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Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds–mystery in the Caribbean
Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds
by Allison Brennan
Mia is a financially conservative accountant who is on the verge of achieving partnership in a New York financial consulting firm. Before she signs a contract and gets her name on the door, the company sends her on a Caribbean vacation. She and her friends expect her to have a sexual fling and return home to her predictable life of work, caring for her financially impulsive grandmother, reading, and loving her two cats.
When Mia arrives on the island paradise, she finds almost everyone there is already in a relationship. She resorts to reading a book left by another guest and flirting with a barkeeper. The book Mia is reading is filled with notes about blackmail schemes handwritten by the deceased previous owner of the novel. Most of the characters on the island are rich and unlikable—by Mia’s standards and mine as well. Mia is determined to break the code in the notes and discover the murderer.
The first part of the book is very focused on Mia’s desire to “hook up” with a handsome man, any handsome man. Later that happens and the reader is brought along through several open bedroom door, or in this case naked romp-on-the-beach, scenes. Romance enters into the relationship but the preoccupation is lust.
Various characters come under consideration as possible murderers, but with some of them murdered themselves along the way, the list of suspects is narrowed.
Trust is a major issue for several of the characters including Brie, the college age daughter of a potential victim of a honey trap. I almost liked her until she showed no problem instigating illegal activities. Regaining trust, being willing to risk all you have in money and reputation, and following your dreams are themes for Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds. The mystery starts out slow, but picks up the pace later. Although I liked the ending resolution for the main characters, the conclusion is fairly sudden and not very believable. My favorite parts of the novel, unsurprisingly, encompass books whether in bookstores or libraries. If you are looking for a good, clean mystery, full of intrigue and interesting characters, then this is not the book for you.
Rating: 3/5
Category: Mystery, Fiction, Romance
Notes: Warning—inappropriate language and sexual content
Publication: June 17, 2025—Mira
Memorable Lines:
I never leave home without a book. The idea that I might be trapped somewhere without something to read gives me nightmares.
I didn’t feel thirty. Sometimes I felt like I was twenty-one and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, and sometimes I felt forty, set in my ways and wanting to tell everyone to get off my lawn.
My imagination had not only gotten away from me, it had landed on Mars then taken a side trip to Jupiter.
A Death in Door County–was the murderer a cryptid?
A Death in Door County
by Annalise Ryan
In a new series by Annalise Ryan, a mystery author whose works I enjoy, Morgan Carter is the protagonist. With degrees in biology and zoology, Morgan is a cryptozoologist, a passion she inherited along with a lot of money from her parents who taught her to be anonymously generous. She owns the Odds and Ends store in Door County, Wisconsin, and as cases arise she hunts cryptids, creatures like the Loch Ness Monster, whose existence is possible but never proven. She says she is a “professional sceptic,” but that she searches for “plausible existability.”
Morgan is hired by Jon Flanders, chief of a police force of three on Washington Island, to help investigate a drowning where the victim has surprising injuries. The author has created an unusual situation that takes Morgan and Jon on a number of adventures. Another important character is Newt, Morgan’s mixed breed dog whose lineage appears to be a combination of three large breeds, but he is a sweetheart and is devoted to Morgan, accompanying her everywhere.
A Death in Door County ends with several major plot twists that I guarantee you will not see coming. Morgan is a strong woman, both physically and intellectually, who makes an interesting protagonist. She knows a lot about the Great Lakes, history, and animals. What she doesn’t know, like her parents before her, she is determined to find out either through research or excursions. In this novel, treasure in the form of gold on wrecked ships plays a huge role. I highly recommend this mystery.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #1 in the Monster Hunter Mystery Series
Publication: 2022—Berkley
Memorable Lines:
Rich kids are just as mean and cliquey as public school kids—maybe more so—and even though my folks were members of the wealthy elite like most of the other parents at the private school, their unusual hobbies and interests were determined too “out there” for them to be included in any of the social outings or other gatherings attended by the rest of the “in” crowd.
I would repay her kindness to me and Newt with an anonymous scholarship for her son and a payoff of her husband’s medical bills. My father raised me with the belief that people who have a lot of money should try to do good with it, and it was a credo he lived by. I try to honor his memory by doing the same.
I’d never admit it, but I was impressed with this guy’s ingenuity. Too bad it was being wasted on something twisted, illegal, and deadly.
