Bon Bon Voyage

(A Carolyn Blue Culinary Mystery #8)

by 

Nancy Fairbanks

I love cruises and enjoy reading novels set in them, but this is one cruise I am happy I didn't ever take. Carolyn is left to go on a working cruise without Jason. She invites her friend Luz to come with her, but does not tell Jason, while he invites his mother and does not tell her. Luckily, it's a big cabin with space for all. On the cruise, they meet nice and not-so-nice people, and when one of the not-so-nice passenger goes missing, Carolyn can't resist the urge to investigate. There's more to the story, though, as some crew members are planning a mutiny/hijack/terrorist plot. Soon they are in danger in international waters and what started as a pleasure cruise could soon become a military incident.
The plot was very good, but some of the characters acted immaturely, which made the flow of the book kind of choppy. I've only read one other book in this series, so maybe I don't remember the personalities. I'll have to read the in-between books.

Wild Rover No More: Being the Last Recorded Account of the Life & Times of Jacky Faber

(Bloody Jack #12)

by 

L.A. Meyer

And so the saga ends, 12 books later. I was a little disappointed with the ending, mainly because the last few hours dragged on for chapter after chapter. I also would have liked to have seen an epilogue from Jacky or Amy that went into the future. Spoiler alert! (view spoiler) All in all, I'm glad I read the whole series. My daughter is reading it now, and it's fun to discuss it with her.

Egg Drop Dead

(Cackleberry Club #7)

by 

Laura Childs

Halloween is approaching and Suzanne, Petra and Toni are planning a special event at the diner. When Suzanne goes to get her locally sourced cheese, she finds the farmer dead. She sees what looks like a moving scarecrow in the distance. Spooky happenings and mistreated horses set the three Cackleberry Club ladies to search for answers. This mystery kept me second guessing myself as to who the killer was. The horses side-story was very sad, but Suzanne and Sam (view spoiler). I'm looking forward to the next one.

Town in a Strawberry Swirl (A Candy Holliday Mystery, #5) 
by 

B.B. Haywood

 5 Stars

This mystery has a lot of small twists that kept me guessing and I did not figure out the killer ahead of the denouement. I'm liking this series more and more as I read through them.
Candy and Doc are sort of suspected in the death of a nearby farmer, since the weapon used was one of their shovels. They try to trace who had the shovel, which, as it happens in a small town, was borrowed and passed along to neighbor after neighbor. In order to clear themselves, Candy and Doc go investigating, finding ancient town deeds and buried treasure (and a dog named Random) along the way.