Reviews

Hank Phillippi Ryan: One Wrong Word

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Perhaps it’s appropriate that one of wordsmith Hank Phillippi Ryan’s best books revolves around the correct, and powerful, use of words. Her central character, Arden Ward, works for a crisis management firm, and as the book opens, she’s being fired. Even though her boss knows it isn’t true, he’s pleasing a client whose wife thinks Arden was fooling around with him. Arden is heartbroken – she loves her job – but her boss offers her a last client with a great reference to follow.  Arden agrees – she needs the reference. read more

Darci Hannah: Murder at the Blarney Bash

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Beacon Bakeshop #5

Darci Hannah starts Murder at the Blarney Bash mystery running. Literally. The main focus of the story runs full speed into our heroine Lindsey’s car on her way home with her trusty Newfoundland, Wellington. However, whoever it was got away before she could ensure their well being, or find out who they were. Or what they were. She does not have time to dwell on it, as a league of leprechauns is heading right to her Beacon Bakeshop. Leprechaun children, that is, from the local school who are all looking forward to a Saint Patrick’s Day celebration chock full of tasty green pastries. So Lindsey has to race to beat them there, or at least not be too late. read more

Traci Hall: Murder at a Scottish Castle

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Scottish Shire #5

Traci Hall’s fifth book in her A Scottish Shire series is Murder at a Scottish Castle. This series has made an impact on me thanks to Hall’s ability to immerse readers in a Scottish atmosphere with her accurate use of the language and descriptions of the village of Nairn. Paisley, our protagonist, has been invited by the Dowager Countess to Ramsey Castle for an end of summer bagpiping competition. Even better news is that now she’s onto the Dowager Countess’ radar, as she wants to sell her cashmere goods at the castle gift shop. As a single mother and business owner, Paisley is always ready to go after extra sources of income. Of course, when she goes, she must take her son Brody, her grandpa, and their black Scottish terrier, Wallace, with her. Good competition and newly discovered rivalries keep the bagpiping competition going strong with lovely music and high spirits. That’s until one of the competitors, the reigning champion no less, suddenly collapses. Soon after, DI Zeffer is on the scene, proclaiming the champion not only dead but most likely murdered. read more

Catie Murphy: Death by Irish Whiskey

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Dublin Driver #5

Death by Irish Whiskey is Catie Murphy’s fifth installment in her Dublin Driver Mysteries series. Megan, also known to the town as ‘The Murder Driver,’ is taking some time off from her limo driving job to enjoy one of Ireland’s main specialties: whiskey. Her Uncle Rabbie is taking part in a whiskey tasting event and competition, alongside his business partner, famous Irish star Niahn. Glitz, glam, and whiskey are the only things on Megan’s mind for this big event, but fate has something else planned for her. A competitor and boxer, Angus McConal, suddenly drops dead. If that isn’t bad enough, Uncle Rabbie is under suspicion. Megan has promised her girlfriend, Jelena, that she won’t do any more amateur sleuthing – but saying it and doing it are two very different things. The local Guarda don’t buy her insistence that she won’t nose about, and are quick to warn her away from the case. read more

Heather Weidner: Twinkle, Twinkle Au Revoir

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Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe #2

Twinkle Twinkle Au Revoir is Heather Weidner’s second book in her Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe series. The story follows Jade Hicks and her trusty side kick, French bulldog Chloe, as their town is invaded by Hollywood.  The popular television program ‘My Costal Valentine’ has decided Mermaid Bay is the perfect place to film their next instalment. The Hollywood invasion is received with the grace and poise one might expect, in that it turns the whole town completely on its head. Fans and reporters flood the streets, blocking traffic, getting into people’s yards for a hopeful glimpse of stardom. At least the local businesses are booming. Other than the surplus population in town and the sudden loss of privacy, the Hollywood shoot promises to put Mermaid Bay on the map. Unfortunately, the atmosphere sours when an overzealous reporter is found dead in one of the actor’s rooms. Then someone tries to kill the show’s male star, heartthrob to hundreds, Raphael Allard. Mermaid Bay starts to look a bit more nefarious than romantic. read more

