September 18th's Friday Post

Welcome to this week's Friday Post, where I will be linking up to:

First Line Friday
Friday Book Snippets
Book Blogger Hop

My teasers for the first two will come from Holmes Away from Home by Samantha Larsen.

This is the first in a new series featuring Althea Adler, the daughter of Irene Adler, a legendary character in the Sherlock Holmes cannon.  And yes, this series is Holmes adjacent.  As the first sentence shows:

Stealing from the famous Sherlock Holmes was rather simple, really, Althea Adler thought as she cracked open the safe behind the portrait in his study.

That definitely made me want to read more.

My second teaser comes from 56% into the book.  I think.  I don't remember for sure where it came from, but I had to use this exchange.

“I want the postcard back,” Althea said between clenched teeth, pressing her dagger harder against him. “It’s mine.”
William found himself staring at her plump, red lips. “I’m having a devil of a time trying to figure out if you’re attempting to kiss me or kill me.”

I'll let you figure out what that is all about.

The book came out this week, but I'll be reviewing it on Tuesday as part of a blog tour.  For now, just know I enjoyed it, and come back on Tuesday for my full review.

Let's move on to this week's Book Blogger Hop, shall we?  This week's question is:

If you could recommend one overlooked book, what would it be and why?

I feel like we just answered this question two weeks ago.  So, I'll link to that post for your reference.

For a new book, I'm going to create a theme here.  I've got quotes from a Holmes adjacent book above.  I'm going to recommend Holmes on the Range by Steve Hockensmith.  This is the first book in a series that features two cowboy brothers in the 1890's who, inspired by the stories about Sherlock Holmes, start solving mysteries in the old west.  It's a very fun book with laughs and a good mystery.

Have a great weekend!

Book Review: Thicker Than Water by Liz Milliron (Laurel Highlands Mystery #6)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Sally, Jim, and another good mystery

Cons: Climax tried to do too much

The Bottom Line:

A dead young woman

Sally, Jim both work to solve

Nice series entry

The Young Woman in the Shack

The advantage of falling behind in a series is that you can read books closer together.  Admittedly, I still try to space books out instead of doing a true binge read, but I’m looking forward to my every other month visits with Jim and Sally as I continue Liz Milliron’s Laurel Highlands Mysteries.  And Thicker Than Water was another good book.

For those new to the series, it features Pennsylvania State Trooper Jim Duncan and defense attorney Sally Castle.  When the series started, they had just met, but at this point in the series, they are dating and getting pretty serious.  Along with navigating their relationship, they also have to figure out how to keep their jobs from impacting their relationship when the cases they are working on cross.

When a college student walks into Sally’s office asking for protection from a man, Sally is willing to help.  But the young woman doesn’t give many details before she disappears.

Two days later, Jim is pulled into the hunt for a missing autistic young man.  While the man is found, he is talking about a “sleeping blue lady” he saw in a nearby shack.  Sure enough, there is a dead young woman there.  And it’s the woman that came to Sally for help.  Sally just can’t let it go, so she starts investigating on her own.  Will the two be able to figure out what happened to the victim?

Given the main characters, I’m sure it’s no surprise that the books are more serious in tone than the cozy I often read.  They also tackle some darker subjects.  However, even when a book tackles a more serious subject, it does it with sensitivity and includes only as little detail as needed.

It isn’t long before Jim and Sally start to piece together several motives for the victim’s murder.  I was pulled in and always had a hard time putting the book down.  With both of them sharing viewpoint character duties, we got plenty of twists and plot advancement.  Unfortunately, the climax was a little messy.  All the questions were answered, but the way it came together was a bit more complex than we needed.

On the other hand, I continue to love Jim and Sally.  Their relationship takes another step forward here, and I loved watching those moments.  I’m just as invested in that story arc as I am the mystery they are facing in the current book.  I also appreciated how they both handled this case in regards to their relationship given some of what’s happened before.

