A Wytch's Book Review Blog

Killer Chardonnay (Colorado Wine Mystery #1) by Kate Lansing

Parker Valentine has always dreamed of opening her own winery in her hometown of Boulder, Colorado. But she gets more than she bargained for when a food and wine critic unexpectedly shows up at Vino Valentine on opening day. A negative review could be fatal for her business, and not only does he seem to hate her chardonnay, he also collapses and dies shortly after drinking it.

Although Parker hoped that the attendees would put a cork in it, soon her winery is at the center of a social media firestorm. With #killerchardonnay trending online, Parker's business is in danger of closing, and she has no choice but to investigate the murder herself.

To restore her reputation, catch a killer, and keep her struggling business open, Parker needs only one thing: some good proof.

A good start to a new series, with the added advantage that I could see myself sat at a tasting table with Parker showing her latest wines!

Parker has gone through blood, sweat and tears but opening day for Vino Valentine is finally here, she has a single employee (a young woman doing a business degree) and a selection of her finest wines and some palate cleansing crackers out, the door is opened and ...... nothing! finally though some people start to trickle in and Parker heaves a sigh of relief, until a local critic (who seems to have two ratings, gushing praise or evisceration!) arrives and doesn't seem to like her Chardonnay wine, however no one is more surprised than Parker when she finds him dead as a doornail in the bathroom.

Now Parker has found herself teamed up with a very handsome chef and she is trying to get the hashtag Killerchardonnay removed by finding the true killer, but this killer is sneaky and seems determined to land Parker and her family firmly in the cross hairs of the local detective.  Will this chardonnay turn out to be a killer for her fledgling business - read it and find out!

Penne Dreadful (Italian Chef Mysteries #1) by Catherine Bruns

Local chef Tessa Esposito is struggling to get back on her feet following her husband's fatal accident. And when the police knock on Tessa's door, things just get worse. They've discovered Dylan's death wasn't an accident after all, and they need Tessa to start filling in the blanks. Who would want her beloved husband dead, and why?

With the investigation running cold, Tessa decides it's time to save her sanity by reconnecting with her first love-cooking. And maybe the best way back into the kitchen is to infiltrate Dylan's favorite local pizza parlor, which also happens to be the last place he was seen before he died. But the anchovies aren't the only thing that stink inside the small family business, and with suspects around every corner, Tessa finds that her husband's many secrets might land her in hot water.

What a great start to what I hope will be a long running series!

Tessa Esposito is part of a close knit Italian family, who gather round when her husband of 6 years dies in an horrific car accident, the problem is one of her cousins (Gino) is a local Detective and it has come out that the accident wasn't quite so accidental! Now Gino and Gabby (his sister and owner of an independent book shop) are urging her to take a job at a local pizzeria to sniff around, the problem is her sniffing leads to some secrets being uncovered and Tessa finding out that not all Italians will look out for others.  Between a sleezey delivery boy, a pizza maker that seems to hate her and a bridezilla princess daughter of the pizzeria owner she has a lot more that pasta on her plate!

Toxic Toffee (Amish Candy Shop Mystery #4) by Amanda Flower

Bailey King’s in New York wrapping up a six-week shoot on her first cable TV show, Bailey’s Amish Sweets, when she gets a call from her Ohio town’s resident busybody. With Easter around the corner, Bailey’s been recruited to create a giant toffee bunny for the weeklong springtime festival that will also feature live white rabbits. But back home in Harvest, death becomes the main attraction when Stephen Raber keels over from an apparent heart attack—with Bailey and Raber’s pet bunny as witnesses.
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Except it wasn’t Raber’s heart that suddenly gave out—a lethal dose of lily of the valley was mixed into a tasty piece of toffee. Who’d want to poison a jovial rabbit farmer who reminded Bailey of an Amish Santa Claus? To solve the murder, she and her sheriff deputy boyfriend Aiden must uncover a twenty-year-old secret. She’ll need to pull a rabbit out of a hat to keep a healthy distance from toxic people, including one venomous killer . . . 

When Charlotte and Bailey arrive back at Harvest they expect to plunge back into sweet making, Bailey doesn't expect to plunge back into a murder investigation! but when a well loved Amish man keels over and it turns out not to be the expected heart attack Bailey is asked by his son to look into things.  Now she needs to wrangle the investigation as well as a giant chocolate and toffee rabbit and hope that Easter doesn't turn out to be the end for her.

Criminally Cocoa (Amish Candy Shop Mystery #3.5) by Amanda Flower

As if being in New York City for Easter isn’t exciting enough, Charlotte Weaver has another reason to be thrilled. She’s helping her cousin, Bailey, on the set of her first cable TV show, Bailey’s Amish Sweets. Bailey will even be re-creating the delectable hand-woven chocolate Easter baskets she once crafted for the city’s world-famous JP Chocolates. But once things start rolling, Charlotte starts to notice odd things
happening—things that seem intended to make Bailey look bad . . .
 
