Styled for Murder by Nancy J. Cohen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Marla and Dalton are settling down to new parenthood, when Marla's mother finds a body in her being-remodeled bathroom. Marla had thrown her amateur sleuth days were over with the arrival of Ryder, but her mother's distress makes her get involved once more. Add a pageant, an unscrupulous business, a graduation, and a soap star, and you have a nice mystery. And this one has recipes!

View all my reviews

A Deal to Die For by Josie Belle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maggie is about to open her resale/consignment shop and hoping to pick up some stock at the local flea market. She stops at Vera's booth, after hearing that she was selling some of her dress collection, but Vera is not there. Vera is found dead at Doc's office, with Doc holding a syringe over her body. Maggie and the Good Buy girls try to clear Doc's name by searching for the killer.
The suspect was on my list, but not at the top. There were quite a few twists in the plot, and the budding love story left me wanting for more.

View all my reviews

Another One Bites the Crust by Ellie Alexander
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lance has problems with one of his actors, so when the guy playing Antony appears dead, he's the main suspect. Since he's a well-known local, the Ashland police bring in a detective from Medford to lead the case. Jules and friends try to get Lance off the hook, but since he was found with the murder weapon, and drenched in the victim's blood, it will not be easy.

View all my reviews

Vampires, Bones and Treacle Scones by Kaitlyn Dunnett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Liss' plans for a Halloween Haunted House in an abandoned mansion go awry when she finds a body on Halloween morning. Worse of all, it's her cousin Ned, black sheep of the family, who was supposed to be in jail. At least they keep the kids from seeing the gruesome scene. But there are all these questions: How and when did Ned get out of jail? Who killed him? Who has been stealing items from the mansion? Is there truly a buried treasure? And why is Boxer Snipes, youngest of the town's troubled family, volunteering to help out?

View all my reviews

Murder on the Bride's Side by Tracy Kiely
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love it when an author fools me and I don't guess the killer. I was completely off on this one. Elizabeth's BFF is getting married, but family feuds make the rehearsal and reception not too pleasant. To make it worse, the wedding planner is boyfriend's Peter ex-girlfriend, and she's trying to rekindle the flame. The morning after the wedding, Elizabeth finds one of the nasty in-laws dead on the terrace and the search for the killer begins.

View all my reviews

Ghost in the Wind by E.J. Copperman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Allison relives her teenage-fandom days when Rock Star Vance's ghost shows up asking for help in his daughter's murder. However, Ghostly PI Paul is reluctant to accept this case.
This book was very funny in parts, and I had both the murderer and the where's Claudia mystery wrong.

View all my reviews

Murder Most Fowl by Donna Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Meg and Michael are hosting the cast of the play he's directing. A bit of a feud between the English and Drama departments is triggering some antics, including some nasty vandalizing. A troop of reenactors camping in the woods adds to the complications. Then the annoying director that has been filming all the going-ons is killed, and the family goes on the hunt for the killer.

View all my reviews

A Scone of Contention by Lucy Burdette
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hailey and Nathan finally get to take their honeymoon.... although with Nathan's mom and Miss Gloria tagging along. Since they are staying at Nathan's sister's house, and her husband has a golf tournament he signed Nathan up for, it's not exactly a private trip. Then, at a dinner party, one of the guests is poisoned, and a tourist spot, a stranger falls to his death. Are these incidents related? Was the stranger known to the sister-in-law and her friends?

View all my reviews

Haunted Hibiscus by Laura Childs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Timothy's grandniece is murdered, apparently for a theft of her antique yellow diamond set. He asks Theo and her friends to look into it, despite the fact that her boyfriend, Detective Riley, was wounded while investigating. I knew the murderer from pretty much the beginning, but it was still a fun read.

View all my reviews

I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The plot was cute and I love Jayne Entwistle's narration, but there was too much swearing for my liking.
Poppy is an engaged woman who loses her engagement ring -- a family heirloom-- and gets her phone stolen at the same time. When she sees a phone in a trash bin, she seizes it, hoping to use it until she can get another phone. The phone belonged to the assistant of a powerful business executive, Sam, and soon Poppy is playing the role of his assistant in an effort to keep the phone, at least until her ring is found. Sam and Poppy develop a strange relationship via text.

View all my reviews

A Crime of Passion Fruit by Ellie Alexander
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Carlos calls Jules and ask if she would do a 1 cruise stint on the ship, as their Pastry Chef quit and the new hire can't start until the next sailing. He offers to put up her mom and the Professor so they can have a vacation. Jules agrees, but on the first morning onboard, she finds a body in the pool. The victim is a stowaway and nobody seems to know her. There's a storm up ahead and they cannot reach port at the moment, so the Professor steps in as detective.
I love cruises and got lost on the life aboard ship, so some aspects were a little confusing. What should have been a 4 day cruise seemed to take a week. I wish they'd been more recipes, also, but it was mostly a good mystery.

View all my reviews

Styled for Murder by Nancy J. Cohen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Marla and Dalton are settling down to new parenthood, when Marla's mother finds a body in her being-remodeled bathroom. Marla had thrown her amateur sleuth days were over with the arrival of Ryder, but her mother's distress makes her get involved once more. Add a pageant, an unscrupulous business, a graduation, and a soap star, and you have a nice mystery. And this one has recipes!

