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Murder, She Edited–problematic inheritance
Murder, She Edited
by Kaitlyn Dunnett
Mikki Lincoln is a character I can immediately identify with. She has retired from teaching but is earning extra money as a freelance editor. She is good at identifying punctuation and grammar errors and feels a compulsion to correct them. When running out on an errand she trades her “lightweight sweatpants and somewhat ratty T-shirt for jeans and a clean T-shirt with no holes.” Sounds good to me!
The cozy mystery opens with Mikki receiving a letter from a law firm informing her that she has inherited land from an almost forgotten friend of her deceased mother. There is an odd stipulation that to receive the inheritance she must locate some diaries in the farmhouse, edit them, post them on the Internet, and produce an e-book with them—all in a short amount of time. Finding the diaries is a difficult and eventually dangerous task.
I like Mikki. In spite of beginning her marriage in a time when a woman could not get a mortgage or other credit in her own name, she is a strong, independent woman. She is very intelligent, and she approaches this challenge with the same tenacity as a dog with a bone. The puzzle of where the diaries are and who wrote them leads to a potential cold case of murder and the uncovering of secrets from the past and present. Someone was willing to kill to prevent their discovery. Mikki has several concerned friends who help and protect her, and she achieves the grudging respect of the law authorities.
There is also a subplot about a steamy romance author who was a teaching colleague of Mikki’s. She wrote under an assumed name. A fan of this author wants to meet her and wants Mikki to make it happen. This addition to the story provides a little comic relief and distraction from the intensity of the main plot.
I liked Murder, She Edited from start to finish. A cozy with the main character in her early 70’s appeals to me, and I am looking forward to the next book 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: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #4 in the Deadly Edits Series, but can easily be read as a standalone. I missed one of the books in the series, but it did not hamper my enjoyment of the others.
Publication: July 27, 2021—Kensington
Memorable Lines:
I bestowed what I call my “sweet but dithery little old lady smile” on him, the one I usually save for security officers at the airport and policemen who think I’m meddling where I shouldn’t.
I wondered what would happen if I didn’t correct all those silly errors. Would the Friends of the Library vote to replace me as editor? I doubted it. No one else wanted the job. Besides, I didn’t think I had it in me to spot a grammar, punctuation, or usage error and not fix it.
Ordinarily, I don’t like to badger people, but I was fed up with the runaround I’d been getting. I leveled my best former teacher’s glare at the young woman and waited for her to cave. She burst into tears.
Snowflakes Over the Starfish Café–a lost dog brings hope
Snowflakes Over the Starfish Café
by Jessica Redland
In the first part of Snowflakes Over the Starfish Café, the reader really gets to know the characters in this book and the story behind each one of them. Hollie and Jake are the main characters; both of them have pasts immersed in tragedies. Those two tell the story in their points of view. The timeframe bounces around between the present and various times in their pasts slowly revealing the details of the personal disasters that they don’t seem to be able to overcome. The changes in timeframes and narrators are clearly delineated and never confusing. There are a lot of supportive friends and a few you would like to kick to the curb. “Mr. Pickles” is a tiny homeless shih tzu who plays a huge role in this romance, but will he be big enough to bring Hollie and Jake together and help overcome their issues?
All of the action occurs in or near Whitsborough Bay on the North Yorkshire coast. The book is filled with Britishisms that I enjoyed immensely such as references to wearing their “waterproofs” or shops displaying bags of “candyfloss.” I also learned a lot about the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) with its amazing volunteers.
As frequently occurs in romance novels, Jake and Hollie inch towards resolution and a happily ever after. Then suddenly there is a twist that neither Jake, Hollie, nor the reader could have predicted. It seems they may be forced to retreat into isolation abandoning what they had together.
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: General Fiction, Romance
Publication: August 31, 2021—Boldwood Books
Memorable Lines:
Angry waves snatched at the deserted beach, spitting spray over the railings, while ominous grey clouds threatened rain.
“People can still be in love but not like each other very much and sometimes they can like each other but not be in love.”
