Monthly Archives: May 2019

Colbie Summers is the owner of Meowio Batali gourmet, organic cat food. She is also the mother of Elliot, who is a 12 year old who wants to be a theatrical star.

Colbie started her cat good business when her cat, Trouble, had digestive problems. The business has grown and she now has a great contract with a San Diego based store. Her product is set to launch with a big splash, including lots of media coverage.

While she is going busy (and slightly crazy with work), a murder occurs for which one of her part time employees is targeted as the murderer. Colbie is called on to figure out the murder because her friend needs help.

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This is the second book in the Red Herring Mystery series. I recommend reading the first book first, not only for continuity but also so you can laugh yourself silly.

I often wonder at how, with so many books written, an author can find an unusual take on cozy mysteries and to do so with a crazy sense of humor. I still don’t understand it but Dana Dratch has the method down pat.

In this book our sleuth, Alex Vlodnachek (aka Red because of her red hair), has started to settle down into a routine. Her brother, Nick, has moved in to save money while he jump starts his new bakery business. His dog, Lucy, has settled in, too, though she still raises a lot of havoc.

Alex works hard to keep the mortgage paid and food and other necessities of life up to date. She uses her PR skills to find writing gigs. She also finds time to visit with her new boyfriend, Ian, who owns the B&B across the street.

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Colbie Summers is a single parent with a young son. She has recently returned home to assist her ailing father after an estrangement that has lasted more than a decade.

The series is set in a fictitious small city outside of San Diego. Colbie has joined a group of of women who have small businesses in town.

She’s struggling to help her dad, get over her feelings of anger for the past, make sure her son is doing well, and delivering her neighbor’s chicken back to him. Yep, chicken. Charlie, the chicken, can get out of his pen and strut down the street ringing doorbells.

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Alex Vlodnachek is the sleuth of this story. She was a reporter (at low pay) for many years. Just a few months ago, Alex left her newspaper job for a high-paying job in public relations. The PR firm she works for leaves a lot to be desired. They push their employees to work crazy hours and seem to fire them fairly quickly.

When the boss tries to “give” Alex to a client for a night, Alex chews him out in public and figures she is out of a job. When the boss turns up murdered, Alex becomes the number one suspect. People who were her work-friends turn against her and blame her as well.

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The Zoe Chambers mystery series is serious and, at times, rather dark. Zoe Chambers is an EMT and deputy coroner in Vance Township, PA. Her boyfriend, Pete Adams, is the Police Chief for Vance Township.

Zoe is a country girl and has always been crazy about horses. Pete is a city boy and has had to learn more about the country life than he ever expected to by way of his job. They currently live in town, close to Pete’s job. Zoe has a run-down horse farm that is currently more of money pit than a home. She is able to stable her horse, Windstar, there while she slowly fixes it up.

The perspective of this book, as the previous ones in this series, alternates between Zoe and Pete. Their jobs necessarily cross over many times in the investigation of crimes.
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I started this series with book 2 (of 4) and was enthralled. I read book 3 and then, recently, went back to read book 1 in preparation for this book. Book 4, “The Night Window”, is the final book in the Jane Hawk series. It is a psychological thriller filled with suspense about a near-future science fiction premise.

The book is set in our time and present a frightening look at what can happen when a group of individuals decides it can and will shape the future of the human race. They have decided that they know best. They can decide who wins and who loses and, more to the point, who can live.

Jane Hawk is ex-FBI. She has been on the run since shortly after her husband’s suicide in Book 1. She is trying to keep her young son safe and, at the same time, expose the frightening web of deceit and evil doings of those responsible for her husband’s death.

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While paranormal is not usually a genre that I read, I make some forays into it when it involves a mystery and when the paranormal is not the focus of the book.

That is how I would classify the Kenni Lowry series. Mystery whodunnits that involve a ghost.

Kenni Lowry is the sheriff of Cottonwood, Kentucky. Her Poppa (grandfather) was the previous sheriff and passed away in office. Kenni has been sheriff for several years and midway through that time, her Poppa showed up (in ghostly form) to help her solve the first murder that occurred while she has been in office.

Since the, he shows up when murders occur. That is the case in this book. It also puts Kenni in the uncomfortable position of knowing a murder has occurred before the medical examiner concludes it.

She and her boyfriend, Finn, who is her deputy and the crew which generally solves the crimes. They have recently added a part time position for another deputy. In this story Kenni and the new deputy are the ones who are looking for the answers to the whodunnit. Kenni, by simply asking, finds out that Finn will someday want to be a sheriff. She is instantly on her guard that he wants her job.
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It’s been a while since I read a book by Mary Kay Andrews. In the past, most of the books I have read by this author where fairly lengthy but funny rom-com novels. With “Sunset Beach”, while the fun and some romance is still present, the books focuses on solving not one but two mystery whodunnits.

As I was nearing the end of the book, I was hoping that this novel would be the start of a series featuring Drue and Zee as investigators for the law firm they both work for. There is an Epilogue which seems to doom this hope to failure; however, I think that Mary Kay Adrews could (and should) still consider doing a series featuring this intrepid and intelligent heroine.

The story is (mostly) about Drue. She has recently been injured doing a sport to which she had dedicated her life. She has also lost her job and is in fairly desperate straits. In walks her father with an offer. He wants her to come to work for his law firm which seems to be a bit of an ambulance chaser place.

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