May 31st's Weekly TV Thoughts

The Librarians: The Next Chapter (Sunday) – Since I liked the original back in the day, I had to give this one a try.  There were lots of fun lines, and I enjoyed the callbacks to the original characters (plus seeing Jake again).  But I’m not as invested in the characters yet.  I realize that’s asking a lot of a pilot, especially since the chemistry of the original team was one thing I liked.  So I’ll give it longer.  I do think there’s potential there.

Lego Masters – I knew this was going to be a non-elimination week.  I’m just surprised they did it so soon.  I don’t think they’ve ever done one where the teams partnered up.  Which makes sense.  How do you penalize for a poor team up?  I know other shows do it, but I’m glad Lego Masters doesn’t.  Some pretty amazing and creative Lego cakes. Not sure any looked delicious to me, but I was impressed at the ideas they came up with.  And we got to know the rest of the teams a bit.

The Librarians: The Next Chapter (Monday) – Not quite as fun as the first episode.  Maybe because the character growth/lessons seemed a bit obvious/predictable.  Still, it was fun.  I wasn’t expecting the ending coming, and it was brilliant.

Destination X – I was excited when I recognized Josh.  That didn’t last long.  I feel sorry for the contestants – a trip around Europe, but they get to see none of it.  I’m not sure how much of what happened was Rick being deceitful or just not knowing where they were.  I’m not sure I’m really hooked yet, but I will keep watching – at least for now.  It is summer with little on, after all.

Movie Review: Diagnosis: Murder - Diagnosis of Murder

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Dr. Mark Sloan, ending is clever

Cons: Fans will find it so different from the series we got.

The Bottom Line:

Mark’s first solo case

So much changed before series

Interesting watch

“This Isn’t Going to Become a Habit, Right?” “Oh, Absolutely Not.” “Why Don’t I Believe You?”

When I started watching through my Diagnosis: Murder DVDs a few years back, I decided to save all the movies until I’d finished the series even though the first three were prequels.  Which is why I am just now watching Diagnosis of Murder, Dr. Mark Sloan’s first chance to star in a mystery.  Fans will find it a mixed bag.

If you aren’t familiar with the origins of the series, Dick Van Dyke introduced Dr. Mark Sloan in an episode of Jake and the Fatman, the only episode of that show I’ve seen, in fact.  From there, CBS aired the three movies I mentioned before deciding to start the series.  So, you could consider this episode the pilot for the show.

Oh, but what a strange pilot this would be for the fans.  It originally aired in January of 1992, and the only things that held over to the series are that Dr. Mark Sloan is a medical advisor for the local police.  And that his son, Steve Sloan (played by Barry Van Dyke), is a detective.  Oh, and Mark works for Community General, the same name the hospital has for the entire run of the series even though the outside looks very different as the series goes along.

The differences?  We do meet Dr. Amanda Bently, but she is played by Cynthia Gibb.  The other young doctor is Dr. Jack Parker, as played by Stephen Caffrey.  (His character would become Scott Baio’s Dr. Jack Stewart.)  We also have an administrator and a nurse/secretary for Mark, but they’d both be recast and renamed before the series started.

Then there’s the location.  We never get an exact location for this story, but we do see some British Columbia license plates in one scene.

The mystery?  It involves a friend of Mark’s, Nick Osborne (Bill Bixby), who is accused of killing his boss, the head of a media conglomerate who is about to sell everything.  It’s a pretty good mystery that incorporates some medicine along with the regular clues.  We also get a storyline about a boy who might need some major surgery.

The story itself is fine.  It’s engaging and I thought how things ended was clever.  I found the who a little obvious and the pacing was a little uneven.  It felt like the writers were used to writing for an hour show instead of a two-hour TV movie.

Obviously, for fans of the series, this is going to be a major shift from what we are used to.  But it’s still fun to see an early take on the character and franchise we love.  Steve is still a bit of a blank slate, but we can see the backbone of the relationship he and Mark would share on the series.

But what’s fun is seeing Mark.  He’s already very much the character we’d come to know and love.  We first see him roller skating when we first meet him, and there’s a great scene with that later.  Yet another sub-plot involves him trying to learn how to tap dance.  Yep, this is Dr. Mark Sloan.

