Book 66, 2024

Fiddling with Fate by Diane Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I finally finished another book: Fiddling with Fate by Diane Kelly. It's the third book in her "Southern Homebrew" mystery series. Main character is moonshiner Hattie Hayes.

Hattie is pleased to be expanding her moonshine business via savvy marketing ideas. She's collaborated with a local bluegrass band, the Bootlegging Brothers, to compose and record a jingle for her shop, and she's also teamed up with a local winery to host a Wine and 'Shine event. The Bootlegging Brothers provide the musical entertainment for the evening. When one of the brothers disappears afterward, everyone is shocked. Hattie is even more shocked when he's found dead--murdered by being bashed over the head with one of her moonshine jugs. Hattie knows she should leave the investigation to the police, but she's desperate to restore her brand's good name. She launches her own investigation, cozying up to the suspects and putting clues together in an effort to find a killer.

The story was interesting, although not engrossing. I thought Hattie was a little foolhardy in her amateur investigation. I was also mildly annoyed that the underlying theme was that, once again, her moonshine business was implicated in a murder. That's been the case now with all three books I've read in the series, and it's becoming passé.

Favorite lines:
♦ "Brody's a bluegrasshole."
♦ A woman's got to make her priorities, after all, and housework was pretty far down on my list. I can relate.
♦ "All's fair in love, war, and murder investigations."
♦ If not for some miracle, I would be squashed to death. So this is how I go. I might not be able to have an open casket, but at least my death would be memorable.

This deserves 3.5 stars. I'll be kind and round it up to 4.

Book 67, 2024

Winter Lost by Patricia Briggs

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I took advantage of having a day off with no plans or obligations to read Winter Lost cover to cover. Woo! It's the 14th installment in author Patricia Briggs' "Mercy Thompson" urban fantasy series. The main character is Mercy Thompson Hauptman--coyote shifter, auto mechanic, and mate to Alpha werewolf Adam.

When Mercy's brother Gary shows up, disoriented by a powerful spell, it's up to her and Adam to travel to Montana in search of a resolution. On the way, they encounter a brutal winter storm, magical in nature, that strands them in a lodge with a small wedding party. There they learn that Gary may have stolen a powerful Fae artifact and stashed it somewhere in the lodge. The artifact is important to the wedding ceremony, and without it the very end of the world may result. As Mercy and Adam apply themselves to finding the object, Mercy must also deal with the debilitating effects of battling with the last artifact she encountered, the Soul Taker. Together, Mercy and Adam must sort friend from foe and learn to take some things on faith.

The book certainly kept me captivated. Briggs is a deft story teller, and this story featured layers upon layers. It deviated from the norm, in that it wasn't wholly in Mercy's first-person point of view, and there were time skips. I can't say as that I liked that, but it did add nuances to the story that wouldn't have existed had we only been seeing things unfold through Mercy's eyes. I also prefer it when Mercy and Adam interact with the pack, but for most of this book they were separated from the others. However, we did get to see what was going on with the rest of the wolves, as told in short, "interlude" chapters.

Favorite lines:
♦ It's always an uncomfortable adjustment when the rules of the world get rewritten over the course of a conversation.
♦ "I saw a frost giant about a couple of horses." I had a sudden thought. "The eggs didn't make it, did they?"
♦ "Of course he's an extraordinary idiot. Take any skill and add years of practice and you get extraordinary."

A bit of a departure for this series, but it worked and I enjoyed it. Five stars.