Category Archives: Book Reviews

This is a fun cozy mystery set at the New Jersey Shore. The backdrop is a Mediterranean restaurant with lots of yummy foods. As I am half Greek, many of the foods and dances, etc. described in the book, reminded me of my childhood. One of my favorite desserts ever is baklava (yum, honey and nuts!)

This the second book in this series and the first that I have read. I didn’t have problems picking up the story line so it can be read stand-alone. There were numerous references to the first book but not so many that it would make reading it a chore. There is a past to the characters that could be enhanced by reading the first book, so if you have the chance, you might read the series in order.

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This is the eighth book in the Bell Elkins mystery series though it is the first one I’ve read. I was able to easily pick up the thread of the plot, understand the characters and get a sense of their past interactions. The book is easily read as a stand-alone but has convinced me to go back and read the series. I want to know how things got to this point and how the characters evolved over time.

This story picks up when Bell Elkins is released from prison. She is no longer able to practice law and has found a cause to champion. It seems Bell is the type of person who is driven and, since she is no longer a lawyer who can bring suit against wrongdoers, she is looking for another way.

The drug trade has grown in her small town during the three years she has been away. There is a murder that seems connected to the trade and the now sheriff and prosector are busy trying to solve the crime.

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Romaine Wilder is a medical examiner who has come home to the small Texas town of Roble to recoup after her life falls in the big city falls apart. Between losing her job and finding out just how little her “boyfriend” intends to actually give up to be with her, Romaine finds little solace in the small town happenings she left behind.

That is, until a body turns up unexpectedly at her Auntie’s funeral home. Auntie Zanne is ready to point a finger at another family member and Romaine becomes involved to prove otherwise.

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I’m a real fan of this series and have read all but one of the books. How I missed the last book is beyond me but I will be rectifying that shortly.

A quick word to say that while this book can be read stand-alone, I suggest reading the series in order. The series follows events of WWII and provides a good history backdrop to the fictional account of Maggie Hope, English spy. Even missing the last book was enough to make me wonder about what had just happened to place Maggie where she is in this story.

Maggie and some fellow English spies are being held (by their own government) on an island prison just off the coast of Scotland. When some suspicious deaths occur, the spies start turning on their own. Maggie keeps her head and tries to figure out the logical play of events. Since Maggie is a mathematician, logic plays a large part of her persona.

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I’ve read and enjoyed this series from the beginning. With this new book, “Beaches in Paradise”, Kathi Daley has come up with an interesting and fun mystery (actually, two for the price of one, which kept me guessing pretty much until the end.)

While I enjoyed solving the mysteries along with TJ, I felt like her relationship to Gina (one of the victims) was stretched pretty far to justify her involvement in solving the crime. Also, something I have problems with in a mystery, is a sleuth who steps too far into an investigation to the point of removing clues one step ahead of the police arriving, and somehow justifying the hampering of a legal investigation. TJ does this more than once in this story. She’s actually called out on both of these issues but finds a way to deflect her friends and families concerns.

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This is the second in a series of books by Cate Conte. The first, “Cat About Town”, set the series up and introduced the characters. While “Purrder She Wrote” can be read stand-alone, I recommend reading the series in order as it will assist you in understanding the characters. It gives their history in the first book and you can see the growth of each of them from book to book.

Maddie James has set up her new Cat Cafe. It is opening day and while the cafe is still undergoing changes (especially to the scheduling system!), she wants to take advantage of the end of the tourist season on the New England coastal island before the weather changes.

It doesn’t take very long before a murder has occurred and Maddie gets pulled into the investigation. I really appreciate that the natural flow of why this happens versus something artificial or having our sleuth start investigating in a way that hampers the on-going police investigation.

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I was surprised by the S&M plot line of this book. From the book blurb, I thought the book was simply a mystery thriller. While the plot was definitely not a subject that I would pick up and read, based on the how well written the book was in general, I decided to finish it regardless of that portion of the plot.

The thriller and mystery are extremely well done. There were switches back and forth and one wondered about the whodunnit from beginning to end. The ending was not one that I was expecting. It was also an ending that I found complete though there were hints of something further for the main character to explore.

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This is a series that I have read from the beginning. Each book layers upon the last but each book is also able to be read standalone. I suggest reading the series in order to understand the progression of the characters and their relationships to one another.

In this book, Chief of Police, Kate Burkholder, is investigating the death of a young Amish man in a barn fire. As clues start to add in, it becomes a murder investigation.

As she investigates this crime, Kate finds out more about the dead young man and not all of it is good. As Kate digs deeper, other crimes call out and bring back memories from her own life with Amish.

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