Honestly, knowing the rest of the cast got replaced is a little sad.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the characters and actors we got in the series, but I’d be curious to see how these characters as presented here would have progressed in a series.  Basically, it’s like to see the alternative timeline where no cast members or characters were replaced.  We can do both, right?

I’m not sure how much any of these movies are aired in reruns or streamed, but if you can find Diagnosis of Murder, you’ll find it interesting to watch.  It’s a bit of a slow start to what becomes a fun franchise.

On DVD, this movie is part of the Diagnosis: Murder Movie Collection.

May 30th's Friday Post

The weekend's almost here!  But first, time for this week's Friday Post.  I'll be linking up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday Post
Book Blogger Hop

My teasers this week are coming from Home is Where the Murder Is by Rosalie Spielman.

This is the second book in a series about a retired Army vet who has returned to her hometown in Idaho.  And here's how the book begins:

I could hear the footfalls of my pursuers growing louder. I verified with a quick glance over my shoulder, my heart surging painfully when I saw how much closer they had gotten.
And they were gaining.

That worked to hook me.  I had to know what was going on when I read that.

Meanwhile, at 56% into the ebook, we find this:

"I swear, Tessa. I am a changed man," Nick said, reaching for my hand.

Can Nick be trusted?  I'll leave it for you to find out.

I finished this book about a week ago and really enjoyed it.  I hope you'll come back for my full review on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, let's close things out with this week's Book Blogger Hop:

Have you ever wondered why a passionate book blogger might suddenly stop posting or delete their blog without notice?

I read mysteries.  Of course, I'm intrigued and wondering about something like that.  But I figure they had something come up in their real life.  For those who pay to have their site hosted somewhere, they might not want to pay the fees for something they can't keep up with.  As to suddenly stopping, real life can unexpectedly get in the way of what is essentially a hobby.  It probably wasn't a planned break.  Or the blog is the last thing on their minds, depending on what else is going on.

But yes, I always wonder.

I'm curious what others will say about this one.

Have a great weekend!

Book Review: There’s No Murder Like Show Murder by M. S. Greene (Backstage Mysteries #1)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters in a twisty mystery

Cons: Tasha makes a couple of leaps, but it’s a minor issue

The Bottom Line:

Murder center stage

Who shot the difficult star?

In this strong debut

Local Theater Rocked by Murder

When I realized I’d accidentally bought There’s No Murder Like Show Murder twice (once as a Kindle deal and once in hardcover at Malice Domestic last month), I decided that must be a sign that I should read the book.  I was right to follow that sign.

This debut introduces us to Tasha Weaver who is the head of the costume shop at the Eastbrook Playhouse in a small Connecticut town.  Sadly, the theater has been struggling in recent years, so they have put all their hope in a production of Annie Get Your Gun starring two Broadway legends.

Unfortunately, one of them, Kurt Mozer, has an ego to go with his resume, and he is making life difficult on the rest of the cast and the crew.  Still, his decision to quit a week before the production opens puts the theater in a difficult position.  Then he is murdered on stage when the theater is mostly empty.

Tasha can’t help but poke around a little, especially since she’s connected to the gossip of the theater.  But the more she learns, the more questions she has.  Can she figure out what happened?

Being a fan of theater, I enjoyed this look behind the scenes at a regional theater with a production in trouble.  This is a bigger production than anything I was ever involved in the few times I took part in a play, and I enjoyed the glimpses into what life can be like backstage.

Of course, that world is made more complicated here by a murder.  It’s obvious early on who the victim is going to be, and the book doesn’t waste any time getting to the murder.  From there, we have quite a few suspicious things going on, and I was really kept guessing as I raced to the end.  I did figure things out a little before Tasha, but not long before she did, and I was still a little unclear on a couple of the details until she helped fill them in.  I will say, a couple of times I felt she made some pretty big leaps in logic (that turned out to be correct), but they were minor issues overall.

The cast of characters were great.  Tasha was a fantastic lead we could really sympathize with, and I appreciated the growth we saw in her here.  The supporting players are fun, and I appreciated the character moment one of them got especially.  There’s room for some of the others to be developed more, but they worked for what we got here.  And the suspects were strong and kept me guessing.

