iiiiReader Book Reviews

I’ve read other books and series by Amanda Flowers, mainly in her Amish mysteries. I really enjoy her writing, so I took a chance with “Verse and Vengeance”, which is completely different from the books that I have read.

There are earlier books in this series and it became apparent to me, fairly early on, that this book would be a pivotal story in what goes on next.

It was also a bit difficult for me to catch up to the premise and to understand how the characters related to one another. The author did a good job of giving back story information without giving away much of the earlier books. However, I think I could have gotten much more from the story if I had read the earlier books first.

In this book, Violet Waverly is in charge of the magical bookstore which has, in all of its incarnations, been part of her family for hundreds of years.

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I have read other books by Paige Shelton. Those books were more of a cozy mystery but with this book, “Thin Ice”, Ms Shelton breaks out into a suspense-filled mystery.

The book is the beginning of a new series, so while there is closure on some issues, others are just beginning to take shape.

Beth, a writer of very popular books, is fleeing. From whom, she doesn’t remember. She has a form of amnesia about the events regarding her kidnapping. All she knows is that she must get far, far away from where she lived before to feel free from the horror of having been abducted and held against her will.

She heads to Alaska to get away from it all. She doesn’t quite realize quite how remote a town she has picked, until she lands in it. Still, she is happy to be free from the shadows that had been taking over her life.

Within a few short days, a mystery arises which she feels compelled to help solve.

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Emily Westhill co-owns a donut shop with her father-in-law. The shop is a go-to destination for the police in town. Emily is the widow of a detective, who was killed in the line of duty three years before. She stepped away from her job as a 911 operator because it brought too much anguish to her.

On the other hand, making donuts and serving people fits her to a T. She has a bunch of regulars, including the Knitpickers. This is a group of ladies who come to the shop to drink coffee, eat donuts, gossip and, of course, to knit.

When one of the ladies fails to show up, Emily and the rest of the Knitpickers go to her house and discover her in what appears to have been an unnatural death.

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Jane Delight has come back to her Amish hometown. Not because it is so wonderful and she wants to rejoin the Amish but because she is broke after her husband of thirty years left her high and dry. Luckily for Jane, her twin sister Rebecca (who is Amish) has an apartment above her cupcake store.

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I have read every book in this series and the novellas which include Jaya Jones. I have enjoyed every single book and as each new book comes out, I discover that it is even better than the previous ones. That is saying a lot as starting with the first book, it was a wonderful read.

Right from the first, I identified with Jaya as the child that could have happened if Amelia Peabody and Indiana Jones lived in the same time period and had had a baby together.

Apparently, Gigi Pandian was influenced by both characters. I loved that the dedication of this book is for Elizabeth Peters who wrote the Amelia Peabody books. Ms. Pandian also slips references in to Vicky Bliss, another of my favorite Peter’s characters.

Jaya is a art historian who goes hunting for lost treasures to restore them to their rightful owners and to recover the past for future generations.
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I’ve read another series of books by Tonya Kappes, so when I saw this one, I decided to take a chance on it. While I really enjoyed the plot and the characters, I felt that some of the personal relationships were a tad rushed toward the end of the book. Especially as this was the start of a series, the building of relationships can develop a little bit slower over two or more books.

Notwithstanding that, I enjoyed the book. It is the story of a lawyer, Roxanne Bloom (Roxy), who comes back to Honey Springs after her divorce from her rather narcissistic husband.

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This is the second Christmas novella that I have read by Anne Perry. As with the previous one, I really enjoyed the story even though I had not read many of the books in the series it was derived from. In this case, it is an off-shoot of her Thomas Pitt mysteries.

Lady Vespasia and her husband, Victor Narraway, have been married for a few years and are visiting the country house of casual friends for the Christmas season.

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This is a fun mystery series. While its main sleuth is Amish, the focus is on solving the mystery as well as its Amish roots.

Kappy King is a young Amish woman. She is pretty much ignored by the people who live in her small valley. Her aunt was a little crazy and the people figure that Kappy is as well.

When a neighbor, Ruth Peachey, is found murdered, suspicion falls on her special needs son, Jimmy (who has Down’s Syndrome.) Kappy does believe, for one minute that the young man is guilty.

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Amy Lillard is a new author to me. I so enjoyed this mystery, I’ve now finished the first book in her Amish mystery series.

This book is not about the Amish. It is set in a small town where everybody knows everyone else’s business.

Arlo Stanley is co-owner of a bookstore and coffeehouse. She is responsible for the books and her business partner, Chloe is in charge of coffee and food.

Arlo is gearing up for a whirlwind weekend as the local boy who left town and made good as an author is going to do a book signing at her store. Instead, he show up dead on the sidewalk in front of the bookstore. As Chloe has had a relationship with him in the past and had seen and talked to him the morning of his death, suspicion falls on her.

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This is a wonderful series about a woman in her mid-forties, Sophie Kimball, who has moved from Minnesota to Arizona to spend time with her mother, escape the snow, and to work from an old-trusted friend.

Sophie worked in the accounting department at the police station that her new boss worked at as a detective. He has now retired and has opened a private detective agency very close to where her elderly mother lives. Sophie now works as his accountant.

Sophie’s mother, Harriet, assumes that Sophie is able to investigate crimes because all the police expertise must have rubbed off on her.

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