A Wytch's Book Review Blog

Ginger Snapped (Spice Shop Mystery #5) by Gail Oust

Piper Prescott and Police Chief Wyatt McBride might have gotten off on the wrong foot but, over the past year, their interactions have evolved into a friendship of sorts. And when the body of Shirley Randolph is found floating in a fishing hole, their relationship reaches entirely new territory.

Shirley, the town's Realtor of the Year, was also Wyatt's suspected romantic interest, and now the residents of Brandywine Creek are speculating that Wyatt is responsible for her death. As the town council moves to suspend the handsome lawman, Piper springs into action to save his reputation and possibly his freedom. She enlists the aid of her BFF, Reba Mae Johnson, along with Wyatt himself, to help solve the puzzle and find Shirley’s real killer.

Pointing them toward high-powered real estate tactics and possible affairs, the investigation soon becomes personal when Piper's shop, Spice It Up!, is burglarized, and she’s forced off the road late one night, narrowly escaping serious injury. Realizing that she must be close to uncovering the truth, and that the evidence against Wyatt is no longer circumstantial, Piper resorts to drastic measures to prevent a grave miscarriage of justice.

Number 5 in the Spice Shop Mystery series and another humdinger of a story by Gail Oast (and I have the feeling this maybe #5 and the last - sniff!), this is a roller coaster from pretty much the first page and it well deserves (in my opinion) 5 out of 5 stars.

We start with a bridal shower for Melly and Cot, we then move to the wedding where phones keep going off, and from there on in we are kept guessing as to what will happen next. We have a dead Realtor and Wyatt McBride being accused of the murder! This means that he is suspended and Beau Tucker is temporarily in charge (the problem is he doesn't appear to be looking at anyone else!), oh and CJ is trying to get the suspension made permanent.  With Piper's son looking to take time off from University, Lindsey about to start University and Reba Mae hooking up with a rather wealthy Biker things are looking serious in Brandywine Creek.

It would be nice to have more adventures with Piper and the rest of Brandywine Creek but if there are no more then Ms Oast has tied things up nicely and at no point are you left thinking "I wonder what would happen to .....".

Curried Away (Spice Shop Mystery #4) by Gail Oust (Review)

Piper Prescott, proprietor of Spice It Up!, has persuaded Doug Winters, the mild-mannered vet she’s been dating, to demonstrate Indian cuisine at her shop. But before Doug’s presentation of classic chicken curry is completed, Ned Feeney, local handyman, bursts in with news of a murder.

Sandy Granger, the director of a local production of Steel Magnolias, was found strangled in the third-floor balcony of the Brandywine Creek Opera House. Sandy, it seems, had not endeared herself to cast or crew. Complaints about her ran the gamut from her management style to her lack of people skills. Everyone connected with the production falls under suspicion, including Piper Prescott’s BFF, Reba Mae Johnson, who made it well known how unhappy she is that she was cut from the cast.

When the spotlight for the dastardly deed shines on Reba Mae, Piper rushes to her friend’s defense. Who among Sandy’s detractors was angry enough to wrap a silk scarf around her neck—and pull tight? Will Piper succeed in solving the case before she becomes the killer’s encore performance? And will she ever learn just how to prepare the perfect curry?

This is the fourth outing for Piper and the gang and it well and truly holds its own in the series (and I really should try some of the recipes as they sound delicious!), this time we have the town of Brandywine Creek planning to put on a stage show of Steel Magnolias and Reba Mae has been cast (and then un-cast) in the part of Truvy Jones, the Beautician in the play.  When Reba Mae was dumped from the cast she stated in front of witnesses that she would happily wrap her hands around the neck of Sandy Granger (the director/producer of the show), these words will come back and haunt her as a few days later, just as Doug the Vet is starting his demonstration on how to make a curry, the Police and Coroner's vehicles shoot past Spice It Up! and end at the Opera House, it turns out that Ned Feeney (the somewhat inept local handyman!) has discovered Sandy strangled with her own silk scarf.

Now Piper needs to look into what was going on with the cast and crew of the play otherwise Reba Mae will end up starring in a real life version of Orange is the new Black!

Killer Reputation (Adina Donati, Accidental Sleuth Book 3) by Cassidy Salem (Review)

Adina can’t resist snooping when someone she knows turns up dead. Again.
When a colleague at a prestigious think tank meets a violent death, Adina’s not convinced any of the obvious suspects disliked him enough to want him dead. Can the young research assistant and a lovable rescue pup help the police put together the pieces of the puzzle?

