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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.”
A Very English Murder–good mystery with sophisticated humor
A Very English Murder
By Verity Bright
When Ellie’s uncle dies, she leaves her life of adventure and world travel and returns to Henley Hall in the little town of Chipstone in the 1920’s. Even though she did not know her uncle well and had not been to Chipstone in many years, everyone in town recognizes her as Lady Swift. She is somewhat overcome by her life changes and that is complicated by her witnessing what appears to be a murder, but it is hard to convince the police of that because there is no body.
Clifford is her butler and she soon recognizes that he had a special relationship with her uncle and the townspeople and will be just as helpful to her in her investigation. She is not quite sure what the pair did, but as the story develops, the scope of their “work” starts to come into focus.
The mystery is fascinating and was quite a puzzle. The staff at Henley Hall are supportive of her and were clearly a trusted part of the projects her uncle and Clifford pursued. Clifford is a favorite character but takes some getting used to. Ellie is not sure if she can trust him. She can definitely trust Gladstone, her uncle’s bulldog. He adds humor to the book along with Ellie’s musings and misadventures. Danger comes her way as someone tries to impede their investigation. There is definite closure to the mystery, but it certainly leaves readers wanting to read more of Ellie’s adventures. If you like “Britishisms,” a strong and impulsive female lead, and a 1920’s setting, you’ll enjoy A Very English Murder, a stellar start to this extensive cozy mystery series.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #1 in the Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Series. The author is actually a husband and wife team and the series has 25 books so far.
Publication: April 7, 2020—Bookouture
Memorable Lines:
“Give a man a badge and an official title and he thinks he’s the sole decider of right and wrong. Which would be fine if power didn’t corrupt.”
“Clifford, how did my uncle ever swallow your unwavering advice on his every daily action?” “With Darjeeling and lemon, my lady.”
Eleanor laughed, her bad mood broken. “You are very perceptive, Mrs. Butters. Clifford has a fabulously analytical mind, but it drives me to absolute distraction! But you know, you always bring me a basket full of feel-good each morning.”
Silent Nights Are Murder–finding family
Silent Nights Are Murder
by Libby Klein
For once, Poppy McAllister is not the one to find the dead body, but that doesn’t mean she won’t be dragged into a murder investigation. Her cop friend Amber convinces Poppy to go undercover at her ex-boyfriend’s restaurant because the body was discovered in Tim’s walk-in freezer. In a previous book in the Poppy McAllister Mystery Series, Poppy decided to drop Tim in favor of a relationship with the handsome barista Gia who thinks she is gorgeous. Now as Poppy tries to help, she discovers that Tim’s new work and personal partner Gigi is pregnant with a due date set 9 months after Tim and Poppy broke up!
It is hard for Poppy to gain the trust of the restaurant staff and sort out the lies they tell. Most of them seem to be hiding some secrets. As Poppy explains to a frustrated Tim, “a killer will lie about their alibi.” Someone seems to have been messing with the books and the inventory also.
There are so many plots going on all at once. When Poppy was almost nine, her mother dropped her off with promises to return for her. She does—thirty-five years later—and checks into the Butterfly Wings B & B. Poppy and her Aunt Ginny, who helped raise her, spend time trying to figure out what Iris wants and how to get rid of her. Meanwhile, Figaro, Poppy’s cat, does battle with Christmas ornaments that appear to be birds, complete with feathers (until Figaro get ahold of them). Guests at the B&B enjoy a decoration daily murder scene villa setup by an unknown person at the inn.
Aunt Ginny’s friends, the Biddies, add hilarious fun as there might be a wedding coming up and they want to be a part of it. Aunt Ginny, as usual, has some wack-a-doodle plans. In this case, the Christmas season calls for some competition. Aunt Ginny is determined to have both the prize winning recipe and the house with the most Christmasy ambiance (think National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, but on steroids).
Gia’s son Henry is adorable and refuses to tell anyone what he is asking Santa for. As you read Silent Nights Are Murder, I think you’ll know what he wants for Christmas, but will Santa be able to deliver?
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. #9 in the Poppy McAllister Mystery series. It could be read as a standalone, but would be enjoyed more if some of the earlier books were read first.
