Fiction, Cozy Mystery, #5 in series

4****

Blurb: It’s Saint Patrick’s Day weekend in chilly upstate New York, and Samantha Davies, children’s picture book author and sometime sleuth, is excited to attend the annual outdoors games put on by the local Wings Falls fire company. It will be a weekend filled with fun activities such as a skillet toss, four-wheeler race, and the ever-popular decorated wooden outhouse race across the ice. Sam is looking forward to dancing the night away with her beau, police detective Hank Johnson at the Firefighter’s Ball. Sam’s rug hooking group, the Loopy Ladies is sponsoring one of the outhouses and their senior member, Gladys O’Malley, will have the honor of riding on the “throne” to the finish line. Only not all goes as planned when the neighboring fire company’s chief is found in Gladys’ place—frozen solid and dead as a doornail! To make matters worse, both Gladys’ and Sam’s fingerprints are all over the evidence at the murder scene, taking them from attendees to suspects. Now it’s up to Sam to clear their names and get to the truth. The only problem is the victim had disagreements with almost everyone in town, from the Wings Falls fire chief to a sexy blonde named Sunny Foxx—with two xx’s—and a slew of other suspects. Can Sam find the killer before the Luck of the Irish runs out for her? Or will she become chilled to the bone when the killer catches up to her…

THOUGHTS: I love these stories, and this one is no different. Porkchop – a lovable dachshund- makes a return appearance as do the Loopy Ladies. Sam and her rug-looping friends decorate a homemade outhouse with their rugs for the upcoming races, but when then arrive, rather than the race, they find a dead body in theirs. And the race is on to find out who the perp is before Sam gets accused of murder.

Recommended.

Review: Dark Hearts Aflame by Amber Daulton

Fiction, Dark Romance, Contemporary, Steamy

4****

Blurb: A drug lord on the run. A cartel princess in hiding. All it takes is a spark to set their world ablaze. Bristol Rieger, better known as Thorn, left his criminal life behind for a fresh start in Mexico. Flying under the radar of the government and the cartels alike, his best-laid plans go awry when a woman from his narco days discovers his whereabouts. Carmen Lozano, however, is no longer the innocent girl he remembers. Carmen escaped the chains of her tiara and her abusive marriage to join a group of resistance fighters. The last thing she expected was the now-retired capo setting out to seduce her with his wicked touch. Embracing the blood on his hands is easy, but his secrets wear on her patience. When their enemies close in, Bristol will have to summon his inner monster to protect her. But can that monster be tamed again?

THOUGHTS: Wow. If you like dark action, passion, romantic suspense mixed with drug cartels and violence, you’ll love this book. This is the first one in a series dealing with the Lozano Cartel. This one concerns Carmen Lozano, daughter of the drug lord who turns into a fighter for the resistance. She wants out of this life, but her father won’t allow that. People do not defy him. She becomes the wife of a violent abuser who she eventually escapes by faking her death. Then she meets Bristol, who once worked for the Cartel but also escaped. The connection between the two is so intense and the author shows this through her character development. Not just the main characters, but the secondary ones as well. We learn a lot through all of them and their interactions. In addition, the settings add to the overall flavor of the book. There is a warning included with the book: Scenes featuring torture/violence, kidnapping, attempted assault, drug use, and suicide (discussed) may be uncomfortable for some readers.

Take this warning seriously because there are a lot of scenes that some readers may find “distasteful”.

But… that doesn’t mean that the writing isn’t good – because it is. Very good. It evokes emotions – good and bad – and draws you very definitely into this dark and dangerous world.

Recommended with caveats.