With Bailey feeling extra nervous about being on camera, Charlotte decides to keep her suspicion of sabotage to herself. But she knows that among Bailey’s fans at the Gourmet Television network lurks a dangerously jealous rival. Now Charlotte will have to find out who that person is—before sour grapes turns one of the sweetest times of the year fatally bitter . . .

A wonderful little novella seen from the point of view of Bailey's cousin (and assistant at Swissman Sweets) Charlotte, this time Charlotte is the one who tracks down the evil doer and it was a great little interlude!

Wreath of Deception (Craft Corner #1) by Mary Ellen Hughes

It's opening day at Jo's Craft Corner, and Jo is wired more tightly than the wreath on her store's front door. The entertainment she's hired, Cuddles the Clown, is little help, grumbling and complaining until Jo is ready to strangle him. Someone else does silence him, though – for good. With a dead clown in her storeroom and murdered with one of her craft items, Jo becomes the prime suspect. She works to clear her name, unaware that the crafty killer is ready to do anything it takes to stop her – and won't stop at murder!

What a wonderful start to a series - there are red herrings in abundance leading to a fantastic showdown!

Jo is a young widow after her husband was killed whilst making his art, she has headed back to her closest friend to heal and whilst she wants to still make her jewellery her friend Carrie suggests that making it a full craft shop would be better. On the opening day people are coming and going but Jo and Carrie need to cope with a reluctant clown, still the day is a success and people have been signing up for the evening workshops as well!  Everything seems to be going well until the next day when Jo goes in and finds Kyle aka Cuddles the Clown well and truly dead in the storeroom!

Now the Detective seems determined to pin the murder on Jo (and even suggests that she killed Mike, her husband, to get the insurance money!) so Jo - along with the evening crafters - needs to find out the truth or the only thing she will be making is licence plates in prison!

Nacho Average Murder (Country Store Mysteries #7) by Maddie Day

Robbie Jordan is temporarily leaving Pans ’N Pancakes, her country store in South Lick, Indiana, to visit Santa Barbara, California—where wildfire smoke tinges the air, but a more immediate danger may lie in wait . . .
 
While looking forward to her high school reunion back in California, Robbie’s anticipation is complicated by memories of her mother’s untimely death. At first, she has fun hanging out with her old classmates and reuniting with the local flavors—avocados, citrus, fish, and spicy Cali-Mex dishes. But then she gets wind of rumors that her mother, an environmental activist, may not have died of natural causes. With the help of friends, Robbie starts clearing the smoke surrounding the mystery—but what she finds could make it hard to get back to Indiana alive . .

I need Maddie Day to write faster, this was another Robbie Jordan page turner and a half.

Robbie has briefly left the snows of Indiana to head for California for her 10 year High School reunion, whilst it is great to catch up with her friends Alana and Jason she is not so pleased to have to associate with Katherine Russom, unfortunately as Katherine is the organiser she doesn't have too much of a choice.  Putting that aside Robbie plans to enjoy a week back where she was brought up, also catching up with one of her late mother's good friends, but this being Robbie it isn't too long before she is neck deep in and investigation, and whilst she may not have her usual contacts she does have Alana (a PhD in biochemistry) and Jason (a member of the Santa Barbara cybercrime police department) to help her make sense of things, it started with trying to find out more about her mother's death ..... but one of the people she talked to died the same way a couple of days later and this time the police are on the case - as is Robbie!

Dior or Die (Vintage Clothing Mysteries #2) by Angela M. Sanders

Portland, Oregon, vintage clothing store owner, Joanna Hayworth, is in a tight spot. Her plans to upgrade her store have derailed and costs are mounting. When she wins three trunks of vintage haute couture in an auction, she thinks her luck has changed—but it’s about to get much worse. The clothing’s high-society matron owner turns up poisoned to death, and police seize the wardrobe, leaving Joanna with more debt, a friend wrongly jailed for diamond theft, and a convent of quirky nuns depending on her help. There’s only one way to calmer waters: find the murderer, and fast.

Phew Angela M Sanders has written another roller coaster of a book here and I can't wait to start reading number three in the series!

We start with Joanna at an auction, she has got a line of credit and can afford to bid up to $20k of some stunning vintage clothes, in fact three trunks full of vintage clothes! She thinks she has got this in the bag when her arch nemesis Eve turns up and bids $25k for the lot.  As she is sadly leaving an unexpected twist means she ends up buying the clothes after all - so far so good, but when she goes to collect them they have been taken as evidence by the police! Now the original owner of the clothes is dead, Joanna's friend Poppy (the auctioneer) is in jail and a Mother Superior wants Joanna to sort everything out .... if only it was that straightforward.

Death by Jack-o'-Lantern (Abby McCree Mystery #2) by Alexis Morgan

The small town of Snowberry Creek, Washington, is gearing up for the Halloween Festival, and naturally Abby is on the planning committee. As part of her duties, she's picking up a pumpkin order from ornery farmer Ronald Minter. But what she finds instead is the farmer in the middle of his corn maze with a knife in his back.