I’m glad I’m finally make the time to catch up on this series.  With the great characters and the engaging mysteries, time spent reading these books is always well spent.  Thicker Than Water is no exception.

Check out the rest of the Laurel Highlands Mysteries.

Ornament Review: Cookie Cutter Christmas #15 - Making Stockings - 2026 Hallmark Release

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Another cute scene in a fun frame

Cons: Scenes isn’t obvious at first

The Bottom Line:

Getting stockings set

Creates charming Christmas scene

Does need second look

The Stocking Were Made by the Chimney with Care

It’s fun to see what Hallmark’s artists come up with each year for the series I track.  While I don’t always buy them, I do enjoy seeing the creativity.  One of the most creative is the Cookie Cutter Christmas series, and this year’s entry is another fun one.

Each ornament in the series features a Christmas scene starring a mouse inside a cookie cutter shape.  This year, the shape is a Christmas tree.  The mouse inside?  He’s working on a stocking.  We can already see the red stocking hung by the fireplace, and he’s now working on a green stocking.  It looks like he’s putting the white bow on top.  We can see the fire in the background, and gingerbread walls.  And the mouse has a blue blanket on his lap.  The arms of his chair?  Candy canes, of course.

I’ll admit, I had to look closely at this one to figure out what was going on.  The candy canes looked a bit like the posts on a bed, and the blanket made me think this was a bed scene at first.  But that’s my only complaint.  Once you look closely, you can see the cute scene unfolding.  We’ve only ever seen this mouse by himself, so the idea that he has someone else makes me smile.

While the Christmas tree shape does have a bit sticking out at the bottom, the base is still nice a sturdy.  You can set this out to be displayed if you want.

The loop for hanging the ornament is at the top of the star.  No surprise that it hangs straight.

As always, the back of the ornament features the series marker.  And, in a detail I love, it also includes a handle for the cookie cutter part of the design.

While the scene took a second look, overall, this addition to the Cookie Cutter Christmas series is fun.

Enjoy more of the Cookie Cutter Christmas ornaments.

Book Review: Home Sweet Homicide by Rosalie Spielman (Hometown Mysteries #5)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Compelling mystery with great characters

Cons: Part of Tessa’s character arc didn’t quite work for me.

The Bottom Line:

Wedding meets murder

Plus other complications

In this fun entry

Wedding Complicated by a Dead Ex

Last year, I really delved into Rosalie Spielman’s Hometown Mysteries, enjoying the first four.  Somehow, this year, I’ve let the series get away from me, and I suddenly found myself getting behind again.  So, I picked up Home Sweet Homicide, book five.  I was so glad to be visiting the characters again.

If you haven’t started the series, it features retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Tessa Treslow who has returned to her hometown of New Oslo, Idaho, after getting out of the army.  It means she is able to reconnect with family, but it has also meant seeing more of her ex-boyfriend and some others from her growing up years that she wasn’t so anxious to see again.  And that’s not even to talk about the murders that have happened since she returned home.

Speaking of that ex-boyfriend, Joe Eriksson is getting married to Jessie St. John.  Much to her surprise, Tessa and Jessie have become friends since Tessa returned home, and somehow, she finds herself agreeing to be a bridesmaid.  Everything is looking good two weeks out from the wedding until Jessie’s best friend from high school shows up and starts trying to change all the wedding plans.

But that’s nothing compared to the chaos that happens when Jessie’s first ex-husband is killed, and Jessie just happens to be first at the scene.  Joe, the sheriff, is sidelined in the investigation since he could be another suspect.  While Tessa is warned away by the state detective that comes in to investigate, can she help it if she keeps finding pertinent information?  Will she learn enough to solve the case before the wedding gets canceled?

As I said earlier, it was wonderful to be visiting the characters again.  New Oslo is filled with an assortment of friends and family, and they are an entertaining bunch.  Of course, Tessa is a fantastic main character, and I enjoyed seeing what is going on in her life.  I did have an issue with some of her personal growth here, but maybe I’m just being a guy, and a single guy at that, when it comes to first love.