Cozy Mystery, Mardi Gras, Louisiana Bayous

4****

BLURB: The Mardi Gras season has come to South Louisiana, and it should have been a happy one. But when Rex, King of Carnival collapses from his parade float, a dark cloud forms over the Fat Tuesday festivities. What’s even weirder is that he has passed a strange coin to Mila Breaux in his final moments. With her best friend Critter Girl at her side, Mila will have to untangle a Mardi Gras mystery of epic proportions—one that will take her from the crawfish fields to the streets of the Big Easy. Can she make sense of a series of clues that are too strange to be believed? Jump into the cozy world of The Lettering Detective, featuring Creole cooking, art and stationery, and a cute and quirky cast of characters. Put on your Mardi Gras mask (and your thinking cap) while you join Mila and her crew as they let the good times roll and get to the bottom of things once and for all! This is book four of The Lettering Detective Cozy Mystery Series, but It can also be read as a standalone novel.

THOUGHTS: I enjoyed this story not just for the mystery, but for the “flavor” of the story. Set in the bayous of Louisiana, there’s enough detail for the reader to get a good sense of the area. And having the main character, Mila, be unfamiliar with the area helps the reader out as her best friend explains things to her, but not in a condescending way. I loved the description of Mardi Gras vs Lent – the crazy revelry followed by solemnity. Nicely done.

The characters were well-done and believable, though Mila’s anger over Xavier’s ex was a bit of overkill at times. As for the mystery, that was fun too, following the clues left by the dead man to the treasure – which turned out to be a very different treasure than expected.

Recommended.

Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Romance

4****

Blurb: When Cambria Clyne—klutzy, twenty-something single mom—takes the job of an apartment manager at an LA complex, she hopes her run of bad luck is finally coming to an end. She’s got a nice home for her daughter, a steady source of income, and the cute maintenance guy is certainly a nice perk! But her luck takes a bad turn again when a dead body turns up, a crime spree takes over the community, and Cambria finds her complex squarely at the center of it all! With her dream job suddenly on the line, Cambria dons her detective hat to get to the truth—after all, she’s watched enough crime shows on TV to know how to catch a perp! Or so she hopes as she wades through a streaker in apartment 40, an ex-con with a shady agenda, an overly frisky retired couple, and the suspiciously sneaky dealings of the dentist in apartment 36. But will Cambria be able to catch a killer… or will she get caught up in his game and lose it all?

THOUGHTS: There were parts of this story where I cringed and others where I laughed out loud. The cringing is because the main character, Cam, is so inept and so out of her depth in what she’s doing. I laughed out loud because Cam is so inept and so out of her depth in what she’s doing.

Cam is a single mother of a 3-year-old girl who is desperately looking for a job and a new apartment. She gets both in the form of property manager for an apartment complex, and then the fun (not) begins. She has no training and the first day on the job, she discovers a dead body in the dumpster. Then a car is stolen from the parking area. Then she sees a naked man swimming in the pool at midnight. And from there, it goes downhill as she tries to figure out who killed the resident in the dumpster, and what other illegal activities are going on in her complex. When she gets arrested for the murder and for dealing drugs, she’s sure she’s going to lose her job. Even though she’s innocent of both charges.

I will definitely be looking for more in this series. Cambria is a hoot – and way too much in love with ice cream! The characters are quirky and fun and the situations almost believable.

Definitely recommended.

THE STUFF OF MAYHEM: When Unity, Connecticut’s Independence Day cannon firing ends in disaster, historian Christian Shaw finds herself in the middle of a murder case – and a land-use dispute involving a possible Revolutionary War battlefield. Worse, her new client is hanging around the Historical Society looking for ideas for a Regency romance reality show. And then she’s invited to 90-something Amy Taylor’s bat mitzvah. Now, Christian, her new man, Assistant State’s Attorney Joe Poli, son Henry, who has a photographic memory and Type-1 Diabetes, and the colorful cast track the killer through artifacts, land records – and the annual zucchini glut, culminating in a wild and dangerous scene on Amy’s big day.

