A Wytch's Book Review Blog

Beyond a Reasonable Stout (Sloan Krause #3) by Ellie Alexander

It's the dead season in Leavenworth, Washington. The throngs of Oktoberfest crowds have headed home, and the charming Bavarian streets are quiet and calm--momentarily. Villagers use the reprieve to drink in the crisp fall mountain air and prepare for the upcoming winter light festival. Soon the German-inspired shops and restaurants will be aglow with thousands of twinkling lights. Visitors will return to the northern Cascades to drink warm mulled cider and peruse the holiday markets. Brewer, Sloan Krause and her partner in crime Garrett Strong are using the slowdown to stock up on a new line of their signature craft beers at Nitro. They're experimenting with a hoppy holiday pine and a chocolate hazelnut stout. The small brewery is alive with delicious scents and bubbling batches of brew.

Sloan is in her element. She loves the creativity and lowkey atmosphere at Nitro. Only that is soon threatened by the incumbent city councilmember Kristopher Cooper. Kristopher is running for re-election on a platform of making Leavenworth dry. Everyone in beertopia is fuming. Leavenworth's economy relies on keeping the kegs flowing. Kristopher wants to banish beer, a policy that might just bankrupt the entire village. However, Kristopher turns up dead days before election night. Sloan quickly realizes that his murder isn't the work of a stranger. Friends, family, and every other business owner had a motive to kill him, including none other than April Ablin, Leavenworth's self-described ambassador of all things German. Sloan finds herself defending April and trying to sleuth out a killer amongst a group of familiar faces.

Ellie Alexander has written another great book that keeps you guessing and double checking yourself from start to finish!

Oktoberfest has finished in Leavenworth and Nitro Nanobrewery is gearing up for Christmas and a Winter Light Festival, there may be a problem however, a seat on the local council is up for re-election and one of the contenders wants to ban beer! well actually all alcohol, he wants to make Leavenworth aka Beervaria a dry town.  Even so no one expects his to end up dead in the local Realtor's office (Realtor and unofficial ambassador of all things German).  Now Chief Meyer has arrested April but when Sloan and Garrett start sniffing out clues as well as sniffing out their beer samples they discover that more than one person had an axe to grind with Kristopher, the question is who finally snapped and ended his campaign so abruptly?

A Disguise to Die For (Costume Shop Mystery #1) by Diane Vallere

No sooner does former magician’s assistant Margo Tamblyn return home to Proper City, Nevada, to run Disguise DeLimit, the family-owned costume shop, than she gets her first big order. Wealthy nuisance Blitz Manners needs forty costumes for a detective-themed birthday bash. As for Blitz himself, his Sherlock Holmes is to-die-for—literally—when, in the middle of the festivities, Margo’s friend and party planner Ebony Welles is caught brandishing a bloody carving knife over a very dead Blitz.
 
For Margo, clearing Ebony’s name is anything but elementary, especially after Ebony flees town. Now Margo is left to play real-life detective in a town full of masked motives, cloaked secrets, and veiled vendettas. But as she soon learns, even a killer disguise can't hide a murderer in plain sight for long.

Diane Vallere has pulled out all the stops with this new book/series and I can't wait to read more! The owner of Disguise DeLimit (love the name!) has had a heart attack and so his daughter heads back home to help him recuperate and run the shop, leading to a local trust fund "baby" wanting costumes for his birthday party in a few days time, the theme ends up being classic detectives and that is so far so good, only at the party the poor, little rich boy ends up well and truly dead and Margo's surrogate mother (her own died giving birth to Margo) is in the frame for the part of the murderer!

Now Margo needs to run the shop, find out who wanted Blitz Manners dead, save Ebony from jail and stop her father overdoing it (the latter one being the hardest), now with misdirections worthy of her job back in Vegas as a Magician's assistant, Margo needs to decide who she can trust and who is lying through their teeth.

The Victorian Kitchen Garden by Jennifer Davies

The tv programme was great (now on DVD for lots of gentle re-watching!) and this book allows you to see in more depth what they needed to do in order to try to resurrect a kitchen garden for a country estate - well worth a watch and a read!

Murder Wears Mittens (Seaside Knitters Society Mystery #12) by Sally Goldenbaum

After retrieving fresh lobster nets from a local Laundromat, Cass Halloran rushes to attend a last-minute gathering with her knitting circle. But Cass can't stop worrying about the lonely boy seen hanging around the dryers, and the school uniform he left behind in a hurry. When the ladies return the lost clothing the next day, they find the child and his younger sister alone, seemingly abandoned by their mother . . .

