Category Archives: Book Reviews

While this is the second book in this cozy mystery series, it is the first book I have read by this author. The focus of the series is on University life in general and on the interim dean of Journalism, Meredith Solaris, in particular.

Dr. Solaris, known to family and friends simply as “Red” is applying for the full time position of Dean of Journalism at Mountain West University. This is a university which is located in Nevada. Prior to this book (and presumably in the first book in the series), Red has saved the university’s “bacon” by solving a crime and by getting the school back on track. While that should make her odds on favorite for the full-time position, it turns out that two other outstanding individuals are also looking for the job.

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When I started reading this book, I didn’t realize that it was the beginning of a series. Because so much is being introduced in this book, it made it a rather slow read.

While there appears to be a murder most malicious, one isn’t sure about this until the very last few pages of the book. While that may have been intended to leave the reader guessing, I found the result to be less than what my imagination had been able to conjure up, so I was slightly disappointed at the outcome.

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The author paints a realistic view of small town Texas life. I moved from California to Texas more than ten years ago and before that move, I would have thought the the characters and events in this book were a tad exaggerated. Turns out, I have learned better in the last decade. It is almost as if I know some of these individual. What is even more odd (considering I’m a long time big city girl), I love this about these small town folk.

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I was able to dive right into the action of “The Girls She Left Behind” without having read the first book in the series. I enjoyed the book well enough that I will certainly go back and read the first novel as it will undoubtedly fill in a lot of the background information on the characters. While that would be nice to have read, it wasn’t necessary for the action of the mystery in this book.

Lizzie Snow is a big city cop who has moved to a small town in Maine in hopes of finding her young niece, who was abducted years before in the same crime that left her motherless. There is a continued element in this story where Lizzie has her hopes raised and dashed or fears raised and relieved with regards to her niece.

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This is the second book in this series that I have read and enjoyed. The murder mystery is set in modern-day England and has a bird-lover twist to it.

The sleuth is Julie Lancaster. She is the manager of the tourist center at the Fotheringill estate. She has a cozy little estate cottage but mold has been found and has to be cleared up. While the clean-up is on-going, she is staying at the manor home.

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I love a good cozy mystery set back in history. This story is from the Regency period in England and is the third book in the series. As I have read all three at this point, I can’t really speak for it being able to be read stand-alone but I do recommend both the series and the newest book, “Death Comes To Kurland Hall”.

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