Adina has moved out of her basement apartment and is sharing a house with two other women (Lynda works at the same place as Adina, Shari is a nurse), this means that Adina can finally have a dog, she has also started dating Detective Jonathon Saks. A few houses down the street another co-w0rker (Patrick) lodges with Shari's boyfriend (Jared) and one night Patrick is attacked, everyone thinks it was just a random happenstance the only thing is a few days later he is killed. Now everyone is under the spotlight again and the worst of it is that Jonathon is on a training course and so his boss is in charge of the investigation.

Cassidy has done it again, another quick read and another dip into the life of Adina and Washington life in general.  We never really find out too much about anybody, but we do find out enough, these can be read as stand alone novellas but I will confess I was glad to read the three in sequence (and I hope there will be more to come!)

Cinnamon Toasted: A Spice Shop Mystery (Spice Shop Mystery #3) by Gail Oust

Beneath her twinsets and pearls, Melly, Piper Prescott’s former mother-in-law, is a techno geek at heart who has just received an offer from a major software company that she can’t refuse. News in Brandywine Creek, Georgia, spreads faster than Piper’s own cinnamon honey butter, and soon Melly is the toast of the town. Especially when one of her new corporate investors, Chip Balboa, comes to town for Oktoberfest. Soon cloves and cardamom are flying off Piper’s shelves…

But all that changes when Chip’s corpse turns up at the foot of Melly’s basement. Questions quickly heat up when hunky police chief Wyatt McBride arrives on the scene. Why did it take Melly so long to report the incident—is it because she and Chip exchanged red-hot words before he turned up dead? Piper knows that Melly would never hurt a fly on a sticky bun, and she enlists the help of her BFF Reba Mae to clear her name. But can they sniff out the real killer before Melly gets burned…for good?

Another great outing with Piper and Reba Mae, this is a series that just keeps getting better and better! In this one Melly (Piper's ex Mother in Law) has a couple of people from a software company coming to talk to her about the amendments she made to Piper's point of sale software, this should have meant Melly being on Cloud 9 but things didn't work out quite that way, firstly the money guy reduces the payment they are prepared to make Melly (which she isn't happy about), but that is nothing compared to Melly finding him dead as a doornail in her basement! Now with Melly being suspect number one is Chief McBride's eyes, CJ ignoring his mother in order to cozy up to the NOT grieving widow, Melly staying with Piper (and Lyndsey) whilst her house is out of bounds things are a little frenetic.

Oh and add in Melly becoming scatter brained with stress, Lyndsey "forgetting" to pass messages on, and the Oktoberfest then Piper could really do with some relaxation!

Evil Under The Stars (Agatha Christie Book Club #3) by C.A. Larmer

It was supposed to a frivolous night out. The champagne was flowing, the rugs were arranged, and the Agatha Christie Book Club had settled in to watch their favourite mystery Evil Under the Sun on the moonlit screen above.

Yet it all comes to a crashing halt when a woman’s lifeless body is discovered lying between the jumble of picnic baskets and blankets. She has been strangled and discarded like an empty champagne bottle.

How did no one see the killer lurking?
How did no one hear the victim’s cries?
And how could the Agatha Christie Book Club have been lounging just metres away and missed the whole event?!

In their latest and most complex puzzle yet, the book club friends unite to solve the unlikeliest of crimes, one that takes place in a public park, with scores of witnesses and not a single motive or suspect in sight.

When the local detectives fail to progress the case, the book club friends do what they do best, channelling their inner-Miss Marple to help out. What eventuates is a battle of wits—and wills—between the NSW Homicide Squad and our nosey amateur sleuths, with newcomer Detective Inspector Liam Jackson caught firmly in the middle.

Will the amateur detectives solve the crime first? Do the experts beat them to the punch? And how soon will they discover that the key to it all lies deep within an Agatha Christie novel?

This was supposed to be a night to remember, and it was, just not for the reasons they hoped! The Agatha Christie Book Club have decided to go to one of the open air film nights, this means a picnic and sitting, lying on rugs and watching the film (with a pause at a suitable point), the decided to go as the showing on this night is Evil Under The Sun.

Both Anders and Alicia have taken partners to the showing (but with Alicia's being a homicide detective it was not long before he was called away for work), everything seems to be going smoothly (apart from a very uptight religious family and a couple that seemed to think that with everyone watching the film they could have "fun" on and under their rug!) and then the end of the film comes and there is a dead body no more that 10 feet away from the Club.  

Now the members need to figure out who could have killed the lady and why, because the police are stumped!

Murder on the Orient (SS): (Agatha Christie Book Club #2) by C.A. Larmer

In the second adventure for the Agatha Christie Book Club, the good friends take a luxury cruise on a replica steamship, the SS Orient—a real ship that once sailed between England and Australia

Naturally, they expect little more than a glamorous voyage back in time. What they get has eerie echoes of the original Orient Express, including a passenger dead in their bed, a threatening note and more clues than you can poke a blood-soaked dagger at.

