Hi friends!
I will be taking a blogging break until Fall, but look forward to catching up with you then. Enjoy your summer!
Trish
(with good wishes from Daisy the Corgi)
Friday, June 23, 2023
Book Review and Giveaway - Collecting Can Be Murder (Carmen De Luca Art Sleuth Mysteries) by Jennifer S. Alderson
My Review
Collecting Can Be Murder is the start of a new mystery series. Carmen De Luca is a widow who has gone back to work as an art sleuth with the help of her detecting partner, Sophie (the Baroness). While posing as a journalist, Carmen searches for an illustrated medieval prayer book after the book's owner is discovered dead.
I wanted to read this book because I love cozy mysteries and I have enjoyed the Travel Can Be Murder mysteries I've read by Jennifer S. Alderson.
This was an enjoyable read and a strong start for a new series! Carmen is an intelligent and capable detective. I especially enjoyed the art history details of this mystery.
Collecting Can Be Murder reminds me of classic, old fashioned mysteries (in a good way!) - a remote estate, a varied cast of characters, a detective systematically solving the crime ...
The mystery aspects are very well done, with a number of strong suspects; this kept me guessing!
I recommend Collecting Can Be Murder for fans of cozy mysteries, and especially for readers who enjoy art history.
Book Synopsis
Coming out of retirement can be deadly…
After tragedy struck three years earlier, art sleuth Carmen De Luca vowed to never work in the field again. But fifty is too young to fill her days with water aerobics and bingo, so when her former partner calls and begs for her help, Carmen gladly agrees.
Yet after their first assignment – the recovery of a rare medieval prayer book from an eccentric collector living in rural France – goes horribly wrong, Carmen ends up in the crosshairs of both the local police and a murderer!
With her target dead and the stolen book missing, she and her partner will have to pull out all of the stops to sleuth out the true killer’s identity – before their stay in France becomes permanent.
Introducing Carmen De Luca, an art sleuth with a nose for mystery and the job of locating valuable artwork stolen from museums around the world. If you love strong and resourceful heroines, puzzling mysteries, and a dash of art history, pick up Collecting Can Be Murder now!
Carmen De Luca Art Sleuth Mysteries:
Book One: Collecting Can Be Murder
Book Two: A Statue To Die For
More adventures coming soon! These mysteries contain no graphic violence, sex, or strong language.
Author Bio
Jennifer S. Alderson was born in San Francisco, grew up in Seattle, and currently lives in Amsterdam. After traveling extensively around Asia, Oceania, and Central America, she lived in Darwin, Australia, before finally settling in the Netherlands.
Jennifer’s love of travel, art, and culture inspires her award-winning Zelda Richardson Mystery series, her Travel Can Be Murder Cozy Mysteries, and her Carmen De Luca Art Sleuth Mysteries. Her background in journalism, multimedia development, and art history enriches her novels.
When not writing, she can be found perusing a museum, biking around Amsterdam, or enjoying a coffee along the canal while planning her next research trip.
For more information about the author and her upcoming novels, please visit http://www.JenniferSAlderson.com.
Author Links
Website: http://www.jennifersalderson.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jenniferSAldersonauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JSAauthor
Instagram: https://instagram.com/JSAauthor
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jennifer-s-alderson
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/JennifeSAlderson
Purchase Link – Amazon
Giveaway
Friday, June 16, 2023
Book Review and Giveaway - How the Murder Crumbles (A Cookie Shop Mystery) by Debra Sennefelder
My Review
When How the Murder Crumbles opens, Mallory Monroe has recently opened a cookie bakery in small town Connecticut. She loves her work and her life ... until she finds her boyfriend is seeing another woman, and a contentious food blogger she has clashed with is discovered mysteriously dead. Mallory sets out to clear her name and solve the mystery.
I wanted to read this book because I love cozy mysteries, enjoy small town fiction, and like to bake.
