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Steeped in Secrets by Lauren Elliott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I finished reading Steeped in Secrets by Lauren Elliott last night. This is the first book in her "Crystals and CuriosiTEAS" cozy mystery series. The main character is gemologist Shay Myers, and the story is in third person pov.

Divorced and destitute, Shay is given a new lease on life when she inherits a tea shop in her small hometown from Bridget Early, a woman she only knew in passing. While touring the shop to determine if she wants to sell or keep it, Shay discovers a dead body on the roof of the shop's greenhouse. With the shop now closed as a crime scene, Shay has time to reconnect with her sister and old friends. She also meets new acquaintances, from Bridget's dog, Spirit, to a handsome pub owner. In the meantime, a realtor is pressuring her to sell, Shay uncovers family secrets, and she begins to suspect that Bridget's death was no accident. It seems that Bridget had something worth killing for, and now Shay has inherited that item, along with the danger.

This was an entertaining story. Some things I was able to figure out, while others caught me by surprise. Characters were done well, including the unsavory characters. The plot was interesting. Shay was intimidated by the fact that Bridget used to read tea leaves, but she learns she has an aptitude for it as well.

Favorite lines:
♦ If she had been born a cat, she'd have started purring.
♦ "Family isn't always what ye were born into. Sometimes it's where ye end up."

Enjoyable enough to earn 4 stars.

( Trope Test )

Fatal Fixer-Upper by Jennie Bentley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I nearly finished the book I'd taken to work, so I brought it home with me and finished it this evening. The book was Fatal Fixer-Upper by Jennie Bentley, and it's the first in her "Do It Yourself" cozy mystery series. The main character is Avery Baker, an interior designer.

Avery has the world by the tail. She's an interior designer, living and working in New York. Her boss, Phillippe, is also her boyfriend. When Avery catches Phillippe cheating on her with his receptionist, she quits her job. She's not at loose ends for long. Avery receives a letter from her great-aunt Inga, asking her to come visit. By the time Avery arrives in Maine, Inga has died. However, she left everything, including her dilapidated Victorian home, to Avery. Although her aunt's attorney recommends she leave the sale of the house to him, Avery can't help but be charmed by the home's "good bones". She hires a contractor, Derek, to do the heavy work while she concentrates on the things she's good at. Not everyone in town is happy that Avery is staying put. The local realtor is hounding her to sell as is, while her twin cousins, who tormented her in her youth, make vague threats. On top of that, Avery learns that a local professor, who'd been meeting with her aunt, has disappeared. While researching local history, Avery begins to suspect that some of Inga's belongings may be far more valuable than originally thought. They may even be valuable enough to kill for.

I found the story interesting. Characters were fully realized, even the more odious ones. While Avery did do some investigating, it was mostly in the realm of historical research. I enjoyed reading about her work on the house and her squabbles with Derek, and it was fun to meet new characters right along with her. There were some surprising twists and turns that added to my enjoyment of the book.

Favorite lines:
♦ "There were cats. Lots of cats. Five, at least."
♦ "I brought you a present." // "From the hardware store? How sweet of you!" I wondered what it might be. A pound of nails? A hammer? Some new PVC pipe for the bathroom?
♦ "Can't have people going around pretending to be Frenchmen. Not in my town."

Very good. I have more in this series and am looking forward to reading them. Four stars.

( Trope Test )

Christmas, a Cat and Cardiac Arrest by N.L. Cameron

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



My work place was closed today, due to Winter Storm Elliott. It enabled me to finish reading Christmas, a Cat, & Cardiac Arrest by NL Cameron. This is the first book in the author's "Heather's Forge" mystery series. The story is in first-person pov of the main character, Allie Garrett.

After walking in on her fiance and her BFF, Allie flees the city for the small town of Heather's Forge. Her great-aunt Beatrice has passed away unexpectedly, leaving her business, the Barrell Inn, to Allie. Instead of a refreshing new lease on life, Allie's arrival is met with suspicion and hostility from the locals. Her employees at the inn are the most hostile, making Allie's transition far more difficult than she anticipated. In the meantime, she discovers Beatrice's journals and learns that her aunt was growing increasingly paranoid in the last weeks of her life. It leads Allie to suspect her aunt was murdered. The incompetent sheriff and his bumbling deputy dismiss her concerns, leaving Allie no choice but to do some investigating of her own. Getting closer to the answers, however, also brings Allie closer to a killer.

I'll say it again, I'm getting tired of the "main character inherits a bookstore/antique shop/inn from an unknown-or-barely-known relative" trope. Have your mc sink his/her life savings into buying such a business, if you want to move him/her out of a rut and into a fresh start. Blah. I was taken aback by how utterly rude people were to Allie, especially her employees. My lord, if I walked into my new business and was met with that level of disrespect, the next words out of my mouth would be, "Get your shit and get out." Allie just meekly tolerated it. On top of that, the decisions she made in regards to her "sleuthing" were abysmally stupid. Frankly, she deserved to die at the end, as she was truly too dumb to live.