There’s No Murder Like Show Murder is a strong debut that cozy mystery lovers will devour.  I hope we get another mystery from M. S. Greene soon.  I’ll be first in line for the encore.

Book Review: Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch #20)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Bosch and the characters; the case from the past

Cons: The modern case isn’t as compelling as normal

The Bottom Line:

A killing for drugs

And fresh evidence; old case

One story struggled

Two Kinds of Cases

I haven’t gotten back to my audio books quite as quickly as I had hoped this year. As a result, I just finally got a chance to listen to Two Kinds of Truth, the twentieth Harry Bosch book from Michael Connelly. While I did enjoy it, I found it a bit more uneven than I normally expect. 

Bosch is still working for the San Fernando police department in a consulting capacity, focusing on the cold cases the department has. However, it’s all hands on deck when a double homicide happens in a pharmacy in town. Bosch quickly determines that the motive might not be robbery but something to do with prescription drugs. 

However, Bosch’s focus is spilt. One of the killers he put away almost three decades ago is trying to get his conviction overturned. He claims that new DNA evidence clears him, which would mean the key piece of evidence against him was planted. Since no one at the LAPD will have his back, Bosch knows he has to clear his reputation himself. But can he fight the DNA results?

Bosch having two cases in a book is hardly new. And, usually, there’s one I find more compelling than the other while still enjoying both of them. Here, there was a big difference for me. I felt like the modern case was too straightforward. The story was more to tie in to the opioid crisis as it was when the book came out in 2017 and Connelly didn’t quite know how to make it as twisty as he normally would. It’s not that it was bad, but it wasn’t compelling. Any time that was front and center, and it got plenty of page time, I was ready for the book to get back to the story I cared about. 

Because what was going on with the old case was very interesting. It presents a bit of a locked room puzzle, and seeing how Bosch worked through what was happening was a lot of fun. It helped that this storyline brought in a couple of the Lincoln Lawyer characters. 

Speaking of characters, we get to see a couple of supporting characters from earlier in the series again, which was great. 

As I was reading this book, I couldn’t help but think about how a book’s frame of a story makes all the difference. I’ve read books where we were certain someone had been falsely convicted of a crime and were working to overturn the injustice. In this case, we were certain Bosch had arrested the right person thirty years ago and wanted to make certain they stayed there. It’s all about how the author sets things up. And how much we trust the characters. 

All the characters here were their usual interesting selves. Bosch did do some things in the middle of the book that I wish he’d stop doing, but I get why he was doing them. That’s a minor issue for me. As usual, I enjoyed catching up with those characters who popped up here. 

Do keep in mind these are police procedurals, so the content is a little more than some of what I read. As long as you know this going in, you’ll be fine. 

As I said, I read this via audio. Titus Welliver is now three books into narrating the series, and I’m getting used to his way of reading to us. I enjoyed his performance. 

Overall, I did enjoy Two Kinds of Truth. Fans of Bosch will be glad they read it. 

Check out the rest of the Harry Bosch novels. 

Book Review: Night of the Living Bread by Mary Lee Ashford (Sugar and Spice Mysteries #4)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Wonderful to revisit these characters in a good mystery

Cons: Mystery could be stronger overall

The Bottom Line:

A well-loved victim

While creating bread cook book

Happy series back

Can Sugar Rise to the Occasion and Find Another Killer?

It’s been years since we had any new books in the Sugar and Spice Mysteries.  With the original imprint that published the series shutting down, I assumed that was all we were going to get.  But a new publisher stepped in to resurrect the series, and I quickly added Night of the Living Bread, the fourth, to my to be read pile.

This series is set in the town of St. Ignatius in Iowa.  Our main characters are Sugar Calloway and Dixie Spicer, best friends who had joined together to create Sugar & Spice Community Cookbooks.  Their company focuses on creating cook books that various community groups can use as fundraisers.  Of course, they seem to find themselves in various mysteries along the way.

As this book opens, Sugar and Dixie are working on a new project for the Jameson County Historical Society.  It’s a cook book focused on various breads.  It may sound a little narrow, but they already have several ideas for subcategories, and the pair are excited about it.  Their contact for the project is Marla Mercer.  But Sugar’s appointment one morning never happens since she finds Marla dead on the office floor, a bread knife in her back.  Everyone seems shocked by the murder, insisting that Marla was well loved.  So who would want to kill her?

