Book Review and Giveaway - A Christmas Peril (A Theater Cop Mystery) by J. A. Hennrikus

Book Synopsis
When Edwina “Sully” Sullivan’s life imploded, she left behind her job on the police force and her unfaithful husband to start a new life as the general manager of her hometown theater, the Cliffside Theater Company. For five years, she focused on budgets instead of crimes and kept the Cliffside running alongside its mercurial artistic director.

But when her best friend is arrested for killing his father, the rich and powerful Peter Whitehall, no one is looking for another suspect. So, in between keeping A Christmas Carol on budget and Scrooge sober, Sully dusts off her investigative skills to find a killer. Her two lives collide when her ex-husband gets on the suspect list and she’s forced to confront her past in order to save her present.

My Review
A Christmas Peril is the first book in a fun new mystery series.  It focuses on Sully Sullivan, a former police officer who now manages a local theater.  As she prepares a production of A Christmas Carol, she gets drawn into the mystery of a wealthy local businessman's murder.   

This was a very enjoyable mystery!  I was interested in reading it because I love theater.  (I worked in theater in my 20's.)  I also love A Christmas Carol.  These aspects of the story were particularly enjoyable to me.

Sully is a great character - strong, brave, and resourceful.  I enjoyed seeing her use her skills as a former police officer to solve a local mystery.   The budding romance in the book was also a fun aspect.

There are a lot of characters introduced during the first few chapters, and I found them a little hard to keep up with initially.  Once I got a few chapters in, though, I found the book hard to put down.

The book is well written, with well developed characters and an intriguing mystery.  It moves quickly and is well paced.

I recommend A Christmas Peril for fans of cozy mysteries.  Anyone who loves theater will especially enjoy this book.

Author Bio

J. A. Hennrikus is the author of the Theater Cop Mystery series. As Julianne Holmes, she writes the Agatha-nominated Clock Shop Mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime. Hennrikus blogs with the Wicked Cozy Authors, is on the board of Sisters in Crime, and is a member of Mystery Writers of America. She is also an arts administrator who lives in Massachusetts. 

Visit her online at www.JHAuthors.com.

Webpage – https://jahennrikus.com/
Wicked Cozy Authors Blog – https://wickedcozyauthors.com/ 

She tweets under @JulieHennrikus, and am on Pinterest and Instagram, and have a page on Facebook. I also blog on Live to Write/Write to Live, and I blog on Killer Characters on the 20th of each month.

Purchase Links
Amazon   B&N

Giveaway
(2) Print Copy - A Christmas Peril (A Theater Cop Mystery) by J. A. Hennrikus - U.S. Only.  (Ends 9/21)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and Great Escapes Book Tour.

Dear Abby: Things I Learned On Summer Break

Dear Friends,

I am so glad to be back!  Did you miss me?  I missed chatting with you here.   I had a fun and relaxing month off.  My time included a houseguest (my friend Elsie), a birthday, and lots of time to rest and enjoy life.

Here are a few things I learned on my time off:

It's nice to have some time to just relax.

A friend makes any day nicer!  This is my friend Elsie, who stayed with me for 5 days while her dad was out of town.

Sometimes you have to share the softest pillow.

 With a good friend you can just relax together.

Birthdays are fun!  (I turned 8 years old on August 25.)

They are REALLY exciting!

What is that?  Is it for me?

 Birthdays involve treats!

 And at the end of the day, there is always time to take a nap.

How was your summer?  I hope you had a great one!   I am really glad to be back blogging and look forward to catching up regularly here.

Have a great weekend!

Love,

Abby xoxoxo

Book Review - Beneath Copper Falls by Colleen Coble

Book Synopsis
Dana has already learned that love isn’t safe . . . but could it be different in Rock Harbor? 

As a 911 dispatcher, Dana Newell takes pride in being calm in tough circumstances. In addition to her emotionally-charged career, she’s faced enough emergencies in her own life. She recently escaped her abusive fiancé to move to tranquil Rock Harbor where she hopes life will be more peaceful.
But the idyllic town hides more danger and secrets than it first appeared. Dana is continually drawn to her new friend Boone, who has scars inside and out. Then she answers a call at her job only to hear a friend’s desperate screams on the other end. Soon the pain in her past collides with the mysteries of her new home—and threatens to keep her from the future she’s always wanted.

 

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

 

My Review 

Beneath Copper Falls is a mystery in the Rock Harbor series by Colleen Coble.  This book tells the story of Dana Newell.  Dana is a 911 dispatcher, recently returned to her hometown in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  She is on the run from a dangerous stalker ... but finds herself involved in solving another mystery with the help of an intriguing man named Boone.

 

This is a true romantic suspense novel, with the romantic storyline and mystery having fairly equal roles in the story.   I thought both aspects of the storytelling were strong.

 

Dana is a brave, kind woman who has had a tough life since her parents died tragically in a boating accident when she was 8 years old.  She relies on her faith, her friends, and her stepbrother Chris.  