The police suspect a homeless veteran named Kevin Montgomery, who was seen arguing with Minter when the farmer accused him of trespassing and stealing pumpkins. Abby's tenant Tripp Blackston, a veteran himself who’s been helping Kevin, is sure he’s innocent. Together, Abby and Tripp follow the twists and turns of the case to corner the corn maze killer—before someone else meets a dead end …

Phew! the second in what I hope is a long lasting series and this is as much of a puzzle, nay maze, as the first, which leads to ignoring everything else just to keep turning the pages!

Abby McCree is still up to her ears (at least!) in committees and her tenant Tripp has just landed her with another, granted this isn't really going to take off until the New Year but some prelim work still needs to be done, she finally agrees IF Tripp will be co-chair, after all it is to raise funds for Veterans, but before all that kicks off she still has to cope with the other committees she is on, one of which has her driving herself and her late Aunt's friend (also now Abby's friend) to the pumpkin farm owned by a rather irascible farmer, with the rain starting to come down Abby gets Glenda to stay in the car while she hunts down Ronald Minter, she eventually finds him but she isn't going to be asking him for pumpkins any time soon ... unless she uses a Ouija Board! Now the County Sheriff is on her case, along with Gage and Tripp and then Tripp is arrested.

So time to put her organisational skills to work and figure out who the killer is so she can get Tripp out of the local jail cell and back home where he belongs (after all her Mastiff cross is missing him).

Who's Dead, Doc? (Jules & Bun Mystery #2) by J.M. Griffin

Things get pretty hare-y when rabbit rescue and rehab expert Jules Bridge and her brilliant bunny go undercover to catch a murderer hiding in plain sight . . .

When Juliette “Jules” Bridge began caring for rabbits on her beloved Fur Bridge Farm in rural New Hampshire, she never imagined she'd be solving murders with one of them. Not only can her black-and-white rabbit, Bun, communicate with her telepathically, he happens to be a pretty sharp sleuth. Bun comes along as part of a petting pen for a birthday celebration—but for one of the guests, the fun is soon over. Evelyn Montgomery is found lying in the bushes with a knife in her chest, and the distraught hostess begs Jules to help . ..

To her surprise, so does Sheriff Jack Carver—who usually discourages Jules from getting involved in criminal investigations. But now she's drafted at the last minute to fill in for Evelyn as a judge at a rabbit show, and Jack wants her to go undercover. Yet as she and Bun expose the dark—albeit fluffy—underbelly of the world of rabbit competition, a killer is ready to act as judge, jury, and executioner . . .

Another great outing with Jules and her telepathic rabbit Bun, a more unusual and fun crime busting duo I have yet to find!

Jules and bun, along with other of her rabbits are at a young girls birthday party, as she is packing up the whole mood changes and mothers are taking their daughters home swiftly, Jules and the birthday girl's mother (Carina) stumble across a dead body, seriously dead, as in Jules doesn't even think about checking for vital signs before calling the police. From this point on Jules and Bun are on a roller coaster of fear and adrenaline and the only hope is that the true killer is caught and quickly.

Death by Committee (Abby McCree Mystery #1) by Alexis Morgan

After a rough divorce, Abby McCree only wants to stitch up her life and move on. But other loose ends appear after her elderly Aunt Sybil passes away, leaving Abby to tend to a rundown estate, complete with a slobbery Mastiff of questionable pedigree and a sexy tenant who growls more than the dog. As Abby gets drawn into a tight-knit quilting guild, she makes a twisted discovery--Aunt Sybil's only known rival is buried in her backyard!

Despite what local detectives say, Abby refuses to accept that her beloved aunt had anything to do with the murder. While navigating a busy social calendar and rediscovering the art of quilting, she launches an investigation of her own to clear Aunt Sybil's name and catch the true culprit. The incriminating clues roll in, yet Abby can't help but wonder--can she survive her new responsibilities in Snowberry Creek and still manage to patch together a killer's deadly pattern without becoming the next victim?

Abby McCree is trying to get her life back on track after a rather traumatic divorce, she has inherited her beloved Aunt's house and is gradually sorting through it, the other things she has inherited are a Mastiff cross dog named Zeke, a rather growly tenant called Tripp and (scarily) her Aunt Sybil's post in various committees, the main one of which is the quilting guild.  So far so good, Abby has taken a deep breath and got on with stuff, the one thing she does want to get done (before the quilting guild garage sale at her property) is clearing a large patch of brambles (Tripp does a lot of gardening and DIY as part of his rent but the brambles are low down on his list), after she tries to clear them Tripp finds out that a couple of local farmers rent out their goats to do this type of clearance! and so this is what Abby goes with, part way through the first day though they see a goat chewing fabric, Tripp headed into the temporary closure and whilst in there discovers a dead body!

When it turns out that the dead woman was someone that Sybil had had a verbal dust up with shortly before she disappeared, fingers are pointed at Abby's late aunt as the killer, now against the best advice of the Detective in charge and Tripp Abby is determined to clear her aunt's name and get the real killer jailed.