The knitters intend to facilitate a family reunion, not investigate a crime. But the death of Dolores Cardozo, a recluse from the edge of town, throws the group for a loop. Especially when the missing mother and one of their own become tied to the victim's hidden fortune--and her murder . . .

Before scandalous secrets break bonds and rumors tear Sea Harbor apart, the Seaside Knitters need to string together the truth about Dolores--while preventing a greedy murderer from making another move!

Phooowwweeee! another cracking story from Sally Goldenbaum, in this one Cass is worried about a school age boy who had shoved some clothes (school uniforms) into the same dryer she was using for her fishing nets, apparently his Mum said she would be away for an hour but it has been over 24 hours and Cass's Aunt (also the principle of the school they go to and a Nun) knows this is not like this mother, her kids mean everything to her and so apparently abandoning them is just not right!  The Mum is found in hospital and on the same night a local woman is found dead, the two seem linked but Cass and the other Seaside Knitters are sure that the mother isn't a killer, which means they need to find out who is and quickly to keep a family together.

Flowers and Foul Play (A Magic Garden Mystery #1) by Amanda Flower

Florist Fiona Knox’s life isn’t smelling so sweet these days. Her fiancé left her for their cake decorator. Then, her flower shop wilted after a chain florist opened next door. So when her godfather, Ian MacCallister, leaves her a cottage in the Scottish Highlands, Fiona jumps on the next plane to Edinburgh. Ian, after all, is the one who taught her to love flowers. But when Ian’s elderly caretaker Hamish MacGregor shows her to the cottage upon her arrival, she finds the once resplendent grounds of Duncreigan in a dreadful shambles—with a dead body in the garden.

Minutes into her arrival, Fiona is already being questioned by the handsome Chief Inspector Neil Craig and getting her passport seized. But it’s Craig’s fixation on Uncle Ian’s loyal caretaker, Hamish, as a prime suspect, that really makes her worried. As Fiona strolls the town, she quickly realizes there are a whole bouquet of suspects much more likely to have killed Alastair Croft, the dead lawyer who seems to have had more enemies than friends.

What a fun start to a new series! Fiona Knox has inherited her Godfather's cottage and garden and she has jumped on a plane to see it and sign any documents needed for the transfer (without too much regret as her cheating fiancé left her for their cake decorator!), she had always loved the walled garden but when she gets there it is in a sorry state, as near as makes no odds all the plants are pretty much dead, but not as dead as the corpse of the lawyer she was supposed to meet the next day! Now Fiona needs to convince Chief Inspector Craig that she, and her late Godfather's long time friend and fellow gardener Hamish, are not guilty of murder.  Oh and add in a suddenly adopted cat, a tame (but larcenous) red squirrel, and the unbelievable idea that she is now the Keeper of the Magic Garden and Fiona isn't sure that she shouldn't just pack her bags and head back to Tennessee!

Clearing in the Woods by Phyllis Newman

Roberta escapes her humdrum middle-class existence and the persistent ache of her dead mother’s secrets by fleeing to Alaska. Having abandoned everything she’d spent her life building, Roberta remakes herself in another place, doing anything other than responding to the demands of her self-absorbed husband, her entitled kids, and her Pottery Barn home. Taking her first job since college, and a small room above a tourists’ shop, she contemplates new vistas. She never expected, however, to find romance in the form of a handsome federal agent involved in murder and mayhem.And it is murder and mayhem, and the discovery of other’s secrets, that causes Roberta to run for her life into the Alaskan wilderness…

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

March 5 – TBR Book Blog – REVIEW

March 6 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – GUEST POST

March 7 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – SPOTLIGHT

March 8 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT

March 9 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

March 9 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

March 10 – The Book’s the Thing – REVIEW

March 11 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

March 12 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

March 13 – Ascroft, eh?– CHARACTER GUEST POST

March 14 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

March 15 – I Read What You Write – REVIEW

March 16 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

March 17 – That’s What She’s Reading – REVIEW

March 17 – eBook addicts – REVIEW

March 18 – Ruff Drafts– GUEST POST

On the Lamb (Kebab Kitchen Mystery #4) by Tina Kashian

Bikers are thundering into the seaside town of Ocean Crest for the annual Bikers on the Beach gathering that raises funds for injured veterans. It's a big boost for the Kebab Kitchen, as well as for local businesses like Melanie Haven's candy shop. But Melanie is about to find herself in a sticky situation.