The mystery was great with plenty going on to keep us guessing.  Yet things made sense when we reached the end.  And there is enough other drama with the wedding and another subplot that my interest never lagged.

I need to make returning to this series a priority.  Fans old and new will enjoy Home Sweet Homicide.

Plan more visits home with the rest of the Hometown Mysteries.

Movie Review: Coyote vs. Acme

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Laughs and fun character moments

Cons: A bit broad overall

The Bottom Line:

Taking on a corp

Looney Tunes humor in court

Goal? To entertain

“How Hard Could It Be to Catch a Bird?”

The first time I heard about Coyote vs. Acme, I was on board.  It just sounded like so much fun.  Then, there was the whole drama with Warner Bros. deciding to shelve it for a tax write off.  So, I was thrilled when I heard that Ketchup Entertainment had bought the film, and I made a point of going to see it in the theater.

While the film is more live action than animated, we do have a good mix of animation in the real world.  And it starts like a classic Coyote and Road Runner cartoon.  Coyote is out to catch his dinner, Road Runner, and his latest Acme products do not work as he envisions them.  When he goes home that night, defeated, he sees an ad from a lawyer who represents people like him, harmed by shoddy products.

So Coyote heads into Albuquerque, New Mexico to hire Kevin Avery (Will Forte).  But Kevin just wants to go for the simple settlement, something that Coyote doesn’t want.  Suddenly, Kevin finds himself going up again his law school nemesis, Buddy Crane (John Cena), in a case that is drawing national attention.  Can he figure out how to win the case?

As I said earlier, this film is a mix of mostly live action with a little animation.  But the animation looks wonderful.  It’s more modern 3D, although they do have some fun nods to 2D animation.  The effects are outstanding.  It’s easy to buy what we are seeing on the screen.  And the human actors do a fantastic job of making us believe this world is real.

And yes, many of the Looney Toons characters show up.  Most have extended cameos to further the story.  This is Coyote’s film, and that’s fine.  But I did appreciate how the rest of the characters were used.

Anyone who goes to see the movie will have fun.  There are plenty of laughs from start to finish.  Yes, most of them are slapstick, but what would you expect?  This is a movie that is having fun, and it invites us along for the ride.  It knows it has one job, to entertain us, and it does it.

It is also refreshingly free of so much of the modern movie agenda.  Yes, the movie is an allegory for one issue (I’m being vague so as to not spoil things), but it’s never preachy about it, and it’s an easy issue to agree with the movie on.  While there is a mention or two of corporations being bad, in this case, Acme is pretty evil, so it works.  Again, the movie is focused on entertaining us.

Yet, it does have some nice, tender moments near the end.  These moments kind of snuck up on me, but they were well earned.

I mentioned earlier that the actors did a great job with the effects of the film.  The acting overall was good.  The characters were fairly broad, but that’s the writing.  Likewise, the character arcs were fairly predictable, but I was having fun overall, so I didn’t care.

Coyote vs. Acme is the light comedy we don’t get much anymore.  It’s not an event movie, but it’s a fun way to spend an hour and forty minutes.  You won’t be sorry you gave it a chance.

September 13th's Sunday/Monday Post

Welcome to this week's Sunday/Monday Post.  I will be linking up to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It's been a hot and humid week here.  Yes, I fully realize that the rest of the country is now laughing at me because what we had wasn't as humid as it gets elsewhere.  But for us, it was humid.  And it was around 100 without the humidity.  This week, it wasn't the dry heat we usually brag about.  Quite a change from the week before when it was chilly, especially when I was out for a morning run.

Work wise, I think I've gotten through all the extra reporting fun.  I have one last thing to get approval for, but that's the easy part.  The hard part is behind me.  Still got plenty to do, but I think I should make my deadlines.