Cajun Kiss of Death–competing Cajun restaurants
Cajun Kiss of Death
by Ellen Byron
Pelican, Louisiana, is home to some Creole/Cajun good food and party loving locals including the Crozat family who own the Crozat Plantation B&B. Cajun Kiss of Death opens with daughter Maggie’s New Year’s Eve wedding to Detective Bo Durand. The pair are saying their vows along with two other couples. Even the family basset Gopher gets some spotlight as he strolls down the aisle.
Maggie helps out at the B&B and works as a restorer and curator at a museum across the Mississippi River at Doucet Plantation. Things get tricky when the connecting bridge sustains structural damage, a celebrity chef tries to expand his restaurant empire to Pelican driving local restaurants out of business, a murder occurs, and Maggie has a stalker. There are even more threads to complicate this cozy mystery. Some focus on the close knit group of family and friends. Others are related to the murder investigation and the many employees of the dead chef who are staying at the B&B. For Maggie and Bo, it gets personal.
This cozy mystery is a page turner with new complications throughout. I particularly liked the emphasis on Maggie and her art. In this book, she has a major breakthrough as an artist, and her attention to detail plays a critical role in solving the crime. When all seems nicely tied up, there is yet another major twist which is well plotted and well written by author Ellen Byron. The Louisiana setting is replete with Cajun ambiance from the food and festivities to language unique to the area.
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. # 7 in the Cajun Country Mystery Series. Although this is the last book in the series, it could be read as a standalone.
- There is a helpful list of the people in this book.
- It ends with an Epilogue that summarizes the characters’ status 20 years later. It was a nice touch for the finale.
- There are recipes at the end of the book. One recipe that was mentioned often that you won’t find there is “Sugar High Pie.” It was featured in another book in the series, but you can find Byron’s recipe on YouTube.
- There are three animals in this book, but they really don’t have much of a role in the plot.
Publication: August 10, 2021—Crooked Lane Books
Memorable Lines:
She closed her eyes and scrunched her face to keep from bursting into tears. Gopher, as if sensing his human’s pain, released a sympathetic basset howl.
Vi picked up the bottle of bourbon. “Lets drink to that.” She handed Maggie a tumbler. “It’s not even noon,” Maggie said. “Honey, it’s New Orleans. We should be on our second drink by now.”
Pelican didn’t need a 5G network for news to travel fast.
Christmas Island–romance in Norway
Christmas Island
by Natalie Normann
I am not moving to Norway. Ever. It’s too dark and too cold for me. I had a lot of reading fun coming to that conclusion, however, as I read Christmas Island, a romance that begins on a wet, cold, dark, rainy island in Norway. The snow and the need for many layers of heavy clothing would come later. The author, Natalie Normann, is highly qualified to be our atmospheric guide as she grew up in a shipping town on the west coast of Norway. When she writes about the many Christmas foods and traditions peculiar to Norway, she speaks from experience. Originally a Norwegian writer of historical romance, she has lived in Cardiff, Wales, since 2017, and Christmas Island is her second book written in English.
Holly Greene has an enforced four week leave of absence from her hospital job as a doctor resulting from a problem with a co-worker on the job. She is invited to Christmas on the island by her brother Jack as a way to help her survive this period. She meets Tor, mysterious and reclusive, who has rented a house on the island. The reasons both are there are revealed to the reader quite gradually. Holly lives in London and Tor in Oslo making a long-term relationship out of their holiday fling problematic to say the least. They are likable characters in need of healing. Will they find what they need in Norway? Within the island community? With each other?
Normann really helped me experience Norway. I felt like I was tasting the foods along with Holly. I understood her difficulties with the language. Once I raised my head from the pages almost expecting to see a wet snow drifting down. The backdrop she paints is important to the story and pervades the reader’s imagination.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to HarperCollins UK (One More Chapter) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Romance
Notes: 1. #2 in the Very Hygge Holiday Series, but could clearly be read as a standalone.
2. There are too many American and British swear words and vulgarisms for my taste. When I embark on a Christmas read, I look forward to sweet and clean. Although there is a fling, there are no graphic details. Language is the only obstacle for me with this Christmas read.
3. Recipes for three sweet Christmas treats are included.
Publication: November 30, 2020—HarperCollins UK (One More Chapter)
Memorable Lines:
“Fresh air is the Norwegian cure for everything. If you’re unwell, get some fresh air; if you can’t sleep, get some fresh air; if you’re feeling sad, get some fresh air. I think it comes from living too close to the sea and the mountains,” Tor said.
At the hospital gossip and rumours were part of the daily routine, and mostly it was friendly and amusing…until it wasn’t. But she didn’t want to dwell on that today.
Holly opened her mouth to answer, then got completely flustered and knew she was blushing like a whole crop of tomatoes.
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