Monthly Archives: July 2015

This is the first book in the Potting Shed Mystery series by Marty Wingate. From what I have read, “The Garden Plot” is also the first mystery that Ms. Wingate wrote. I recently read “The Rhyme of the Magpie” which is a first in another series by the author and enjoyed it so much, that I sought out her previous books. I am certainly glad to have done so. For a first book, “The Garden Plot” is an excellent cozy mystery.

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“Remember Mia” is the story of a woman who has literally lost her seven month old daughter. It is also a story about the deep postpartum depression a woman can suffer from following birth. The first third of the book moved a little slowly and, frankly, I had a hard time reading about Stella’s inability to care for her child. I was blessed not to suffer from this after my children were born and reading about it was very difficult to do.

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“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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