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Bear Witness to Murder–teddy bear themed cozy
Bear Witness to Murder
by Meg Macy
Bear Witness to Murder is set in little Silver Hollow where Sasha Silverman, owner of Silver Bear Shop and Factory, is one of a number of local entrepreneurs trying to survive through foot traffic, bulk sales, and special events like the village’s Oktobear Fest. This is a town where gossip reigns and the locals are family or longtime friends. Generally this is a quiet and peaceful place to live—until Sasha’s childhood nemesis Holly returns bringing her nasty attitude, a shop in direct competition to two others, and an assistant who is suing the mayor during his re-election campaign.
Meg Macy has a chatty style to her writing and sets the background well so that we are surprised along with Sasha when she discovers a dead body. The mystery centers on this event, but swirling around it are family and romantic entanglements as well as Holly’s backstabbing efforts against the Silverman family. Other characters that play a major role are Sasha’s sister Maddie, and the girls’ boyfriends Kip and Jay. All three are artists and contribute their efforts to the festival.
I like this book. As a teddy bear enthusiast, I found the theme charming. I also appreciate the main characters, who are fairly well developed. There are, however, a lot of minor characters, and I found myself referring back to review their relationship to the main characters. The ending is surprising, startling even, but does not provide satisfying closure for Sasha and Maddie.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #2 in the Adorable Teddy Bear Mystery Series, but it is good as a standalone.
Publication: May 29, 2018—Kensington Books
Memorable Lines:
It seemed to fit with my memories of Holly’s personality. Sweet to your face, but ready to change in an instant or stab you in the back.
He had a true gift, seeing an animal or object hidden within wood, and then bringing it into clear focus with such talent and skill.
Murder, She Knit–a tale of knitting, eating…and murder
Murder, She Knit
by Peggy Ehrhart
Murder, She Knit is a cozy mystery with elements of calmness and sweetness. Pamela Paterson is a widow living in the small town of Arborville, New Jersey. She has a daughter who is a freshman in college in Massachusetts. Pamela’s life centers around her hobby of knitting, her friends, and her job as associate editor of the magazine Fiber Craft.
This serene, settled life that has developed for Pamela is shattered when she finds a dead body in her yard. With the theme of “the police don’t always ask the right questions,” Pamela sets out to discover some answers to this murder mystery.
Author Peggy Ehrhart has devised likable characters and an interesting plot. I look forward to reading the next book in her Knit and Nibble Mystery Series.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #1 in the new Knit and Nibble Mystery Series.
2. This book ends with directions for knitting a “Bohemian Chic Scarf,” which is a very simple project and can use yarn remnants from other projects.
Publication: March 27, 2018—Kensington Books
Memorable Lines:
He might seem nosy, but nosy people were a great boon to the amateur sleuth.
He was a jovial man whose pink cheeks and less than svelte figure signaled his love of food and drink.
Dark clouds were blotting out the morning’s sunny sky, and the prospect of staying indoors seemed more a treat than a privation.
The Story of Arthur Truluv–kindness in action
The Story of Arthur Truluv
by Elizabeth Berg
I don’t know what I expected as I methodically started the next book in my queue. This one was labelled “Women’s Fiction” which I have learned covers a wide range of possibilities. As a book blogger, I rarely read the online summary again after I have made my selection of a book that I will read weeks or even months later. I never read other reviews until I have written my own. Those practices keep even my subconscious honest.
The Story of Arthur Truluv is a beautiful, delicate surprise. A rather short book that rightfully flows from beginning to end with only double line spacing to mark changes or pauses in the storyline, it is best with no chapter breaks. By the end I had fallen in love with the main characters, the aging Arthur and the young Maddy who is covered with the sadness of being different in so many ways. I was immersed in their individual stories and their collective potential for happiness. They meet in a cemetery and quietly begin a friendship that crosses age barriers.
I am not generally an openly emotional person, but The Story of Arthur Truluv left me in tears, not of sorrow but of hope. Hope for the characters and for the future of real people who find themselves closed in by circumstances but trying to address life and death with hope, courage, and the gentleness that emanates from kindness.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Random House for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Women’s Fiction
Notes: I don’t usually read books I review more than once. I think this book will start a new Kindle collection for me: “Revisit.”
