A Wytch's Book Review Blog

Murder in Christmas River (Christmas River #1) by Meg Muldoon

Cinnamon Peters is one tough cookie.

Every year at Christmas River’s annual Gingerbread Junction Competition, pie baker extraordinaire Cinnamon aims to win, taking down any competitor who gets in her way. But when she finds a dead body in the woods behind her pie shop just days before the big competition, Cinnamon realizes that there’s much more to worry about than cookies, frosting, and gumdrops.

Someone’s out to bring Cinnamon down. And they’re playing dirty.
Only Cinnamon and a mysterious stranger who walks into her life one snowy evening can figure out the mystery.
But can they solve it before Cinnamon’s chances of gingerbread competition glory crumble?

This was an odd cozy mystery, good, but odd! The murder seems almost an aside to the relationship problems that Cinnamon is going through, and the final pinpoint of the murder was strange and came out of left field (oh and quite a bit of the book after that as well - normally there is a little summation but not three chapters worth!), as I say it was a good read but not sure I would really class it as a cozy mystery, but as a general read I will look into future ones in the series.

Murder in Tranquility Park (Ferrara Family Mystery #2) by J.D. Griffo

Alberta Scaglione and her twentysomething granddaughter, Jinx, love to spend time—and solve crime—together . . .

Ever since Alberta Scaglione inherited her spinster aunt’s Cape Cod cottage, she’s been enjoying the good life in Tranquility, New Jersey, with her black cat, Lola. But since things are mostly quiet in this town, she finds other things to do—like joining Jinx for morning jogs in Tranquility Park. She has to do something to stay healthy, as long as it doesn’t involve Jinx’s healthful tofu sausages and gluten-free pasta. But when they stumble across a treehouse hidden in the trees, and a dead body underneath it, they take a detour into solving a murder. Now the Ferrara ladies will have to exercise extreme caution to avoid a permanent decline in their health . . .

Phew! what a whirlwind of a book! I came to this series with this book and I am going to jump right back and read the first one as this was so good!

Alberta and her grandaughter Jinx are out jogging when the come across a dead body, the police assume that it is a case of misadventure (namely the man being drunk and falling out of the tree house he is under) but Alberta isn't so sure, when the tests come back she is proven to be correct as it appears that Jonas died from ingesting pesticide.  That would be bad enough but when Nola (Jinx's flatmate) is arrested for the murder the Ferrara Family Detectives spring into action, then there is another murder and Nola is now in the frame for that as well and she will be going to trial very quickly - so the four Ferrara's need to step up their game and quickly to save Nola from ending up teaching from prison!

 

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

April 1 – Cozy Up With Kathy – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

April 1 – Literary Gold – SPOTLIGHT

April 2 – Here’s How It Happened – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE

April 2 – A Holland Reads – SPOTLIGHT

April 3 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW, RECIPE

April 3 – Babs Book Bistro – SPOTLIGHT

April 4 – I’m all About Books – SPOTLIGHT

April 4 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

April 5 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – REVIEW

April 5 – StoreyBook Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

April 6 – Readeropolis – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE

April 7 – Rosepoint Publishing – REVIEW

April 7 – 4covert2overt ☼ A Place In The Spotlight ☼ – GUEST POST

April 8 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE

April 8 – Sneaky the Library Cat’s Blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

April 8 – Books Direct – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

April 9 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

April 9 – Reading Is My SuperPower – CHARACTER GUEST POST

April 10 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW

April 10 – A Blue Million Books – GUEST POST

April 10 – Island Confidential – SPOTLIGHT

Deadly Deception (Deadly #4) by Kate Parker

Everyone hides secrets. Some provoke murder.

Olivia Denis discovers her father kneeling over the body of a man…a man who supposedly drowned in the Channel years before. Olivia wants to ring for help, her father wants to hide the body, but a mysterious phone call brings Scotland Yard to the murder scene.

Olivia can’t stand by and let her maddening, disapproving father hang. To prove his innocence – and learn his secrets - she must work with a master spy. The search for clues takes Olivia to the continent and the Kent countryside, Hastings and London, pushing her deeper into the world of danger and deception.

As war between Germany and Britain stalks closer, the hunt for a Nazi collaborator intensifies. With a mounting death toll, Olivia knows she must unmask the killer or be the next to die.

Kate Parker writes this series of books that make you feel as though you are in England in the run up to WW2, with all the angst and worry that this time provoked, another total page turner.

Olivia is annoyed, very annoyed with her father, not only has he started telling people that she and Adam are getting married (which means they are angling for their invites), but he was supposed to meet her at Church and didn't turn up.  By the time she got to the family home she has a head of steam built up, only to have it released quickly when she finds her father kneeling next to a corpse! Not only that the corpse of man she knew who died two years ago.  Now things need to go on hold as her father is arrested for murder, oh and she needs to get two Jewish ladies out of Berlin (her best friend's Aunt and Grandmother), so she signs the Official Secret Act and ends up running to catch up and catch the murderer so that they will hang and not her father.  But is this one case too far for this feisty, working widow?

