What could be more peaceful than a weekend poetry conference at a beautiful estate/hotel in rural Virginia? Fifty poets are attending. All are hoping to win a greeting card company’s job competition. Unfortunately, the tranquility is soon shattered when the estate’s manager, Jane, finds a woman’s body posed like aContinue Reading
Montana private investigator Cassie Dewell is working on two cases in Treasure State, the sixth in the Highway Quartet series. [Why is it book six of a series of four (the definition of quartet)? I have no idea.] Cassie’s first case is a bit of a puzzle. A poem hasContinue Reading
In Bad Day Breaking, the fourth book in the series, Sheriff Heidi has both personal and professional challenges to overcome. Heidi has had a rough life. Her parents being murdered sent her into a downward spiral of drugs and bad decisions. Now one of the people from her past isContinue Reading
Hmmm. The Enigma of Room 622 was definitely an enigma for me. Over 600 pages leading to nowhere. I can’t believe this mess was written by the same person who wrote the excellent Harry Quebert book. This book was definitely not worth eleven hours of my time—or of yours. 1Continue Reading
In All Dressed Up, Becca is surprised to find her husband, Blake, has invited her to a murder mystery weekend in an authentic old mansion. Blake is trying to take Becca’s mind off his fling with his secretary. After all, she did agree to try and make their marriage work.Continue Reading
I haven’t read a novel where I really wanted to the slap the main character in years. But Don’t Let In the Cold is that kind of book. Lottie is a troubled seventeen-year-old who is tasked with watching her brand new fifteen-year-old stepsister Jade for one night in an isolatedContinue Reading
Enola Holmes and the Elegant Escapade is the eighth book in the series of books about Sherlock Holmes’ younger sister. In this book, Enola tries to help her friend, Cecily, escape her father’s clutches. Cecily was kidnapped in an earlier book in the series. She is now not a marketableContinue Reading
The setting of Daisy Darker setting is pure Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. A family is celebrating their matriarch’s birthday on a remote island. There is no way to return to the mainland, or even contact the police, when someone is murdered. The guests must race to findContinue Reading
In Peanut Butter Panic, Bailey is catering the desserts for a new village Thanksgiving celebration. But when the boyfriend of the celebration organizer’s mother dies from an allergic peanut reaction, Bailey must prove that her family’s sweet shop didn’t accidently kill him toot sweet. I always look forward to readingContinue Reading
A Cornish Recipe for Murder is a charming cozy mystery set at a reality cooking show. Former police officer Jodie “Nosey” Parker is hoodwinked into being a contestant on a British baking show. But she has more to worry about than her chocolate ganache when a dead body is foundContinue Reading
Author Guest Post Perfect Setting for a Murder Colleen Shogan When I was starting to create the plot of Lethal Legacies, I knew that I wanted history to play a major role. In the book, my protagonist and amateur sleuth, Kit Marshall, is part of a team responsible for organizingContinue Reading
I love the introductions written by this author for the golden age mysteries published by British Library Crime Classics, but they always leave me wanting more. This book, The Life of Crime, includes all the details and backstories I have been wanting on famous, and not so famous, mystery writers.Continue Reading
Author Guest Post How I Write Dear Readers, When it comes to writing books, particularly mystery books, authors generally fall into two basic camps – those who plot their books and those who more or less fly by the seat of their pants. (Let’s call these folks pantsers). I, myContinue Reading
I loved the first two books in the Lucas Page series and Do No Harm continues the author’s streak. This may be my favorite book so far! Someone is killing NYC physicians. Only Lucas sees the pattern. Only Lucas can find the killer. You can’t help but be fascinated byContinue Reading
Liv wakes up in the back of a NYC cab with no memory of how she got there or where the cab is taking her. When she arrives at her apartment, strangers are living there and quickly kick her back outside. Liv has no purse, so she looks through herContinue Reading
A rent collector is murdered, and children are missing in Dear Little Corpses, the latest Josephine Tey mystery. The heroine of Dear Little Corpses is a fictionalized Josephine Tey. Tey was a writer of laudable British golden age mysteries that fictionalized historical figures. This book attempts to do the sameContinue Reading