Publication: November 21, 2017—Random House
Memorable Lines:
The bones of his face protrude; he’s gotten so skinny he could take a bath in a gun barrel.
But adults complicate everything. They are by nature complicators. They learned to make things harder than they need to be and they learned to talk way too much.
“But what we need are readers. Right? Where would writers be without readers?…See, that’s what I do. I am the audience. I am the witness. I am the great appreciator, that’s what I do and that’s all I want to do. I worked for a lot of years. I did a lot of things for a lot of years. Now, well, here I am in the rocking chair, and I don’t mind it, Lucille. I don’t feel useless. I feel lucky.”
Murder in Montparnasse–an astounding plot
Murder in Montparnasse
by Kerry Greenwood
It is said that one should order soup in a fine restaurant as it is a predictor of the quality of the meal to come. The first chapter of Murder in Montparnasse was my “soup.” I knew upon sampling the book, that the descriptive language was worth savoring on the tongue. The introduction of three major plot threads provided delicious flavors evocative of a mystery worth reading.
Phryne Fisher has her hands full in this fast-paced mystery which focuses on a group of Bert and Cec’s friends from the war who seem to be targeted for death, the disappearance of a young lady, and strange occurrences at a delightful French restaurant. Along the way, various other puzzling circumstances need to be examined. Phryne’s past also becomes important as her time spent in Paris in an art community returns to haunt her. Domestic issues involve the marriage of her Chinese lover and the employment termination of her beloved Mr. Butler. Phryne’s daughters, Jane and Ruth, are pleased to take on detective roles, and Constable Hugh Collins shows his skills in some independent police work. Murder in Montparnasse is an altogether satisfying mystery.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Poisoned Pen Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Historical Fiction, Mystery
Notes: #12 in the Phryne Fisher Mystery Series
Publication: September 5, 2017—Poisoned Pen Press
Memorable Lines:
The remedy for anything short of an outbreak of cholera in a French kitchen was “Add more cream!”
The waiter, who had clearly graduated magna cum laude from Cheeky French Waiter School, made a face which suggested that a chef who had dinners to cook ought not to be slugging down cognac at lunch, but he slapped down another glass and the bottle of cognac. He then flounced away, turning an ostentatious back.
Dot always worried about Phryne. There had been raised male voices in the refined parlour, and Dot didn’t like it one bit. Raised male voices, in Dot’s experience, preceded raised male fists. And then Miss Phryne might have to hurt someone.
Fatal Forgeries–4th in the series
Fatal Forgeries
by Ritter Ames
Fatal Forgeries focuses on returning stolen art work and on discriminating forgeries in the art world. Laurel heads up a team for the Beacham foundation. She also uses her connections to solve related personal issues that threaten her safety and life and that of her team. Three men who may be related to her are suspects in crimes against her.
Fatal Forgeries is the fourth book in Ritter Ames’ Bodies of Art Mystery Series. The author has conceived a complicated and continuing plot in this series. This feature is different from most cozy mysteries in that it is not just the characters that continue from book to book, but the actual plot. Fatal Forgeries begins with an unidentified, and therefore puzzling, action scene followed by the author’s concerted effort to bring the reader up to speed by summarizing the plot and the relationships of the characters as delineated in the first three books. The major flaw of this book is that the first half rambles. In the second half, the pace picks up and the plot has some clarity. The only way I can recommend this book is if all the preceding books in the series are read first and in order.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Henery Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 3/5
Category: General Fiction (Adult), Mystery
Notes: This book needs to be read as part of the sequential Bodies of Art Mystery Series.
Publication: June 6, 2017—Henery Press
Memorable Lines:
“She’s as happy or unhappy as she wants to be.”
There’s something magical about this place. Barcelona’s sun, sea, sangria, and street food seduces me every time.
A full moon in the dark sky not only lit up the heavens, but bathed the sea in light as well, the rippling waves appearing to bring the luminescence to shore.
education pathways 