“Then he’s not right for you, but one day you’ll meet someone who is. Someone who makes you laugh every day, hugs you simply because it’s Tuesday, holds you when you cry, and dances in the rain with you.”
Through Gates of Splendor–a call from God
Through Gates of Splendor
by Elizabeth Elliot
Five young men felt God’s call to share the good news of Jesus with an Ecuadoran Indian tribe that had never had positive encounters with outsiders. Their bad experiences date back to the ruthless rubber traders of the 1870’s—“civilized savages against unbaptized savages.” They had Stone Age technology, were feared by other Indians for their unprovoked ambushes, and had a language known only to themselves. The missionaries and their wives had a daunting task. They started by evangelizing more friendly local tribes and establishing bases, many refurbished from areas abandoned by Shell Oil Co. From these bases they did flyovers of the Auca land, first to find where in the jungle the Aucas were living and later to communicate with them by dropping gifts to demonstrate their friendly intentions.
When they felt the time was right, they finalized plans to land and meet with the Aucas in person. The book becomes very intense at that point. After an initial positive meeting, there is literally radio silence instead of the expected call back to the wives. A search and rescue team went in consisting of Ecuadorian military, volunteer missionaries and Indians, and U.S military. It was a dangerous mission.
Although the preparation and action are the basis of the story, the core of the book is faith in God. Elizabeth Elliot, the author of Through Gates of Splendor, was the wife of Jim Elliot, the first missionary of the group to respond to God’s call to contact this people group who had never heard of Him. Jim Elliot was willing to die if need be to share the good news of salvation to the Aucas. He said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” The story of the lives of these young men and their dedication to God is inspiring and many of their notes and thoughts are recorded in this book. In its pages you will see a vivd picture of what God’s call can look like as well as how these missionaries and their wives responded.
Rating: 5/5
Category: History, Christian, Memoir
Notes: The 40th anniversary edition which I read included:
1. Maps
2. Photographs, many taken at great peril by a Life magazine reporter who chose to stay with the search party when he could have returned to the base and safety.
3. Two Epilogues. One was written in 1958 explaining the immediate aftermath of the first contact and one written in 1996 relating the lives of the families as they evolved over the next 40 years.
Publication: Originally 1956
40th anniversary edition in 1996—Living Books (Tyndale)
Memorable Lines:
“If that old engine had quit up there, God alone could have saved me. I might just as well admit it frankly right here; I don’t like to fly over stuff like that and I have to have a pretty good reason to be over it without a good position-check and a good river to identify my position by. But these are people for whom Christ died, and you have to find them before you can take the Gospel to them, so I was happy to have stumbled on them.”
Pete Fleming was one of those who could not be content while the Aucas remained in darkness. In his diary he wrote: “It is a grave and solemn problem; an unreachable people who murder and kill with extreme hatred. It comes to me strongly that God is leading me to do something about it, and a strong idea and impression comes into my mind that I ought to devote the majority of my time to collecting linguistic data on the tribe and making some intensive air surveys to look for Auca houses….I know that this may be the most important decision of my life, but I have a quiet peace about it.
September, 1955, was the month in which Operation Auca really started, the month in which the Lord began to weave five separate threads into a single glowing fabric for His own Glory. Five men with widely differing personalities had come to Ecuador from the eastern United States, the West Coast, and the Midwestern States. Representing three different “faith-missions,” these men and their wives were one in their common belief in the Bible as the literal and supernatural and perfect word from God to man. Christ said “Go ye”; their answer was “Lord, send me.”
Food Triggers–a Godly approach to healthy eating
Food Triggers
by Amber Lia
Amber Lia writes Food Triggers from the perspective of a certified health coach and a Christian. She began her journey to develop healthy eating habits when she was sixty pounds overweight. She views the journey to health as both a physical and a spiritual battle. She began her personal changes with a “medically designed plan” in consultation with a health coach for accountability. She combined that with examining her food triggers one at a time. This book does not tell you what to eat although she clearly avoids sugars and excessive carbs. She intends her book to be read one chapter per day for 31 days. Each chapter addresses a specific motivation or food trigger, some external and some internal.
