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A Frosty Mug of Murder by Constance Barker

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


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I finished reading A Frosty Mug of Murder last night. It’s the first book in Constance Barker’s “Grumpy Chicken Irish Pub” series of cozy mysteries. The main character is Ginger O’Mallory.

Ginger and her father own and run the Grumpy Chicken Irish Pub. The pub got its name because it’s allegedly haunted by an angry chicken. Ginger tries to downplay that aspect of the pub, but she has bigger fish to fry when she pays a visit to the town’s resident black widow and finds the woman dead in her home. Ginger dutifully calls the police, one of whom is her Aunt Mae. Aunt Mae assures Ginger they’ll get to the bottom of things, but Ginger is compelled to get involved in the investigation. Soon several of her regulars are involved, too, leading to mayhem. Will the pub’s patrons be able to solve the murder before the police do?

This was a fun story, but it was somewhat vexing to read. Grammar was okay, but the punctuation was a hot mess. There were times I’d have to reread a line to give it the proper inflection in my mind, because it should have ended with a question mark instead of a period. Commas were missing or misused, and it really did lessen my enjoyment of the book. In addition, Ginger spent virtually the entire story haring off to “investigate”. I give kudos to her employee, Dixie, who called her out on her bullsh*t because they needed her at the pub. Characters were portrayed well and included an eclectic mix. There were also the dozens of cats that the victim had in and around her home to add some comic relief.

Favorite lines:
♦ Juicy news gets around a small town faster than a cold in a classroom full of kindergartners.
♦ “You know what they say, the murderer always goes to get a sandwich and then sit in front of the bank after committing the crime.”
♦ “Are you nuts! We’re talking about breaking into a crime scene and picking a team name is your concern?”
♦ “I might need some help here. There is a big black cat chasing me. Oh holy feline hell, there are more of them.”
♦ I wasn’t looking where I was going and tripped over Harry Potter.

Likable enough for a score of four, but poor editing and Ginger’s near-constant sleuthing knock it down to a three.

Farm Fresh Murder by Paige Shelton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


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I finished my work book at lunch today. It was Farm Fresh Murder by Paige Shelton, and it’s the first in her “Farmers’ Market” series of cozy mysteries. The main character is Becca Robins, who owns a small farm and sells her produce and preserves at the market.

Becca is keeping busy with creating jams and preserves from her produce, selling at the market, and helping her twin sister get ready for an upcoming dinner to celebrate all the vendors at the market. When one of the vendors is murdered at the market and Becca’s friend, Abner, is considered the prime suspect, she can’t help but get involved. Abner wouldn’t harm a fly, and Becca aims to prove it. Soon she’s asking questions, visiting other vendors at their homes, and traveling to another market. Becca uncovers an old love quadrangle, and she can’t help but feel it holds the key to the current crime, if only she can figure out how the pieces fit.

I liked this for the most part. The farmers’ market was a new angle (for me), Becca has a couple romantic interests, and the narrative unfolded in a sensible fashion. It would have been nice to see less sleuthing from Becca and more of her living life. Characters were three-dimensional, including her dog, Hobbit. My enjoyment of the book was lessened by the foolish (read “stupid”) things Becca did in her zeal to prove Abner innocent.

Favorite line: She was old enough to have gotten over the need to have everyone like her all the time.

Average cozy mystery, average score of three.

( Trope Test )

Killer Mousse by Melinda Wells

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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I finished my “spare” book last night. It was Killer Mousse by Melinda Wells, and it’s the first in her “Della Cooks” series of cozy mysteries. The main character is Della Carmichael, a 47 year-old widow who runs a cooking school.

Della’s cooking school is doing okay, but she’s struggling to make ends meet. Therefore, she jumps at the chance to host a cooking show on a local cable channel. However, during the live airing of her first episode, the woman who volunteers to taste-test Della’s “killer mousse” drops dead. When it’s learned that Mimi died of an allergic reaction because the mousse contained peanuts, Della becomes a murder suspect. Her late husband was a police officer, so Della knows her way around the legal system. Soon, she is speaking to others involved with the cable station, trying to learn who may have had it in for Mimi. In the meantime, the TV station senses a PR opportunity and sends an investigative journalist to interview Della. She finds Nicholas D’Martino (or NDM, as she refers to him) to be arrogant and full of himself. When someone else connected with the studio is murdered and Della is attacked, she realizes she’s running out of time to find out who killed Mimi.

I enjoyed this story. I liked Della, and I appreciated that she was a mature woman. Other characters were three-dimensional and relatable, including the foul-mouthed owner of the station. When Della chose to indulge in a fling, I was both astonished and approving. It was refreshing to read about a woman who took what she wanted. Rowr! There really wasn’t much humor in the story, although Della was possessed of a dry wit. The plot moved at a good pace and didn’t meander.