It may have been a few years since I last visited these characters, but I slipped back into their world easily.  There was enough context to remind me of the characters and their relationships.  And it was great to be back in their world again.  The main cast and their relationships are charming, and I enjoyed getting to revisit them.  The new characters were just as charming – at least on the surface.

The mystery started strongly.  I was intrigued to see what motives Sugar would uncover for this murder.  While I didn’t have all the pieces together before I reached the end, I had figured several pieces out.  And, when I did reach the end, everything made perfect sense.

There are a couple of subplots as well that helped keep my attention as I was reading.

And what kind of culinary cozy would this be if it didn’t include recipes?  Yes, there are bread recipes, 3 of them in fact.  But we also get recipes for a couple of different, and delicious sounding, desserts.

It’s always nice to see a series I enjoyed find a new home and make a comeback.  Fans of this series will be happy to pick up Night of the Living Bread. 

Be sure to check out the rest of the Sugar and Spice Mysteries.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

I’m also reviewing it as part of a blog tour.  Check out the rest of the stops and enter the tour wide giveaway below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Movie Review: The Santa Class

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Some very fun moments

Cons: Too little focus on a core story for us to care

The Bottom Line:

School to train Santa

There is too much happening

So struggle to care

“I Have an Odd Craving for Milk and Cookies.”

Going strictly based on plot descriptions, The Santa Class sounded like something that could be fun.  And there were elements that were fun.  However, the lack of focus really hurt this Hallmark Christmas movie.

Kate (Kimberley Sustad) has just taken over a Santa school from her father.  Yes, North Star Santa Academy does just what it sounds like, trains people to play Santa Claus at Christmas.  It’s been his life long passion project/career, and she’s worked with him to support him, but she really doesn’t have the passion for it.  Factor in that the school is failing, and she really doesn’t know what she’s going to do.

She’s got one class before Christmas this year, and it is make or break.  Desperate, she agrees to let Dan (Benjamin Ayres) help with this group.  He’s been rated the best, after all.  But with the misfit group of Santas they have, do they have any chance of beating their rival?  Oh, and what’s up with the mysterious Nick (Trevor Lerner) the two found on the side of the road?

Yes, this is the first movie I’ve watched this year with the person who is probably Santa trope.  I know it can be overdone, but here I found it lots of fun.

But Nick is just one of the oddball students enrolled in this class.  Probably the most fun for me was Hallmark staple Paul Campbell playing himself trying to get into character for a part.  Lots of great lines and in jokes.

Alone, each of the students had their moments and were fun.  Combined, they were a bit much.  I found their odd behaviors to get old in a hurry.  They also introduced too many people for us to care about and too many story arcs that needed to be followed.  That took away from the main story.

Yes, things were rushed as a result.  I felt like we rushed from one story point to another without time to really see characters react or try to figure out how best to deal with what they were doing.  The end result was that I didn’t care that much about the outcome.

I’m not blaming the actors for this, who all do a good job of bringing their characters to life.  It’s the writing that lets them down.

In the end, The Santa Class definitely had its fun moments, but overall, this is just an average movie.

Memorial Weekend's Sunday/Monday Post

It's the weekend!  Time for this week's Sunday/Monday Post.  I'll be linking up to the usual:

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

Another week without much to report.  The only real excitement is that I have everything off my DVR.  It's been at least a year since that was the case.  I recorded so many Christmas movies this last year (I'm reminded why I never pay any attention to them - there are just so many) it took me until a couple of weeks ago to get through them all.  Granted, there were weeks I didn't watch any, and I was mixing other things in.  Anyway, I still had a few things to watch when I finished them, but it's now empty.  We'll see how long that last, right?  I'm hoping it's for a bit since I have some other stuff I'd like to watch/rewatch on streaming or physical media.

Don't think I'm planning anything special with the long weekend we have here in the States.  But we'll see if inspiration strikes as the weekend progresses.

Joke of the Week:

After wondering all night where the sun had gone, it finally dawned on me.

