Fatal Fairies by Joyce Lavene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It was kind of sad to read the last book on the series, since both authors met an untimely death recently. This one was a little different. Jessie says she wishes Chase was not the Bailiff, and off we go in a "It's a Wonderful Life" takeoff. Her fairy Godmother grants her wish, and Jessie finds herself in a strange version of the village, where Chase is still a knight. A woman playing a fairy gets killed, and Jessie was trying to convince Chase to investigate, as that will hopefully send her back.


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Dangerously Dark by Colette London


Hayden is off to Portland for a college friend's engagement party. Almost as soon as she arrives, the fiancee is found dead. Hayden has still not recovered from her first encounter with murder, but she has a feeling that this was not an accident. Her friend was part of a food pod community focused on Chocolate. As Hayden gets to know the members of the pod, she becomes more and more certain that Declan was murdered.
This mystery kept me guessing who the culprit was. The small community kept the suspect list short, though. I learned a lot about fancy chocolate methods, which made it fun. I'm still not sure I understand Hayden's lifestyle, but this is only the second book, so hopefully things will become clearer. I will continue reading this series.


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Trimmed to Death by Nancy J. Cohen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Marla enters a bake-off to try to win enough money to add a café to her Day Spa. Soon she finds the body of one of the other contestants, smacked on the head from behind, while wearing the jacket of a third contestant. And then she's sick to her stomach after tasting olive oil that is supposed to be EVOO. When another contestant ends up dead in a hit-and-run, Marla must set aside her queasiness to go investigate.

I love this series because I have relatives in Boynton Beach and recognize some of the places. I also like Marla, Dalton, and Brianna's family unit. I did guess the killer halfway through the novel, but there were several twists that had me doubting myself.


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Dressed to Keel by Candy Calvert
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I consider this a borderline cozy. There's no graphic violence, only one sort of sexy scene, but some swearing. Otherwise, it was a nice mystery. Someone is stealing jewelry from the senior citizens on a cruise. Darcy thinks there's a connection to the winners of a spa treatment, but everything looks normal at the spa. When her nurse roommate gets taken off the ship via helicopter as a suspect, Darcy scales up her investigation. Could it be one of the staff stealing the jewels? Why is one of the dance hosts young and handsome? Why is she getting lingerie sculptures instead of towel animals?

I love the setting on a Canadian/New England cruise, but I wish it had more behind-the-scenes information. The book does have a lot on the inner works of the sick bay. I look forward to reading the next one!


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