When Melanie and Lucy attend a beach bonfire, a local landlord is found dead after apparently choking on a piece of salt water taffy. Melanie, who was known to have a contentious relationship with the victim, is quickly skewered as the prime suspect. But Lucy is determined to prove her friend's innocence before the real killer coasts free . . .

Tina Kashian has done it again with another cracking story!

Lucy is preparing to move out of her friends house, so her brother in law has been looking for properties that are within her budget, he finds a house share (Lucy would have the upstairs, Mrs Lubinski (Eloisa) the downstairs, this way Eloisa can stop her somewhat greedy nephew from placing her in a care home and cashing the house (which is near the shore) in.  Lucy is not sure, she doesn't want to be a caregiver after all, but it turns out that Eloisa is still as sharp as anything and so the deal is struck, Lucy then has the misfortune of running across Gilbert Lubinski at the house and then at the first beach bonfire of the year, the third time she sees him though is the killer, or more to the point he has been killed! and a friend of Lucy's family (Melanie Haven of Haven's Sweets) is the prime suspect.

Now Lucy and her friend Katie need to side step around Katie's police officer husband and find out the truth, otherwise Melanie won't be making any more fudge and taffy but rather wearing orange and cooking prison food!

An Interview With A Character

What is your full name?

Lucy Anahid Berberian

What is your Profession?

Manager of Kebab Kitchen, my family’s Mediterranean restaurant at the Jersey shore.

What is your current favourite book or movie?

I’m currently reading Laura Childs “Teashop Mysteries” and enjoying them a lot. 

For movies, I really liked Downton Abbey. 

In total contrast, my kids have turned me into an Avengers fan, and we watch the movies together. I’m partial to Spider-Man and Iron Man.

What is your go to comfort book or movie?

Anything Agatha Christie. I especially liked “And Then There were None” and first read it in school. I thought this was a great read. All the adults die! And then I tried to figure out who did it. That book stayed with me for years and I read it again a couple times. My daughter just read it in middle school, and I read it again when she brought the book home. She liked it, too.

If someone was to play you in a movie who would it be? OR what would be the character you would want to be in a book?

Hmm. This is a tough question because I love to read and there are so many books I’d like to “be in as a character.” I think I’d have to choose Elizabeth Bennet in “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen. She likes to read, is fiercely independent for her time, and ends up with Mr. Darcy. I guess I’m a romantic at heart.

What is your ideal evening?

My ideal evening is ordering pizza and watching a movie with my bestie, Katie.  For romance, I like it when my head-chef and romantic interest, Azad, shows up at my apartment with a bottle of wine and cooks for the two of us. Like my mother always said, there is nothing sexier than a competent man in the kitchen.

Thank you for hosting me!

 

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

February 25 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW

February 25 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT

February 25 – Readeropolis – SPOTLIGHT

February 26 – Baroness’ Book Trove – REVIEW

February 26 – Brooke Blogs – GUEST POST

February 26 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

February 27 – This Is My Truth Now – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

February 27 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

February 28 – The Book Diva’s Reads – GUEST POST

February 28 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW

February 29 – Laura`s Interests – REVIEW

February 29 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – CHARACTER GUEST POST

March 1 – Gimme The Scoop Reviews – REVIEW

March 1 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, INTERVIEW

March 2 – Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUEST POST 

March 2 – Devilishly Delicious Book Reviews – REVIEW

March 3 – Ascroft, eh? – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

March 3 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

March 4 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW, GUEST POST

March 4 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

March 5 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

March 5 – Dee-Scoveries – SPOTLIGHT

March 6 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW

March 6 – MJB Reviewers – REVIEW

March 7 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW

March 7 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW

Murder in the Balcony (Movie Palace Mystery #2) by Margaret Dumas

Classic Movies, Ghostly Mischief, and Murder! Nora Paige is settling into her new life as manager of the Palace movie theater. She only has a few things to worry about. Like keeping the theater safely out of the clutches of an evil real estate developer, dealing with her staff of movie-obsessed misfits and their daily meltdowns, and hiding the fact that her new best friend Trixie is the ghost of an usherette who died in 1937.

