Carla Schantz

Best of 2025: Reviewer’s Choice

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Our reviewers, Margaret Agnew, Cathy Akers-Jordan, Vicki Kondelik and Carla Schantz, are all extremely discerning readers and all have shared their favorites for the year.  I so appreciate the yearly efforts of these wonderful reviewers, and their top 10 lists should help you find a good read.  Some have comments, some (like Margaret) have merely listed their selections in order.  All the choices have been given lots of thought.  Needless to say, their reviews appear on the website, and you can read more about them on the “Our Reviewers” tab here. read more

Elizabeth Penney: Vows and Villainy

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Cambridge Bookshop #5

In Elizabeth Penny’s fifth addition to her Cambridge Bookshop series, Vows and Villainy, the reader finds Molly Kimball, a librarian who helps her aunt in her bookshop and the local police with their murders in Cambridge, England. Molly uses deductive reasoning and her social prowess to entice others to give her clues and bits of information. She also does not try to solve everything on her own and then turn over the information to the authorities – instead, she keeps the local detectives in the know as she goes, trying her best to be helpful as well as safe. While they might not praise her for her efforts they appreciate and utilize her intel as much as possible, more so now that she has established herself as a credible amateur sleuth. read more

Daryl Wood Gerber: Murder by the Millions

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Literary Dining #2

In the second outing of Daryl Wood Gerber’s literary dining series, we find Allie Catt, who runs Feast for the Eyes catering in Asheville, North Carolina, as well as  working at her best friend Tegan Potts’ bookshop. The two of them have taken up throwing literary themed parties at the bookshop as well as solving mysteries. Her cat, Darcy, is always ready to point out a clue or two as well. Business is really taking off and, while Allie is pleased, she is also grateful for the help of her new partner Vanna Harding – Tegan’s half-sister with a rather abrasive personality. Surprisingly, though, the two are getting along rather well, and Vanna isn’t just railroading Allie into all of her own catering ideas. read more

Alex Erickson: Death by Java

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Bookstore Café #14

In the fourteenth outing of Alex Erickson’s Bookstore Café series, protagonist Krissy Hancock has made a comfortable life for herself in Pine Hills, Ohio. She owns and operates a bookstore café called Death by Coffee with her longtime friend Vicki Lawyer. The two of them have worked hard to make their shop a success, as well as a local landmark. Krissy has also picked up a little side hustle of solving crime throughout the town. Local law isn’t exactly thrilled, but they can’t deny that she has been instrumental in solving many murders. However, they can breathe a sigh of relief and get a break from the amateur sleuthing as Krissy is heading back to her hometown of Redwood Village, California, to visit her roots with her father, his girlfriend, and her boyfriend. read more

Kiri Callaghan: The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic and Murder

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Hemlock Saga #1

The Hearth Witch’s Guide to Magic and Murder is Kiri Callaghan’s first book in the Hemlock Saga series. As promised in the title, there is plenty of magic and murder. There is a disclaimer at the start of the book that also lets readers know that, while this is a cozy mystery, it also has some rather graphic depictions of the bodies that might be a bit more intense than a typical cozy. However, that does not detract from the story at all and seems to motivate the characters even more to find the killer. The world the author depicts has a clear separation of the magical and non-magical world, which makes investigating one in the other rather difficult as the average normal human won’t be able to see or tell if there was some magical hijinks happening around them. The heroines are Avery Hemlock and Saga Trygg. Avery is a changeling who was condemned to five hundred years of nightmares in punishment by the Fey. Saga is a woman trying to find herself again, who is a practitioner of witchcraft like her grandmother and aunt, although Saga sees it as a spirituality and not an actual ability to cast spells. read more

Olivia Blacke: Death at the Door

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Ruby & Cordelia #2

In the first book in this series, A New Lease on Death, Ruby Young had moved to Boston to try and challenge herself and prove that she can make it on her own as a young adult. But things were off to a rocky start, with places to live unaffordable, and jobs all requiring more credentials and experience than she had. Oddly enough, everything suddenly falls into place for her when she found an apartment for rent relatively cheap and fully furnished. The only catch is that the previous tenant, Cordelia Graves, had been found dead and now haunts her former abode. Luckily, Ruby is open to the idea of living with a ghost, after some convincing on Cordelia’s part. They even solve one murder together. These two are complete opposites, but in a way that compliments each other. This allows them to tackle any problem from a variety of angles and come up with a variety of theories. read more

Leslie Meier: A Matter of Pedigree

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Series debut

The prolific Leslie Meier has long enamored readers with her Lucy Stone Mystery series (31 books and counting) and she’s now branching off with a new series.  The new series follows Carole Capobianco in Rhode Island, where she and her husband Frank are starting to move up in the world. Frank invented a revolutionary new device, the Bye-Bye Toilet, which has made the Capobianco family millionaires practically overnight. As their two children have moved out for careers and school, the pair of empty nesters are looking to move into more upscale and plush living accommodations. This is saying something, as their current apartment is quite upscale. read more

Lee Hollis: Death of a Tom Turkey

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Haley Powell #18

Lee Hollis’ latest Haley Powell mystery, Death of a Tom Turkey, is the perfect fit for a thanksgiving read. Haley Powell is a food writer and the owner of Hayley’s Kitchen restaurant in Bar Harbor, Maine. While food is her primary passion, she has developed a deep love and talent for investigation, too. She’s aided in her sleuthing by her husband Bruce, who is a crime reporter, and her brother in law Sergio, who happens to be the chief of police. Haley has a warm and soothing personality, perfect for putting people at ease and getting them to open-up and tell her things they might not be so willing to tell Sergio or any other officer of the law. However, even though she can often coax them to talk to her alone, she encourages them to speak to the police as well, sometimes going as far as to offer to go along with them as support so they don’t feel as intimidated or vulnerable. read more

Michael Falco: Murder in an Italian Piazza

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Bria Bartolucci #3

I have had the pleasure of reviewing Michael Falco’s Bria Bartolucci mysteries since the first book’s debut, and am delighted to be able to do so again. In this series, readers are transported to the lovely town of Positano on the Amalfi coast. Bria Bartolucci runs a B&B there known as Bella Bella, living with her son Marco and their dog Bravo. She’s truly living the dream that she and her late husband Carlo had hoped to achieve. She’s had many adventures already, making friends, integrating into the community, and solving mysteries along the way. There were even some new adventures she didn’t see coming, such as a blooming romance with local police Chief Luca Vivaldi, who also happens to be the brother of her best friend and partner in sleuthing, Rosalie. read more

Michelle Chouinard: A Tour to Die For

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Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco #2

Michelle Chouinard’s main character, Capricorn Sanzio – who goes by Capri – runs a serial killer tour business in San Francisco. She has a passion for San Francisco history as well as true crime. This started from a young age, thanks to her paternal grandfather having been known as Overkill Bill for the majority of her life. That mantel made life exceedingly difficult for her father’s childhood, and put her right in the suspect light for the murder of her ex mother-in-law. However, through determination, motivated by two most powerful instincts: self-preservation and protective mother mode, she not only proved her innocence but also managed to uncover and reveal the truth behind Overkill Bill. Capri is constantly evolving and adapting her life to best suit what she needs, and is happy that she can turn her fasciation and love of San Francisco and its killers into a career. She has even started an investigative podcast, and a book about her grandfather. read more