Favorite lines:
♦ Maybe I was so upset at seeing a woman die in front of me that I was being unreasonable.
♦ She was as pale as a vampire’s entrée.

Very good story, and I look forward to reading others in the series. Four stars.

( Trope Test )

Knit Fast, Die Young by Mary Kruger

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


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Finished reading my work book at work today, with time left at lunch to spare! It was Knit Fast, Die Young by Mary Kruger. This is the second book in the “Knitting Mysteries” by the author. The main character is Ariadne “Ari” Evans.

Ari is pleased to be attending the Freeport Wool and Yarn Festival, where she encounters old acquaintances and meets new people. One of the attendees is familiar to Ari—Felicia Barr, of Knit it Up! magazine. Felicia is known to be a mean girl, and no one wants to get on her bad side and get dissed in the magazine. When Ari dashes out in the rain to get coffee at one of the other buildings, she didn’t expect Felicia to stumble into her arms, any more than she expected to see a knitting needle sticking out of Felicia’s back. Now the woman is dead, and there are several suspects on-site, including Ari. She swore she wouldn’t get involved in another murder investigation, but Ari is uniquely suited to assist her kinda-sorta boyfriend, Detective Josh Pierce. Josh is hoping Ari can help unravel the mystery before anyone else dyes. Hah!

I didn’t really care for this. Fabric arts are not my cuppa tea, but I could have overlooked that if the story itself had been more enjoyable. Most of the action took place over the course of one day and in one location—the fairgrounds where the murder took place. As a result, I was left feeling like I didn’t learn much about any of the characters nor the (typical series) setting. Ari did provide some helpful clues, but she made a cringe-worthy false accusation of one of the other suspects. I also didn’t like that her friend, Diane, took every opportunity to snipe about Josh. Give it a rest! Also ( Editing error, ahoy! )

Favorite lines:
♦ “Spinners and knitters and murderers, oh my.”
♦ “I’ll put the skating back on. Michelle Kwan can take your mind off anything.”

I’d give this 2.5 stars if I could. I’ll be kind and bump it up to a three. It was no better than average, in my opinion.

( Trope Test )

To Fetch a Felon by Jennifer Hawkins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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I completed the book To Fetch a Felon about an hour ago. I tried to finish last night, but it was late, and my eyes were getting heavy. Hee! The book is the first in author Jennifer Hawkins’ “Chatty Corgi” mystery series, featuring Emma Reed, who longs to open her own tea shop, and her corgi, Oliver. Emma can hear Oliver speak, although no one else can.

Emma has left London and her stressful job in finance behind. She returned to the village in Cornwall where her family spent holidays when she was a child. Emma has her eye on the old tea shop in the village, which has been closed for years. Unfortunately, she has a run-in with the current owner of the building when the woman scolds Emma for allowing Oliver off-leash. To make amends (and hopefully to get back on Victoria’s good side), Emma bakes some scones for her. When she arrives at Victoria’s cottage, however, she finds her dead. As a child, Emma was always looking for some mystery to solve, which is why she is curious about this case. When another visitor to the village, a journalist, asks if she’d like to investigate with him, Emma takes him up on it. Both of them are convinced that a local cold case has factored into the current crime. Someone in the village is keeping secrets, and it may take a corgi’s nose to sniff out the criminal.

This was cute and fun. What I really liked is that, although Oliver can “talk” to Emma, he relates information based on his own, canine nature. He has his own names for people (“Nervous Lady”, “Pale Man”, etc), and most of what he discerns is through scent. Of course, Emma doesn’t dare get caught carrying on a conversation with Oliver, and she struggles to find a way to pass on information that he gleaned from his nosing around. Characters were portrayed wonderfully, and I enjoyed meeting new people along with Emma. The narrative proceeded at a smooth yet quick pace, and the story was engaging.

Favorite lines:
♦ “It sounds like you’re ready to open yourself to some new chances and some old dreams.”
♦ “I’d hate for my bit of breaking and entering to keep me up past bedtime.”

Lively and entertaining, four stars.

( Trope Test )

Dearly Depotted by Kate Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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I only had a small portion of my “work” book left to read, so I brought it home Friday and finished it this weekend. The book was Dearly Depotted, which is the third “Flower Shop” mystery by Kate Collins. The main character is Abigail “Abby” Knight, who owns and operates a floral/gift shop called Bloomers.