What a fun start to a new cozy series! I am definitely in for this one. The Cookie Shop setting is delightful, and I love the foodie and baking details as well. The author also does a great job at evoking small town life.
Mallory is a protagonist to pull for - she is moving forward with her life after a couple of setbacks, loves baking, and turns out to be a smart amateur sleuth as well. I enjoyed following along as she solved the mystery.
I enthusiastically recommend How the Murder Crumbles for fans of cozy mysteries, and especially for anyone who loves foodie fiction, baking, and small town settings.
Book Synopsis
Debra Sennefelder whips up cookies and crime in a delicious new cozy series, perfect for fans of Joanne Fluke and Peg Cochran.
Wingate, Connecticut, is famed as one of the top ten shopping destinations in the state, and home to Mallory Monroe’s beloved Cookie Shop—a place where patrons are greeted with the heavenly aroma of freshly baked cookies that are as beautifully decorated as they are insanely delicious.
But things aren’t going so smoothly for Mallory. Her two employees are a disaster in the kitchen, she catches her boyfriend with another woman, and she’s seen having a fierce argument with food blogger Beatrice Wright, who accuses Mallory of stealing her cookie recipe. Then Beatrice turns up dead in her kitchen, flour outlining her body and a bloodied marble rolling pin nearby. Mallory immediately becomes suspect number one, her sales plummet, and she desperately tries to clear her name—but that’s not the only murder the killer is baking up.
Debra Sennefelder has cooked up a perfect recipe—endearing characters, a picture-perfect evocation of small-town life, and a quaint sweets shop. And just when things get a little too comfy, there’s always a murder or two for good measure.
Author Bio
Debra Sennefelder, the author of the Food Blogger Mystery series, the Resale Boutique Mystery series, and the Cookie Shop mystery series, is an avid reader who reads across a range of genres, but mystery fiction is her obsession. Her interest in people and relationships is channeled into her novels against a backdrop of crime and mystery. When she’s not reading, she enjoys cooking and baking and as a former food blogger, she is constantly taking photographs of her food. Yeah, she’s that person.
Born and raised in New York City, she now lives and writes in Connecticut with her family. She’s worked in pre-hospital care, retail and publishing. Her writing companions are her adorable and slightly spoiled Shih-Tzus, Susie, and Billy.
Author Links
Purchase Links
Amazon Barnes & Noble Other retailers
Giveaway
Friday, May 12, 2023
Book Spotlight - The Twenty-One-Year Contract: Sequel to Secrets, Shame, and a Shoebox by L. B. Griffin
Book Synopsis
Kathleen Gray—talented, a little wild, at times rebellious, but always popular—has a fun, easy life in rural Somerset, with a doting family.
Suddenly, they are gone, everything is changed, and she has only Uncle Jack. Try as he might, he cannot be father and mother to her—he has a business to run and his own life to manage.
Kathleen takes a chance and becomes Kate Westfield, fending for herself in London, with a new life built on her hopes and dreams and new friends. She could hardly have imagined that one of those friends has a shoebox full of answers.
Author Bio
L.B. Griffin was born and raised in the UK. She is married and came out of retirement when she received a contract for her debut novel. Griffin loves to write stories to touch people’s hearts, She draws upon social issues that are often hidden in deep drawers but readers can identify with. Her women don’t see themselves as courageous, strong, or survivors, but they certainly are.
Her debut, Secrets, Shame, and a Shoebox has received superb 5 star reviews, amongst them Whispering stories and VINE VOICE reader/blogger Michelle Ryles, singing high praise: ‘Incredibly well-written, Secrets, Shame, and a Shoebox is a magnificent debut. It’s a poignant, disturbing and a heart-warming page-turner that has left me chomping at the bit to continue Harriet’s story.’
The sequel, and also standalone – The Twenty-One-Year Contract, is already receiving fantastic five star reviews such as: VINE VOICE “This book will have you laughing, crying and cheering.”
