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Gimme Shelter–blackmail and murder
Gimme Shelter
by Libby Klein
“Vice and Virtue?” What kind of name is that for a cozy mystery? What does it even signify? The title gradually revealed its meaning, as I read the first book in the Layla Virtue Mystery series. By the time I closed that book, I was hungry for the next which, fortunately, had already been published in the spring of 2026. Gimme Shelter was every bit as exciting as I hoped it would be.
The protagonist, Layla, wasn’t looking to be part of any investigation. She had left the cop part of her life behind when she and her alcoholism were responsible for the deaths of her team members and the bungling of a sting operation. She does get pulled in, however, by the drug peddlers who escaped her carefully laid plans. She is also asked by her former nemesis on the force Detective Castinetto to use her skills to find the murderer of a well-loved teacher.
Layla uses her investigative skills while also trying to survive the social situations she finds herself in. She is attracted to Nick, her neighbor at the trailer park, who has as much of a traumatized past as Layla does. Layla battles addiction, guilt, and an inability to trust. With the help of her three new friends from AA, she gradually begins to regain her memory of that traumatic day. She never wanted friends, but these three ladies stick by her and don’t allow her to leave their circle of friendship. As she is learning what it means to be a friend, she finds one in an unexpected place—Ringo, a lovable and loving support dog trained by Nick. Humor plays a role in the book whenever Layla has a gig as a guitarist and singer. She ends up filling in for bands who are in need of a substitute, wearing crazy costumes and performing in unlikely venues. Also humorous are Layla’s interactions with other trailer park residents after she becomes owner of the park, a gift of her father, Don Virtue, a famous rock and roll guitarist. Her interactions with him display the poignant and amusing sides of dementia.
The problems posed in the first book continue in the second with closure on some and not on others. Layla’s relationship with Nick carries on with ups and downs while he proves essential to her investigation with his high level security skills. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series. Will Layla ever be trusted as a police officer again? If so, would she want that life or will she be too busy caring for her unpredictable, but good-natured father?
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #2 in the Layla Virtue Mystery series but the new reader of the series will be brought up-to-date in this book.
2. Clean.
3. The Layla Virtue Mystery Series has a protagonist that deviates from the typical, but will still please cozy mystery readers and Klein fans.
Publication: April 28, 2026—Kensington
Memorable Lines:
November through New Year’s was prime season for addiction meetings. No matter how airbrushed the advertisement, holiday meals and family gatherings didn’t usually fulfill their promises of bringing one peace and joy. And if they did, the feeling was fleeting and followed by a dangerous post-holiday letdown as soon as the day was over.
I threw the Jeep in reverse and backed out of there so fast, if I was still on the force, I would have given myself a ticket.
“What if I forget who I am in Italy? Who will help me? I only know how to say like four things in Italian and three of them will get me arrested.”
Vice and Virtue–addictions and mysteries
Vice and Virtue
by Libby Klein
Layla has been keeping her head down for six months in a shabby trailer in Lake Pinecrest Mobile Homes, formerly a tourist resort. Hated by her former police colleagues and hiding her relationship with her rock and roll father, she ekes out a living playing her guitar, usually songs from the 80’s, when she is able to land entertainment gigs from children’s parties to anniversary celebrations. Trouble rears its head when lecherous Chuckles the Clown and Layla are both hired for a child’s birthday party held at the mansion of a wealthy family and attended by a number of mothers who are sloshed. When Chuckles’ body jerks and flops, it is not part of his act. Thus begins an investigation that Layla, who quit the police force in shame, should not be a part of. She does not want to be a part of it…but she was there and she notices things.
There are a lot of interesting characters in Vice and Virtue. Layla doesn’t want to have anything to do with the people around her. That’s how you get hurt. But many of them force themselves on her. There are neighbors in the mobile home park who are really “characters.” They will keep you chuckling. Recognizing she has a drinking problem, Layla attends AA meetings and tries to keep her distance from others, but several ladies there want to be her friends and won’t let her push them away. Nick is a handsome next door neighbor with a great, compassionate dog, Ringo. Nick is almost as secretive as Layla and could successfully compete with her in a tortured background contest. Layla and her former colleagues on the police force agree that she is responsible for the deaths of her team, including a boyfriend, but that investigation was not tied up neatly and she is willing to let it lie. Her absentee father Don shows up on her doorstep, but not to sponge off of her. Quite the opposite, he wants to make up for the years he wasn’t in her life. Can he win her over and get her to accept help? The fame that accompanies him whenever he is recognized is a huge stumbling block for Layla. As a character who was strung out on drugs in the early years of his career, he seems to be in and out of the present and of reality. He is a genuinely nice guy and a very funny character.
