Amateur sleuth

Simon Brett: A Messy Murder

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Decluttering mysteries #4

I’m not sure why I haven’t read this series before, but this book is so good it makes me want to go back and check out the first three installments.  Main character Ellen Curtis is a “professional declutterer,” a job that sounds very silly but really isn’t.  As the story begins she’s working for a husband and wife looking to downsize, with the wife being all for it and the husband, a fading former TV host, not so enthusiastic.  Ellen is a widow, having lost her husband to suicide, and when the husband, “Humph” to his friends, dies, apparently a suicide as well, Ellen’s skills  and familiarity with grief come to the fore. read more

M.E. Hilliard: Smoke and Mirrors

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Greer Hogan #4

Since the first book in this series (The Unkindness of Ravens), librarian Greer Hogan has been working through the aftermath of her husband’s murder.  While she’s upright and functional, his death feels unresolved, and she’s not so sure the right person is in prison. While she has a job, she’s taken on a temporary one in New York City, archiving the collection of a magician.  The gig comes with an apartment across the street, and the archiving job gives her the flexibility she needs for sleuthing.  It also comes with an assistant: the aptly named “Grim” (short for Grimaldi), a former magician himself, is helping out by archiving the straight up magic tricks part of the collection, while Greer herself sticks to books.  She decides to trust him early on and he proves to be incredibly useful. read more

Krista Davis: The Diva Goes Overboard

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Domestic Diva #17

Krista Davis’ latest addition to her Domestic Diva Mysteries, The Diva Goes Overboard, follows event planner Sophie Winston in Old Town Alexandria. Her best, and highest maintenance friend, Natasha Smith, has wonderful but shocking news. Her free-spirited mother, Wanda, and local antiques dealer, Orson Chatsworth, are getting married. Sophie is thrilled to be asked to help Natasha get an engagement party together, but not so thrilled with the short time frame she’s given to work with. With the short notice, she already knows finding a venue is going to be more than a little challenging. read more

Ann Claire: A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime & Croissants

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Series debut

This is a charming debut, set in the French countryside.  As promised in the title, it provides both cycling and baked goods.  The main character, Sadie Greene, has shucked her secure actuary job in Chicago after the hit and run death of her best friend, Gem, and bought a French bicycle touring company.  She’s all in and her little company, Oui Cycle, is about to take off on it’s first tour. Joining her are – let’s be real – the suspects: her hometown almost family, the Appletons (parents, son, and girlfriend); a sleek German, Manfred; two Scottish sisters who can’t get enough of the baked goods; and a supposedly undercover travel writer, Nigel.  In true Murder, She Wrote style, two of the most unpleasant on the tour, Nigel and Dom Appleton, seem targeted for doom. read more

Catherine Mack: Every Time I Go on Vacation, Some One Dies

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Vacation Mysteries #1

This book takes the form of a very traditional mystery, and turns it on it’s head, standing back a bit to look with fondness at the genre.  There are other writers looking at mysteries in the same way – Elle Cosimano, Anthony Horowitz, Kat Ailes, Benjamin Stevenson and to and extent, Kemper Donovan – but like Cosimano, Ailes and Stevenson, Mack’s take is humorous.  These are not stories written by dumb people.  The stories are smart and the mysteries are clever and tricky, with fairly laid out turns of the plot.  Mack invites the reader to join her somewhat hapless main character in detection, and honestly, as a reader, you might do a better job than Eleanor Dash. read more

Jenny Adams: A Deadly Endeavor

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Debut

Set in 1921 Philly, this lively series debut finds its characters affected by both the war and the influenza pandemic.  Heroine Edie Shippen returns home after suffering through the flu and nursing her San Francisco aunt just in time for her twin sister Frances’ engagement party to Edie’s former beau, Theo.  She isn’t even planning to attend until her maid Jenny convinces, telling her she looks too good to miss it.  Edie, who seems remarkably unaware of her own charms, does agree, but for her the occasion is only saved by an encounter with her rebellious cousin, Rebecca. read more

Karen Rose Smith: Murder with Earl Grey Tea

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Daisy’s Tea Garden #9

I have enjoyed many volumes of Karen Rose Smith’s Daisy’s Tea Garden Mystery series, and the ninth addition is no exception. In Murder with Earl Grey Tea our heroine Daisy Swanson is having to juggle a bunch of events in her life. Her daughter Vi is moving to her own place with her family, and starting to move forward with planning her own wedding. Vi is marrying her boyfriend Jonas, and Daisy’s tea garden is preparing to host a large Alice in Wonderland themed event. Over all things seem to be going well for her and her family. The only drama on the horizon is her aunt Iris being put into the predicament of having to start to face having to choose between two suitors, but that all changes with the traumatic discovery of the body of a friend. read more

Olivia Matthews: Hard Dough Homicide

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Spice Isle Bakery #2

Hard Dough Homicide is the second book by Olivia Matthews, and it follows Lindsay Murray and family at their Caribbean themed restaurant, Spice Island Bakery. When Lindsay’s mother quit her old job at the local school to focus on the bakery she thought, and hoped, her interactions with her old boss were behind her. Principal Emily Smith was a nasty piece of work who was demeaning and abusive to her employees and extremely self-centered. Yet when she decides to retire, she wants her celebration dinner held at the Spice Island Bakery. At first the Murray family wants nothing to do with it, but the money is literally too good to refuse, and they decide to take a chance. Turns out the guests are just as uncomfortable with things as the Murray family, and things go from tense to downright disastrous when Emily dies shortly after the meal begins. read more

Emmaline Duncan: Flat White Fatality

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Ground Rules #3

Flat White Fatality is Emmeline Duncan’s third book in her ground rules series. First, I feel I would be remiss in saying that heroine Sage is every barista’s dream manager as she is passionate about coffee and cares for her employees, as well as sticking up for them. Anyone who has worked behind a steaming espresso machine will appreciate the realism of Emmeline Duncan’s descriptions of running a coffee establishment – including the customers who get unreasonably angry over having ordered the wrong thing and not wanting to admit it. In such situations, Sage’s managerial prowess also shines as she deescalates the situation and stops the customer from abusing her baristas. Ground Rules is currently just a coffee cart, but is expanding to a brick and mortar building due to its popularity. Given how innovative Sage is about her product, their growing popularity isn’t a surprise. read more

Kate Collins: Gone but Not For Garden

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Kate Collins’ fourth addition to her Goddess of Greene Street Mysteries is Gone but Not for Garden. Readers will find themselves drawn in by main character and detective Athena Spencer. She has only recently opened up her own detective agency with her boyfriend Case Donnelly, works for her family gardening store called Spencer’s, and also posts a blog as a way to vent about her family and personal life struggles and triumphs. However, she does remain anonymous in her blog, and it is amusing to see her family discuss it with such interest. Anyone who has a large family can appreciate and relate to how Athena has both love for her family as well as frustrations. While her family means well, they often push Athena’s boundaries and exasperate her. She does her best to be considerate and kind, while also remaining firm with her family. They mean well, and their pushing clearly comes from a place of love. Athena’s awareness of this makes her all the more relatable to those with more complicated families themselves. Athena also has a son and pet raccoon that add both a humorous element to the story, as well as interesting plot twists later on. read more