Other than that, not much else to talk about.  My life group met to clean the church this morning.  And as I'm typing this, I got to finish it up so I can get ready to go to game day.  So, shall we get to it?

Joke of the Week:

Why was the robot so tired after his road trip?

He had a hard drive.

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday & Monday - Sunday/Monday Post

Tuesday - Book Review: Belinda Blake and the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing by Heather Day Gilbert

Wednesday - TV Show Review: Happy's Place - Season 2

Thursday - Book Review: The Pie & Mash Detective Agency by J. D. Brinkworth

Friday - Friday Post featuring Home Sweet Homicide

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: Coyote Vs. Acme

Tuesday - Book Review: Home Sweet Homicide by Rosalie Spielman

Wednesday - Ornament Review: Belle V. Holiday

Thursday - Book Review: Thicker Than Water by Liz Milliron

Friday - Friday Post

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

Just two books to talk about this week.

Up first is Art Attack, the third Sherlock Society book for middle graders from James Ponti.  While I don't love this series as much as I do his City Spies series, I still enjoy it.  The book came out on Tuesday, and my preorder arrived on Thursday.

The other book is an ARC of Essentials of Homicide, the third Aromatherapy Apothecary Mystery from Kim Davis.  It actually came out this week, too, but the ARCs came out at the same time, so I snagged one of those.  I'll be reading it soon to review at the very beginning of October.

What I'm Currently Reading:

And I'm reading another ARC.  This one is Mrs. Claus and the Fatal Figgy Pudding by Liz Ireland.  I'm about a third of the way into it, but I probably won't get a ton of reading in this weekend, so I'm hoping to finish it on Monday.  I absolutely love this series, so I'm enjoying catching up with the characters.

Have a great week!

September 12th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Marlow Murder Club – The ladies are back!  It’s been long enough since I read the book these first two episodes are based on that I can’t remember what happened.  But I’m still about half a step ahead of the ladies.  As soon as something gets mentioned, I’ll remember what happens with that clue/development.  I’m enjoying watching the cast back in action.  Their chemistry is so much of the fun.

The Librarians: The Next Chapter (9/6) – I don’t know why it took me so long to figure out the whole nightmare situation.  I’d thought when they first showed up that they would fall victim to whatever was going on, too.  Not as creepy as some of the episodes this season.  And a good cliffhanger for the next episode.  Glad it’s only a day apart.

Marble Hall Murders – Yes, it took me until the end to see the connection between the two stories.  I wonder just how much of the book Elliot is writing is true.  And why is he confessing via the page?  While I’m sad Susan is single again, I’m not surprised.  And I was really happy to be back with her and Pundt as the new story gets going.

The Librarians: The Next Chapter (9/7) – That’s it?  Seriously?  I wondered if they were going this route about the time things took that serious turn, but when we actually got to the climax, it was all just so…anti-climactic.  The ending was just so poor.

The Challenge – Nelson, shut up!  I get that you are upset and frustrated.  But instead of trying to earn the trust of the rookies, you are going to call them out like that and keep picking at them.  Seriously, you are not going to win any of their votes that way.  There are other ways to go about it.  (And I’m just a few minutes into the episode.)  I hate it when a player has to leave due to an emergency.  I’ve heard Cory’s daughter is okay after her surgery, which makes me happy.  I’m very curious where the cliffhanger is going to end things.  Overall, I’m really not liking this captain thing, but it does add to the drama, which is the point.

Totally 90’s House – Both of those master bedrooms looked great when they were finished.  These teams are either getting some help behind the scenes or are much better at this than I’d ever be.  I’d take either one of the finish products, although I do think the right team won.  It was just a little better.

Stuart Fails to Save the Universe – That was interesting.  And, frankly, a little dark.  But there were some laughs.  And I’m curious to see where they are now that they are trapped.  And yes, it was fun to see another recurring character pop up in addition to Penny’s second appearance.  I’m wondering if Amy will get a second appearance before the season is over.  And are the other three in the wings for the season finale?

