Reviews

Alex Erickson: Death by Iced Coffee

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Bookstore Café #11

Alex Erickson’s most recent addition to the Bookstore Café Mystery series is Death by Iced Coffee. The story opens with owner of local Death by Coffee shop and amateur ‘just can’t help herself’ sleuth Krissy Hancock taking part in a marathon – during a heat wave. Like any sane person, she is regretting her decision, but, as a woman of integrity, she is determined to keep her promise to her friend Rita and do her part. However, she is surprised to spot Rita’s boyfriend display some rather suspicious behavior before the race even starts. Krissy does not want to jump to any conclusions, but her internal radar is pinged and she intends to look into what he could possibly be up to – but not until after the heat wave marathon of pain. Which is thankfully, but tragically, cut short when Krissy stumbles through the brutal heat and across one of the other runners lying dead on the ground. Despite the mild heat stroke, she is able to take in enough of the scene to decide that this poor man wasn’t a victim of heat stroke but rather of murder. read more

Dennis Lehane: Small Mercies

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Dennis Lehane writes like an angel.  His prose, while not flashy, is still beautiful, even while he writes about racial hatred, drug addiction, beat downs and murders.  Through his compelling way of creating character, he reaches in and gives your heart a squeeze, and I think he writes better than anyone about the highways of grief, loss and heartbreak.  It’s one of those miracles of empathy that only the most powerful of writers possess.

While this story is a simple one, in one way, it’s also full of complicated layers and wrong turns. It’s very basically the story of a worried mother looking for her missing daughter.  The mother, the tough as nails Mary Pat Fennessy, lives in South Boston in 1974, just as school busing is about to break the city into riots and protests.  The kids from Southie will be bussed into the black area of Roxbury, and vice versa.  Mary Pat’s 17 year old daughter, Jules, is scheduled to be on the first bus. read more

Ginger Bolton: Cinnamon Twisted

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Deputy Donut #7

Emily Westhill is the protagonist of Ginger Bolton’s Cinnamon Twisted, and owner of the Deputy Doughnut shop. Things start off simply enough for Emily, with the only oddity being a customer who is a little off. Then said customer asks to not only give a toy to Emily’s cat, Dep, but to also leave the store through the back. While Emily finds this odd, she chocks it up to the woman’s personal issues and helps her out, little knowing that interaction would turn her world upside-down and sideways. read more

Lauren Elliott: Dedication to Murder

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Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery #9

Our story begins with heroine Addie Greyborne heading to her wedding to Dr. Simon Emerson. The air is filled with excitement and anticipation, and everyone couldn’t be happier for the couple. But everything comes crashing down around her with one announcement, and leaves her with three weeks of vacation to sort out her life. She distracts herself from her personal drama by investigating a new mystery in her attic regarding her beloved Aunt Anita. Soon, it turns out that project is much more complicated and involved than just the discovery of yet another secret room. In it, she finds all kinds of treasures of her past she did not expect to find, including something extra special. However, I will not spoil what that is and leave open to the reader’s interpretation, as there are quite a few things I could be talking about, but for me it was a certain set. That’s the only clue I’ll give. read more

Leslie Meier: Mother of the Bride Murder

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Lucy Stone #38

Leslie Meier’s 38th addition to her Lucy Stone Mystery series is Mother of the Bride Murder.  Lucy’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth, is going to have an extravagant wedding in France and the entire family is invited. Lucy is excited at the prospect of not only her eldest daughter getting married, but also of having an excuse to get her entire family together. There are several obstacles facing different members of the family, from financial constraints to just worrying about not fitting in with another culture. read more

Samantha Jayne Allen: Hard Rain

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Annie McIntyre #2

While this book centers on Annie McIntyre, a young woman who has moved back home to Garnett, Texas, to work for her grandfather’s P.I. firm, it opens with a truly spectacular flood scene (the “Hard Rain” of the title).  A woman named Bethany is spending the weekend with friends in a rental cabin when the flood sweeps her away, and she’s saved by a man who “looks like Jesus.”  He saves her, and then is swept away himself.  Fearing he’s dead, she hires her old high school buddy Annie to try and find out what happened to him. read more

Elly Griffiths: The Last Remains

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Ruth Galloway #15

Elly Griffiths’ Ruth Galloway mysteries have captivated me since I read the first in 2009. Ruth herself is such an excellent character – an independent, academic woman that looks like an everyday person, one who makes mistakes and changes as time passes. Her world in Norfolk, England, is populated by a wide cast of memorable characters, and Griffith’s writing style feels unique, perfectly suited for story telling. I never regretted a minute spent with Cathbad the Druid, cantankerous DCI Harry Nelson, or determined officer Judy. read more

Dana Stabenow: Not the Ones Dead

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Kate Shugak #23

Kate Shugak has been around for awhile now, and she’s made a space for herself on the planet.  She’s a fully realized, fully detailed character.  As I was reading this book, number 23 in a beloved series, I couldn’t help but think about the spectacular very first book, A Cold Day for Murder.  Dana Stabenow has always had a love for the traditional mystery in terms of plotting, and that hasn’t changed, though Kate’s universe has gotten more expansive.

At the moment, I’m re-reading (as time permits) Margaret Maron’s wonderful Deborah Knott series, and it struck me as I was reading that there were few series that actually resemble each other more.  Sure, Maron’s books are set in North Carolina, not Alaska, but the surrounding sense of community and family are very, very similar.  At this point I very much enjoy an outing with the “Aunties” or a look at the way Kate, Mutt and Trooper Jim spend their evenings.  But it’s a different type of read from the first couple of tightly plotted novels.  It’s more of a meander than a rocket. read more

Lucy Connelly: An American in Scotland

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I gobbled up this yummy first in a series book from Lucy Connelly.  As the title indicates, American doctor Emilia (“Em”) McRoy is fleeing a busy ER back in San Francisco as well as a relationship gone wrong, and headed to tiny Sea Isle, Scotland.  She discovers, as does the heroine in all fairytales, that she’s to live for free in a converted castle (I mean, church) and perks include free food everywhere in town as well as a free car.  The job also comes with a working brother and sister – Tommy does the gardening and the capable Abigail, who runs the office, as well as the new MRI machine that the “Laird” of the town has thought to provide. read more

Trish Esden: A Wealth of Deception

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I truly enjoyed this book, the second in a series featuring antiques dealer Edie Brown, whose business is on the brink of collapse.  Her mother is in jail for art fraud and Edie is a convicted felon herself, having (unintentionally) sold stolen art to an undercover agent.  This series set up happens in book one, The Art of the Decoy (2022).  I was able to jump right in with little trouble, though I do want to go back and read the first book.

The book opens with a description of what it means to be an “outsider” artist (think Grandma Moses).  For the novel, Esden creates an outsider artist named Vespa, an elderly woman whose disturbing, complicated collages have taken the art world by storm.  When Edie and her uncle Tuck head over to do an appraisal and purchase a few items from a woman named Annie, Edie is surprised to see what she thinks in an original Vespa on the wall.  Annie is clearing out her mother’s house, and insists the work is her brother’s “craft project.” read more