 

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

March 27 – Babs Book Bistro – SPOTLIGHT

March 28 – The Pulp and Mystery Shelf – GUEST POST

March 28 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT

March 29 – Here’s How It Happened – SPOTLIGHT

March 30 – Readeropolis – SPOTLIGHT

March 31 – A Blue Million Books – GUEST POST

April 1 – A Chick Who Reads – REVIEW

April 2 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW  

April 2 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST

April 3 – Island Confidential – SPOTLIGHT

April 3 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

April 4 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW

April 4 – Ruff Drafts – SPOTLIGHT

April 5 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – REVIEW

April 6 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT

April 7 – Laura’s Interests – GUEST POST

April 7 – Elle G. Reads – REVIEW

Claws for Concern (Cat in the Stacks #9) by Miranda James

Charlie Harris has been enjoying some peace and quiet with his new grandson when a mysterious man with a connection to an unsolved murder starts visiting the library...

A slightly different book in the series, this time Charlie is back to being semi-retired which means more time to spend with the first of his grandchildren (young Charlie, Laura and Frank's son, Laura being Charlie Harris's daughter) and waiting on the next arrival (his son and daughter in law are also due to be parents), one of his retirement "jobs" is to volunteer at the library and there he meets a man who he thinks he knows, and it is this man (Bill Delaney) that kick starts the crime solving of a cold case, so Charlie (and Diesel!) team up with a writer of True Crime books and find out the truth (hopefully before the cold case becomes well and truly hot again!)

The Hidden Corpse (Food Blogger Mysteries #2) by Debra Sennefelder

Former reality TV baking show contestant and recent divorcée Hope Early is trying to find her recipe for success as a food blogger—but murder keeps getting in the mix . . .
 
When Hope’s elderly neighbor perishes in a home fire, she can't help but feel somewhat responsible. Only the day before, Peggy Olson had called her over, having burned a pot on the stove while she was sleeping and filling the house with smoke. In fact, she couldn't even remember cooking. Clearly, it was dangerous for the woman to live alone.
 
But it turns out she wasn't alone. When a second body is discovered in the basement of the burned house, suddenly what appeared to be a tragic accident is beginning to look like premeditated murder. As rumors spread like wildfire, Hope is determined to sort out the facts and smoke out a killer, but she might be jumping from the frying pan straight into the fire . . .

Who knew writing a blog could be so dangerous! Food and murder, lethal and tasty.

Hope's blogging is a well run business however she has the chance to improve with a course on professional food photography, the four bloggers were unsure the course would go ahead as a few weeks back Cal (the photographer);s wife had gone missing.  The first two days went well, then things start going downhill with a fire at Hope's neighbour's house that kills not only Peggy the house owner but there is another body as well.

Now Hope is being dragged into the investigation (although she does TRY to stay out of it, sort of) and she is receiving threats in person and anonymously.  Can she, and the local police, solve the crimes and let the town get back to normal?

Dog Gone Ghost (Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries #4.5) by Angie Fox

Who let the dogs…and cats…out?

Verity Long’s new ghost hunting career has gone to the dogs, literally. A spirit is releasing animals from their cages at the Sugarland Animal Rescue Center. It’s an unusual haunting that gets even more bizarre when she uncovers a new clue in a case of a missing child. Verity vows to reunite the lost boy with his family. And when she does, Verity just might answer the age-old question: Do all dogs go to heaven?

In this Novella Verity is back trading services (in this case skunk training for ghost hunting!) much to the disgust of Frankie, her resident ghost who would like some actual money coming in! (although her first job did actually net some cash), the local animal rescue centre has suddenly got a rash of cages being opened at night and when one of the staff stayed over she saw the cages opening .... but no one there, hence the call on Verity.  She discovers the culprit and the reason why the cages are being opened, now all she needs to do is reunite the ghost with their family and their dog and everything will be back to normal, just why does she have to go to the place known as Convict Bend in order to do that!

Deader Homes and Gardens (Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries #4) by Angie Fox

Southern belle Verity Long is back in business — as a ghost hunter. Now all she has to do is visit the town's creepiest mansion and exorcise a family of vengeful spirits. Piece of cake. After all, ghosts love her and need her... that is until she meets the ghosts of Rock Fall mansion. They'll do anything to keep their murderous secrets hidden within the cliff-side fortress — even if that means getting rid of one meddling ghost hunter.

With the entire town skeptical and scrutinizing her every move, Verity struggles to uncover the century-old mystery behind the house. And when she stumbles upon a very fresh, very dead body, she realizes there’s more to it than she ever imagined. With the help of her sexy cop boyfriend, Ellis, and her ghostly gangster sidekick, Frankie, she braves the overgrown gardens, the desolate family cemetery, and the haunted mansion that have been locked away for generations.

Can Verity unearth the truth before she's the next one buried on the deadly grounds?

This is the creepiest of the series so far, but it is creepy in a good way!