2. seven gluten free recipes for Christmas goodies
Publication: September 24, 2024—Kensington
Memorable Lines:
There were three seasons to obsess about the weather. Tourist season—when guests considered it a personal failure on my part if it rained during their vacation. Hurricane season—because my creditors don’t care about safety cancellations, they just want to be paid. And Christmas season—because I was delusional enough to want snow like I was living in a Bing Crosby movie. Irving Berlin had set sixty percent of the country up for annual disappointment.
Flashing police-car lights blazed through the night, and the men tried to look like three normal guys waiting for a table. They looked as normal as a trio of gorillas in hoop skirts.
He ran his hands through his hair and looked like he was about to fry up a conniption and serve it with a big side of meltdown.
What She Found–cold case with coverups
What She Found
by Robert Dugoni
Tracy Crosswhite, with three awards for valor, has moved from working with a team in the Violent Crimes Section to being the only detective in the Cold Case Unit in Seattle. The perks are a private office and more regular hours so she can spend more time with her husband and baby girl. She has just completed a successful investigation into a serial killer bringing closure for a lot of families and good press to the Seattle Police Department at a time when some groups are calling for defunding the force.
Twenty-five years earlier Lisa Childress, an investigative reporter for a Seattle newspaper, had a 2:00 A.M. meeting with an informer in a warehouse district. She also had a husband and young daughter, but she never returned to them. The daughter appeals to Crosswhite for help.
Author Robert Dugoni has created a plot that will set your head spinning with its complications. Themes include police and community politics, ethics, family relationships, the role of the press, drugs, amnesia, and statutes of limitations. Crimes range from blackmail to murder. Crosswhite finds it difficult to get people to talk about old crimes whether from aging memories or shame. Many of the witnesses are dead. Crosswhite, for personal and professional reasons, will not be deterred in her efforts to bring the truth to light. Honor, justice, and truth are important virtues in the way she lives her life. By the conclusion, everyone has a renewed sense of the importance of family. Crosswhite is a skilled investigator—intelligent and clever in her ability to uncover secrets, follow up on clues, and connect disparate threads.
What She Found is suspenseful without indulging in graphic violence or stepping over the line into the psychological thriller category. This mystery has more action than an Agatha Christie novel; but, as found in a Christie mystery, it requires a protagonist up to the mental challenge. This is not a “happily ever after” book, but the reader will find satisfaction in the conclusion.
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, Mystery
Notes: 1. #9 in the Tracy Crosswhite Series. I read 2 books in Dugoni’s Charles Jenkins Series and liked them enough to try a book relatively late in this series. To my surprise, It worked quite well as a standalone. Although he does characters well, Dugoni’s books are more about the plot than the characters.
2. Another puzzlement for me is that I finished the book and noted that there had been “some mild swearing.” Normally that would mean about 4 or 5 instances. In doing a search, however, I found there were many more examples of inappropriate language (about 30) than had registered with me. So, am I becoming used to that in my reading, was it appropriate to the characters, or was the story so well told that I kept reading without noticing them? I truly don’t know.
Publication: August 23, 2022—Thomas & Mercer
Memorable Lines:
Tracy knew regret was much harder to live with than failure. Regret caused you to second-guess what you hadn’t done.
Honoring her word was more important than pleasing her chief, though it certainly would not be without consequences. It might not be the smartest decision Tracy ever made, but it was the honorable one.
“What I’ve learned is that life isn’t about memories. It isn’t about the past. It’s about living in the present and looking to the future, and what that future holds for each of us.”
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.
Murder on the Menu–21st century Nosey Parker
Murder on the Menu
by Fiona Leitch
A delightful British cozy mystery, Murder on the Menu takes us to the fictional town of Penstowan in Cornwall where Jodie Parker and her daughter Daisy have returned to Jodie’s hometown after years on the police force in London. Wanting to remain safe for her daughter’s sake, Jodie retrained in culinary school and plans on starting a catering business. She gets her first job (from an old friend getting married) with little notice, but is anxious to prove herself.
The case of a murdered ex-wife and a bride who may have done a runner returns Jodie to her investigative roots. As she tries to discover the who and why, Nosey (as her childhood nickname used to be) Parker meets the handsome DCI Withers who really wishes she would stay out of his investigations and crime scenes.
I enjoyed all the Britishisms. I know biscuits in England are cookies in the U.S., but terms like “Jammie Dodgers,” butty with brown sauce,” and “ponce” sent me scurrying to the Internet. I love sleuthing words!
The characters are interesting and humor in dialogue and plot is sprinkled throughout. I enjoyed the Cornish accent and word choice like “guv” and “copper;” They are stronger in some of the characters than others depending on their backgrounds. Her mum and Daisy are appropriately supportive of Jodie’s passion for police work that she has trouble leaving behind. Jodie, to the delight of Daisy, adopts a Pomeranian when its human mom is murdered. An expert at “escapology,” the white fluff ball becomes a constant companion and essential to the plot.
The plot is complicated and Jodie is good at both finding clues and deducting their meanings. Our perception of DCI Withers develops from that of an “annoying git,” to a fair and honest investigator.
The setting includes the many varied locales from the town of Penstowan to tourist campsites and from the hotel for the wedding reception to the church hall for the weekly women’s coffee group.
The next three books in the series have already been published as there was lots of time for writing in New Zealand during the lockdown of 2020. This poses a task that I look forward to handling.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Harper 360 (One More Chapter) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: General Fiction (Adult), Mystery
Notes: 1. #1 in the Nosey Parker Cozy Mystery Series
2. Some questionable language
Publication: February 15, 2022—Harper 360 (One More Chapter)
Memorable Lines:
“This is your first major case here—definitely your first murder case; we don’t get a lot of those down this way—and you want to make a good impression by solving it quickly. But this is Cornwall. We don’t do things quickly here, and we don’t expect you to, either. We just want you to do it properly.”
“Are you all right, love?” she said, offering me a wine gum before adding with typical Cornish understatement, “That were a bit intense, weren’t it?”
I was excited about my new catering business,…but this got my adrenaline pumping in a way that making a velouté never could. I’d never been a detective, as such, but I’d always been nosey.
City of the Dead–homicides in L.A.
City of the Dead
by Jonathan Kellerman
City of the Dead is the first Jonathan Kellerman mystery for me, but it is certainly not his first suspenseful book. In fact, it is the thirty-seventh book that features Alex Delaware, a psychologist who is frequently called on by the police to make sense out of crimes and uncover the perpetrator. Although I might have enjoyed the book more if I had read others in the series, I had no problem following this tough as nails plot. It begins with a double homicide when a truck collides with a nude young man and a barely noticeable trail of blood leads to a nearby house where another body is found. Alex is called in to consult. He does not interact much in interviews, but the police rely heavily on his instincts and perceptions based on his observations of those interviews.
While aiding in this case, he is working on a separate case in his professional practice. He interviews the members of divorcing couples to advise the family court judge of his custody recommendations. This time the child is a three year old girl. The mother hails from a wealthy background, and the father is a professor with Ivy League credentials who jumps from job to job. His specialty, besides the study of symbolism, seems to be disparaging his wife because she is not an academic.
Alex Delaware is an interesting character—highly intelligent, a keen observer, and compassionate in a professional way. He interacts well with the police officers he works with; they sometimes need his help and counsel personally and professionally. His own support system is his partner Robin who restores and repairs musical instruments. They both have offices and work spaces at home which involves them in each other’s work at least minimally.
Pieces of this puzzle gradually come together, especially as more DNA evidence emerges. The tricky part is knowing whom to get that evidence from and where to look for it. The joint, noncompetitive efforts of the police and Alex pull out some interesting clues. In the end, the killer is a surprise as the last pieces of the puzzle are put together. If you like a mystery that is a little tougher and more suspenseful than a cozy mystery, you’ll probably like this one.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Ballantine Books (Random House) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery and Thriller, General Fiction (Adult)
Notes: 1. #37 in the Alex Delaware Mystery Series, but could be read as a standalone.
2. Contains descriptions of the results of violent acts and some objectionable language.
Publication: February 8, 2022—Ballantine Books (Random House)
Memorable Lines:
But when I embark on a custody consult, optimism falls by the wayside and I assume everyone’s going to lie to me.
The practice of family law—of law, in general—has nothing to do with truth and everything to do with brinkmanship and illusion.
