Reviews

Margot Bennett: Someone from the Past

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I’m a little bit jealous of Someone From the Past – it came out in 1958, the same year I did, yet it remains fresh, vital and contemporary, unlike some of us of a similar age. What I like most about  it is the vivid voice of the narrator, Nancy, who is snarky, calculating, confused and altogether real. One evening her estranged former best friend Sarah approaches her unexpectedly and tells her that ever since she announced her engagement to her ultimate prize, a corporate director, she’s received letters threatening to kill her, apparently from an ex-lover. When she’s killed the next day, that list of exes becomes a list of suspects. read more

Diane Kelly: Dead Post Society

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House Flipper #7

In Diane Kelly’s seventh House flipper Mystery, Dead Post Society, main character Whitney Flynn, a carpenter in Nashville Tennessee, works with her father and cousin Buck. She and her cousin  also flip houses, and she solves mysteries in her spare time. Her husband and homicide detective Collin isn’t always pleased to have her poking around in murder cases. His love for her motivates him to want her to stay out of it and be safe, the detective in him welcomes her insight and whatever clues she happens to supply. Currently, Whitney and Buck haven’t been flipping houses for a few months because his wife is about to give birth to their first child. The family is beyond excited, and once the little bundle of joy arrives, it doesn’t take Whitney long to come across a fresh project for them. read more

Korina Moss: Bait and Swiss

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Cheese Shop #6

Gouda news readers, the sixth book in Korina Moss’ Cheese Shop Mystery series is here. In Bait and Swiss, Willa Bauer is celebrating the second year of her shop, Curds and Whey, being open and successful in Yarrow Glen. Her employees and friends, Mrs. Schultz and Archie, are now also joined by a fellow cheese enthusiast, June. Willa is rightfully proud of her shop’s success and is going all out for its birthday celebration, complete with cheese from around the world themes on rotation throughout the day and costumes to match. There is more cause to celebrate around town when Hope is ready to reveal and open her new cakery shop. Ever ready to support her community and friends, Willa and team are excited to attend the grand opening event, until she sees who Hope’s new partners are. read more

Emily Sullivan: A Death on Corfu

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Minnie Harper #1

This lovely, sparkling book is set on Corfu in 1898.  It’s the story of widowed Minnie, raising two kids on her own.  Minnie is British but her husband chose Corfu for them, and the family was very happy there together.  His dying request was for Minnie never to send the children back to England.  While Minnie’s son, Tommy, is young and more than entranced by the copious insect and amphibian population, her daughter Cleo is a teen who has reached the eye rolling stage.  I doubt that’s what it was called in 1898, but you know what I mean.  Cleo is longing to go away to school. read more

Maha Khan Phillips: The Museum Detective

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Dr. Gul Delani is an art historian working at the Museum of History and Heritage in Karachi, Pakistan.  She has basically forced her way into the museum by more or less creating her own department and curating her own staff of eager grad students.  When she gets a middle of the night phone call, she thinks it’s information about her long missing niece, Mahnaz, who had vanished at 15, but instead, it’s an order to get dressed and get in a car for a long ride. When she arrives, she’s asked to take a look at what could possibly be the mummy of a legendary princess of Persepolis. read more

Will Thomas: Season of Death

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Barker & Llewelyn #16

Season of Death is the sixteenth book in Will Thomas’ series set in Victorian London, featuring private enquiry agents (they prefer this term, rather than “detectives”) Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn.  I had not read any of the previous books in the series before, and at first I wondered if I’d be lost, starting the series with the sixteenth book, but this novel was so engaging that I felt drawn in by the story and the characters right away, and now I want to go back and read the others.  Thomas gives the reader enough detail about the characters and their previous cases that you don’t feel lost, but not so much as to spoil the earlier books. read more

Chris Nickson: No Precious Truth

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Cathy Marsden #1

Often when I read a book set during WWII, I imagine myself as the heroine of an exciting yet dangerous espionage operation, looking Hollywood glamorous the whole time.  Nickson offers readers a different, more workaday take in the person of Cathy Marsden, seconded from the Leeds police department to serve in the SIB or Special Operations Bureau, part of the military police. As the book opens, Cathy’s unit is joined by her brother Dan, who at the moment is stationed in London in the XX Committee, a part of MI5 which attempted to turn German spies in England into counter agents who would feed selected disinformation back to their masters. read more

Jesse Q. Sutanto: Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man)

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Vera Wong #2

These books are like comfy, beautiful pillows for your brain, and, let me tell you, these days that’s not a bad thing.  Vera, the heroine of the series, is the 60 something widow who, in the first book, finds a dead body in the middle of her formerly obscure tea shop, ultimately finding friends and a purpose in the act of solving a murder.  Vera is opinionated, bossy, maternal, and an excellent cook, who as the book opens, gets a scam phone call which cons her into sharing her social security number and even a photo of her driver’s licence. read more

Allie Pleiter: One Sharp Stitch

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Nimble Needle #1

One Sharp Stitch is the first of the Nimble Needle Mysteries by Allie Pleiter. Readers are taken to Gwen Lake, outside of Asheville, North Carolina, with Shelby Phillips. Having just lost her job as well as a possible relationship, Shelby is headed home for a break from her life and to help her mother out at her needlepoint shop, the Nimble Needle. Her parents are finally taking a vacation in their RV. Shelby will only be minding the shop for a month, as she keeps reminding her parents and her perfectionist sister, Jessica. There’s also a trunk show coming up for local vendors, and Shelby will have to work with an old classmate, Kat Katsaros, who now makes needlework scissors — very artsy and expensive needlework scissors. Kat also sharpens blades of all kinds in a van that she happily uses to transport her scissors and crafts. read more

Lauren Elliott: A Spirited Blend

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Crystals & CuriosiTEAS #3

In Lauren Elliott’s third Crystals & CuriosiTEAS mystery, A Spirited Blend, Shayleigh Myers is making the most of her life in Bray Harbor, California as a tea shop owner and local seer. After having her life completely destroyed, and everything taken from her, Shayleigh is slow to trust and cautious of new ventures. Despite that, Bray Harbor has quickly begun to feel like home thanks to the lovely locals, a large white German Shepard named Spirit, and her sister Jen and her family. Not only is she learning how to run her tea shop, she’s also having to learn how work with and use her ancestors powerful magic, known as Early Magic. For the longest time, she fought against the validity of her visions and the magic local Gran Madigan talked about. However, there’s only so much proof denial can stand against, and now Shayleigh is embracing the magic and learning to respect the dangers that come with it. read more