Carla Schantz

Valerie Burns: Murder is a Piece of Cake

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Baker Street #2

Valerie Burns’ second book in her Baker Street series is Murder is a Piece of Cake. Madison Montgomery, known as Maddy to most, runs the local Baby Cakes bakery in New Bison Springs, which, along with her lovable English Mastiff, Baby, were left to her by her great-aunt Octavia. Together they are trying to make a life in this new town, leaving behind a life of superficial living. Her prior goals consisted of being a trophy wife to a wealthy doctor, but thanks to great-aunt Octavia providing the opportunity to do so, Maddy is making a life for herself in New Bison Springs, embracing the challenge, and loving it. She has a group of close friends, an adoring dog, and even a new relationship with local veterinarian Michael Portman. As she is learning how to bake and run a business, she also knows how to keep her social media profile active and engaged through all her #’s scattered throughout the book. With renovations going well at the bakery, Maddy does indeed seem to be #thriving. read more

Vivien Chien: Misfortune Cookie

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Noodle Shop #9

Misfortune Cookie by Vivian Chien is the ninth book in the Noodle Shop Mystery series. Doughnut enthusiast and seeker of justice, Lanna Lee, is off to sunny California with her big sister Anna May to visit their Aunt Grace. But it isn’t all fun and games: Lanna has to attend a restaurant convention to hopefully learn some new things and better their family restaurant. The Lee sisters overall goals are to learn, relax, and enjoy themselves. To ensure this, Anna May starts the trip off sternly reminding Lanna to keep to her promise of trying to stay out of trouble. To her credit, Lanna does want to keep said promise. Misfortune Cookie gives readers a very accurate depiction of two very different siblings getting along, while also giving each other lots of sass. The sisters have very different personalities and are both rather stubborn, but over all they love and care for one another, which is why Lanna is so determined to keep her promise, not only to keep safe but to keep her family from worrying. 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

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

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

Paige Shelton: Fateful Words

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Paige Shelton’s Fateful Words follows Delaney Nichols as she is confronted with a plethora of mysteries, one of which is the death of local Inn manager. Delaney works at The Cracked Spine, an Edinburgh book shop owned by the locally beloved Edwin MacAlister. Unfortunately, an emergency takes Edwin away just as his special once a year tour is set to begin. He has Delaney cover for him and show his guests all the sights that he would have shown them himself. She is not pleased with this new task, afraid that she won’t be able to do it, or Edwin, justice. But she is both resigned and determined to make the trip a good one for Edwin’s guests. It also helps that all four visitors, while a little disconcerted and upset at first, are willing to stay and experience the Delaney tour. read more

Daryl Wood Gerber: A Flicker of a Doubt

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Daryl Wood Gerber’s whimsical cozy A Flicker of a Doubt blends the world of fairies and magic with the modern world. Anyone who reads modern fantasy novels knows that this is a very difficult thing to do effectively, and often times it comes off as childish or just simply difficult to believe. Fortunately, this is not the case here. This is the fourth book in the series, but not only are characters and setting clearly laid out for new readers, there is even a lovely index of who’s who and who’s what at the front. This is especially helpful when distinguishing between the cat named Pixy and the fairy named Fiona that both live with the main character, Courtney Kelly. The charming antics of Fiona and the other fairies, as well as their carefully worked in lore, accentuates and assists Courtney through her various adventures. read more