Category Archives: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller

This is a mystery series set in North Devon, England. The lead detective is Detective Matthew Venn.

The book opens with the discovery of a murder near the home of Detective Venn and his husband. There are no witnesses; however, once the body was discovered, it is only a short time before the identity of the murder victim is uncovered.

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Liz Talbot and Nate Andrews are a husband and wife private investigation team. They work primarily in the area of Stella Maris island and South Carolina. They live in Stella Maris and are often assisted in their work by the spirit of Liz’s best friend from high school, Colleen.

Colleen is the spirit that protects Stella Maris and has worked with Liz for a few years. When Liz and Nate got married, Colleen also became visible to Nate. She only gets involved with Stella Maris is being threatened by the crimes that are happening, either at that time or at some time in the future.

In this story, Darius Baker, a former hometown boy who found fame and fortune in Hollywood, comes back to town.

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This is another fun entry in the Sophie Kimball Mystery series. Sophie, or as her friends know her, Phee, is an accountant/bookkeeper for a private detective agency. Her mother, Harriet, lives in a retirement community, just a few miles away from where Phee lives and works.

Harriet has become interested in crafts, specifically working with clay. One of the hotshot ceramic artists is found murdered and there is a note with Harriet and one of her friends names written on it at the scene of the crime.

Harriet begs her daughter to investigate and, against her better judgement, Phee once again starts nosing around trying to search out clues.

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This is the second in a series of mysteries about an accountant/bookkeeper Sophie (“Phee”) Kimball, who keeps getting pulled into murder investigations even though she only works for a private detective and absolutely, is not a detective.

Except that her mother, Harriet, seems to think that being a sleuth is something that rubs off simply by proximity. And maybe, she is right.

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This novelette is quite a change up in this series. Instead of featuring our favorite chocolatier sleuth, Bailey King, the focus is on her Amish cousin, Charlotte Weaver.

Bailey and Charlotte are staying in New York while Bailey films the first of her new television cooking series. Charlotte is in the videos as well, having gotten permission as she has not yet been baptized into the Amish faith.

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Mysteries are a genre I really enjoy. Anything from police procedurals to cozy mysteries. This is a cozy mystery which is heavy on paranormal. Paranormal is a genre that is not generally my cup of tea.

Having read this author’s Carol Child’s mystery series and enjoyed it, I took a chance with this book. While it is heavy on paranormal, it is also very funny. It also portrays celebrities in funny and, basically, unflattering ways.

Misty Dawn, a washed psychic, is living in a house which has is also inhabited by a ghost. This is a ghost who doesn’t, at first, realize that he is dead.

She is then called into action to go and investigate paranormal activities at the Pink Mansion, a famous home recently purchased by a famous young actress.

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I read the first book in this series and somehow missed that there was a second book released. It didn’t seem to matter, as I read this book, so it can be read fairly easily stand-alone.

I like that the plot is more important in this story than the introduction of characters which caused the first story to lag a bit in reading. In this book, the characters, while important, were certainly not the main part of the story.

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This is the first book I have read by Ruth Ware. I didn’t know what to expect but the book, in the end, was much more than I could have hoped for.

There is so much psychological twists and turns, it was hard to try to think ahead to what the possible ending could be. Good thing, too, as I would never have expected what happened.

Rowan Caine is writing her hoped-for lawyer from prison. In trying to explain how she is innocent, she starts from the beginning and gives detail so he can understand.

Rowan is the new live-in child minder for four girls. The girls range in age from very young to a teenager. The salary should have warned her that this job was far from easy but, for her own reasons, it still made complete sense to leave family and friends in England and move to Scotland and an isolated manor house.

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I have been a fan of this series from the beginning. Meg’s family grabbed my attention and would not let go. Then there was Michael-what-a-waste and the idea of a modern female blacksmith. How could you not want to read this series?

In this book, Meg and family (and extended family, of course), set cruise on an educational cruise ship. Grandfather is the guest speaker and is given a special discount price, which induces just about every member of the clan to sashay up the gangplank and set sail.

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Hildy Schneider is a social worker who was introduced in book 10 of the author’s Mattie Winston mystery series. While you can certain read this book as the beginning of a new series, I recommend reading book 10 to get an introduction into how Hildy became important in investigations.

Hildy gets involved in checking out a possible suspicious death when one of her group therapy members asks for the group to investigate. To stave off every member getting involved, she promises to look into it and to get her contact, Detective Bob Richmond, to do some research.

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