Kilned at the Ceramic Shop by Donna Clancy

 Donna Clancy has a new series with the first book coming out March 12, 2024! 

Donna has written several cozy mystery series: The Jelly Shop Mysteries, Shipwreck Cafe Mysteries, Thelma and June's Mystery Adventures and also contributed to some anthologies. 

Kilned at the Ceramic Shop: A Braddock Mystery (#1)

About: "Tammy Wright, a bestselling mystery author returns to her hometown to give her Aunt Clara a hand with running her ceramic shop during tourist season. She discovers that two vindictive realtors have been bullying her aunt and others into selling their properties to make room for new housing developments. Those who don’t comply pay the consequences.

Tammy stumbles upon a body, and when her aunt refuses to give in to either realtor she disappears without a trace.
With the help of an old schoolmate turned policeman, the writer must step out from behind her computer screen and her fictional mysteries to confront real life crime. If she doesn’t, she may never see her aunt again."

I like to mix up the genres of mysteries I read. I will read pretty much any type of mystery. I just do not read not ultra violent or gory books. I especially like to throw in a cozy mystery after reading too many "bad people acting badly" stories.

This book is an excellent start to this new cozy mystery series. The story grabbed me right away. Tammy's Aunt Clara is being bullied into selling her ceramic shop. When Clara is kidnapped, Tammy uses her knowledge and observation skills from writing mysteries, to help the Sheriff try to find Clara before it's too late. But more and more things happen in attempts to scare Tammy. Two realtors in Braddock, Toby Brown and Wilmot Sawyer, seemed to be likely suspects. They are trying to buy up as much real estate in the quiet little tourist town as they can to build housing developments and mini malls. Brown is even seen verbally harassing another elderly lady in an attempt to have her sell him her property. When Clara's delivery man is found dead at the ceramic shop, things look even more sinister.

I love the setting of Braddock - small tourist town, woods, cabins, shops and homestyle food restaurants. Tammy, Clara, the Sheriff and Zeke the deputy (an old classmate) are characters you can root for. It is a good mystery and I was surprised at the ending.

I have read some of the Jelly Shop series and enjoyed it.

If you are looking for a book or series for a good mystery with likeable characters, check out Donna Walo Clancy.

"About the author:

Donna Walo Clancy (Donna Clancy) lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the U.S.A. She is a single mom of three grown children and happily divorced.

Her first passion is writing. She also loves to read and all kinds of crafting. Flea markets and yard sales can hold her attention for hours.

In her down time, she loves to walk the beach with her dog, Zumiez, and her metal detector searching for lost treasures.

Not holding herself to a single genre, she writes whatever story she feels needs to be worked on at the time. Her favorite genre is cozy mysteries and she has several series on Amazon at the present time; The Jelly Shop Mysteries, The Shipwreck Café Mysteries, and Thelma and June's Great Adventures.

Several standalone books will also be released in the coming year.

You can visit her social pages on Facebook or Amazon. She can be reached at dwaloclancy@yahoo.com."