 

Boone is a fire jumper who was scarred in a fire.  He is cautious of romantic involvement until he meets Dana.   I loved the way these two wounded people found strength together, and the way their immediate connection was based on friendship first.

 

There are two mysteries in this novel:  Dana's ex-boyfriend stalker, and also the mysterious deaths of several women who died under similar circumstances.   The mysteries were very well done.  I found it hard to put this book down because I wanted to see how these storylines were resolved, and also see if they were somehow connected.

 

This is my first read in the Rock Harbor series.  It took me a few chapters to catch up with the characters and figure out who was who and how they were connected.  That said, Beneath Copper Falls then worked well as a standalone novel.  

 

I recommend Beneath Copper Falls for fans of romantic suspense, fast paced mysteries, and Christian fiction.   I look forward to reading more by Colleen Coble in the future.  

Author Bio
USA TODAY bestselling author Colleen Coble’s novels have won or finaled in awards ranging from the Best Books of Indiana, the ACFW Carol Award, the Romance Writers of America RITA, the Holt Medallion, the Daphne du Maurier, National Readers’ Choice, and the Booksellers Best. She has over 2 million books in print and writes romantic mysteries because she loves to see justice prevail. Colleen is CEO of American Christian Fiction Writers. She lives with her husband Dave in Indiana.

I received a copy of this book from TLC Book Tours.

Summer Blog Break

Hi all!

Abby and I are taking a blog break for the rest of August and will return after Labor Day.  Hope you have a great rest of the Summer!

Trish

Book Review - The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor

Book Synopsis
The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home turns the clock back one hundred years to a time when two young girls from Cottingley, Yorkshire, convinced the world that they had done the impossible and photographed fairies in their garden. Now, in her newest novel, international bestseller Hazel Gaynor reimagines their story. 

1917… It was inexplicable, impossible, but it had to be true—didn’t it? When two young cousins, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright from Cottingley, England, claim to have photographed fairies at the bottom of the garden, their parents are astonished. But when one of the great novelists of the time, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, becomes convinced of the photographs’ authenticity, the girls become a national sensation, their discovery offering hope to those longing for something to believe in amid a world ravaged by war. Frances and Elsie will hide their secret for many decades. But Frances longs for the truth to be told. 

One hundred years later… When Olivia Kavanagh finds an old manuscript in her late grandfather’s bookshop she becomes fascinated by the story it tells of two young girls who mystified the world. But it is the discovery of an old photograph that leads her to realize how the fairy girls’ lives intertwine with hers, connecting past to present, and blurring her understanding of what is real and what is imagined. As she begins to understand why a nation once believed in fairies, can Olivia find a way to believe in herself?

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

My Review
The Cottingley Secret is a historical novel with a dual storyline.  In the present, Olivia Kavanagh inherits her grandfather's bookstore and discovers a mysterious manuscript related to the Cottingley fairies.  Olivia wants to learn the link between this manuscript and her family.  The book flashes back to two young cousins who made the fairy photographs in 1917, Frances and Elsie.

This was a fascinating read.  I have heard of the Cottingley fairies before, and seen the most famous photo of Frances with the fairies.  That is what initially intrigued me about this novel.

But there was so much more to this story.  I loved Olivia's story, with the antiquarian bookstore and her past that she discovers there.   I found the story of how she works to move past loss and discover what truly brings her joy.  Although I wanted to read this book initially because of the Cottingley fairies, I found Olivia's story even more compelling.  She is such a warm, kind character, deserving of true happiness.  I love the words her grandfather wrote, words she learns to live by:  "You don't need anybody's permission to live the life you desire, Olivia.  You need only the permission of your heart" (p. 11).

This was a book that kept me up long after my usual bedtime. I just could not put it down.  There are so many things in The Cottingley Secret that I am particularly fond of:  a dual storyline, historical fiction, well drawn and sympathetic characters, family history, and a bookstore setting.  (I sell vintage books, so particularly liked the book and bookbinding details in this novel.)

The writing by Hazel Gaynor is just lovely.  The characters are well drawn, the dual storyline is handled beautifully, and the descriptions add so much to the story.

I cannot recommend The Cottingley Secret highly enough for fans of historical fiction.  It is truly an enchanting read.  

Author Bio
HAZEL GAYNOR is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of A Memory of Violets and The Girl Who Came Home, for which she received the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award. Her third novel The Girl from the Savoy was an Irish Times and Globe & Mail Canada bestseller, and was shortlisted for the BGE Irish Book Awards Popular Fiction Book of the Year. The Cottingley Secret and Last Christmas in Paris will be published in 2017.

Hazel was selected by US Library Journal as one of ‘Ten Big Breakout Authors’ for 2015 and her work has been translated into several languages.

Originally from Yorkshire, England, Hazel now lives in Ireland.

Find out more about Hazel at her website, and connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.

I received a copy of this book from HarperCollins and TLC Book Tours.