Kemper Donovan: The Busy Body

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This yummy book is centered on a ghostwriter (never named) who gets a dream assignment: she’s to collaborate with Dorothy Gibson, a Hilary Clinton-esque figure who has just lost a presidential election and has retreated to her home in Maine.  The ghostwriter informs the reader that meeting a subject has to involve some chemistry or it just won’t work, but she means to accept this assignment before she steps foot in the door, and the two women in fact hit it off.

This is a plot driven book that’s governed by character.  The author obviously has a love for golden age mysteries and makes frequent references to Poirot, Marple, and Inspector Alleyn, but it’s the budding friendship between the two women that powers the novel.  As the ghostwriter accompanies Dorothy around town, Dorothy is frequently met by voters/fans who don’t quite know how to react but want to make sure she knows they voted for her.  It’s poignant. The way Dorothy reacts is matter of fact and friendly, and you only see the cracks when she’s alone with the ghostwriter or her assistant. She also works nonstop, to the exhaustion of the writer, who cannot believe her energy. read more

Andrea Penrose: The Diamond of London

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Andrea Penrose has a long series of historical mysteries, but here she pivots to straight historical fiction, illuminating the life of Lady Hester Stanhope, who lived during the Regency period in England. After her mother, who was related to the powerful Pitt family, died young, she was left with an eccentric father and the responsibility for three stepbrothers.  Hester spent much of her young adult life with her grandmother, Lady Chatham, and a bit later served as hostess and secretary to her uncle, William Pitt, who served as Prime Minister. read more

Benjamin Stevenson: Everyone on this Train is a Suspect

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Ernest Cunningham #2

If you are a fan of Knives Out or Poker Face, this is the book for you.  Clever but still human, it’s very meta, yet appealingly compelling.  Protagonist Ernest Cunningham is a writer who achieved a sensation with his first book, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, and now finds himself a guest at a writer’s conference taking place on an ultra-luxe train traveling through the center of Australia. There are several other varieties of mystery writers attending – with the blockbuster, “literary,” legal, psychological thriller, and forensic subgenres all represented.  Also joining Ernest on the train is his girlfriend, Juliette as well as the usual assortment of editors, agents and fans. read more

Mariah Fredericks: The Wharton Plot

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I am a big fan of Mariah Fredericks’ vivid historical fiction.  I adore her Jane Prescott series, featuring a lady’s maid in 1910 New York, in which Jane ends up investigating crimes with the blessing of the family she works for, often with the help of a friendly investigative reporter.  Mariah’s now moved toward standalone historical novels – in 2022’s The Lindbergh Nanny she followed the kidnapping through the eyes of the nursemaid to the baby.  In The Wharton Plot, Edith Wharton herself takes on the true murder of a well known (at the time) author, David Graham Phillips. read more

Amy Pease: Northwoods

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This debut by Amy Pease takes on a lot.  Her flawed hero, Eli North, is a vet with PTSD and a drinking problem.  He’s lost the job he loved, and his wife has left him – plus he works on sufferance for his mother, the sheriff, at the understaffed sheriff’s department in tiny Shaky Lake, Wisconsin.  His co-workers don’t think much of him but his mother is doing her very best to pull him forward.  He defeats her efforts at almost every turn as addicts tend to do.

As the book opens, Eli ignores a call from work and when he does get to it, it’s a noise complaint.  He finds an empty resort cabin with the music playing full blast.  He turns it off, and, checking out the nearby dock, finds a boat tied up with a dead body inside.  His first panicked thought is that it’s the body of his boy, Andy, but he sees the boy in the boat is too old – he’s a teen.  It also becomes clear that the girl he was with is missing. read more