Monthly Archives: November 2019

Emily Westhill co-owns a donut shop with her father-in-law. The shop is a go-to destination for the police in town. Emily is the widow of a detective, who was killed in the line of duty three years before. She stepped away from her job as a 911 operator because it brought too much anguish to her.

On the other hand, making donuts and serving people fits her to a T. She has a bunch of regulars, including the Knitpickers. This is a group of ladies who come to the shop to drink coffee, eat donuts, gossip and, of course, to knit.

When one of the ladies fails to show up, Emily and the rest of the Knitpickers go to her house and discover her in what appears to have been an unnatural death.

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Jane Delight has come back to her Amish hometown. Not because it is so wonderful and she wants to rejoin the Amish but because she is broke after her husband of thirty years left her high and dry. Luckily for Jane, her twin sister Rebecca (who is Amish) has an apartment above her cupcake store.

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I have read every book in this series and the novellas which include Jaya Jones. I have enjoyed every single book and as each new book comes out, I discover that it is even better than the previous ones. That is saying a lot as starting with the first book, it was a wonderful read.

Right from the first, I identified with Jaya as the child that could have happened if Amelia Peabody and Indiana Jones lived in the same time period and had had a baby together.

Apparently, Gigi Pandian was influenced by both characters. I loved that the dedication of this book is for Elizabeth Peters who wrote the Amelia Peabody books. Ms. Pandian also slips references in to Vicky Bliss, another of my favorite Peter’s characters.

Jaya is a art historian who goes hunting for lost treasures to restore them to their rightful owners and to recover the past for future generations.
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I’ve read another series of books by Tonya Kappes, so when I saw this one, I decided to take a chance on it. While I really enjoyed the plot and the characters, I felt that some of the personal relationships were a tad rushed toward the end of the book. Especially as this was the start of a series, the building of relationships can develop a little bit slower over two or more books.

Notwithstanding that, I enjoyed the book. It is the story of a lawyer, Roxanne Bloom (Roxy), who comes back to Honey Springs after her divorce from her rather narcissistic husband.

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This is the second Christmas novella that I have read by Anne Perry. As with the previous one, I really enjoyed the story even though I had not read many of the books in the series it was derived from. In this case, it is an off-shoot of her Thomas Pitt mysteries.

Lady Vespasia and her husband, Victor Narraway, have been married for a few years and are visiting the country house of casual friends for the Christmas season.

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This is a fun mystery series. While its main sleuth is Amish, the focus is on solving the mystery as well as its Amish roots.

Kappy King is a young Amish woman. She is pretty much ignored by the people who live in her small valley. Her aunt was a little crazy and the people figure that Kappy is as well.

When a neighbor, Ruth Peachey, is found murdered, suspicion falls on her special needs son, Jimmy (who has Down’s Syndrome.) Kappy does believe, for one minute that the young man is guilty.

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