Lia backs up the information with research and with Scriptures. She encourages the reader to “exchange unhealthy patterns for God-honoring habits.” Some of her chapters resonated with me and others did not apply. She addresses how others can try to sabotage your healthy eating plan and the temptations that may arise when you are in community settings that involve food. There are many difficult areas she addresses including travel, portion control, and boredom. Food Triggers is not a diet plan, but is another tool with insights and practical tips that those struggling with weight loss and/or healthy eating can add to their toolbox.
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: Nonfiction, Christian
Notes: Although I am in support of portion control, I did not agree with the author’s emphasis on following the serving sizes indicated on packaging. I have always viewed those as the food industry’s efforts to simplify the nutritional labeling. The FDA, however, says that the goal for their newly revised labels is to “bring serving sizes closer to what people actually eat so that when they look at calories and nutrients on the label, these numbers more closely match what they are consuming.” In other words, the serving size is not what people should eat, but what the “average” person consumes. These revised figures have gone up for ice cream, but decreased for yogurt. The government in this case is not leading consumers to healthier eating. You know the old saying, “just because he jumps off a cliff, doesn’t mean you should too.” A good example of that is the marketing of soda in huge cups. Along with that we have a huge increase in obesity and diabetes.
Publication: January 4, 2022—Bethany House (Baker Publishing)
Memorable Lines:
In many ways, our culture has brainwashed us with massive portions and helpings that are, well, NOT helping.
Your health journey will present you with hard choices, and it won’t just be saying no to onion rings—but saying no to people or jobs or places that are not moving you toward God’s best for us.
[part of a prayer from the chapter on holidays] Transform my thinking so that I learn to focus on the people and meaningfulness behind times of celebration, instead of all the things to put in my mouth.
Under the Magnolias–a darkness of the mind
Under the Magnolias
by T. I. Lowe
Dave Foster is a tobacco farmer and the pastor of the church he fondly refers to as the First Riffraff of Magnolia. He has a large family including two sets of twins, a mentally challenged son, and another who is physically disabled. His wife Edith is a loving mother who somehow manages her husband’s dark times and keeps the family happy. The main character is the oldest daughter Austin, and the story is related from her point of view as she finds herself at the age of fourteen having to become a mother to her six siblings and walk the fine line of respect for her father while acting as a buffer between him and the other children. She works to maintain his standing in the community and keep the tobacco farm running.
Under the Magnolias is very much a character driven story as Austin struggles and sacrifices for others. She is a very intelligent young lady who puts aside her dreams to help her family survive. Unfortunately her father’s dark times become deeper and more frequent and his outbursts more violent. A teenager, Austin doesn’t really know how to deal with her father’s mental issues or get assistance.
Help does come in the form of the mayor’s handsome son. Although Austin won’t let him get close because she is driven to maintain family secrets, he continues to stand by her. Others in their little church and her siblings are important to the story as they all suffer from the occasions when Dave’s mental illness surfaces and bubbles over.
This book is very well-written. In terms of emotional impact, it is hard at times to read. The author, T. I. Lowe, puts the reader right in the middle of the struggles waiting, as Austin does, in the good times for the other shoe to drop. “It was too good. Too shiny. Too normal. No matter how much I wished, prayed, begged, I knew this season wouldn’t last.”
The story takes place from 1980 through 1988. There is a final chapter that relates how life works out for all of the characters. It makes a fitting conclusion because over the course of the book the reader has gotten to know each of them, understanding why they are the way they are. The pacing is excellent with about two chapters per year presenting cumulative snapshots rather than blow-by-blow descriptions. There is an authentic South Carolina flavor in both plot and language. I highly recommend Under the Magnolias as a tale whose characters resonate and linger long after the final page.
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: General Fiction (Adult), Women’s Fiction
Notes: Clean—no inappropriate language, sex, or violence
Publication: May 4, 2021—Tyndale House Publishers
Memorable Lines:
Looking through the innocent lens of adolescence, those happier days were perfection. Sadly, they had an expiration date just like those snack cakes. Happiness staled and nothing was pleasing after that. But just like the expired cakes in a meager season, we had no other choice but to stomach whatever life tossed our way next.