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: Tremors 4

Tuesday - Book Review: What Comes Around by Annette Dashofy

Wednesday - Ornament Review: A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Thursday - Book Review: Root of All Evil by Liz Milliron

Friday - Friday Post featuring There's No Murder Like Show Murder

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: The Santa Class

Tuesday - Book Review: Night of the Living Bread by Mary Lee Ashford

Wednesday - Book Review: Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly

Thursday - Book Review: There's No Murder Like Show Murder by M. A. Greene

Friday - Movie Review: Diagnosis: Murder - Diagnosis of Murder

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

Got another three books to tell you about this week.

While I was watching the Survivor finale Wednesday, I was going one of my periodic searches to make sure I was up to date on new releases/upcoming releases from authors I like.  While doing that, I discovered that Sandy Dengler had a new release in her Jack Prester series - Big Bend.  I didn't hesitate and bought it that night.  I'm hoping to get to it soon as well.  I like the series and caught up last year.  It will be nice to read one while it is still new.

I also got a couple of physical books.  When I was at Malice Domestic last month, I wound up back collecting their short story anthologies.  (If only I read the short story anthologies I kept buying.)  Anyway, there was one I was missing - Mystery Most Traditional.  Since these are harder to find, I decided to snag it while I knew it was in stock online.

But that led me to buying another book so I could get free shipping.  I chose A Rogue's Company by Allison Montclair.  This is the third book in the Sparks & Bainbridge Mysteries about two women who set up a matchmaking agency in 1946 London.  I really enjoyed the first two, and am looking forward to seeing what happens with the characters next.  In fact....

What I'm Currently Reading:

Friday, I finished Home Is Where the Murder Is by Rosalie Spielman.  This is the second in a series about a woman who has just returned to her hometown after spending 20 years in the Army.  I didn't even think about the fact that I was reading it around Memorial Day weekend, but the coincidence worked out well for me.  I really enjoyed it.  Need to write my review (hopefully this weekend) for posting the first week of June.  Yep, I've started on my June books already.

This means I have just barely started A Rogue's Company by Allison Montclair.  I decided to just go ahead and dive into it right away.  I'm not far enough into it to really have a feel for what the story will be about (I don't often read book descriptions of books I plan to enjoy anyway), so it will be interesting seeing where things go.

That's it for me.  Have a great week!

May 24th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Suits LA – That was at once a satisfying ending to the show and one that makes me want to watch more.  I appreciate that they didn’t leave us with a true cliffhanger.  But I’d love to see all the characters figuring out how to be one big happy merged family.  I hope they would have let the flashbacks go if they got a second season.  Speaking of which, watching Eddie’s murder was heartbreaking.  Even knowing what was about to happen.  Well done writing wise, but hard to watch.  Probably would have stuck with the show, but not sorry that it’s ended.

Lego Masters – So happy this show is finally back.  I was a little more forgiving of the Star Wars theme when I realized they were celebrating a Lego Star Wars anniversary.  I hope they aren’t all promos of franchises/movies (I know we have a Wicked night coming).  Lots of siblings.  I figured out who was going home early since they were the ones in the bottom two we’d spend a little time getting to know.  I feel like half the teams didn’t get their intro yet, but maybe I just wasn’t paying close enough attention.  The winners’ planet was pretty epic.  There were several good teams.  Should be another good season.

Survivor – I was actually thinking when we got to the final four that whoever wound up the single of the duos in the final three would probably win.  Obviously, depending on who three were, it might have played out differently.  I liked seeing Kyle and Camelia have such a frank discussion of that.  It was a refreshing take on things.  I’m glad Kyle won.  I think I would have been okay with any of them, but I liked it.  And it is nice to see someone who turned his life around.

May 23rd's Friday Post

It's Friday.  And it's a long weekend here in the States.  But before we start the relaxing, it's time for this week's Friday Post.  I'll be linking up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

For the first three, I'll be using quotes from There's No Murder Like Show Murder by M. S. Greene.

This is the first in a series set backstage in a theater.  Here's how it begins:

“Stop! Please! I can barely breathe!”

That will catch your attention as the first line of a book, right?

Meanwhile, at 56% into the ebook, we find this quote:

Hilly meowed behind me as I opened my car door, and I turned in her direction. She glanced back and padded along the theater’s rear wall. There was a light coming from inside Arthur’s office.
Just like the night Kurt was killed.

