Brrr. We got a cold snap here with the lowest temps this time of year since 1925 or something like that. I had sworn I wasn't going to turn on the heat. The a.c. was just running over the weekend end. But I caved pretty quickly.
Here are three cozy mysteries that I read in the past couple of weeks. All are available now..
Broadcast 4 Murder by J.C. Eaton - Sophie Kimball Mystery #7
J.C. Eaton is actually a husband and wife that write this series.
About:"In J.C. Eaton's seventh Sophie Kimball Mystery, Sophie's kooky mother, Harriet, is gearing up to become Arizona's newest radio star as the host of the Booked 4 Murder Mystery Hour. But when she ends up broadcasting herself discovering a dead body live on air, it's up to the reluctant sleuth Sophie to find the killer...
Phee's mother Harriet is going to be a star! At least, that's how the Sun City West retiree describes her chance to host a live radio program of her book club's Booked 4 Murder Mystery Hour on Arizona's KSCW. But instead of chatting about charming cozies, Harriet ends up screaming bloody murder over the airwaves after discovering the body of Howard Buell, the station's programming director, in a closet--with a pair of sewing shears shoved into his chest.
The number one suspect is Howard's ex-girlfriend Sylvia Strattlemeyer who believed she was going to host a sewing talk show before Harriet was offered the spot. But not only do the fingerprints found on the scissors not match Sylvia's, they belong to a woman who passed away twenty years ago at the age of ninety-seven. Now, with the whole town on pins and needles, it's up to Phee to stitch together enough clues from the past to uncover the identity of a killer in the present."
Very good cozy mystery with lots of hilarious parts. There are two mysteries going on in the story: inventory from Home Products Plus that are disappearing and two people from the local radio station are murdered. The investigation group Sophie works for is working on the missing inventory. Sophie's mother Harriet, and her friend Myrna get an opportunity to have a radio show about books. When Harriet finds the first murder victim, this brings Harriet, her book club ladies and dog Streetman into the mix. Set in "Sun City West", the book is peppered with stereotypical but fun things about living in a retirement community. Harriet and her gang bring a lot of humor to the story. Sophie and her coworker/boyfriend Marshall try to solve both mysteries and call upon Harriet and her book club ladies for help, i.e. gossip, for clues. This is the first book in the series that I had read, and while you probably want to read them all, you can pick up from here. Enough background information is given to bring us up to this point. If you are familiar with Greater Tuna, you will be reminded of Tuna, Texas and the characters. Really a fun cozy.
Murder in Devil's Cove by Melisa Bourbon
About: "Every book tells two stories—one written on the pages with pen and ink, and one woven into the paper, a story of the soul. The Lane women have the gift of bibliomancy. They can read them both. Almost everyone in the Lane family line dies young. The gift of bibliomancy tells their story before the deaths happen. But Cassie Lane doesn’t see it as a gift. For her, it is a curse. As soon as she’s able, she leaves Laurel Point, Oregon, running from her past and her fate, ending up in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. There she meets Leo Hawthorne and lives a perfect life with him in an old Sea Captain’s house.
Perfect, that is, until Leo vanishes at sea.
After an old copy of Moby Dick foretells Leo’s death, Cassie forbids all books from the lives of her children with Leo. But when twins Pippin and Gray discover a secret room where their father hid away books that were special to him, long forgotten secrets surface, an old crime comes to light, and everything Pippin thought she knew is turned upside down.
Now twenty-five years later, Pippin must learn how to be a bibliomancer if she is to figure out what happened to her father and stop another murder from happening in Devil’s Cove."
The element of bibliomancy adds a very different twist. How fun would that be to have that "gift"? Maybe not, as Pippin discovers. Really good story of Pippin and Grey coming back home to claim their family house. As they work to restore the house and their dad's boat, secrets about the past are revealed and Pippin's life may now be in danger. The writing is very good. Just the right amount of description - you can picture the village of Devil's Cove, the house and how it is being renovated and the people of the village. I am excited to read the next two books.
About: "An idyllic English village, a lovable heroine, and a Puccini-inspired murder. Who knew opera could be so deadly? British expat, Josie Monroe, returns to the idyllic village of Milkwood and finds herself chief suspect in a family murder. Surrounded by cricket greens, duck ponds and lies, Josie must discover the culprit if she wishes to return to the US and Lady Belle DeCorcy is just the pal to help her. Josie is a down-to-earth, classical music-loving pianist. Belle is a flighty, beautiful and slightly unhinged debutante, making the two amateur sleuths an unlikely and comically inept, team. As if Josie doesn’t have enough problems, she is also dealing with the “Witches of Milkwood,” an elderly trio convinced that Josie is the murderer and that Belle is one sandwich short of a picnic. Living with a cantankerous cat named Elgar and her aunt’s handsome, but seemingly untrustworthy, lodger, Josie is also coming to terms with resurging feelings for her childhood sweetheart, Detective Inspector Adam Ward. Luckily, tea and tenacity will see her through, even if every time Josie hears Puccini she risks discovering another body.
The Puccini Connection is a cozy English murder mystery with a classical music-loving amateur female sleuth in a picturesque English village with quirky, lovable characters and an extremely grumpy cat. No cliffhangers, gore, graphic violence, sex or overtly strong language."
This book is a very good English cozy mystery and really funny. Think Agatha Raisin. The mystery and story are good. The characters are quirky and interesting. Everyone is a suspect, and Josie wants to find out "whodunnit" so she can head back to Texas. She and her new, unlikely best friend Belle, are working on it. But Belle has some secrets of her own. Josie is a bit accident prone. Josie and Adam, the local detective went to school together as kids and have a bit of a past. That creates some interesting tension. Everyone in the village seems to be sneaking around each other, and as the story goes on, it seems like quite a few people must have been around Aunt Rose's house near the time of her murder. Who saw what?
Did I mention the author is local to me?
This is the first book in a new series and I highly recommend it. I will be looking for the second book in the series.
I received all of these books as ARC's and voluntarily provided these reviews. And I liked them all, honestly.
Glad you enjoyed all these, Gayle. Fun to find new authors and series. Think you should recommend the first one to Judy just on that cover alone...LOL!
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