It would also be helpful if she could figure out whether she wants to take her charming-but-cheating husband back.

But when someone close to the Palace is murdered, the only thing Nora really needs to worry about is finding the killer before they strike again.

Wowza! what a great follow on story, classic movies and modern villains lead to a brilliant mix.

Nora is still trying to get the Palace Movie Theatre back into the black and so she has rented it out during the day for a Real Estate symposium, a couple of days before hand though one of the part time staff discovers that her boyfriend has been killed, err only it turns out that she was only one of number of girlfriends and so could be in the frame as his killer! But at the moment everything is focused on the aforementioned symposium, but then someone is thrown of the balcony just after lunch, Nora's soon to be ex husband has taken all their cash and supposedly lost it, the handsome Hector is back in town (swoon) and someone is trying to buy up all the local properties!

Now Trixie (the ghost of an usherette killed in the 1930's) and Nora need to team together again to solve multiple problems and quickly!

Paws For Murder (The Barking Mad Mysteries Book 1) by Scarlett English

Welcome to Adlebury where village life can be downright deadly.

Veterinarian Petronella Knight seems to have it all. A job she loves, good friends, and patients who adore her. But when she gets into an argument with dog breeder Gladys Harrington, and she finds the woman dead, she also finds herself accused of murder.

Ella will need all her friends, including the new and very handsome American policeman, and all her sharpest sleuthing skills to figure out who murdered the dog breeder before another dead body pops up.

Paws for Murder contains one enthusiastic amateur detective with a penchant for rescuing animals, a guard duck called George, a large amount of homemade gooseberry wine, and a very confused American who has never met an English village quite like this one.

You’d be Barking Mad to pass this one by.

A nice gentle start to a new series, also nice and short so ideal for commutes!

Dr Petronella Knight is not having the best of Mondays when a local dog breeder comes into the veterinary surgery demanding that a perfectly healthy dog is put down, because he is a runt! Petronella says that she will take him and which point Gladys Harrington says that will cost her £500, Petronella agrees and says she will drop the money off later, when she arrives at the farm though she find unhappy English Sheepdogs and a dead Gladys! Within minutes the local special police officer is trying to arrest her for murder, but luckily her next door neighbour's grandson (who has just arrived from the US and is taking up the role of local liason with the special constables) decides that arresting her is not going to happen, at this point the fun (literally and figuratively!) starts and the giggles kick in!

An Interview With A Character

What is your full name? 

Garrett O’Leary. Formerly a sergeant with the Atlanta Police department, now the community based Sergeant for the Adlebury and surrounding areas, Berkshire England.

What is your Profession?

I’m a police sergeant but I’m also in  charge of judging Bonny Baby competitions, making sure no one dies of alcoholic poisoning from my Nan’s homemade gooseberry wine, rescuing puppies, and keeping the local veterinary surgeon from getting prosecuted for murder.

What is your current favourite book or movie?

Midsummer Murders because I seem to be living it at the moment.

What is your go to comfort book or movie?

Lord of the Rings because everyone deserves a Frodo.

If someone was to play you in a movie who would it be? OR what would be the character you would want to be in a book?

I’d love to say Hercule Poirot but I think at the moment someone might say Miss Marple.

What is your ideal evening?

Walking the dogs with Ella. Avoiding Nana’s latest homemade wine and trying to explain to my English landlord that beer isn’t supposed to be warm.

 

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

February 27 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – GUEST POST

February 27 – Sneaky’ s the Library Cat’s Blog -CHARACTER INTERVIEW

February 28 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

February 28 – TBR Book Blog – REVIEW

February 29 – Brooke Blogs – RECIPE, SPOTLIGHT

February 29 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

March 1 – Gimme The Scoop Reviews – REVIEW

March 1 – I Read What You Write – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

March 2 – Cassidy’s Bookshelves– REVIEW

March 2 – Literary Gold – CHARACTER GUEST POST

March 3 – Sapphyria’s Books – REVIEW

March 4 – My Journey Back – CHARACTER GUEST POST

March 4 – Laura’s Interests – REVIEW

March 5 – I’m All About Books– SPOTLIGHT

March 5 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW

March 6 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

March 6 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

March 7 – Baroness’ Book Trove – REVIEW

March 7 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – AUTHOR INTERVIEW  

March 8 – This Is My Truth Now – REVIEW

March 9 – Hearts & Scribbles – SPOTLIGHT

March 9 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW

March 10 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

March 11 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

March 11 – fundinmental – SPOTLIGHT

Here Comes the Body (A Catering Hall Mystery #1) by Maria DiRico

After her philandering husband’s boat went down, newly single Mia Carina went back to Astoria, the bustling Queens neighborhood of her youth. Living with her nonna and her oversized cat, Doorstop, she’s got a whole new life—including some amateur sleuthing . . .