Anna Pigeon – Really?  They are going there?  I mean, I don’t feel like they had any major plot holes in the episode.  But still, this all feels like a twist in order to have twists.  Now we know they can just randomly make people bad guys.  And I really don’t get where the story with the big bad as even gone at this point.  It’s very disjointed.

September 11th's Friday Post

Welcome to this week's Friday Post.  I'll be linking up this week to:

First Line Friday
Friday Book Snippets
Book Blogger Hop

Friday Book Snippets is the combination of Book Beginnings and Friday 56.  We need to share two snippets, the first from the beginning and the second from somewhere in the book, not necessarily from page 56 or 56% into the book.  It's co-hosted by Head Full of Books and Bemused and Bookish.  Thanks for keeping this going, ladies!

We will see if I stick to page 56/56% for my second snippet.  I always liked that it focused me as I looked for that second teaser.  Of course, sometimes, there wasn't much to choose from.  I suspect I'll probably start with those pages, but expand out if needed.  My approach may change as I get used to the new rules.

So, let's get to it.  My teasers for the first two are coming from Home Sweet Homicide by Rosalie Spielman.

This is book five in the Hometown Mysteries.  It's been a while since I read one of these books, so I was happy to dive back in.

Here's how the book begins:

The café was suddenly even colder than usual for a January.

That sounds like bad news, doesn't it?

I read this book a couple of weeks ago, before the change for snippets was announced.  So here's from 56% into the ebook:

Troy ambled up to me. "Tessa. I am shocked, just shocked, to see you here."

"Your sarcastic wit is not appreciated, Mr. Barnes." I shook my head but couldn't keep a small smile away.

A little bit of fun there.

I enjoyed this book.  My review will be up on Tuesday, so I hope you'll come back to read it.

Meanwhile, let's switch over to this week's Book Blogger Hop.  The question is:

How much do online reviews shape what you pick up next?

I'm always a bit embarrassed when I admit they don't influence me that much.  Even with how much time I spend reviewing.  It doesn't help that I don't have a lot of time to spend looking at other book blogs.  I wish I did.  But if I am seeing a book pop up quite a bit, I might give it a more serious look.  It doesn't help that I have a huge to be read pile.  I'm so busy trying to keep up with all of those books I don't have a lot of room for new discoveries.

Have a great weekend!

Book Review: The Pie & Mash Detective Agency by J. D. Brinkworth (Pie & Mash Detective Agency #1)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Two leads in intriguing premise

Cons: Slow and meandering at times

The Bottom Line:

Two fledging PIs

Take on weird first mystery

Wanders bit too much

Even Fledging Detectives Need More Focus

When I heard about The Pie & Mash Detective Agency a few months back, I thought the premise sounded like fun.  Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to be as good as I hoped it would be.

The book introduces us to Jane Pye and Simon Mash, a millennial couple.  Jane has recently lost her job, and she’s signed them up for a beginning private eye class, something Simon is less than interested in.  Nearing the end of the term, the instructor passes out cases for the students to work on.  However, Jane and Simon’s case is a little different.  It’s one their instructor hasn’t already solved.

On the surface it seems simple enough – a man returned home from work one day to discover his front door open and his girlfriend gone.  He was certain she was the love of his life, and he’s equally as certain that something bad has happened to her.  But the police aren’t taken him serious because of the girlfriend’s name.  You see, there have been multiple women with the name Nellie Thorne who have disappeared in this area of England over the decades, so she’s become something of an urbane legend.

But Jane and Simon, well mostly Jane, are determined to show they are taking the class seriously, so they dive into the case.  Is Nellie real?  If so, is she in trouble?

You can see the appeal.  Jane and Simon sounded like a fun detecting duo, and the mystery intrigued me.  I just had to know what was going on.