L.B. Griffin continues to turn silent stories into courage, hope, and survival. Be warned, she is a self-confessed chocolate-raisin and strawberry addict!
Author Links:
Instgram www.instagram.com/lynngriffinauthoruk
Facebook www.Facebook.com/lynngriffinauthor/
Twitter www.twitter.com/lbgriffinauthor
Website www.wifeinthewest.com
Purchase Links – Amazon – B&N – Apple – Kobo –
Friday, May 5, 2023
Book Review and Giveaway - The Ghost Goes to the Dogs (Haunted Bookshop Mystery) by Cleo Coyle
My Review
The Ghost Goes to the Dogs is a unique cozy mystery. "Pen" (Penelope) McClure is a single mother running a mystery bookstore in small town Rhode Island. When a dog shows up out of the blue, Pen's son follows the dog - only to find the dog's owner unconscious on the sidewalk. Pen works to find what happened to the woman who was injured, with the help of a ghostly 1940's gumshoe detective, Jack Shepard.
I wanted to read this novel because I love cozy mysteries and I enjoyed reading this series early on. I haven't read the more recent books, but had no problem jumping in and enjoying this book. (And I do want to catch up with the books I missed!)
As someone who loves 1940's mysteries (both books and movies) I absolutely love the character of Jack Shepard and the 1940's setting for his flashback scenes. I also enjoy his interaction with Pen, which works amazingly well and adds an interesting layer to the mystery.
I loved the idea of a week of pet mysteries at a bookstore (with a pet festival as well) and appreciated how well the pet owner mystery in this book fit in with that theme. Lovable Sparky the dog and Bookmark the cat were great additions to the story!
The Ghost Goes to the Dogs is fast paced and well plotted. I enjoyed the way Pen and Jack worked together to solve the mystery.
I recommend this mystery to fans of cozy mysteries, and especially for anyone who loves 1940's detectives or pet theme cozies.
Book Synopsis
A stray dog leads bookseller Penelope McClure and her gumshoe ghost on a chase for a cunning criminal in this brand-new entry in the “UTTERLY CHARMING” (Mystery Scene) Haunted Bookshop Mysteries from New York Times bestselling author Cleo Coyle. Pet Mystery Week brings brisk business to Penelope’s Rhode Island bookshop, but a real mystery comes barking at her door when a lost dog turns up in a panic. Pen and her son Spencer follow the furry fugitive to a wooded area where the dog’s owner lies unconscious. Mrs. Cunningham is a warm-hearted widow who volunteers at the animal shelter and runs Buy the Book’s pet lovers book club. Why would anyone shoot such a sweet soul? The police believe it’s an accident, a shot by a careless deer hunter, but Pen remains skeptical. To straighten out this doggone mess, she whistles for the ghost of PI Jack Shepard, an expert in hounding as well as haunting. Jack has a dog story of his own, a case from the 1940s that may help Pen sniff out clues to her present predicament. Yet even with Jack’s hard-boiled help, Pen may not be able to stop the killer from striking again or letting this whole case go to the dogs…
Author Bio
CLEO COYLE is a pseudonym for Alice Alfonsi, writing in collaboration with her husband, Marc Cerasini. Both are New York Times-bestselling authors of the long-running Coffeehouse Mysteries and Haunted Bookshop Mysteries, now celebrating nearly 20 years in print. With more than one million books sold, their work has been honored with starred reviews and multiple best-of-year list selections by reviewers. Alice and Marc are also bestselling media tie-in writers who have penned properties for Lucasfilm, NBC, Fox, Disney, Imagine, Toho, and MGM. They live and work in New York City, where they write independently and together.
Author Links
Webpage: https://www.coffeehousemystery.com/cleos_haunted_bookshop.cfm
Free Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/cleocoylerecipes/newsletter
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CleoCoyle/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CleoCoyle
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/cleo-coyle
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/51488.Cleo_Coyle
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cleocoyle_author/
Purchase Links: Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo Google Play Bookshop.org Indiebound
Giveaway
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)