DEATH BY JELLY BEANS by Susie Black

Fiction, Cozy Mystery

4****

Blurb: Mermaid Swimwear President Holly Schlivnik discovers the Bainbridge Department Store Easter Bunny slumped over dead and obnoxious swimwear buyer Sue Ellen Magee is arrested for the crime. Despite her differences with the nasty buyer, Holly is convinced the Queen of Mean didn’t do it. The wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth jumps into action to nail the real killer. But the trail has more twists than a pretzel and more turns than a rollercoaster. And nothing turns out the way Holly thinks it will as she tangles with a clever killer hellbent on revenge.

Thoughts: Holly is at it again in this fifth installment of the Holly Swimsuit Mysteries. In this one, the store Easter Bunny is found dead and the store buyer is the main (re: only) suspect. Even though Holly and her friends can’t stand the woman, Holly hates to see an innocent accused of a crime she didn’t commit. So she goes on the hunt for the real killer. Along the way, someone poisons her dog (he’s okay!), and tries to kill Holly (multiple times). But she can’t leave well-enough alone and keeps plugging away—until she gets caught by the killer.

I continue to enjoy the characters and the author gives us lots of details not just on the fashion industry, but on other things as well. Like the in-depth lesson on botulism. And the lovely description of a Quinceanera (15th birthday party for girls of Latina descent). I’d love a little more description of her houseboat though. And since this is the fifth in the series, we aren’t given a lot of background on the relationships between characters. I did find it funny that the ghostly wife and daughter of one of Holly’s two boyfriends is trying to get her to commit to marrying that one! Just a touch of the paranormal to lighten the story a little.

Overall, like the other stories in the series, these are good stories with satisfying endings and quirky moments that leave you smiling. Do yourself a favor and get to know Holly and her friends in the swimsuit design industry.

Recommended.

Disclaimer: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Natalie J. Damschroder hasn’t done anything remotely worth documenting in a bio in a very long time, unless you count making up the romantic adventures that her characters live out in her books. She loves combining end-of-the-world stakes with the relationships that make those stakes personal. Love with a Shot of Adrenaline has infused nearly every story she’s published. Whether you like quick reads you can finish in a day or sinking into longer books, you’ll find something to satisfy your craving for action, romance, and happy endings. She also writes paranormal young adult romance as NJ Damschroder, where all of the same elements apply. Besides her dozens of published books, what Natalie is most proud of is her family. She and her husband have been married over 30 years and still have the kind of partnership she makes her characters fight for every day. They’ve raised two awesome kids now living their own fulfilling lives, which you would think would mean she’d write more books faster. But she’s enjoying reading, relaxing with good TV, and sleeping too much to give any of that up. In the fall and winter, almost nothing will keep her from cheering for her New England Patriots, even though they don’t win as much anymore. She loves to hear from readers, so don’t hesitate to e-mail her!

Website

Goodreads

Book 1, The Victory Series

July 14, 2023

Max drives Victory’s success.
Bas knows someone is pushing the company to fail.
And he thinks it’s her…

Max Landford handles every aspect of operations for Victory, a company dedicated to helping people who fall through the cracks, so it’s her job to deal with escalating problems that call into question Victory’s reliability. When a near-fatal disaster occurs on Max’s watch, it becomes clear that none of the problems are coincidental. Troubleshooter Sebastian Braga is hired to investigate a possible saboteur within the company, and Max is his prime suspect. He never expected to fall for the smart, challenging woman in charge, never mind for the family vibe at Victory itself. But the chemistry between the two of them keeps getting in the way of Bas’s investigation, and Max, thrown off balance by his effect on her, worries the distraction is making her job suffer. Discovering she is her bosses’ prime suspect and that Bas has been lying to her since they met sends Max into an unfamiliar tailspin. She’d resign, but the threat is growing, and she and Bas have to work together to save the company they both believe in. Forced to make decisions that could destroy Victory as thoroughly as their enemy, they have to face the possibility that their efforts—and their romance—are doomed. Can they keep Victory from going over the edge?

She can see them, but now they can see her too.

Celestials have been killing Seers for centuries, as prophesy states that a Seer will overthrow Celestial rule. Worried for Zoey’s safety, her parents forbid her from registering as a Seer and interacting with the Celestials, Fae, and Demons who hide among humankind. Zoey is forced to wear a necklace that hides magic from her and conceals her magic from them. Witness to her mother’s murder at the hands of a Demon, Zoey vows to track down her mother’s killer and make him pay. Embracing her magic, Zoey is brought deeper into the mythical world by an unlikely ally and wonders if perhaps her parents were right to keep her  out of it. Will she avenge her mother’s death, or will she meet the same untimely fate?