Verity has her first official ghost hunting gig, and it is a doozy! Lee Treadwell wants the ghosts gone (or at least calmed down!) so he can either do up or sell the family property, there is just one tiny problem, err an ancient Egyptian Curse that struck down his Grandfather, Grandmother, Aunt, Grandmother's brother and eventually the Governess!  In order to get Frankie to let her see the other side she has to promise he can invite other ghosts over (she wasn't expecting as many as there were though), so now Frankie, Verity and Ellis have to find out the truth from the ghosts of the house, especially when someone else dies the same way ....

The Haunted Heist (Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries #3) by Angie Fox

Just because she can see the dead doesn’t mean Verity Long wants to spend her days hunting ghosts. Instead, she’s over the moon to land a marketing job at the local bank… until she finds her new boss dead in the vault. Even her ghost friend, Frankie, knows that's no way to start a career.

Relieved to let the police take charge, Verity steps aside, bound and determined to keep her ghost sightings to herself. But when she learns the main suspect in the murder is a very crooked, very dead mobster, Verity knows it's up to her to solve the case.

She teams up with her ghostly gangster buddy Frankie, as well as the irresistible and charming Ellis, as the three of them search haunted mob hideouts, hidden passageways, and historic cemeteries for the facts behind the heist of the century—and a modern-day motive for murder.

Too bad uncovering the truth could very well make Verity the next victim...

Another brilliant page turner from Angie Fox!

Verity is surprised one morning when her friend Lauralee arrives with Lauralee's Uncle Reggie, Reggie has just taken over as the local bank manager and is determined to update the bank, including the marketing materials and with that in mind he has invited Verity to be the new marketing maven.  When she arrives at the meeting it seems a foregone conclusion, things are just winding up when Reggie is called downstairs to the vault, the next thing is he is found dead! The only people that could have killed him are his daughter EmmaJane aka Em, the deputy bank manager Carla, the head teller or the security guard, there is just one slight problem, Reggie was killed in the manner of a gangster who should be well and truly dead and buried.  Now Verity needs to combine forces with Frankie (her resident ghost) and hopefully with Ellis Wydell (unless his mother has her way) to determine the truth behind Reggie's death (oh and if she can track down a ghostly pastor that would be helpful as well!)

Ghost of a Chance (Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries #2.5) by Angie Fox

'Tis the season...for ghosts. Verity Long has come to terms with the fact that she can see spirits, and talk to them, and...she's actually making cookies for one of them. But she's drawing the line at any more ghost hunting or mystery solving. Until a dear friend needs help locating a missing antique at the party of the year. Not one to leave a friend in need, Verity straps on her sparkly heels and sneaks in to see what she can find—only to uncover a startling secret that will change everything.

A fun little novella in the Southern Spirits series, this one is set at Christmas and Verity has the chance to help two people, one living and one dead! Her ghostly friend Matthew Jackson (the one member of the family who joined the Yankee army rather than the Confederates) has decided to marry Josephine (aka jilted Josephine, another ghost), but he wants to family heirlook necklace before he proposes, the problem is his mother barred him from the house when he joined the opposing army.  This is where the second favour comes in, Verity's friend has been asked to cater the Jackson's pre Christmas party and Verity is going along as a waitress, oh and Frankie is along for the ride as well, after all she needs his help to talk with the deceased Mrs Jackson!

Death Among the Doilies (Cora Crafts Mystery #1) by Mollie Cox Bryan

For thirty-something blogger Cora Chevalier, small-town Indigo Gap, North Carolina, seems like the perfect place to reinvent her life. Shedding a stressful past as a counselor for a women’s shelter, Cora is pouring all her talents—and most of her savings—into a craft retreat business, with help from close pal and resident potter Jane Starr. Between transforming her Victorian estate into a crafter’s paradise and babysitting Jane’s daughter, the new entrepreneur has no time for distractions. Especially rumors about the murder of a local school librarian . . .

But when Jane’s fingerprints match those found at the grisly crime scene, Cora not only worries about her friend, but her own reputation. With angry townsfolk eager for justice and both Jane’s innocence and the retreat at risk, she must rely on her creative chops to unlace the truth behind the beloved librarian’s disturbing demise. Because if the killer’s patterns aren’t pinned, Cora’s handiwork could end up in stitches . . .

I like the idea behind this, running a craft retreat, and the idea that an ex-counsellor and an ex-battered wife have joined forces (along with another lady) just adds to the interest level!

Cora was burned out as a counsellor working with a woman's shelter and so when an old friend comes across the door step she decides the time is right to take her (lucrative) hobby of blogging about crafting and move it up a fair few notches, and so she and Jane (along with Jane's daughter London) have moved into an extensive property in Indigo Gap, the property came with Ruby who was scared she would be turfed out but when they realised she was a herbalist, soap and candle maker she was invited to be the third member of the crafting planning team (Jane is a potter).  

All seems to be going well until Jane becomes the person of interest in a murder case, three locals decide not to attend the inaugural crafting retreat, oh and one of the crafting tutors seems to be more interested in bedding the attendees! Now Cora, Jane, Ruby and Ruby's son Cashal (along with the local police force) need to find the murderer, especially when the body count rises.