Humans are programmed to detest uncertainty, and nothing ruins a detective’s life more than too many question marks.
Death by Intermission–cozy mystery with a mastiff mix
Death by Intermission
by Alexis Morgan
I had been looking forward to reading another book in the Abby McCree Mystery Series and was not disappointed in Alexis Morgan’s Death by Intermission. Abby, a relative newcomer to Snowberry Creek, already has a reputation as a “murder magnet.” She doesn’t go looking for trouble when she and her tenant/boyfriend Tripp attend the local movie-in-the-park event, but she discovers more than trash during the clean up session after the movie.
There are new interesting characters involved in the excitement in this plot. Abby’s mother, Phoebe, is staying with her for an extended visit, and the two clash in ways they never had before as they find a need to establish boundaries with each other. After all, when is flashing the porch light on a couple saying goodnight appropriate when everyone involved is an adult over age thirty?
Owen is another newcomer to town. He has opened a barbecue restaurant. Owen is dating Phoebe, and she explodes in his defense when Gage, the local police chief, holds him for suspicion of murder. A knife from his restaurant was the murder weapon.
We are also introduced to Jada, a college student working for Owen. Jada finds herself in the middle of the murder investigation. Has she lied to the police? Why is her godfather taking a sudden interest in her? Why was she fired from her former job at the insurance agency that had been managed by her father, and why did the new agent refuse to give her father’s personal possessions to her?
I must mention Abby’s mastiff mix Zeke. Weighing in at almost one hundred pounds, he is her companion and protector, and he is a good judge of character. He adds much fun and interest to the book.
There are so many tangled threads in this plot. Abby, Phoebe, and Jada find themselves in physical danger, and Tripp, Owen, and Gage, who share a common military background, are called upon to defend them. The complications don’t unravel themselves; it takes action from the group to discover and overwhelm the criminal.
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: #4 in the Abby McCree Mystery Series, but excellent as a standalone.
Publication: January 26, 2021—Kensington
Memorable Lines:
“So bottom line, you’re willing to put up with two testy women and a slobbery dog because you’re hungry and haven’t made it to the store recently.” “Pretty much.”
“Come on, everyone, let’s head inside.” With his uncanny sense of who needed him the most, Zeke remained right by Jada’s side all the way into the kitchen and then parked himself right at her feet with his big head taking up most of her lap.
On the surface, it seemed simple. Nothing could go wrong. Right?
Knit of the Living Dead–murder at the bonfire
Knit of the Living Dead
by Peggy Ehrhart
If you enjoy a cozy mystery with a lot of well-composed descriptions, likable characters, and clean language, you might enjoy the Knit & Nibble Mystery Series. In Knit of the Living Dead, Pamela, an editor for a fiber arts magazine, follows screams at a Halloween bonfire. She discovers a young woman who has found a dead body. With almost everyone in costume, it is difficult to tell who is in attendance, much less who the murderer is. It is possible that the deceased is not even the intended victim.
Pamela and her best friend and neighbor Bettina are joined in their sleuthing activities by Nell, an elderly member of their knitting club. They interview possible suspects under various guises, narrowing down the pool and often hoping the perpetrator is not someone nice that they have difficulty imagining as a killer. Both the murderer and the motivation are a surprise when revealed.
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: 4/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #6 in the Knit & Nibble Mystery Series, but would work as a standalone.
2. Includes directions for making a Trick-or-Treat tote for children and recipes for Pumpkin-Spice Crumb Cake and Candy Corn Halloween Cookies (which have a chocolate base).
Publication: August 25, 2020—Kensington Books
Memorable Lines:
Despite the festive atmosphere and good cheer, the bonfire awoke feelings more appropriate to a pagan celebration marking nature’s mysterious powers. The flames illuminated rapt faces, dramatizing features and rendering the familiar unfamiliar.
The air was chilly but still, and the day was bright and cloudless. Lawns on Angler Road were still green, with fallen leaves like bright paint spatters here and there.
Wilfred had outdone himself. The beef was meltingly tender, savory, and meaty, infused with the flavors of carrots, mushrooms, and the subtly sweet onions—all melded together during the stew’s long, slow cooking.
education pathways 