“Over the course of this novel, Brown presents a thrilling coming-of-age adventure story in a compelling urban fantasy setting…Excellent worldbuilding conjures an ideal backdrop for plenty of action and misadventures…A fast-paced fantasy with a bold lead character and a well-developed fictional world.” – Kirkus Reviews

Buy Links:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Bio:

C.E. Brown has lived most of her life in the Pacific Northwest, close to family and friends. She loves to travel, always searching for magical places to help inspire creativity. C.E. attests that she has a very patient and understanding husband, a wildly creative son, and three crazy cats—one steals her shoes, another steals her food, and the third is a sweetly neurotic old man who can’t decide if he’d prefer to be pet or left alone. C.E. didn’t find her passion for writing until she began wrangling kids as a school counselor, but then the writing bug bit and she’s been writing ever since.

Social Links:

Website

Instagram

Goodreads

BURIED ON A SUNDAE by Lena Gregory

Fiction, Cozy Mystery, #4 in Series

4****

Blurb: Things have been looking up for Danika Delany’s business—her uncle’s old fashioned malt shop on eastern Long Island. But for her love life? Not so much. After a disastrous date with Detective Jake Barlow, Danika lets her best friends, Gwen and Eli, talk her into a night out at the hottest new nightclub in town. Only, while there, Dani finds her sort-of boyfriend secreted in the shadows on the beach behind the club with crime boss Patrick Johansen’s wife, Angelique! An upset Dani leaves without giving Jake a chance to explain, but when he doesn’t get in touch the next day, she takes a long walk along the beach to reevaluate her love life. That’s where she suddenly stumbles across Angelique’s body buried in the dunes near where she last saw her with Jake. Sure that Jake is innocent—of murder at least—Danika and her friends set out to prove Jake had nothing to do with her murder and stop a killer…before they strike again!

Thoughts: I love Dani! She is so perfectly inept at almost everything. She’s clumsy (falls out of a tree while on a stakeout), can’t cook (though she owns a café), says the wrong things… but she is fiercely loyal to her friends and family. This story is set in a small town on Long Island. Dani recently returned there after living in Manhattan for several years. In this one, her (perhaps) boyfriend, Detective Jake Barlow, is suspected of murdering the wife of a crime boss, Patrick Johansen. He was the last one seen with her and, according to the gossips, was having an affair with her. Dani flip flops between anger at his betrayal and her certainty that he didn’t do what everyone is accusing him of. She and her besties—Gwen and Eli—set out to prove his innocence, dropping them right in the middle of trouble.

There are actually a lot of suspects in the story and, even though I’m usually pretty good at picking out the villain in a cozy mystery, this one had me stumped until the end. Very well done. The only reason this didn’t get a five-star rating was that this was the fourth in a series and I didn’t know what the relationships were between some of the characters. For instance, Eli. How is he friends with Dani and Gwen? It’s a minor thing and probably wouldn’t have been an issue if I’d started with the first book. So that’s what I recommend.

Highly recommended (but you might want to start with the first one first).

Disclaimer: Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

A LILLI BY ANY OTHER NAME by Virginia Barlow

Fiction, Historical Romance

5*****

Blurb: Disguised as a boy to escape her uncle and his assassins, Rebecca Lillian Van Rassner runs a trapline with her father in the Canadian northwest. Yearning for her old life in New York, love, and a husband, she gives up all hope, until a handsome mounted police officer stumbles upon their cabin. And captures her heart with his mesmerizing blue eyes and heated kisses.
Officer Max Calhan patrols the extreme north to bring villains to justice and discovers a wispy boy who transforms into a beautiful woman filled with surprises, secrets, and dangerous relatives. Determined to find the truth, Max discovers there’s more to Lilli than just a name.

Thoughts: Lilli lives in the wilds of the Northwest Territory with her father. She dresses like a boy and is known to the people at the fort as Willie. She spits and swears and scratches her backside and fights and shoots. All the things a fifteen-year-old boy raised in the wilds should do. Except that she’s a nineteen-year-old woman used to the high society comforts of New York. Unfortunately, her uncle is determined to kill her like he did her mother. Her father moved her away from any society in order to save her life.