I figured it was a blessing that she could pretend something didn’t happen, but we would both learn later in life that pretending something away was no better than constantly dwelling on it. Both produced impactful wounds that tended to fester in other parts of living.
“Honey, the living creep me out. Not the dead.” He picked up a cosmetic brush and touched it to Mrs. Fannie’s pink cheek. “The living can be cruel, judgmental, quick to complain, and slow to please. The dead never yell or cuss you out. Or call you ugly names.” There was such a sadness to his gentle voice.
All You Need is Love–teddy bear shop setting
All You Need is Love
by Jessica Redland
Boy meets girl, but everything after that is a complication in All You Need is Love. Some of the characters you’ll love, and some you’ll want to send packing. Jemma lives in London with three flatmates; the four are devoted friends. Due to her mom’s health problems, Jemma feels compelled to return to her hometown of Whitsborough Bay. Scott, who travels a lot for his job, and Jemma have a chance encounter and are immediately drawn into a relationship. Sam, a neurologist, has recently moved to London to escape memories of his much beloved Nikki.
The plot is much more interesting than it sounds in a skeletal summary, but almost anything above the basics would give away too much and ruin the reading experience. There are huge issues of secrets and trust. Grief and how to deal with it is another major theme. There are certainly happy moments in the book, but it deals with a number of hard challenges too. Often characters in this book respond to these difficulties by blunting the pain with alcohol which, not surprisingly, makes situations worse rather than better. The characters have moral decisions to make. One, in particular, involves adultery which one character proclaims she would never knowingly do to another woman and her family. Yet, she did take the offender back for a second chance. Either the author or the character is inconsistent in this one instance. Although I did not like the way the author jumped around in time and between characters prior to uniting the two plot lines, in general, it was an interesting read. As a bonus, if you like teddy bears, you’ll get warm fuzzies from the setting.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Boldwood Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: General Fiction (Adult), Women’s Fiction
Notes: There are a lot of casual vulgarisms—both British and American—in this standalone novel.
Publication: March 11, 2021—Boldwood Books
Memorable Lines:
She seemed to move from anger and frustration to listless disinterest in the space of a day, and back again. It was like having a hormonal teenager in the house, lashing out at anyone and everything.
Time seemed to slow down. The chatter, laughter and clinks of glasses faded into the background and it felt like there were just the two of us in a bubble on our own as he waited for my reaction, an expression of hope tinged with fear in his eyes.
How funny that we were from the same small seaside town yet we’d found each other in the third largest city in Europe.
Picture Perfect Frame–art with a twist
Picture Perfect Frame
by Lynn Cahoon
Spring has arrived in South Cove, a small coastal town in California. Tourists are showing up, and businesses are gearing up for the St. Patrick’s Day Street Fair and the many festivals that will follow. Jill, avid reader and owner of Coffee, Books, and More, stays busy juggling her personal life centered around Emma her Pomeranian and Greg her boyfriend who heads up the police department. Her staff, including a new member Evie, work well together sharing responsibilities and functioning as a family. Jill’s best friend Amy is a bit of a bridezilla as she sets ups a second attempt at the perfect wedding; her fiancée’s family cancelled on the first scheduled ceremony.
Despite Jill’s acclaimed lack of creativity, she and Greg attend a painting event at the new Drunken Art Studio. Jill is unable to follow the directions that should result in a seascape, but her strengths as a nosey informal investigator are in full display when one of the guests shows up dead at the studio the next day.
Esmeralda, who handles administrative tasks for Greg, is a self-proclaimed psychic and also Jill’s neighbor; she is accused of the murder. Jill is convinced that the laid back Esmeralda, who catches flies and drives them to the mountains to release them, is innocent. Jill devotes herself to finding the real killer. In the process she discovers that some of her suspects have pasts they want to keep hidden as well as motives for killing the victim. Clearly, one of them is a murderer, and the identity is a surprise. There is also a happy personal twist at the end of Picture Perfect Frame that both provides closure and segues into the next book in the series.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley 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. #12 in the Tourist Trap Mystery Series. Lynn Cahoon is good at providing background so it could be read as a standalone, but there are a lot of references to characters in previous books. My advice: Go back and read some of the earlier books in the series first. It is worth the time and effort.