Mia is starting work at Belle View, her father’s catering hall, a popular spot for weddings, office parties, and more—despite the planes that occasionally roar overhead on their way to LaGuardia and rattle the crystal chandelier. Soon she’s planning a bachelor party for a less-than-gentlemanly groom. But it goes awry when the gigantic cake is wheeled in and the woman inside fails to jump out . . . because she’s dead.

Since some of her family’s associates are on the shady side, the NYPD wastes no time in casting suspicion on Mia’s father—especially considering that he and the victim had a previous encounter. Now, Mia’s going to have to use all her street smarts to keep him out of Rikers Island . . .

Phew! What a start to this new series if the follow on ones are a good as this I will be hard put to give anything but over 5 out of 5 as a rating!

Mia Carina left Astoria about 4 years ago when she married, it turns out that her whirlwind romancing husband was a cad of the first order but even so disappearing from a boat leaving his then girlfriend and Mia a suspect in his murder! When she was no longer a suspect in that she headed back home, took over the upstairs of her Nonna's house and took a job as the assistant manager at the Belle View catering hall.  When she arrives for her first day things start to happen, a hooker claims that Mia's father Ravello owes her money, there will be two parties coming up, a stag night and a 50th wedding, the groom has a groom'smotherzilla but that is (hopefully) easy to deal with, the stag night doesn't go off without a hitch when the stripper doesn't jump out of the cake .... err only it isn't the stripper as she has just arrived, it is the hooker and there is a knife in her and a cheque signed by Ravello! Now he is in the cross hairs of the police, Mia's brother is still in jail and she is the only one of the Family that can sort this out.

Add in the fun happenings around her Nonna's neighbourhood, the fact that one of the chefs seems to be keeping an awful lot hidden, Mia needing to make sure that people still book the Belle View, and there is a LOT more on her plate than Lasagne!

An Interview With A Character

What is your full name?

Messina Maria Carina

What is your Profession?

I’m the Senior Event Planner at Belle View Banquet Manor.

What is your current favourite book or movie?

My favorite current movie is The Irishman.

What is your go to comfort book or movie?

Married to the Mob. Are you sensing a theme here, lol? My dad’s a lieutenant in the Boldano crime family, but he’s running Belle View as a legit business and I’m determined to help him make it work so that he doesn’t have to go back to the Life.

If someone was to play you in a movie who would it be? OR what would be the character you would want to be in a book?

Leah Remini is so me! We’re not the same age, but she’s got the whole Queens, New York thing going, just like me.

What is your ideal evening?

Since I spend so much time at our banquet hall running parties, my ideal evening is just the opposite: sitting on my couch in my jammies with my cat Doorstop on my lap, either reading, watching TV, or surfing the Internet on my laptop.

 

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

February 24 – The Avid Reader – REVIEW, EXCERPT

February 24 – This Is My Truth Now – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

February 24 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

February 25 – Socrates Book Reviews – REVIEW

February 25 – Ascroft, eh? – GUEST POST  

February 25 – Gimme The Scoop Reviews – REVIEW

February 26 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW

February 26 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

February 26 – Laura’s Interests – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT

February 27 – The Power of Words – REVIEW

February 27 – MJB Reviewers – REVIEW, AUTHOR INTERVIEW

February 27 – Jane Reads– GUEST POST

February 28 – Ruff Drafts – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

February 28 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW, RECIPE

February 29 – Books a Plenty Book Reviews – REVIEW

February 29 – A Holland Reads – REVIEW  

March 1 – StoreyBook Reviews – REVIEW

March 1 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE

March 2 – That’s What She’s Reading – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE

March 2 – TBR Book Blog – REVIEW, EXCERPT

March 3 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, RECIPE

March 3 – Baroness’ Book Trove – REVIEW

March 4 – Melina’s Book Blog – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST

March 4 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW