iiiiReader Book Reviews

I will say right off, if you are interested in this as part of a new series, you should start with the first one, which is called “Caged”. There are many clues and downright spoilers included in “Buried” that going back later and reading the first book would be anti-climatic.

Having said that, this is a book which can be read stand-alone easily. I haven’t read the first book but am trying to convince myself to go back anyway as I really enjoyed this book.

FBI agent Sayer Altair is just coming back from an injury from the previous book. She is not top-notch yet physically but is itching to get back to work. She is pulled into action a tad earlier when another FBI stumbles upon human bones while he is out at a national park walking with his cadaver dog.

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I’ve read most of the novels written by Elizabeth Peters. Ms. Peters wrote her fiction under several pseudonyms, of which, Elizabeth Peters is arguably the most well-known.

While the Amelia Peabody books are the series that many people have read, one of my favorite series by this author is the Vicky Bliss mysteries. There are many less books in the series but I recommend that you start reading with this, the first one.

In this book, Vicky Bliss is introduced. Vicky is an art historian and, when confronted with the chance to solve a art mystery, she jumps in with both feet.

She is also in competition with her sometimes boyfriend as well as others. She heads off to the small town and castle Rothenburg in Germany. There, the competition heats up and then whodunnits are added into the fray.

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This is the second book in the Sugar and Spice Mystery series. I started reading this book first, got a couple of pages in, then went and bought the first book because I could tell just that quickly that I was going to enjoy this series. This book can be read stand-alone, but I recommend reading the series in order so you can understand how the characters developed and where it all began.

Sugar Calloway and Dixie Spicer have a fairly new business which publishes community cookbooks for special groups. They are always hustling for the next job with Sugar the business end and Dixie the blue ribbon cook.

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This is such a fun mystery series. Bailey King is the granddaughter of an Amish family. Her father left the faith but Bailey has come back to Harvest, Ohio, to help her Amish grandmother run the family sweets shop.

Bailey is a chocolatier of the first notch but is glad to have left the fast city life of New York City behind her for most of the year.

This is the fourth full length book in the series (there is also a 3.5 short length novel as well.) I started by reading a few pages in this book and enjoyed it so well, I went looking for the earlier books in the series before reading any further.

I’ve now read the prior books in order and recommend doing that as the characters and their relationships build slowly over the course of the books. It can be read stand-alone, however, I think you would find the most enjoyment out of getting to really know Bailey and crew.

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This is the first novel I have read by Kelley Armstrong. As soon as I finished it, I went looking to see if she had other books in a similar genre. It appears that she generally writes paranormal books, which is why I had never heard of her before. My hope is that she will write more urban-style thrillers as this one was so compelling and well-written, I can hardly wait to read more of books that are similar in style. As I don’t read paranormal books, I will have to wait.

In this book, which is a thriller mystery, Aubrey Finch (aka Bree) is working part-time at a library. She is newly separated from her husband, Paul, who is a well-to-do lawyer. She has left her daughter with her husband until she is able to provide a better living space for her.

She misses her daughter and often takes her run through a park which includes a children’s play area. One day, she happens across a young mother and her son and chats with them a bit.

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Colbie Summers is back as the sleuth in this series. Colbie is the owner of an organic, gourmet cat food company.

Her business has been growing and is on the verge of getting into a brand new market. At the same time, she is getting ready to host Thanksgiving at her father’s house, where she and her son now also reside.

She is asked, as a favor, to pick up a friend’s son at his oboe lesson. While waiting, something happens which makes her mad. When she tries to correct a wrong, she ends up uncovering a scheme for getting recommendations to get into the college of a child’s choice.

Then murder occurs and Colbie is, once again, drawn into solving the murder.

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I love to spend time visiting with Ellison Russell in the Country Club Murders mystery series. The series is set in the 1970’s in Kansas City. Ellison is the well-to-do widow, daughter, mother and artist who is our sleuth.

Her friend Libba invites her to a yoga class in order to relax. Well, the class is anything but relaxing (try exhausting) and when a death occurs, any thought of relaxing flies out the door.

In this story, there are lots of funny situations and characters including an evil cat that Ellison has to take care of. There is also a serious issue that is dealt with and is done with care.
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