Abby has several hats to wear at her cousin, Jillian’s, wedding: bridesmaid, florist, and now she’s been tabbed with keeping an eye on the groom’s grandmother. When Grandma Osborne doodles off, Abby tracks her down to the gazebo outside the reception, where she stumbles across a dead body. The victim is Jack Snyder, who got into a fight with another wedding guest earlier and was ousted, and who apparently returned. Since Snyder had no shortage of enemies, the police are looking at several suspects, including the gentleman friend of Abby’s employee, Grace. Grace implores Abby to help clear Richard’s name, and Abby reluctantly agrees. Now she’s following up on leads, questioning other guests, and trying to pry information out of the police and the county prosecutor. At least Marco, an actual PI, has agreed to help. The fact that he’s easy on the eyes is simply an added bonus.

While I have to admire Abby’s pluck and enthusiasm, she sure does some stupid things. It’s a wonder no one murdered her while she was investigating. Both Jillian and Abby’s mother are complete ditzes, and I wanted to knock their heads together. Characters were three-dimensional, including new/transient ones, and the plot progressed quickly. It would have been nice to see Abby doing less investigating and more living/working.

Favorite lines:
♦ My cell phone rang. JILLIAN CALLING, it said, which could only have been worse if it had been Satan on the line.
♦ Her golden eyes gazed out at the world with a look of keen intelligence, belying the SPACE FOR RENT sign behind them.
♦ “If she were wound up any tighter her brain would squeak.”
♦ “If it isn’t New Chapel’s handsomest deputy prosecutor, and if you don’t believe me, ask him.”
♦ “Morgan is so conceited, he’s jealous of his own reflection.”
♦ I was so far from smooth I could have sanded the bark off a tree.

Enjoyable, and interesting enough that I couldn’t wait the weekend to find out how it finished. Four stars.

Murder at the Blarney Bash by Darci Hannah

My rating: 5 of 5 stars





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Last night I completed the book Murder at the Blarney Bash by Darci Hannah. This is the fifth in the “Beacon Bakeshop” cozy mystery series. The main character is baker Lindsey Bakewell.

As St Patrick’s Day approaches, Lindsey is busy creating an amazing array of themed goodies for her business, the Beacon Bakeshop. She’s also making items for the grand opening of a new, Irish-themed shop in town, owned by her boyfriend’s uncle, Finnigan O’Connor. Finn and his daughter, Colleen, have recently moved to Beacon Harbor from Ireland. Lindsey and many of the locals are bemused by Finn’s tall tales, but when he claims to have tracked a leprechaun and found his pot of gold, things take a turn for the bizarre. Lindsey herself swears she saw a leprechaun in town, and an employee at the Village Hall claims it was a leprechaun that attacked one of her co-workers. When the leprechaun himself is found murdered, Finn becomes a prime suspect. Not helping matters is the fact that he refuses to reveal where he found the gold, nor where he’s stashed it for safekeeping. Soon Lindsey and Rory are on the case, trying to create a timeline of the leprechaun’s movements, not only to discover who he was and what he was doing in town, but also to prove that Finnigan didn’t kill him.

This was very appropriate for the season, what with leprechauns and pots of gold, etc. The plot moved quickly and held my attention. In fact, I even dreamed about this book one night as I sought to make sense of it in my sleep. LOL! Characterizations were superb, and the baked goodies were making me drool. Nothing much made sense until the end, but it all came together neatly.

Favorite lines:
♦ Blood and glitter were definitely not a good mix. It was highly disturbing and looked utterly surreal.
♦ From now on Betty’s green Jell-O salad ought to be an Irish tradition.
♦ “The last one took him for all he was worth, the hoor.”
♦ “In the immortal words of Mr T, I pity the fool.”
♦ “They say that extreme wealth warps one’s sense of reality, but how warped do you have to be to go around clubbing the fairy folk?”
♦ “My night has been a bloody hellscape of leprechaun-driven lunacy!”

Alas, we also had the ‘didn’t realize I was holding my breath’ line: I exhaled, not realizing I’d been holding my breath.

Compelling and enchanting—five stars!

A Tiger's Tale by Laura Morrigan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Last night I finished reading A Tiger’s Tale by Laura Morrigan. It’s the second in her “Call of the Wilde” series, featuring psychic animal behaviorist, Grace Wilde.

Grace is called in to work with a tiger that has treed a veterinarian. As she uses her psychic ability to connect with the tiger, Boris, Grace learns he’s agitated because he witnessed one of the teen volunteers at the sanctuary get kidnapped. Grace’s police officer boyfriend, Kai, knows about her secret ability, but he can’t launch an investigation on the word of a tiger. The girl’s parents, however, are convinced she’s simply run away again and will turn up when she’s ready. Grace is unwilling to let it go, and she’s soon chasing down leads and questioning people in the girl’s life. Her investigation puts her on the radar of some shady criminals, and Grace must rely on more than her psychic ability to stay alive.

