January 2021's Reading Summary

Welcome to February.  2021 is going quickly, isn't it?  Time to take a look at what I read this month.

As always, the links take you to my full review.  I got the index updated this month.

All ratings are on a scale of 1 (bad) to 5 (great).

 

City of Schemes by Victoria Thompson (Counterfeit Lady #4) – 4

Reformed conwoman Elizabeth Miles is getting ready for her wedding to Gideon Bates.  They have tried to keep their engagement quiet, but it still shows up in the papers.  That brings Oscar Thornton back into their lives, insisting that Elizabeth refund the money that he feels she owes him.  Can they stop him once and for all?  Meanwhile, Gideon has reconnected with one of his friends who has returned home from World War I.  Logan Carsten had become engaged to a young woman before he left, but he fell in love with someone else while stationed in France.  He intends to honor his engagement, but then, he hears from this Frenchwoman asking for his help in coming in America.  Elizabeth thinks something more is going on.  Can she also help Logan?

If you haven’t read this series yet, I recommend you read it from the beginning.  This book includes some call back to earlier adventures as well as a major spoiler for the previous book.  All of that is wonderful for fans, however, as it allows the characters to grow in some great ways.  I love Elizabeth, Gideon, and the rest of the regulars, so I enjoyed spending time with them again.  Since this is more a caper than a traditional mystery, I enjoy watching the plot unfold in different ways, and it kept me engaged the entire time.  I did have an issue with one part of the climax; if Elizabeth’s motives for her actions had been built into the story a bit more, I probably would have been okay with it.  I also enjoyed the humor early in the book.  Once again, author Victoria Thompson has written a book that pulled me in and only let me go when I reached the final page.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

 

Hitting the Books by Jenn McKinlay (Library Lover’s Mysteries #9) – 4

Spring has arrived in Briar Creek, and it’s such a beautiful day that Lindsey Norris can’t help but spend a few minutes looking out the window of the library.  However, what she sees is someone hit tennis coach Theresa Huston and then drive off.  It sure seemed to Lindsey that the car sped up as it approached the crosswalk.  When the investigation points to the library, Lindsey can’t help but get involved.  But was this a case of negligent driving?  Or was it attempted homicide?

The book does a good job of slipping us back into the world of the series while also setting up the mystery.  However, I did feel the pace lagged a bit in the middle before wrapping the major questions up with the climax.  A couple things could have been explained better, but they were minor.  On the other hand, I loved how the library came into play in the plot.  We don’t see as much of the series regulars, but that allows us to really get to know Theresa and those in her life, which I enjoyed.  Plus, we get some good development for Lindsey and Sully.  The book has the usual classic book discussion questions, craft, and three recipes at the end.  Fans will enjoy this book; I know I did.

 

Quicksand by Gigi Pandian (Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries #3) – 5

It’s been five months since we last checked in with Jaya.  In that time, she hasn’t heard anything from Lane Peters.  She’s not sure if she should be worried or hurt by his silence.  That changes when she gets a plane ticket to Paris along with a note from Lane saying he’s found something connected to the East India Company that he thinks she’d be interested in.  Intrigued, she arranges for some time off work and heads over to France.  Only, when she arrives, nothing is as she thought it would be.  What has Jaya gotten involved in now?

I regret that it has taken me so long to return to Jaya’s world, but I’m glad I finally made the time.  This series is a cross between mystery and adventure, and I love watching the plot unfold.  It kept me off balance in the best way, and I was glued to the page from beginning to end.  Jaya and Lane are the only returning characters who get much page time, and I enjoyed watching their relationship grow.  The book is filled with colorful new characters that I absolutely loved.  As always, we get a little bit of India’s history along with the story, and I appreciate that aspect of the series.  If you are looking for a page turning good time, this is the book to pick up.

 

A Batter of Life and Death by Ellie Alexander (Bakeshop Mysteries #2) – 4

It’s autumn, which means that tourist season is winding down in Ashland, Oregon.  Fortunately, The Pastry Channel has come to town to film the newest season of Take the Cake.  They’ve asked Jules Capshaw to use Torte’s kitchen as a location some of the contestants use to prepare their pastries.  Then they ask Jules to be a last-minute contestant.  She’s thrilled until she finds Chef Marco, one of the other contestants, dead before the first day of filming.  Since she is part of the show, she can’t help but learn things about her fellow contestants.  Can she figure out which one is a killer?

It’s been too long since I read the first book in the series, but I was quickly back in Jules’s world with this fun second in the series.  The pacing was a bit off at times, but overall there is an enjoyable mystery with plenty of secrets for Jules to uncover.  The suspects are good and do their part to keep us guessing.  Jules has some personal stuff she is trying to work through, and I enjoyed seeing the growth in her here.  This book really made me want to visit Ashland at some point in the future.  We get seven recipes at the end for a wide variety of things.  It’s easy to see why this series is so popular.  I need to pick up the next soon.

 

The First to Lie by Hank Phillippi Ryan – 4

As this book opens, we meet two women.  Nora has just taken a job as a sales rep for a Boston based pharmaceutical company.  However, she is not that interested in selling the product.  Instead, she is keeping her identity a secret so she can try to find some kind of dirt on the company.  Meanwhile, Ellie is a reporter who has just gotten a job at a Boston news station that is about to relaunch itself.  She is planning a story on the same pharmaceutical company, but she is having trouble getting sources to go on the record.  But in a world where everyone is lying, who can be trusted?

