an art patroness who maintained quite a salon.  Georgia is in Taos for the funeral of D.H. Lawrence, whose body was disinterred by his wife five years after his death, cremated, and brought to Taos for interment on the grounds of a ranch Mabel had gifted to the couple (in return, Mabel received the original manuscript of Sons and Lovers). read more

Elise Bryant: It’s Elementary

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Series debut

If the mystery part of this novel hadn’t meandered a bit as it headed in for the finish it would have been the absolutely perfect summer read.  The rest of the book, though, is so utterly charming, that’s really a nitpick.  This is the first adult novel for author Bryant, who up until now has written YA romance, and she seems to be embracing adulting in her first outing.  Her heroine, Mavis Miller, is a single mom who lives with her Dad and is late getting her adorable daughter Pearl to school just about every day in the rush of getting ready for work, making Pearl’s lunch, letting the dog out, etc. read more

Dianne Freeman: An Art Lover’s Guide to Paris and Murder

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Countess of Harleigh #7

An Art Lover’s Guide to Paris and Murder is the seventh entry in Dianne Freeman’s delightful Countess of Harleigh series.  Set at the turn of the twentieth century, the series features Frances, the American-born former Countess of Harleigh, and her second husband, George Hazelton, who carries out secret investigations for the British government.  This book is somewhat of a departure for the series, since it takes place in Paris instead of the usual setting of London, but you can hardly complain about that. read more

Molly MacRae: Come Shell or High Water

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Series Debut – Haunted Shell Shop #1

Molly MacRae launches her new haunted shell shop mystery series with Come Shell or High Water. Newly widowed Maureen Nash heads to Ocracoke Island to follow up on some rather odd letters from the shell shop owner. Maureen is a Malacologist and teller of stories and legends. Malacologist is the term for someone who studies mollusks, an interesting factoid I enjoyed learning. One might think that Maureen of the mollusks could have picked a better time to visit the island than right in the middle of hurricane season. Apparently, though, that is a prime time to find some seaside treasures of the shelled variety. Maureen has quite the journey to the island, but the real adventure starts when she literally trips over a body, then stumbles through a series of unfortunate events that results in compromised memory, becoming a murder suspect, and meeting a ghost. read more

Anna Lee Huber: A Deceptive Composition

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Lady Darby #12

This enjoyable series centers on unconventional artist Lady Darby, aka Kiera Gage, who still carries her first husband’s title, though she’s since remarried one Sebastian Gage. That first husband was cruel, forcing her to use her artistic skills as an anatomical illustrator to sketch as he dissected corpses, an extremely disreputable occupation for a woman in the 1830s.  Fortunately for her, his passing left her free to marry her dishy second husband and have a baby with him.  She now uses those skills as a society portraitist, but it’s her eye that makes this series original, detecting colors and relevant details others would miss. It’s her incredible powers of observation that makes her such a valuable assistant to her husband, an operative for the crown. read more

Connie Berry: A Collection of Lies

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Kate Hamilton #5

Even though this is book five in an established series, I was able to comfortably settle in with Berry’s characters, setting, and story right away. The series features antiques expert Kate Hamilton, and in this instalment she’s on honeymoon in Devon with her police detective husband, Tom Mallory.  In true mystery tradition, it’s a busman’s honeymoon, as they’ve also taken on a private job to verify the provenance of a blood covered dress from the 1880s, which supposedly belonged to a murderess. read more

Classics book clubs: Akimitsu Takagi and Elizabeth Peters

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August & September book clubs

Join us for our classic edition of our book club at the end of the summer.  In August, we’ll meet at 2 p.m. in person on Sunday the 18th and at 7 p.m. on zoom on Wednesday the 21st to discuss Akimitsu Takagi‘s 1950 masterpiece, The Noh Mask Murder.  Description: This ingeniously constructed masterpiece, written by one of Japan’s most celebrated crime writers and translated into English for the first time, is perfect for locked-room mystery fans who can’t resist a breathtaking conclusion. In the Chizurui family mansion, a haunting presence casts a shadow over its residents. By night, an eerie figure, clad in a sinister Hannya mask is seen roaming around the house. An amateur murder mystery writer, Akimitsu Takagi, is sent to investigate — but his investigation takes a harrowing turn as tragedy strikes the Chizurui family. Within the confines of a locked study, the head of the family is found dead, with only an ominous Hannya mask lying on the floor by his side and the lingering scent of jasmine in the air as clues to his mysterious murder. As Takagi delves deeper into the perplexing case, he discovers a tangled web of secrets and grudges. Can he discover the link between the family and the curse of the Hannya mask? Who was the person who called the undertaker and asked for three coffins on the night of the murder? And do those three coffins mean the curse of the Hannya mask is about to strike again? read more

July Book Club: The Canal Murders

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Join us for our July book club in person on Sunday, July 21, at 2 p.m. or on zoom on Wednesday, July 24 at 7 p.m. to discuss The Canal Murders by J.R. Ellis.  All are welcome – message us on facebook or email us at store(at) auntagathas.com for either the address or the zoom link.

Here’s the publisher’s description: Life moves at a slower pace on the canals. But death always comes when you least expect it. The last thing DS Stephanie Johnson and DS Andy Carter expected during their much-needed canal holiday was a murder. When retired folk musician Annie Shipton is found stabbed through the neck at the helm of her barge, the couple can’t help investigating the seemingly impossible crime. Nobody else boarded Annie’s boat—so how was she killed from behind? With the method a perplexing mystery, DCI Oldroyd is summoned from Harrogate, and it’s not long before the detectives have a long list of potential suspects with a motive to want Annie dead. There’s the young cyclist she argued with over access to the towpath, an ambitious and arrogant local developer she clashed with repeatedly, an estranged husband…and more than a few lingering issues with her former bandmates, most of whom live along the canal. When a second shocking murder sends shockwaves through the community, the locals start talking about a curse on the waterway. It seems the killer will go to any lengths to avoid detection. But can Oldroyd hunt them down before someone else becomes the next target? read more