View all my reviews

The Ghost and the Haunted Portrait by Cleo Coyle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Pen and Jack (the PI ghost) find themselves caught into murders related to a set of paintings being exhibited at the store. Jack is puzzled by a woman's portrait he knew when he was alive, and Pen is trying to find who killed the art's owner. I love the scenes when Jack takes Pen back to his time in her dreams. This is a great series!

View all my reviews

Mrs. Jeffries and the Yuletide Weddings by Emily Brightwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was my first Mrs Jefferies mystery, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the setting and the household characters, and I had so many suspects that not one stood out to me as the most likely. My library has all her books since she's a local author, and I will try to read them all, in order.
A former governess is stabbed to death in front of the house of her former charge, a few days before the girl, now grown, is to be married. Mrs. Jeffries and the staff of the Inspector's house rush to solve the murder before Christmas, and the wedding of two of the staff.

View all my reviews

The Ghost and Mrs. Fletcher by Jessica Fletcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I hadn't read a Jessica Fletcher book in a bit, and I forgot what an easy read they are. And just like with the show, I could see things that Jessica, smart as she is, didn't notice until later. Still, it was a fun read. Cliff Cooper owns the oldest house in Cabot Cove, and he is murdered as he lays in the hospital dying. The suspect list is not that long, but as they didn't realize he was murdered until a few days later, Seth may not be able to get enough information from an autopsy.

View all my reviews

The Queen's Jewels by Jessica Fletcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jessica gets hired to lecture during a crossing on the Queen Mary II, and of course there is a murder while on board. There are also jewel thieves, MI6, RAW, and Mossad agents, insurance company investigators, and a mysterious but charming old man. Will everything get resolved before they dock in New York? The description of the ship were very nice, but I wish she's described the food also.

View all my reviews

Enola Holmes and the Black Barouche by Nancy Springer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was glad to see this series continued, as I had read it a few years ago. I guess the TV show brought it back into the spotlight. This mystery was not bad, although Sherlock was acting a lot nicer than usual. One thing did bother me a lot. Sherlock speaks of a Chupacabras in Chile, 100 years or more earlier than the first news of the creature. It would have been okay if he had mentioned a possible Piuchén, but a Chupacabras? I was reading the ARC, though, so maybe it'll change before publishing. Oh, yes, and BTW, I received a free copy for review.

View all my reviews

The Chocolate Raccoon Rigmarole by JoAnna Carl
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cookie burglars, raccoon babies, Tzarist imitation jewelry and old army buddies all mix in to bring confusion to Warner Pier. Lee is curious why there are snack burglaries, but since no one has been hurt -yet- she's more concerned about trapping the raccoon family that has moved into the alley behind the chocolate store. But then the violence escalates, with a store owner trapped into a storage room, a dead deputy in the alley, and claims of large lumpy things hanging about.
This mystery was a bit confusing at times, but everything gets wrapped up in the end, and I was not sure who the killer was.

View all my reviews

From Herring to Eternity by Delia Rosen
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When a regular customer is found dead, by poison, Gwen Nash's Deli gets her herring confiscated. Another death soon follows, and Gwen finds herself trying to solve the murders, while fighting off an archeological dig in her basement by setting up her home as a Wiccan temple. Confused yet? Kudos to the author for surprising me with both the killer and their motive. Warning: There is a lot of Yiddish used in the book. It did not bother me, but YMMV.

View all my reviews

The Key Lime Crime by Lucy Burdette
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This series keeps getting better and better. It's the week before New Year's and Key West is packed full of tourists. Nathan's mother decides to come visit, and soon Hayley notices that she's not what she seems. Nathan is busy with many officers on holiday leave, and dumps his mother on Hayley and her family. Hayley keeps her entertained with her writing a story on a Key Lime Pie contest, but one of the contestants ends up dead. Nathan's mother, Helen, appears to be as interested in finding the culprit as Hayles is.

I had the murdered pegges from the start, bu only because their introduction seemed a litlle odd. I had no idea of the motive. I did kind of get tired of key lime desserts after a while.


View all my reviews

Town in a Sweet Pickle by B.B. Haywood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Sweet Pickle Deli in town closed over 5 years ago, and everyone misses the pickles, but not the grumpy owner. When a jar of said pickles appears at a local cook-off, locals are excited to taste them again, but soon a goat and a man are dead, and Candy's co-worker Wanda is in the hospital, all poisoned by the jar of pickles. Has Maurice Soufflé, the owner who disappeared years ago, be back in town seeking revenge?

Candy figures out who the poisoner has to be rather quickly, and the last third of the book just deals with how trick the murdered into confessing. I kind of miss the surprise reveal at the end, but it was an enjoyable mystery anyway.

View all my reviews

Caught Bread Handed by Ellie Alexander
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The very much unliked manager of a fast food restaurant (in a Shakespeare-themed town) is murdered, just as Jules is finishing her bread delivery. The long list of suspects is making the police work hard. Meanwhile, Jules is having to deal with nearly-ex husband Carlos visiting, but leaving soon, as well as growing feelings for Thomas, her old boyfriend.
I really like this series. I even have a mad crush on Carlos. I drooled thru the whole book. Not enough recipes included.

View all my reviews