2. Includes a delicious sounding recipe for “Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake.”
Publication: March 16, 2021—Kensington
Memorable Lines:
“As a lawyer, a lot of times the decisions the courts made weren’t about the truth. I don’t want someone to die and have the wrong person in jail for it. Or worse, for no one to be brought to justice. It doesn’t seem right.”
“I’ve always heard you can’t run from your problems because everywhere you go, you’re still there.”
“Of course we’ll schedule that lunch.” And then she opened the book and started reading. As a reader, I knew a dismissal when I saw it. I’d done it to others before too.
Put Out to Pasture–a victim’s startling past
Put Out to Pasture
by Amanda Flower
Since I enjoy Amanda Flower’s cozy mysteries, I left the first one in her new series Farm to Table Mysteries scratching my head in wonderment that this book, although satisfactory, was just not up to the standards I expect from this author. Fortunately, the first book was just a rough patch as she got started on the series. The second book, Put Out to Pasture, is everything I want in a cozy.
Flower turned around the pervasive and ugly negativity that permeated Shiloh’s return to her home town of Cherry Glen in Michigan from L.A. In this story there continue to be antagonists, but not everyone is pitted against Shi. When a dead body is found on her farm and her best friend Kristy is accused of the murder, Shi is doggedly determined to clear her name. There are a lot of clues that lead Shi and the reader to suspect various people. Having spent years with the Hollywood crowd, Shi knows that many seemingly good people may just be good actors.
Meanwhile, on the personal front, Shi’s best and favorite sidekick, her pug Huckleberry, continues to bring humor through Shi’s descriptions of what he appears to be thinking. She continues to clean out her grandmother’s cabin and finds a note to her with a mysterious riddle. She has a new neighbor who at first appears to be a bright light, but later seems to have greedy intentions. Shi’s deceased boyfriend’s best friend is working through the deaths of his friend and his own wife. Hazel, his daughter continues to be a breath of fresh air as the tween struggles to find a new normal with her firefighter dad’s erratic schedule and her grandmother’s protective strictness. Shi’s father, who was immersed in his Michigan history collection for most of Shi’s life might be coming out of his shell.
In this book, Shi is a likable character and we can see potential for her goals of revitalizing the family farm. The story is fast-paced with a web of threads and interesting characters. The author ends by dangling several hooks, any one of which is sufficient to reel the reader into the next book in the series.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Poisoned Pen Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #2 in the Farm to Table Mystery Series, but can certainly be read as a standalone.
Publication: February 22, 2022—Poisoned Pen Press
Memorable Lines:
The one anomaly in the gravel lot was my car, an expensive sports car that would be as practical in a Michigan winter as a snow blower was in LA.
“She seems calm to me.” “That doesn’t mean she’s not mad. Trust me, I know. When she is really, really mad she gets cold. She’s like the iceberg that took out the Titanic.”
“I think the thing I got most out of my parents’ death is cutting people a break. You don’t know what they have been through or are going through. Everyone could use a little kindness.”
A Fatal Family Feast–a wedding at stake
A Fatal Family Feast
by Lynn Cahoon
If you want a feel-good cozy mystery series with villains juxtaposed with some really nice main characters and an intricate plot, you’ll find it in Lynn Cahoon’s Farm to Fork Mystery Series. In A Fatal Family Feast, Angie Turner, owner of the County Seat restaurant in Idaho, is maid of honor for Felicia, her best friend and business partner who has won the heart of Estebe, a gruff chef who is really a softy. Unfortunately, he is accused of murder by a detective with a grudge. Angie, her boyfriend Ian, Felicia, and Estebe, who jokingly call themselves the Scooby gang, have to find the real murderer or there won’t be a wedding in Idaho or a honeymoon in Spain.