This book is a twisty thriller, and the less you know going into the story the better.  Once again, Hank Phillippi Ryan has concocted a story that kept me engrossed from start to finish.  Along the way, we get the story from several different points of view and in two distinct timelines, but it was always easy to follow what is going on, and all that information came into play before the story was over.  I liked and sympathized with most of the characters.  There was one character I found very annoying.  We were supposed to find her annoying, but even so, she bugged me.  I did feel like the timeline was a little off in one part, and I believe there was a continuity error as well.  Overall, these are minor issues as I enjoyed the book while I raced to find out what was going to happen next.

 

The Broken Spine by Dorothy St. James (Beloved Bookroom Mysteries #1) – 5

Tru Beckett is the assistant librarian in her small town.  She’s always loved books, so when the town manager comes up with a plan to turn the library into a bookless “technology center,” she does the only thing she can think to do.  She saves as many books as she can to set up in a secret bookroom in the library’s basement.  She and her friends are almost done with their book rescue mission when the town manager is murdered, killed under a shelf of DVDs in the main library.  The police are looking at Tru as a suspect, certain she is hiding something from them.  But in order to keep her secret, and the books, safe, True has to find the real killer.  Can she do it?

As a book lover, I immediately sympathized with Tru in her quest to save the books, and I love how that secret added an extra layer to her motivation to solve the murder.  A couple of times, I thought the plot was slowing down, but then something would happen to jump start it again.  The result was a book I never wanted to put down.  I loved how everything came together at the end.  The characters were all strong, even a couple who only had a few scenes.  This is a strong, fun debut, and I can’t wait to visit Tru again.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

 

Blood Alone by James R. Benn (Billy Boyle #3) – 4

As this book opens, Billy Boyle is waking up in a field hospital.  He can’t remember who he is or what he is doing there.  Slowly, he begins to piece together things like his name and the fact that he is in Sicily in the summer of 1942.  He also believes he has an important mission to carry out for his uncle, General Eisenhower.  But he can’t remember what that mission is.  However, he knows he has to keep moving, especially when he stumbles upon a dead body.  Following the only clues he has, he sets out across the island, soon joined by a local doctor.  Will he recover his memory in time?

Amnesia isn’t a new plot device, but I thought it was handled well here to set up the story and draw us in.  As Billy relearns who he is, it also offers reminders on what has happened before without saddling us with long exposition.  New readers should be warned that this does contain some pretty major spoilers for the first two books, however.  That information is needed since it allows us to see real growth in the characters; I love how they are developing.  We also see the impact of the war, not only on Billy and the other soldiers but also on the people living in Sicily at the time.  All of this does sidetrack the mystery at times, and I’m torn on this.  I appreciate how rich the book is, but I wish the pacing were a little better.  That’s not to say there isn’t plenty of action; so much so that Billy feels like an action hero at times.  There is a solid mystery in the book with some good twists that took me by surprise.  Overall, this is a great third book in a series I wish I had started sooner.

 

Crime of the Ancient Marinara by Stephanie Cole (Tuscan Cooking School Mysteries #2) – 3

After a month of hard work, Nell Valenti is ready to oversee the opening of Villa Orlandini as a cooking school lead by the famous Chef Orlandini.  In fact, the first group of Americans are arriving at the Tuscany villa in just a couple of days.  Nell is hoping that the worst of her problems will be Chef’s broken arm, a bocce ball accident.  But then the guests arrive, and they aren’t what Nell is expecting.  They seem to be a difficult lot.  When one of them is poisoned by Chef’s famous marinara, Nell realizes she has real trouble on her hands.  Can she figure out what is going on?

While I did struggle with some things in the first book in the series, I still enjoyed it.  Unfortunately, those same issues are present here.  The most prominent is Nell’s struggle with Italian.  While we always know what is going on, it is presented in such a way that it keeps us out of the story.  It’s a shame because I do like the returning characters, and the suspects grow as the story progresses.  The mystery takes a while to truly get going, although we are meeting suspects.  It’s a shame the pacing isn’t better since there is a good mystery buried in the book.  There was a major editing error, as well, that resulted in a character being in two places at once.  The book left me craving Italian food, so the recipes at the end are a nice bonus.  The first book had its fans, and they will enjoy this entry as well.  But if you struggled with the first one, you’ll struggle with this one.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

 

A Pairing to Die For by Kate Lansing (Colorado Wine Mysteries #2) – 5

Reid Wallace’s estranged family has come for a visit to Boulder, Colorado, and Parker Valentine is hoping to make a good impression on her boyfriend’s family.  However, things aren’t going well as Reid’s family is constantly judging everything she says as not being up to their standards.  Never mind their opinions of her wine.  The visit is interrupted when Reid is arrested for murder.  Oscar, the sous chef at Reid’s restaurant and his long-time friend, was murder behind the restaurant, and the police are certain that Reid did it.  Parker doesn’t believe that Reid is capable of murder and sets out to figure out what really happened.  Can she free her boyfriend from jail?

The first in this series was one of my favorite books from 2020, so I had high hopes for this one.  I’m pleased to say I enjoyed it.  There is plenty of conflict in this book to keep us hooked.  I did think the pacing started to slow in the middle, but about the time I thought that, it picked up again and kept going until we reached the end.  The characters are still rich, and I appreciated the growth in their relationships, while the new characters fit perfectly into Parker’s world.  For those interested because of the wine theme, there are plenty of scenes in Parker’s winery.  I’d forgotten that this series is written in the present tense, which I don’t mind once my brain adjusts.  There are three delicious sounding recipes with suggested wine pairings at the end of the book.  If you haven’t started this series, you need to fix that.  If you’ve read the first, this book will please you.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.