And I did enjoy Jane and Simon.  They shared time as our third person point-of-view characters, which allowed us to really get to know them better.  While at times they did seem to lean a little too hard into millennial stereotypes, they grow over the course of the book, which I appreciated.  They brought some humor to the proceedings as well.

It was mostly the mystery that let us down.  Now, let me be clear.  I expected that Jane and Simon would take some detours and hit some road blocks along the way – more so than in a typical mystery novel.  It’s part of the premise.  The problem was they spent quite a bit of time on some of these detours and even a side quest.  The uneven pacing was frustrating at times.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the characters we met along the way were interesting.  And the book did build to a logical, suspenseful, and fun climax.  It just had some fat it needed to trim along the way.

I’m not sorry I picked up The Pie & Mash Detective Agency.  But I probably won’t be moving on to their next case when it comes out next year.

TV Show Review: Happy's Place - Season 2

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Lots of laughs with some great characters

Cons: One ongoing storyline I wasn’t a fan of

The Bottom Line:

Return to the bar

Filled with much laughter and heart

Strong second season

“You’ve Created a Monster.” “My Work Here is Done.”

The first season of Happy’s Place quickly became my favorite sitcom currently on the air, so I was anxious to see how things developed in season two.  Fortunately, the laughs and character relationships that I loved in the first season continued to make me laugh.

Happy’s Place is the name of a bar in Knoxville, Tennessee.  It is now run by Happy’s daughters, Bobbie (Reba McEntire) and Isabella (Belissa Escobedo).  Of course, Bobbie didn’t know about Isabella until after Happy passed.  Despite the rocky start that surprise gave Bobbie, the two new half-sisters have started learning how to get along and run the business well.  Rounding out the staff at the bar (and the cast), we have bartender Gabby (Melissa Peterman), cook Emmett (Rex Linn), server Takoda (Tokala Black Elk), and the bar’s accountant Steve (Pablo Castelblanco).

This season starts off focuses on Bobbie’s relationship with Emmett.  With a nudge from Isabella, they finally start dating.  Unfortunately, Emmett has a secret that might destroy their budding romance if Bobbie finds out.  Elsewhere this season, Isabella gets an idea to open an alcohol-free speakeasy upstairs from the main bar.  Gabby’s mother (played by Jane Lynch) comes for a visit.  Takoda’s band gets booked at the bar.  And Steve discovers that AI might be better at his job than he is.

The one ongoing storyline I didn’t care for involved Gabby’s continued interest in becoming a single mother through insemination.  Yes, I’m old fashioned enough to think that kids should be raised by two parents in a married relationship.  Having said that, I did still find the episodes focusing on this to have laughs and great character moment.

And that’s why I love this show.  These six characters, and actors, play off each other perfectly.  They are building on the chemistry we saw in the first season.  The laughs flow freely, and the more serious moments hit exactly as they should.  And yes, that means the acting is great.

This is even more impressive when you pay attention and realize that there are several episodes this season without any guest stars.  It’s only these six characters making us laugh as the story unfolds.  But if you aren’t watching for it, you won’t notice.

Having said that, a pretty important guest star did pop up this season.  JoAnna Garcia Swisher appears in an episode.  And yes, there are some jokes with a wink to her earlier role as Reba’s daughter on Reba.

For years, I’ve been saying I was going to go to a sitcom taping, and I finally managed to do it last October.  I went to a taping of an episode of this show.  Specifically, I went to see episode 11, “Dart to the Heart.”  It was a lot of fun, and that episode will probably always be a favorite.  I’m not alone since it seems to have gotten a good rating at IMDB.

Overall, there were eighteen episodes in season two.  Almost as many as a traditional order of a sitcom.  And it worked for this show.  It allowed time for several storylines to unfold and some fun random stand-alone episodes as well.

If you are looking to laugh at a traditional sitcom, Happy’s Place is the show for you.  And if you are already a fan, you’ll find season two continues the fun.