Category Archives: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller

I first read this book years ago and enjoyed it. I then saw the first few seasons of the British television series based on this series of books. I enjoyed that as well.

I recently went back and re-read the book and I’m hooked. I will be going through the series as well as the author’s Hamish Macbeth series as well.

(more…)

I watched the series based on these books years ago. I enjoyed it thoroughly but wanted to eventually read the series itself. Therefore, I started with book 1 and will continue read or listening to the audio version depending on my mood.

I really liked this book. It was better than the series on television, which isn’t unusual. Many of the elements were still the same but the description enhanced and gave depth to the story and to the characters.

(more…)

Siobhan O’Sullivan is a Garda in a small Irish town, Kilbane. She is also one of the O’Sullivan Six who own the local bistro. Her fiance is Detective Sargent Macdara Flannery and together they investigate many of the crimes which seem to haunt this town.

A new and mysterious bookshop opens in town and everyone, including Siobhan want to visit right away. Things are quite that easy which makes for fun and games. The bookshop is hosting a get-together for up-and-coming authors. When one of the authors ends up quite dead, Siobhan shifts gears and, instead of buying books, looks for a murderer.

(more…)

I’ve read all of the previous books in this series and this book fits in well with the overall theme.

Jake (Jacobia) Tiptree and Ellie White are the owners of the Chocolate Moose, a bakery in small town Maine that specializes in things made of chocolate. What could be wrong with that?

The thing is, there is always something afoot in Eastport, Maine (a real town, by the way) that Jake and Ellie get sucked into investigating.

What happens is that Ellie blazes the way and Jake follows behind, clumsily, and doing everything that should get them noticed but usually does not. Jake is always getting wet somehow or getting preyed upon by a natural predator. Actually, human predators as well.

(more…)

I read the first book in this series a few years ago, when it first came out. I didn’t realize that more books had been written since then. I picked up the second book in the series, “Fatal Frost” and was able to read it without any issue. I think it could be read as a stand-alone book, but for fun and for continuity, I suggest reading the series in order.

Lucy Resnick is still hanging in there. She’s adding more products on to her farm. Part of that is getting two goats, Hot Lips and Gidget, who like her cow, are all escape artists. I sense a lot of fun in future books trying to corral her animals. Good thing her new boyfriend is a veterinarian and can sweet-talk animals into going back home again.

(more…)

This is a great spin-off series of the Savannah Reid mystery series. The main sleuth is Stella (Granny) Reid. She is taking care of all of her grandchildren as their mama is in jail and their father (her son) is on the road and never comes home.

Stella is also an amateur sleuth and likes to help her buddy who is the police chief in town.

(more…)

This book is an interesting southern gothic suspense thriller. What it is not is a new take on Jane Eyre. The author uses the names of the main characters and touches on certain plot points of the Bronte classic but it is quite different.

I did not find the characters likable but I don’t think the author intended them to be. They are, however, enmeshed in a story that kept me reading. The first clue that I had this was not Jane Eyre redux was the language and that Jane was a bit of a kleptomaniac.

(more…)

I started this series on book #3. I liked it so well, I immediately purchased books 1 and 2, intending to read them to catch up on the backstory. Well, that didn’t happen. There was always something “new” to read and I forgot about these books. Until this week, that is.

I read this book as I was caught up on my reading list for the year. I am so glad that I did and I will be reading book 2 in the next week or two.

This book gives a whole new dimension to relationships and the past of characters that I had accepted without question. Now I now why some of the characters behave the way they do.

(more…)

I’ve read books by this author before under the name of Andrea Pickens (traditional Regency novels) and have enjoyed them. My favorite type of book is still mystery, so to have my favorite genres put into one book is amazing.

This novel is not a romance novel, though there seems to be some type of attraction between the two main sleuths. At its heart, it is a good mystery. It reminds me somewhat of Holmesian deductive reasoning mixed with intuition.

(more…)

I am a long-time fan of this series. I have always enjoyed the zany humor of the author. That being said, the just prior book was not nearly as funny as those that went before. This book shows a gentle humor and has promises of some craziness in the future.

In this story, Meg and crew are getting ready for Christmas and Michael’s one-man show of “A Christmas Carol”. Meg is also tasked with coordinating many Helping Hands for the Holidays projects. Since these projects have expanded beyond the needy and throughout the year, the task has grown exponentially greater. Just what Meg needs at the busy holiday season – more work!

(more…)