When a second passenger vanishes overboard in the dead of night soon after, the team suspect they have a madman on their hands and abandon their shuffleboard to investigate.

The problem is, just like Hercule Poirot, they have very little time, few mod cons, and enough red herrings to fill a seafood platter. It doesn't help that the entire ship is rallying behind the leading suspect Captain Van Tussi, a man with friends in high places who may—or may not—be taking everyone for a ride.

Jump aboard for a fun and fast-paced adventure with book club mates Alicia, Lynette, Missy, Perry, Anders and Claire! And look out for the mysterious new member of the club…

Dr Anders has been asked to fill in as the on board Doctor on the SS Orient (a replica of a ship that used to sail between England and Australia), quite a few passengers are leaving the ship in Australia (even though it is going on to New Zealand) and so the other members of the Agatha Christie Book Club have a chance to live the high life for four or five days, and that is the high life on a lemonade budget! They jump at the chance, but shortly after they arrive there is a death, then someone goes overboard, and then another death! The first could be natural causes, the other two not so much, especially number three as it is very hard to stab yourself in the back!

Now the team needs to re-don their sleuthing suits and find out who could kill in this rather large locked room scenario.

Hummus and Homicide (Kebab Kitchen Mystery #1) by Tina Kashian (Review)

When Lucy Berberian quits her Philadelphia law firm and heads home to Ocean Crest, she knows what she’s getting—the scent of funnel cake, the sight of the wooden roller coaster, and the tastes of her family’s Mediterranean restaurant. But murder wasn’t on the menu . . .

Things are slow in the off-season in this Jersey Shore town, but Lucy doesn’t mind. She doesn’t even mind waitressing at the Kebab Kitchen. Her parents have put in a new hummus bar, with every flavor from lemon to roasted red pepper. It’s fun to see their calico cat again, and to catch up with her old BFF, who’s married to a cop now.

She could do without Heather Banks, though. The Gucci-toting ex-cheerleader is still as nasty as she was back in high school . . . and unfortunately, she’s just taken over as the local health inspector. Just minutes after eating at the Kebab Kitchen—where she’s tallied up a whole list of bogus violations—she falls down dead in the street. Word on the grapevine is it’s homicide, and Lucy’s the number one suspect . . .

Lucy has been passed over at the law firm once too often, so she has quit and has headed home for a month or so to decide what to do next, she is staying with her best friend (and her husband who is a local police officer) and she will be helping out at the family restaurant.  Her first day back and she and Katie have headed for a beer and a catch up when Heather Banks arrives and she promptly manages to get right in Lucy's face (mainly by saying that her parents are not legal immigrants), the problem then arises that she has taken over from her father and is now the Health Inspector and that afternoon Heather comes to inspect the Kebab Kitchen and promptly writes it up for various violations.  If that isn't enough she then comes back the next day for lunch (so she isn't that bothered about the violations it seems!)

That would seem to be the end of it until Lucy stumbles across Heather's very dead body and the detective in charge of the case has a gripe against the Berberian family (thanks to Lucy's older sister Emma, who dumped his rather dramatically in high school), now it looks as though Lucy is headed to be a dish washer in Prison unless she and Katie can find out who really hated Heather enough to kill.

A nice gentle start to what will be another good cozy series, Lucy's mother is a hoot and although we don't see much of the other members of staff at the restaurant they (and other members of the town) are nicely written and are all believable characters.  I am looking forward to reading more!

Till Death Do Us Tart (A Bakeshop Mystery #8) by Ellie Alexander (Review)

Torte—the small-town bakeshop no one can resist—is hosting a midsummer night’s wedding ... where merry-making and murder are served up in equal measure.

Jules Capshaw has too much on her plate—and she’s feeling the pinch: the whole town of Ashland,Oregon, is in on the surprise Elizabethan-themed wedding she’s planning for her mom and soon-to-be stepdad. But is her secret scheme half-baked? She’s hiding racks overflowing with sweet treats while Torte is topsy-turvy with a major remodel and the return of Jules’s estranged husband, Carlos. And until now, Jules had no clue about the bitter family feud that has her friend Lance frazzled and suspicious. But when a party crasher takes someone out with a serving of poisoned wine and Jules discovers the deadly cup was intended for her, it’s time to turn the tables on a killer.