Enter a handsome Mountie. Lilli doesn’t know what to do about her attraction to Max. After all, she’s supposed to be a boy. Then Max discovers her secret and the fireworks between the two begin. But Lilli has other problems. Her father’s been badly injured and becomes addicted to the opium the doctor gave him for the pain. She has to run their trap lines, find a way to stay safe from her uncle, fight her attraction to Max, and come up with money for supplies. I love her spunk and fire.

The attraction between Max and Lilli is nicely done. There’s plenty of conflict and tension throughout the story as well as passion. And, of course, since it is a romance, the two do finally end up together, but not without a lot of problems before they get their HEA.

Definitely recommended.

Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

DINERS, DRIVE-INS, AND LIES by Misty Simon

Fiction, Cozy Mystery

5*****

Blurb: Welcome to the Sunny Side Up Diner, where the pancakes are fluffy, the bacon is crisp, and murder should not be on the menu… Jax Tapman has lived in the same small town her whole life. On one hand, it’s helped her dream of buying the local diner with her best friend come true, and their newly opened business is hopping. On the other hand, it means everyone knows her, and she pretty much never gets away with anything. There are a lot of expectations that come along with being the town darling. So, when Jax finds a dead body behind her Aunt Hildy’s restaurant, surely no one will truly believe she did it, right? Wrong. The victim was strangled with swag from Jax’s diner, and suddenly every eye is squarely on her, town darling or not! Enter Eliot Taylor, Aunt Hildy’s new cook and a former cop who grudgingly agrees to help Jax clear her name and save the diner’s reputation. Only the deeper they dig, the more dirt they churn up, proving there’s far more happening in the small, innocent town than meets the eye. Together they’ll uncover more secrets than Jax can shake a spatula at and far more danger than she might be ready to handle. Can Jax save her reputation and solve a murder…or will this order be her last?

Thoughts: I loved this story. In typical Misty Simon cozy mystery fashion, there is a body and more suspects than you can count. In this one, Jax and her best friend Dani buy the diner where they both worked as teens. They remodel it into a circa 50s style and even have old-fashioned mini-juke boxes on the tables. To celebrate their six-month anniversary of opening, they go to Jax’s Aunt Hildy’s four-star restaurant where they meet Eliot, the new (hot) chef. In trying to help her aunt, Jax is sent outside to keep someone away from the restaurant. Instead of driving him off, she finds him dead. With one of her diner lanyards wrapped around his neck. And thus the trouble begins.

In addition to being an excellent chef, Eliot is an ex-cop. And Jax’s dad is the local cop. But that doesn’t help her as she becomes one of the suspects. In trying to solve the murder, they run across another mystery that the author leaves dangling so we know there are going to be more books in this series. Plus, Jax has other problems that need to be solved before the end of the book. But the main mystery has a good ending that will leave you satisfied.

There are a ton of suspects, several sub-mysteries, and just enough clues to keep you guessing. The characters are fun, the setting interesting and well-written so that you feel like you could walk into this town and know where everything is and who everyone is.

Definitely recommended.

Disclaimer: Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

I don’t often talk about websites here except when doing a spotlight, but I’d like to draw attention to one you might enjoy. It’s called Gloaming Gap. It was originally created back in 2011 (or maybe earlier) by my son and his wife. Then they invited other authors to submit stories (no payment). Then we wrote a history… and a place was born. It’s a group of short stories that are all connected to the town of Gloaming Gap.

Take a look and enjoy a story or two. But be prepared. The people of Gloaming Gap are not your usual small town people. 🙂

http://www.gloaminggap.com

Enjoy!

THE FOG LADIES: IN THE SOUP by Susan McCormick

Fiction, Cozy Mystery

4****

Blurb: The Fog Ladies are back, in the third installment of this endearing cozy murder mystery series. 
“There was a man in the soup.” When the Fog Ladies volunteer at a San Francisco soup kitchen, these spunky elderly friends plus one overworked young doctor-in-training envision washing and chopping and serving. Not murder. Now the soup kitchen is doomed, and the mysteries have just begun. Was the death rooted in a long-ago grudge? Can they save the soup kitchen? Will they find the killer? Could the Fog Ladies, too, end up “in the soup”?

