Author Archives: Iiiireader

“Morgue Drawer: Clink or Cooler?” is the fifth and latest entry in the Morgue Drawer series by Jutta Profijt. I have read the entire series and have enjoyed all of the books. The latest one is one of my favorites. All of the characters are well-established, so there isn’t a lot of time being spent explaining their back stories – the book concentrates on the murder mystery and the whodunnit.

Speaking of which, I was able to figure out the whodunnit fairly early on but I was stymied by the whydunnit. That kept my interest piqued as I read through the story.

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“Killer Jam” is the first in the new Dewberry Farm mystery series by Karen MacInerney. This is the book I have read by Ms. MacInerney. It does well as an introduction to a new series, which by its nature, is a little more involved than sequels. We are being introduced to all of the characters and that takes some time and explanation which in turn takes time and pages away from the rest of the story.

The author is able to pull this off really well and so we get to know our sleuth, Lucy Resnick quite well. Lucy is an ex-newspaper journalist from Houston who was downsized out of her job (print newspaper) and decides to put her savings into following her dream. She buys Dewberry Farm, which is her old family home which appears to be somewhere between Houston and Austin (her grandparents Vogel owned it until it was sold to the current owner.)

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It has been a number of years since I have read one of the Inspector Lynley books by Elizabeth George. It was surprising to pick up the latest “A Banquet of Consequences” and find that it fit my mood and my remembrances like a well-worn glove.

I stepped back during my read (be aware that this is a fairly long book at almost 600 pages), and took a look at some of the intervening books that I had missed. I was surprised to see that the reviews tended towards the average. If that is the case, then Ms. George is back on the mark with this book as it was truly an excellent and nicely long read.

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“Double Mint” by Gretchen Archer is a mile-a-minute funny whodunnit mystery. While I had no problems picking up the action in this fourth in the series book (and my first read by this author), I highly suggest reading the books in order. I will be reading and laughing my way through the three prior books shortly.

Davis Way Cole is the top seniority casino security personnel at the Bellissimo Resort and Casino. She is also married to the casino manager but due to her job, no one (well, almost no one) can know who she is or see her in the casino managers suite of rooms. The suite of rooms she wishes she didn’t have to live in because it is an over-the-top representation of a New Orleans Mardi Gras nightmare.

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“Killing Secrets” is the latest entry in the Nan Vining mystery series by Dianne Embley. While it is the first of her books that I have read, it was not at all difficult to read it as a stand-alone book. I could tell from references in the story that there was a long and varied back history for the characters.

In this story, Detective Nan Vining is called to the scene of a possible murder-suicide. It turns out that Nan’s daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend were the ones to find the horrific scene. It also turns out that Nan had no idea that her daughter even had a boyfriend.

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