Jules and her team at Torte have very nearly finalised the plans for Helen and Doug's surprise wedding, everyone is saying that the party (and therefore all the food etc) is for the grand re-opening of Uvo Winery (which is held by Jules/Carlos, Lance and sadly Richard Lord), at the same time the final preparations for the remodel of Torte (basically the kitting out of the new basement bakery/pizza place followed by the gutting of the old kitchen to provide a larger pastry display, larger coffee station and more seating), Carlos and his son are coming over (so the they need to be warned about the subterfuge!)

Lance, however, has more drama in his life, he has finally reconciled with his estranged father only to discover that he is dying (his father - not Lance), but Lance has the horrible feeling that someone (his brother?) is trying to speed the process along, so with this, Richard Lord being even more pompous and domineering, the wedding and a death (or two) Jules's life is in turmoil.

Another brilliant episode in the life and times of Ashland, Ellie Alexander weaves a story as wonderful as A Midsummer Night's Dream, and like that play there is more than one story strand and some wonderful characters.  This is a series that never disappoints.

Another One Bites the Crust (A Bakeshop Mystery #7) by Ellie Alexander (Review)

Torte—the beloved small-town bakeshop run by Jules Capshaw—is set to hit the stage. But who would have guessed that murder would makes a surprise appearance?

It’s the role of a lifetime for Jules. The Shakespeare Festival has returned to Ashland, Oregon, for the season and Torte has been cast as the supplier of Elizabethan-era treats for the main event. But on the eve of opening night, a brawl between Jules’s friend Lance, the artistic director, and a strapping young thespian named Anthony almost brings down the house. . .and the next morning, Anthony is dead. Jules knows that Lance loves his drama—and his just desserts—but she also knows that murder is way off-script for him. Now it’s up to Jules to cut through a bevy of backstage betrayals and catty co-stars who all have their own secrets—before the curtain drops on someone else. . .

Lance is getting stressed, very stressed, a young actor seems to be trying to get Lance fired from his position as the director of the OSF (Oregon Shakespeare Festival) and this leads to a rather nasty fight on opening night.  This should have cleared the air between Lance and Antony, unfortunately Antony winds up dead and Lance has ended up at Torte covered in blood and clutching a dagger! With the Professor having to take a step back from the proceedings (due to the fact that he is friends with Lance) a Detective Kelly is brought in and she is doing everything by the book, and the book is being thrown at Lance! With Jules being certain that Lance is not a killer (however dramatic he acts) she (and Thomas along with the Professor) work behind the scenes to make sure that Lance's show goes on!

This is a series that keeps getting better, we have a wonderful cast of characters that make Ashland a place I would love to visit (if only the body count would go down a bit *grin*) with theatrics and baking who could ask for more - please keep them coming Ms Alexander!

Lowcountry Bookshop (Liz Talbot Mystery #7) by Susan M. Boyer (Review)

Lowcountry PI Liz Talbot returns to the streets of Charleston in the seventh installment of Susan M. Boyer’s USA TODAY bestselling mystery series.

Between an epic downpour and a King Tide, those historic streets are flooded—and dangerous. A late night tragic accident along the Lower Battery leads Liz Talbot straight to her next case.

Who’s the client? Well, now, therein lies the first puzzle. When the police arrive at the scene of the accident, Poppy Oliver claims she’s only trying to help.

But the dent on the front of her Subaru and the victim’s injuries provoke a certain Charleston police detective’s suspicious nature. A wealthy, anonymous benefactor hires Liz and her partner Nate Andrews to prove Poppy Oliver’s innocence.

What exactly was Poppy Oliver up to? Is she a random good Samaritan who happens upon the accident scene? Or perhaps this tragedy wasn’t an accident. She just might be his abused wife’s accomplice.

Why does everyone involved in this case have a sudden burning urge for reading material, leading them to the same charming bookshop along the waterfront?

From a risqué, exclusive club in an old plantation to an upscale resale shop in the historic King Street shopping district to a downtown graveyard crawling with ghosts, Liz tracks a group of women who band together to help victims of domestic violence.

In her most challenging case yet, Liz fears she may find a killer, but justice may prove elusive.

Susan M Boyer has hit it right on the nose again, this time Liz and Nate get involved in proving the innocence of a local mail carrier who seems to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and is now accused of murdering a local man in a hit and run (except if she is guilty then there is no run about it as she was found at the scene), the problem is not only was Poppy found there, there is a dent in her car's front bumper and she had accused the dead man of domestic abuse against his wife. Now Liz and Nate need to trawl through information and misinformation about the people involved and at the same time figure out WHAT is happening with Liz's father (and help her mother at the same time). Oh and their ghost is being evasive.

Ms Boyer is not afraid to show the sadder sides of life, this time with domestic abuse being the reason why everything happens and whilst this IS a Cozy some bits may make for difficult reading.