I read this book as an Advance Reader Copy, but I liked it so much that, upon finishing it, I immediately went to my library online and checked out the next book in the series. So, watch for my reactions to Gimme Shelter in my next review.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #1 in the Layla Virtue Mystery series
2. Clean
3. I enjoyed Libby Klein’s Poppy McAllister Mysteries, but with 9 in the series, it seems the author decided to try something new and different. The Poppy McAllister series is excellent and fits well in the typical cozy mystery genre. The Layla Virtue Mystery Series has a protagonist that deviates from the typical, but will still please cozy mystery readers and Klein fans.
Publication: April 29, 2025—Kensington
Memorable Lines:
SOME DAYS SEEM LIKE THEY’RE JUST OUT TO GET YOU. SOMETIMES the attack announces itself right out of the chute so you can begin damage control. Buy a couple gallons of ice cream, some chocolate syrup, sign into Netflix, and hunker down for the aftermath.
“There’s no worse feeling in the world than regret. But we don’t live in the past, and we can’t change anything.”
“You know my memory is like Swiss cheese anyway. It’s why I call all the gals things like sugar and doll. It keeps me outta trouble for saying the wrong name.”
Trouble Follows You–starting over as a PI
Trouble Follows You
By Bonnie Edwards
Barbara Black is the protagonist of Trouble Follows You and she tells her story from a first person point of view. Thirty-five and recently divorced from a philandering husband, she strikes out to become a Private Investigator with financial survival as her goal. She works part time following up potential insurance cheats for a larger investigations company. She drums up her own first PI case when the wife of an author Barbara had heard speak at an event is shot and the husband is accused of the murder. The husband is a creep, but claims his innocency, and Barbara takes the case.
While involved in searching out background information for her first case, she gets a second case. Her ex-husband wants her to do a deep background check on his current wife. With the promise of good monetary compensation served up with a side of potential revenge, Barbara takes the case and soon finds herself following some shady characters from Tucson to Oklahoma.
I enjoyed this cozy mystery. The plot is good with threads and motivations that keep the reader guessing. While the investigation of murder is serious, the author manages to inject humor throughout. From time to time, in cozy mysteries, the actions of the protagonist do occasionally step over the legal line and sometimes are not quite believable. Trouble Follows You drifts into these territories increasing the reader’s enjoyment. The book is, after all, fiction and a great escape from more serious tomes. The author lives in Tucson, Arizona, which is the major setting for her books.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #1 in the Adventures of Babs Black series which currently has 3 books in the series.
2. Clean cozy mystery with exactly 5 offensive words in the whole book.
3. There is another author by the same name who writes erotic romances.
Publication: December 6, 2019—Deadly Press
Memorable Lines:
I know teachers. If the plan was a cooperative one among them, they’d still be arguing about who got to pull the trigger.
“Confident, a little brassy, quite sure that she was right about everything. What I mean to say is over-confident and obnoxiously brazen, but my original statement seemed so much more proper.”
There is not much in this world that chocolate won’t solve. The combination of ice cream and chocolate is the universal cure for whatever ails you.
Booked for Revenge–murder in the kitchen
Booked for Revenge
by Karen Rose Smith
Belltower Landing is the setting for this cozy mystery which gives the characters an opportunity for outdoor activities like hiking, paddle boarding, and boating. It is also perfect for having a tourist season. Jazzi and her friend Dawn have combined resources to create a combination tea shop and bookstore. The young ladies also conserve financial resources by living together in an apartment above the shop. In a thread of personal conflict, Dawn’s parents live in the same town and are not happy with this business venture or with the girls’ common interest in finding their birth parents.