Favorite line: "I need your head in this game, not fantasizing about his rear end."

Reading this irked me, to be honest. I prefer my main characters to have more backbone and common sense. Two stars, and one is for the cat, Pixie, who had far more moxie and sense than Allie did.

Fries and Alibis by Trixie Silvertale

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Last night I finished the ebook Fries and Alibis by Trixie Silvertale. It's the first book in the author's "Mitzy Moon" mystery series. The story is told in first-person point of view of the main character, Mitzy.

Because she grew up in the foster system, Mitzy believed she was an orphan and had no family. Therefore, she's shocked when she inherits a bookstore from a grandmother she never knew. With her humdrum, paycheck-to-paycheck life imploding around her, Mitzy eagerly travels to Pin Cherry Harbor to claim her inheritance. After the handsome sheriff takes her for a vagrant and tries to run her out of town, Mitzy finds herself standing over a dead body in the alley behind her bookstore. Now the sheriff thinks she's a killer. Great. Mitzy is nothing if not resourceful, however. With the help of some of her grandmother's acquaintances, including Pyewacket (her gram's aloof caracal), as well as the ghost of Grams herself, Mitzy is determined to prove her innocence and claim not just her inheritance, but the family she never knew about.

This was a funny and charming story. Mitzy is tough and vulnerable by turns, but she's fierce and not inclined to back down from a fight. Other characters were portrayed well, including Pyewacket. I enjoyed how Mitzy's brash behavior kept Sheriff Erick Harper off balance. Mitzy's wry wit made me laugh, and I liked seeing her step up and step into her new role.

What I didn't like...( Spoilers! )

Favorite lines:
♦ Yes, I need to get a life--or at least start crowdfunding for one.
♦ I don't think this loud, smelly bus could possibly make any more stops! I mean, why in the wide world does a bus need to stop at an empty bench in a town with the same population as I have fingers? No one boards. I'm as shocked as you are.
♦ Is this a Mexican standoff? Actually, no. If my movie knowledge serves me, a Mexican standoff requires three people--one of whom must be Salma Hayek.
♦ "I ate the pie. I'm not an idiot."
♦ "Robin Pyewacket Goodfellow, if you deign to lay one claw upon my head I'll turn you into a mouse."
And I thought Robin Goodfellow couldn't be reincarnated!
♦ I push open the solid wooden door and it creaks with appropriate Scooby Doo intensity.

Cute, fun story, and I'll certainly look to read more in the series. Four stars.

Although it won't affect the score, I'm putting this one to the Trope Test:

( Trope Test )

Wow, 9.5 out of 10. Good thing I'm not basing the book's rating on this score!

A Mansion, A Drag Queen, And A New Job by C.C. Dragon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This morning, I took the time to finish reading A Mansion, a Drag Queen, and a New Job by CC Dragon. It's the first book in the "Deanna Oscar" paranormal mystery series, featuring psychic and psychologist Dr Deanna Oscar.

Deanna was planning to apply for a teaching job at several prestigious universities, but when a grandmother she didn't know dies and leaves everything to her, Deanna ends up in New Orleans. There, her psychic abilities are revered, rather than feared, and the police actually listen when Deanna's visions lead them to the body of a murdered little girl. What the police don't know, but Deanna does, is that this man is going to kill again. Now, she finds herself immersed in the investigation, trying to track down a killer and dodge the ghost who's been egging him on.

As if that wasn't complicated enough, the mansion that Deanna inherited comes with Ivy, a drag queen, Greg, who used to assist Gran, and Missy, the ghostly maid. In addition, the house has several haunted objects that need to be kept under control, and Deanna's Gran keeps appearing to her to offer advice. Deanna has yet to decide if she wants to return to the safe (and boring!) world of academia, or if she wants to embrace her psychic abilities and take over her grandmother's business.

I truly enjoyed the story. Characters were relatable, the plot flowed smoothly, and it was just creepy enough at some parts. Even the villain was someone you could sympathize with. Grammar was good, for the most part. However, once I got to the last few chapters, the formatting of the ebook was borked, and several "pages" were blank/missing. That irritated me to no end. By that time, the main plot had been wrapped up, but I was still angry about it.

Favorite liness:
♦ Hell, my curiosity hadn't killed me--yet.
♦ "There's no one right religion. People are judged by their deeds, not by their affiliations."
♦ "As opposed to what? Playing Scooby Doo and chasing pirate ghosts in the Mystery Machine?"

Would have given this five stars, but the missing pages knocks the score down to four.