Fun and intriguing. I was reluctant to set this book aside. Grace is an endearing character. She relates much better to animals than to people, which makes her come across as aloof to those she’s just met. Characters were portrayed wonderfully, including the animals. I especially like Grace’s kick-ass sister, Emma. Plot was fast-paced and moved along smoothly.

Favorite lines:
♦ It wasn’t that I lacked the ability to dress myself. The issue was dressing myself up.
♦ It didn’t matter how many times you heard it, a lion roaring that close made the caveman inside want to haul ass in the opposite direction.
♦ Great, I had to chitchat. I sucked at chitchat.
♦ The last thing I wanted was to be the victim of a misguided donkey stomp.
♦ Cats are like the kung fu masters of the kiss-off.
♦ I still had a habit of being closed-off, even cold, to those I didn’t know or like.
♦ “You’re right. I’m a shenaniganist.”
♦ “The statistics are clear when it comes to murder and married couples.” // “Here’s to being single.”

Fabulous! Five stars!

Incidentally, this was the book I’ve been tearing my house apart looking for. Success!

Snow Place for Murder by Diane Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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Since I have the day off, I finished reading Snow Place for Murder this morning. It’s the third “Mountain Lodge” mystery by author Diane Kelly. The main character is Misty Murphy, owner/operator of the Mountain Lodge in North Carolina.

Nigel Goodwin, a property developer from England, has booked the Mountain Lodge for a week as he attempts to woo investors for a proposed ski resort not far from Misty’s lodge. While she’s pleased with the full booking, Misty is somewhat concerned about how a new resort may affect her business. She’s not the only one—several locals have voiced opposition as well. In the meantime, Misty’s sons have joined her at the lodge while on college break. They’re there to help their mother and get in some runs down the local ski hill. When they go sledding down a small slope in back of the lodge, the boys discover the frozen body of Nigel Goodwin. Now the pressure is on to find a killer before the guests check out of the lodge at the end of the week.

A likable story. It was set around Christmas, but the holiday wasn’t mentioned much so I didn’t feel off for reading it in February. I enjoy Misty’s brand of sleuthing, which typically amounts to doing some research online and reporting her finds to local law enforcement. She also reports anything she overhears that may have relevance. The investors were an interesting, diverse group of characters, and the familiar characters are all people you’d like to know. The plot didn’t pelt along, but it unfolded at a steady pace that made sense as it went along. There was, however, one horrific editing error:( SPOILER )

Favorite lines:
♦ “Can I get you a cup of coffee before you ruin my day?”
♦ I was straining so hard to hear their conversation it was a wonder I didn’t suffer an aneurysm.

Very good (for the most part!). Four stars.

Batten Down the Belfry by Diane Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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I've just completed the book Batten Down the Belfry by Diane Kelly. It's the fourth "House-Flipper" mystery, with main character Whitney Whitaker.

Whitney and Buck, her cousin and business partner, have just purchased an old church and parsonage for back taxes. Whitney envisions turning the church into an entertainment venue and repurposing the parsonage house as a restaurant. They don't even have a chance to begin work before the man who owns the surrounding acreage arrives to accuse them of trespassing on his property. He says he filed an adverse possession claim and that the five acres belong to him. Whitney and Buck turn the matter over to their title company and begin work, all the while hoping that Nolan Sibley's claim doesn't hold up. In the meantime, the man who delivered the replacement stained glass windows is found dead in the belfry. Local police determine he was murdered, casting another shadow over the property and the proceedings. Whitney can't resist getting involved in the investigation as she seeks to clear her name and get justice for the victim.

First things first: as someone who's spent the bulk of my employment years working real estate in one form or another, ( I had questions. )
I'm not saying the author didn't do her research, but she should have spoken to a friendly neighborhood title company to get some perspective.

Real estate rant aside, the story was fast-paced and entertaining. Whitney was depicted working and relaxing in equal measure to investigating. I like that in a cozy mystery. In prior books in the series, I found her to be impetuous to the point of stupidity, and this one was no departure. I am also dismayed that this is their fourth flip (fourth book, fourth flip) and each of their projects has involved someone being murdered on site. Egad! I'd quit the business after the second incident, I think. I can only hope that future books in the series have some poor sod getting murdered at the lumberyard or the thrift mall. Eesh. Finally, since I'm in a ranty mood:
( SPOILERS )

Favorite line: What is family for if not to tease relentlessly?

The book was entertaining, filled with twists and turns and things that did not seem at all related at first, and it kept my attention. I'd like to give it 3.5 stars. Since I can't, I'll round up to 4.