The main focus of this book, however, is “The Gentlemen’s Bake-Off.” Tomes and Tea is involved because, as one of many creative promotional ideas, the duo will advertise and sell books written by the judges. They also host a book signing. When there is a murder, Jazzi slowly starts investigating. She has kept her relationship to her mother Daisy quiet to avoid getting drawn into just this type of situation. In her hometown, Daisy has a reputation for solving crimes.
There are many suspects—judges, other competitors, or even someone completely unrelated to the baking competition. I didn’t guess the murderer until the end of the book when the identity becomes quite evident. There are other threads that muddle the investigation, including a hidden camera, loud disputes, and missing evidence.
A little romance comes into play as Jazzi’s friend Parker, an IT specialist, shows signs of interest in Jazzi as more than a friend. Oliver, with an Australian accent, owns The Wild Kangaroo pub, and often shows up when Jazzi needs support. Dawn is drawn to Abe, an EMT/firefighter who is frequently on the scene with medical help.
I enjoyed this cozy mystery for the whodunit puzzle, the interesting characters, and the budding romances. There are a pair of kittens that are fun too. The bookstore setting is a magnet for me, and I am glad to see the young ladies making a success of their enterprise.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #2 in the Tomes & Tea Mysteries series, but could be read as a standalone.
2. This series is a spinoff from the Daisy’s Tea Garden Mysteries series. There are references to characters in that series, but the author always provides background information to the relationship so there is no confusion. Jazzi, the protagonist in this series is the now-grownup daughter of the protagonist in Daisy’s Tea Garden books.
3. Clean
Publication: April 29, 2025—Kensington
Memorable Lines:
Tomes and Tea’s book club was a little different than most. They didn’t discuss one novel at a session. Readers brought in whatever their latest read was to talk about. This way tourists could drop in and join in too.
“Through the years, I’ve found it’s just as easy to be friendly as impatient. And the interchange can brighten a fan’s day as well as mine.”
Death by Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins–complex plot and lots of action
Death by Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins
By Sarah Graves
Jake and Ellie own the bakery and coffee shop the Chocolate Moose. They are great friends and would do anything for each other; and in Death by Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins, they get into some extreme situations that require them to take their faithfulness to the limit.
The pair is known in the Maine port town as amateur sleuths, and their husbands tolerate their sometimes dangerous investigations. Jake is the main character, so we see this story from her point of view. We also learn a lot about her multigenerational family of nine all living under the same roof.
The mystery part of this book ignites when the duo is hired to provide treats for an event at the old Stone House. The owners are a handsome reality star and his disgruntled wife. Be prepared for multiple murders, fires, and kidnappings. There is a lot of dangerous action in this cozy mystery, but it is fascinating to follow Jake and Ellie as they track down criminals. There are a number of suspects; the “wicked web” expands as the plot proceeds adding on miscreants and motives that are quite unexpected. There are a number of dogs, of various breeds, who play a role in the story. Jake owns two and gathers a third one, a small, white, fluffy dog, into her fold. This little dog’s involvement proves crucial.
I enjoyed Death by Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins. Very little of the story occurs in the bakery as tourist season is over, but Jake and Ellie do have to do some baking that ties directly into the mystery. The port setting in this series is always a good backdrop for a mystery, and with each book in the series, I learn a little more about Maine and living near the ocean.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #8 in the Death by Chocolate Mystery Series, but could be read as a standalone. As with most lengthy series, if you don’t start at the beginning you will miss some character background and development.
2. Some swearing.
Publication: April 28, 2025—Kensington
Memorable Lines:
“I love it,” he said, and I could see in his face that he really did. Downeast Maine takes some people that way, the whole land-sky-and-sea thing waking the sense of wonder that—much to their surprise, sometimes—has always been in their hearts.
A sparkling kitchen is at the heart of every good day, Bella always said. Of course she also thought it was at the heart of eternal salvation, world peace, reversing climate change, and the solution to the famed three-body problem in mathematics.
Good old Eastport, where keeping an eye out has developed into an art form of which gossip is the performance aspect.
Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave–mystery with a lot of humor
Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave
by Elle Cosimano
Having read the first book in this series, I was somewhat prepared for this one, but I had clearly missed a lot of character interaction between the first and the fifth. The main characters are still there: Finlay, a struggling single mom/author, and Vero, the family nanny and Finlay’s friend. Finlay does not get much writing done in this mystery as she is too wrapped up in trying to discover a murderer and prove it was not her philandering ex-husband. Along the way she uncovers other crimes and gets herself and Vero in trouble with law enforcement, including her boyfriend Nick, a detective.
There is a lot of humor that keeps this cozy mystery from being too dark. Finlay takes in her neighbor, Mrs. Haggerty, well known as a busybody, when she lost power and water. Adapting to sharing accommodations causes lots of issues in the household. Finlay’s preschool children Delia, suspended for taking care of a bully when the teacher didn’t, and Zach, a two-year old in need of potty training, are present throughout the book. Cam is a teenager who finds himself on his own in life, but uses his excellent computer hacking skills to Finlay’s advantage and manages to pay himself through deductions to her Venmo account and some home cooked meals.
I spent the first part of the book reorienting myself to the characters and background. Things got complicated in the middle with lots of tangled threads. It was not my favorite part of the book. The end was fantastic with lots of action and surprises. If you like the Finlay Donovan series, I think you will enjoy this one. Finlay learns to trust her boyfriend Nick. She and Vero get bogged down in a web of lies and crime—theirs and that of other characters in the story. There is a lot to like about this book, but if you are new to the series, I don’t suggest you start with Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery, Fiction, Humor
Notes: #5 in the Finlay Donovan series. This would be a good series to start at the beginning and read in sequence as there are so many continuing characters.
Publication: March 4, 2025—St. Martin’s Press
Memorable Lines:
I was sick of people talking about me and the kids as if Steven’s mistakes defined us. I didn’t want Delia to grow up as the cheater’s kid or the murderer’s kid.
I would never have recognized Mrs. Haggerty’s Mark V. The car’s body had been painted a garish shade of purple. Flecks of glitter sparkled in the finish, and the new chrome grille glistened in the sun. Eggplant Ecstasy had been hand-lettered across the hood in fancy looping script. The tires were brand new with wide, white walls, and a disco ball hung from the rearview mirror, spraying the interior of the car with rainbow-colored light.
“A boy named Cooper has been harassing Delia on the playground. She gave him six stitches and a couple of bruised ribs”….“And then I kicked him in the tentacles,” Delia said “just like Vero showed me.”
Last Wool and Testament–mystery and fiber arts
Last Wool and Testament
by Peggy Ehrhart
Author Peggy Ehrhart is a multi-talented person as is reflected in her writing. A former professor with a Ph.D. in Medieval Literature, her writing is excellent. I usually get quickly bored with novels that describe repeatedly and at great length what the characters are eating and the locations of their dining experiences. This is not the case with the Knit and Nibble Mystery series. Although the protagonist Pamela Paterson has the same toast and coffee every morning, all the other meals, even the simple ones, are beautifully described with interesting details.
The author is also very interested in crafts, so Pamela is a work-from-home associate editor of Fiber Craft magazine. She reviews books for the publication and chooses and edits submitted articles. She frequently works on pieces that involve archeology that show how the fiber arts have been important through the ages.
Pamela with her friend and neighbor Bettina are the backbone of a group called Knit and Nibble who meet weekly in member homes to knit, chat, and enjoy a special dessert prepared by the host. Pamela and Bettina are frequently involved in various investigations when crimes occur in their town of Arborville, New Jersey.
The Knit and Nibble series is one of the calmest, gentlest, cozy mystery series I have read. There are indeed murders to be solved—two in this book, but there is so much emphasis on friendship and community relationships that it is a low stress book. Pamela and Bettina follow some leads, but they don’t constantly put themselves in danger as the protagonists in many cozy mysteries often do. There is a big emphasis on looking at the mystery as a puzzle and putting the pieces together as they discover clues, often though observation.
In Last Wool and Testament, an artistic neighbor specializing in fiber arts is killed shortly before she was to have a showing at a local gallery. There are a number of possible suspects, but just as they narrow the field to one, he is also murdered!
