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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.”
Bound for Murder–books, dancers, and hippies
Bound for Murder
by Victoria Gilbert
I always look forward to cozy mysteries in the Blue Ridge Library Mystery Series. The female protagonist, Amy, is the library director in Taylorsford and Richard, the male protagonist, is a contemporary dancer, choreographer, and teacher at the university. He also is Amy’s next door neighbor. In this episode we find that they are engaged. Without trying, Amy finds herself involved in solving murders. Again!
There are a lot of interesting supporting characters. She lives with her Aunt Lydia who has many intriguing contacts. Amy’s best friend Sunny works in the library and has recently broken up with the Brad, the local Sheriff, making for a bit of discomfort for their friends. Amy also has a careful relationship with one of her aunt’s former friends. He deals in art and is not above some shady deals.
Sunny’s grandparents are former hippies who ran a commune on their farm in the sixties. When a skeleton is accidentally dug up during some work on the creek bed, it starts a series of investigations and new crimes. Amy has several almost encounters with someone who is intent on warning her off of interviewing former members of the commune. It seems that all of these young people were doing drugs of some sort from weed to LSD. Sunny is afraid for her “grands,” which draws Amy into the fray.
The relationship between Amy and Richard is sweet, and they are very respectful of each other. There is not as much about dance in this book as in some in the series, but there is a lot about research through library sources. Multiple threads are attached to the various former commune members, but there are others who could be the murderer also. I had a strong feeling that I knew who the murderer was about half way through the book, but I still enjoyed watching Amy’s pursuit of the truth. There are some tense scenes as Amy and several other characters are put in danger. On a more humorous note, there are two kittens who provide some fun antics. Richard’s very proper and authoritative mother always tries to take center stage in wedding planning and any social occasion, but Richard and others have effective ways of defusing her efforts. All in all, Bound for Murder is a good cozy mystery that I enjoyed.
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 Blue Ridge Library Mystery series, but I have read some of the earlier books in the series and some of the later ones without a problem, so I feel confident in saying it works as a standalone.
Publication: January 7, 2020—Crooked Lane Books
Memorable Lines:
There are two times in a woman’s life when complete strangers think it’s appropriate to offer unsolicited advice—when she’s obviously pregnant, and when they discover she’s planning a wedding.
People often assumed that anyone who worked in a library got to read on the job, but sadly, that wasn’t true. I always had a towering “to read” stack of books teetering on my nightstand and far too many unread titles filling my e-reader.
“Oh, most of them are polite enough. But they were all talking shop and I had nothing to contribute, so I just sat there silent as the grave, drinking like a mourner at a wake.”
Matchmaking Can Be Murder–Amish and Englisch worlds collide
Matchmaking Can Be Murder
by Amanda Flower
Already familiar with the little town of Harvest through Amanda Flower’s Amish Candy Shop Mystery Series, I was a a little confused when I found myself in a familiar town, but with a new main character, Millie. Then I remembered that Matchmaking Can Be Murder is the first in a new series. Many of the characters in the first series, which focuses on Bailey, an Englisch candy maker are back in this series. The new series features a sixty-seven year old Amish woman with a knack for knowing if two people are compatible. She returns home after years of caring for Amish kin in various communities.
Harvest is a mixed community with its Amish and Englisch citizens getting along fairly well. It is interesting to learn more about the Amish while watching their interactions with their non-Amish friends and neighbors. Especially fun is the reunion of Millie with her childhood friend Lois, a gregarious lady who has had a lot of husbands and is quite outspoken. Her clothing and jewelry are as eye-catching as Millie’s style of dress is plain. Lois makes many references to contemporary technologies and cultural icons that go right past Millie. More humor is found in the trained goat duo of Phillip and Peter who are Millie’s pets, guard goats, and lawn keepers.
Although Millie is the main character, the mystery centers around her niece Edy, a young widow with three children, whose fiancée is discovered dead in her greenhouse shortly after she breaks off the engagement. Millie and Lois attempt to discover who murdered Zeke, but they uncover more crime and convoluted personal relationships than they could ever have predicted.
It is interesting watching Millie in action as she tries to find out the truth while staying within the limits of what is right. She and Lois have to work at keeping each other in check and out of trouble. A nice touch is the author’s inclusion of Amish proverbs as they come to Millie throughout her day. I enjoy the Amish Candy Shop Mysteries, but this spinoff series is even better!
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: The first book in the Amish Matchmaking Mystery Series, it is a spinoff but it is not necessary to read the series it came from.
Publication: December 31, 2019—Kensington Books
Memorable Lines:
Sometimes it worked to a person’s advantage to be friends with the biggest gossip in the district. I just had to feed Raellen the right information, and she would take care of the rest.
…”they can only fully commit to the Amish life when they know what the Englisch one is like. If they see the way the rest of the world lives and then commit to our ways, they are more likely to stay here.”
There was no way to rebuild what was shattered, but what we could make was something brand-new, something that was different but stronger than before. That’s what I hoped for the very most.
education pathways 