Thoughts: Your favorite Fog Ladies are back. They’ve decided they need to do something to help others, so they go to a local soup kitchen to volunteer their services to help them win a contest that will bring in much needed money. The contest is for the biggest kettle of soup. While the owner, William, brings that in, the ladies set to chopping all the veggies for the soup. But all is not well as a local restaurant owner tries to strong arm William into doing things his way. When he is found dead in the soup, the ladies go to work to prove that William didn’t do the deed.

This is a fun read with a lot of interesting characters in the Fog Ladies and their friends, like Sarah. Like the other books though, beware that there are multiple points of view, which can get confusing at times. But it also gives you a lot of different perspectives on the story and insight into the characters. Each one of the ladies is an individual and you get to know them really well through the story. “In the Soup” is the third book in this series and I know there are more to come. The mystery is well-crafted with multiple suspects and a satisfying ending.

Recommended

Disclaimer: Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”

GONE CRAZY by Terry Korth Fischer

Fiction, Cozy Mystery/Crime

4****

Blurb: A formal declaration of love scares the bejesus out of small-town Detective Rory Naysmith. As Valentine’s Day approaches, he evaluates his relationship with bookkeeper Esther Mullins, and decides to take her on a romantic date that ends with a poet’s murder. Assigned to the case, Rory pushes his private life aside. Things gets tricky after Esther is appointed Executrix for the estate—then rumors start that place a priceless item among the poet’s many possessions. The race is on to unearth the treasure and solve the murder, but it leaves Rory wondering if Esther will live long enough to become his Valentine—or end up as the murderer’s next victim.

Thoughts: This is the second Rory Naysmith mystery I’ve read. It doesn’t quite follow the standards of a cozy mystery in that the sleuth is actually a police detective and not an amateur. But it still takes place in a small town and there is a small handful of people who help Rory with his investigations. I love Rory. He’s so totally inept when it comes to his girlfriend, Esther. And he’s not exactly a curmudgeon, but he comes close sometimes. Rory is no youngster (and neither is Esther), which makes things even more interesting sometimes. He had issues with aches and pains (mostly from a crushed ankle in an earlier story) and wears a fedora (which I love!). Rory is definitely unique. And Esther is the perfect foil.

This story is all about family relationships as well as Native American culture and secrets that some people want kept buried. The plot twists and turns around so many events that I was actually a little confused at times – but it all works out in the end, which is always a good thing. And for a change, I didn’t know exactly who the murderer was until the end, so good going!

Note: If you want all the details on Rory and Esther and the rest, please pick up the other books in the series and start from the beginning. But honestly, you don’t have to. This is a stand-alone part of the series so you can read it and understand what’s going on. But it will be even better if you do start at book one.

Recommended.

Disclaimer: Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”:

THE PASSENGER by Joie Lesin

Fiction, Historical Paranormal Romance

4****

Blurb: Burdened with her empathic gift, Elizabeth Reilly wants to be free of it and fit in with normal people. Nevertheless, when the spirit of an old man asks for her help, she travels across the country to help him return home. Gio Clemente is still angry with his father who abandoned him as a child. To help the father pass on, Elizabeth must persuade Gio to let go of his anger. Though he resents her intrusion, they are both stunned to find themselves fighting a profound attraction. Elizabeth can accept his headstrong brand of love, but can Gio accept her gift—and believe in her?

Thoughts: This was a sweet romance with a lot of conflict, beautiful settings, and interesting characters. Set in 1945, mostly in the California wine country north of San Francisco, but also in Boston. Elizabeth is a young widow who can talk with spirits. When an old man she befriends dies in her arms, his ghost begs her to help him. She figures an easy crossover. Unfortunately, that’s not what fate has in store for her. She has to travel to California to meet his family and tell them about Paola. But his son Gio isn’t willing to listen. Elizabeth makes friends with Gio’s family, but getting through to the stubborn man may take a lot. But even with their problems, the two are still drawn to each other physically and emotionally. But fate does make their lives difficult. However, this is a romance, so we know it’s going to work out, but there’s a lot for them to go through first.

The only reason this didn’t get five stars was an idea that this might be a series. If it is, okay. Good. If it’s not, I’d be disappointed because I want to see what happens to the woman along the road, and Anna, Elizabeth’s sister. And maybe the daughter later on. But overall, a very good read.

Definitely recommended.

Disclaimer: Disclosure of Material: I received a final and/or advanced reader copy of this book with the hope that I will leave my unbiased opinion. I was not required to leave a review, positive or otherwise, and my opinions are just that… My Opinions. I am posting this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”