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1.This is the 12th book in the Knit and Nibble Mystery Series. I have not read all of them; but I have enjoyed a number of them, and I recommend the series. Reading some of the earlier novels would be helpful, but the author does give background to each character when they appear in this book.
2. At the end of this book, the author includes information on Intarsia, a special knitting technique, and then refers the reader to her web page that has even more information along with illustrations.
3. She also has recipes for three of the dishes the Knit and Nibble group enjoy in the book and has photographs on her web page of the steps involved in cooking them.
Publication: April 29, 2025—Kensington
Memorable Lines:
Two pieces remained, themselves quite inviting—each edged with a puffy ridge of golden-brown crust, layered with mozzarella-streaked tomato sauce, and dotted with lustrous rounds of pepperoni…Then he flipped the box’s lid back to release an aroma that combined tomato, garlic, and olive oil with the seductive lure of fresh-baked yeasty dough.
Pamela hadn’t actually thought that until she heard herself say it. Clearly, the act of walking had set her mind free to roam as well, and it had been mulling over the journal images she had studied anew before heading out the door.
By the time all six dishes had been filled, the layered chunks of pudding remaining in the compote evoked a stratified landscape disrupted by a seismic upheaval.
Puzzled 4 Murder–puzzled by the puzzles
Puzzled 4 Murder
by J.C. Eaton
I have read almost all of the 14 books in the Sophie Kimball Mystery series. Obviously there is an attraction there. I keep threatening to quit because I get tired of reading how many usually unhealthy foods the characters consume. I keep coming back, however, for the mystery and the characters.
The mysteries in Puzzled 4 Murder are layered. It starts with a murder and picks up a cold case along the way. Threaded all through the plot are odd things that happen regarding a humongous jigsaw puzzle that is being put together in the library—40,000 pieces! It is a popular community project because the setting is Sun City West, Arizona, in the middle of the summer. We’re talking the kind of heat that means it is too hot to swim in an outdoor pool. Any kind of activity that can be done in an air conditioned building is perfect. Thus, the puzzle project has its avid supporters. To add tension to the situation, there is a deadline as the magazine Senior Living has chosen this group and their puzzle for a feature article. The initial problem is agreeing on the picture chosen for the puzzle, and the first options presented are “The Sandy Beach” (just beige desert sands) and “Snowy Blizzard” (all white). The real trouble starts when the puzzle is changed to an old blown-up photo of a street in Sun City. It seems the library there has never used it and can share it with Sun City West. How can that possibly present danger?
The regular characters in the Sophie Kimball series recur in Puzzled 4 Murder. Although an accountant at the Williams Detective Agency, Sophie (Phee) is heavily involved in the investigations—partly her doing and partly the result of her mother dragging her into the mysteries. The private investigators Nate and Marshall (Phee’s husband) are stable and hardworking. The receptionist Augusta, usually a minor character, plays a big role in solving these crimes. Of course, Harriet Plunkett, Phee’s mom, and her “book club ladies” have their noses into everything that happens in Sun City West, predominantly a retirement community where everyone knows everyone’s business. The other given is that where the ladies are involved, Herb and the men will gather around too—especially if there is food. Paul with his enthusiasm for fishing makes some appearances as well. Most importantly, it wouldn’t be part of the “4 Murder” series without Streetman, Harriet’s spoiled and neurotic chiweenie. The seniors and Streetman provide humor throughout. Read Puzzled 4 Murder for the mystery, the characters, the humor, and to learn how Streetman gets his new nickname “Prince Valiant.”
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery, Fiction
Notes: #14 in the Sophie Kimball Mystery series. It could be read as a standalone, but this is pretty far into the series for that.
Publication: February 25, 2025—Beyond the Page
Memorable Lines:
“Any progress on that cold case?” “If you mean how the interviews are going, then the answer is slower than a three-legged turtle.”
“He’d better behave at the (dog) park. That’s all I can say.” “You worry too much, Phee. He’ll be an angel. An absolute angel.” So was Lucifer.
When I got off the phone, I told Augusta what to expect in a few hours. But no one told me what I could expect in the hours and days to come. If they had, I would have booked a flight to Rio.