Buy:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0F25CY3HD/

Kathleen Marple Kalb describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels including the The Stuff of Murder, and the upcoming Ella Shane mystery, A Fatal Reception, both from Level Best Books. As Nikki Knight, she writes the Grace the Hit Mom and Vermont Radio mysteries. Her stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, and others, and been short-listed for Derringer and Black Orchid Novella Awards. She’s served as Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and is a co-VP of the New York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.

Website: https://kathleenmarplekalb.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kathleen-Marple-Kalb-1082949845220373/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KalbMarple

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathleenmarplekalb/

HOUND OF THE BONNVILLES: Hit Mom Grace Adair returns to court to help her lawyer husband Michael defend Sherri Romano, the widow and accused killer of Nicky the Used Car Czar. When Michael introduces Grace to their new client, Sherri, and her purse dog, Precious, Grace is less than thrilled to be working with a “Karen at volume eleven.” But that bad feeling immediately gets worse when Grace recognizes the name of Sherri’s first husband…because Grace killed him. Now, Grace must defend an alleged black widow in the midst of the busy holiday season, dealing with shopping, celebrations, and Scotchie the Giant Dog’s annual war with inflatable snowmen and grinches—not to mention a background check on her handler Madge’s fiancé, who turns out to have a few secrets of his own. In the holiday madness, will Grace be able to prove Sherri’s innocence, when even she herself has doubts?

Buy: 3/25/25, Turner Publishing/Keylight Books Amazon.com: Hound of the Bonnevilles: A Grace “the Hit Mom” Mystery (Grace “the Hit Mom” Mysteries, 2): 9781684428038: Knight, Nikki: Books

Nikki Knight describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York City’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels. Her stories appear in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, online, and in anthologies – and have been short-listed for Black Orchid Novella and Derringer Awards. Active in writers’ groups, she’s Co-Vice President of the New York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime. As Kathleen Marple Kalb, she writes the Ella Shane and Old Stuff mystery series. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat.

Website:  https://kathleenmarplekalb.com/nikki-knight

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NikkiKnightAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathleenmarplekalb/

Other: YouTube: NIKKI KNIGHT’S RADIO STORYTIME – YouTube    

Fiction, Cozy Mystery

4****

BLURB: When an old friend is arrested in Dublin, tour guide Lana Hansen will need the luck of the Irish to clear him of the crime. Lana is thrilled her friend Jeremy and his wife are on her tour to Ireland. The couple are having the time of their lives exploring the country’s rich literary and cultural history, until they run into Guy Smith, a reporter Jeremy recently exposed as a fraud. A tussle turns into a fight and leaves each man vowing to destroy the other. Yet cross words and dirty looks tell Lana that Jeremy is not the only client on her tour who has a grudge against the reporter. When Guy is murdered at the same pub Lana’s group is present at, Jeremy is the police’s number one suspect. But did he really murder the reporter? Or was it one of her other guests? Lana keeps their tour going and her ears open for any clues that might help free her friend. Can she discover the true killer’s identity before their trip to the Emerald Isle draws to a close?

THOUGHTS: This was a fun story set in Dublin, Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day. Since the main character is a tour guide, we got all the fun and interesting details of a tour of the area without actually doing the traveling. I loved the descriptions of Trinity College and the Long Room and the Book of Kells as well as the pubs and the streets of Dublin. Very well done.

As for the mystery, it was kind of obvious from the beginning who the body was going to be, but not necessarily who the killer was. There were a lot of suspects, so nicely done.

Overall, if you’re looking for a fun March cozy mystery read, pick this one up and enjoy a pint while reading.

Recommended.

Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Humor

4****

Blurb: Merry Wrath’s hometown of Who’s There, Iowa may be a nice, if quirky, place to live, but it’s also the murder capital of Iowa—a fact that’s somewhat known only regionally. But all that’s about to change, when a film crew with murder on its mind arrives in town to make a documentary. The team aren’t killers themselves, but they are a bit too eager that a death will happen around the murder-adjacent, ex-CIA agent turned Girl Scout Leader, Merry. Only when a dead body finally does show up, Merry can’t get anyone in town to believe the man didn’t die of natural causes. It doesn’t help that the documentary’s focus on Detective Rex Ferguson’s 100% solve rate changes when a rumor starts that a major streaming studio is interested. Then every kook in town wants in on the action, and the film crew starts looking into some very fictional reenactments that include explosives. Things get worse when an anonymous family member of the victim shows up to claim the body for immediate cremation, and Merry realizes that she’s running out of time to solve a murder…before everything blows up in her face.

THOUGHTS: Here we go again with another murder in weird and wacky Who’s There, Iowa. This time, Merry discovers a body that for appearances seems to be a natural death. Which is a problem for the documentary film crew that is following her and her husband Rex around. but Merry thinks something is wrong with the body and it is only through her pushing that they discover that the man was actually murdered. While trying to hold the film crew in check, deal with the over-enthusiastic teenage mayor and council, she actually does figure everything out. This is an insanely funny series of cozy mysteries with unbelievable characters and situations that boggle the imagination.

If you don’t mind weird characters and even weirder situations, pick this series up – but be prepared to completely suspend your belief in anything sane or believable.

Recommended.

Blurb: Elfie Paulsen reluctantly returns to her hometown in Wisconsin when her sister Juliana disappears, leaving their teenage sister Reagan alone. As Elfie investigates the woman’s disappearance, she realizes how little she knows about either sister or her estranged father. She expects assistance from Vincent, who is an old friend, as well as her father, but she finds both are more intent on protecting their own secrets. Every step closer to the truth leads Elfie to believe Juliana didn’t leave voluntarily, putting her and Reagan in the crosshairs of a killer which may cost them their lives.

Author Bio: Mystery and suspense author Cynthia Rice is a physician living in the Milwaukee area and a proud member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. Her debut novel, The Last Broken Girl, is set in rural Wisconsin where she has strong ties. The novel won the 2023 Claymore Award in the category of suspense. When she’s not working on her next novel (or plotting her next murder), Cynthia keeps busy reading, traveling, and playing mediocre golf and tennis.

Social Links:

email:  cynthiarice.author@gmail.com

website:  cynthiaarice.com

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/CynthiaRice22

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/cynthiarice.author/

Buying Link:

Order your copy of The Last Broken Girl through your favorite independent bookstore, or Amazon, Barnes and Noble and just about everywhere else. 

https://mybook.to/CynthiaRice

Fiction, Paranormal Contemporary Romance

5*****

Blurb: Something in the Water? Marnie Somerset’s new job at the Mystic Springs Library seems almost too good to be true. Yes, the small Alabama town is populated with more than its share of odd people, and she did have a flat tire on her way into town and hallucinate Bigfoot crossing the road, which made for less than a stellar start. But the library is fantastic, her new house is charming, and the hot local writer keeps crossing her path. In more ways than one. Clint Maxwell is drawn to the new librarian, even though he knows getting involved with someone from outside Mystic Springs would be a very bad idea. Marnie’s not a Springer, and she won’t last long in a town awash with magic. Still, when she’s threatened he feels compelled to protect her. Is she meant to be his? Is this the woman he’s been waiting for?

Thoughts: This was a good paranormal romance. And the first one I’ve read with Bigfoot as the hero. But the author did such a good job with building the world, that it works and works well.

In this one, Marnie is a librarian who was “downsized” from her job when another one pops up in an ad. Before she knows it, she is headed for Mystic Springs as the new head (and only) librarian. Then things get really strange. On her way there, she has a flat tire – and swears she saw Bigfoot. And the people in the small town—quite a few of them—aren’t exactly friendly to her. Except for a few, like Susan, who invited her there, and Eve, who runs the local diner, and then there’s Clint. A lumberjack-type man who captures her interest, and her heart.

All is definitely not as it seems in the mystical small town, but there is a HEA that satisfies for the romantics at heart.

Recommended.