With the clock ticking, they divide up their time between the restaurant, which will be closed for the week of the wedding, and their investigation which uncovers the secrets of several dysfunctional families. The more Angie learns of Felicia’s family, the prouder she is of the family she is creating from her County Seat team; they work together well and support each other. The story also includes positive examples of families. Angie’s boyfriend Ian manages the town’s farmers’ market, and is less concerned about making money than about helping others. Ian’s uncle and his wife are fostering a teenager with great success. Estebe is part of an enthusiastic Basque community who love family, food, fellowship and their Basque culture. They welcome Felicia with open arms.
Certainly the theme of family is an important one to the author. She gives plenty of attention to the characters and to Angie’s animals: Dom, her St. Bernard; Precious, a goat; and Mabel, her hen. The animals don’t play critical roles but are referenced throughout. The plot is always central, and the fun for the reader is in the discovery of clues and eventually the murderer.
I would like to extend my thanks to the author and to Lyrical Press (Kensington Press) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #6 in the Farm to Fork Mystery Series. Although this book could be read as a standalone, the series would be more enjoyable if read in sequence with the added background on the characters.
2. A risotto recipe is included.
Publication: January 4, 2022—Lyrical Press
Memorable Lines:
The hen clucked her disbelief that the goat could even know the word responsible, which made Angie laugh. “I know the two of you can’t really understand what I’m saying, but sometimes, you make me feel like you can.”
“I think we’re better at finding clues because we’re less people orientated. We’re both introverts, so we were born with the watcher gene. We see things most people ignore.”
Everything’s going to be all right.” “You say that a lot. Even when all the facts go against that premise.” He kissed her cheek. “I have something better than facts. I have faith.”
Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch–fathering a teenager
Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch
by Carolyn Brown
Jesse Ryan returns to Honey Grove, Texas, after twenty years of touring the world following his dreams as a medic in the Air Force. His father’s MS diagnosis hastens his homecoming as his father Sonny now clearly needs help in running the Sunflower Ranch, especially since his father’s longtime friend and foreman is retiring.
Jesse grew up on the ranch after he and two other foster children were adopted by Sonny and Pearl, so he has no trouble with the cowboy aspects of his new life. What he didn’t expect was to be working closely with Addy, his best friend from childhood who stopped communicating with him shortly after he left for his first tour of duty. Addy and her nineteen year old daughter Mia are living and working at the ranch as Addy, a nurse, manages Sonny’s healthcare. Jesse finally does the math and figures out his relationship with Mia while he and Addy are determining what their own adult relationship will be.
Addy is a strong, smart woman. Mia goes through a rebellious period. Jesse takes on responsibilities wherever he is needed. Sonny and Pearl face the MS diagnosis with the love that has held them together through the years. This is a character driven plot that moves quickly with some surprises along the way. There are some gossipy women, a mean local family, and a jealous, confused doctor who complicate the plot, but the Ryan family is one you would want to know, maybe even be a part of. The author of Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch introduces Cody Ryan, a doctor, and Stevie O’Dell, a veterinarian, at the end of this book; they will be the focus of Texas Homecoming, the next book in the series.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Women’s Fiction, Romance
Notes: 1. #1 in The Ryan Family Series. I started reading this series with the second book in the series which could be read as a standalone, but reading Second Chance at Sunflower Ranch actually enhanced my enjoyment of Texas Homecoming (read review here) after the fact. My recommendation: read this series in order.
2. Clean romance, but does use “d—n” frequently as a slang expression.
3. At this point in the series, the theme of the series is “second chance” romance, but there are many other common themes as well regarding family relationships, work ethics, values, etc.
Publication: 2021—Forever
Memorable Lines:
“If I’m honest, I’ve always loved him for more than a friend. That’s probably why I can’t seem to last in a relationship with anyone else. I can’t give them my heart when he’s got it in his pocket.”
…her mouth was set in a firm line. Her light brown ponytail swung back and forth like a frayed flag in a hard Texas wind, and her hands were knotted into fists.
“Change is good for folks. It keeps us on our toes so we don’t get to taking life for granted…”
education pathways 