The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime–for Sherlock fans
The Incident of the Book in the Nighttime
by Vicki Delany
Gemma, the protagonist of the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery series, and a small group of friends and relatives travel to London for the wedding of Gemma’s sister Pippa. At the wedding, Gemma is approached in the hotel’s lobby by her ex-husband Paul with whom she also owned a bookstore before their divorce and her move to the U.S. He claims to have a “rare find” and implores her to come to their former bookstore to look at it. She agrees to come in the morning, but when she arrives at the bookshop, which is now in disrepair, she finds that Paul has been murdered.
There are many possible motivations for his murder. He is clearly in debt so perhaps a gang member was trying to settle up. He is somewhat of a lothario, so maybe a disgruntled husband or boyfriend settled their jealousy problem. It could be that someone had caught wind of a rare book at the shop and decided to steal it. There are many other threads. Gemma decides to get to the bottom of Paul’s murder before her time in London is up. The conclusion is a surprise, and I enjoyed this mystery with its many allusions to Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery, Fiction
Notes: #10 in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery series. This could be read as a stand alone as the author explains who the characters are in the context of the current story. I had only read one of the earlier books in the series but still enjoyed this one. Donald had a major role in this book, and I did feel like I would have enjoyed that character with his Sherlockian obsession more if I had read some of the previous books. I have read several cozy mysteries in her Tea by the Sea series and enjoyed them more.
Publication: January 14, 2025—Crooked Lane Books
Memorable Lines:
He gave me that crooked grin I’d once found so charming. Now I found it full of nothing but loneliness and regret.
I’d been getting bored with this conversation. The best way of getting out of a police interview, I’d discovered some time ago, was to start asking them questions they didn’t want to answer.
“I’m not one for gossip, you understand.” “I totally understand.” And I did. Everyone who reassures me they are not a gossip turns out to be eager to dish the dirt.
Schooled in Murder–very bookish cozy mystery
Schooled in Murder
By Victoria Gilbert
Jennifer (Jenn) Dalton is the director of the campus writing center at Clarion University in northern Virginia. She is also the author, under a pseudonym, of a mystery series. As it turns out, when there is a murder on campus and Jenn discovers the body, she is able to successfully apply some of the investigative skills from her writing to ferret out the murderer. She has some help from unusual sources—Bri, a research librarian at the university, and Christine, the long time manager of the cafeteria on campus. In the middle of their sleuthing, another murder occurs. Are there two murderers on campus? Are the murders related?
Much to the dismay of Dr. Zachary (Zach) Flynn, a psychologist who comes to Jenn’s rescue on several occasions, Jenn keeps putting herself into dangerous situations without foreseeing any potential risk. Someone is out to stop Jenn’s investigations at any cost.
As the first book in this cozy mystery series, Schooled in Murder, is a good debut to a university whodunit. The novel is very bookish in that much of the setting is the university library or the writing center located in the basement of the library. I’m sure libraries have changed a lot since I was in college, but it reminded me of roaming through the stacks which could be a little intimidating—very quiet, dark, and rather like a maze with study carrels sprinkled throughout. Thankfully, the only crime I ever saw in my university library was a chocoholic sneaking in a little bag of M & M’s to get her through an evening of study.
The main characters in Schooled in Murder are likable, but there is a lot of infighting as professors vie for long term positions and tenure. Some of the characters have romantic involvements and professional literary conflicts that make them possible suspects also. The solutions to these crimes emerge from the tangle of personalities and motivations. I admit, I did not see some of them coming until the author chose to insert a crisis. I recommend Schooled in Murder and will be looking for the next in the series.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Fiction, Mystery
Notes: 1. #1 in the Campus Sleuth Mystery Series
2. Victoria Gilbert has a number of books to her credit including The Blue Ridge Library Mysteries which take place in the same community as Schooled in Murder.
3. Clean language and the romance is limited to kissing.
Publication: January 7, 2025—Crooked Lane Books
Memorable Lines:
It’s a lot different when it’s real, I thought, mentally offering apologies to my characters for the frightening scenarios I’d placed them in over and over again, all for the sake of excitement and forward momentum.
But there are great authors who write gorgeous, deeply thoughtful poetry or prose, who are absolute jerks in real life. Talent and kindness don’t always corollate.
education pathways 