I finished the book earlier this week and really enjoyed it.  I'll be reviewing it Thursday next week, so I hope you'll come back to read more about it.

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

A songwriter composes a song about your love for books. What would the song's title be?

"Here's a Clue, He Likes Mysteries."

Okay, so I'm bad at titles.  But I do love puns, and there's a good one in there.  (Because, you know, there is no such thing as a bad pun.)

That's it for me.  Have a good weekend, especially if you get some extra time off.

Book Review: Root of All Evil by Liz Milliron (Laurel Highlands Mysteries #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong debut mystery novel and leaves me anxious for more

Cons: A few issues, but nothing to truly dampen my enjoyment.

The Bottom Line:

Drug dealer is back

With an attorney murdered

Are they connected?

Drugs and Scandal

Since I’ve enjoyed both of Liz Milliron’s other series, I’ve been meaning to go back and read Root of All Evil, her first novel and the first book in her Laurel Highlands series.  I’ve even had this book for several years.  I’m glad I finally sat down to read this book.

The series centers on Jim Duncan, a Pennsylvania State Trooper in Fayette County, and Sally Castle, an assistant public defender for the county.  Despite the fact that these two would often be on the opposite sides, the two have formed a friendship that has the potential to turn into something more.

As this book starts, rumors that Aaron Trafford is back in the area have reached Jim’s ears.  It’s bad news for sure since Aaron dodged a drug conviction the year before.  He was guilty.  Everyone knew he was guilty.  But somehow, he got off.  Jim wants to get Aaron this time before he gets too established.

Meanwhile, Sally walks into work on a Monday morning to find one of her co-workers dead, shot in his office.  Colin had been acting squirrely all weekend, but what was he involved in?  Determined to find out, Sally steps outside of her job to poke around.

As the cases begin to converge, Sally becomes even more involved, much to Jim’s dismay.  Will the duo figure out what is going on?

As I said earlier, I’ve enjoyed Liz’s other books, so I was expecting to enjoy this book when I sat down to read it.  I did find a couple of things that bothered me, but they might be my fault as much as the book’s fault.

The book started well, not wasting too much time on the set up before we are really plunged into the mystery.  However, I did feel the pacing was a bit uneven in the middle before picking up again as we raced toward the climax.  But that might be me.  Real life got in the way of my reading and kept me from reading at my normal pace, so that might be why it felt this way to me.  Either way, I appreciated the logic of the climax even if it required the characters to act in a way I didn’t feel was the smartest.

I knew there were some short stories with these characters, but I didn’t investigate where they fell into the series chronology before picking up this book.  Turns out, they take place before this book.  As a die hard read in order person, I should have investigated just a bit more.  However, a bit more of an introduction to the characters would have been nice here.  I felt like we were thrust in with little context at the beginning of the story.  Still, you can bet I will be getting that short story collection, Murder Most Scenic, and reading it soon.

That’s not to say I didn’t get to know the characters and their relationships as the book progressed.  The story is pretty much split between Sally and Jim’s points of view.  The changes are always easy to identify, which I am grateful for.  This allowed us to get to know both of them really well, and I do like them both as characters.  I’m rooting for them to get together already.  The rest of the characters are also well developed based on how much page time we get.  I’m curious to see who will become series regulars and who were just introduced for this book.  I have a few I’m not sure about, although I wouldn’t mind seeing them again.

Liz is good friends with Annette Dashofy, and Annette has borrowed Jim Duncan in a couple of her Zoe Chambers Mysteries.  A significant part of the last book in that series takes place here, as well.  Sadly, that’s my only real knowledge of this part of the country, but I enjoyed getting to visit it in back to back books since it made it feel like I was in more familiar territory.

This is a police procedural, so it has some more content and a darker tone than some of the books I read.  Know that going in and you should be okay.

I’m glad I finally got a chance to visit the Laurel Highlands and officially meet Jim and Sally.  Hopefully, it won’t be too long before I get a chance to visit them again.  If you are looking for a good first novel, you’ll be glad you picked up Root of All Evil.

Visit the rest of the Laurel Highlands Mysteries.

Ornament Review: A Partridge in a Pear Tree - 12 Days of Christmas #1 - 2024 Hallmark Release

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great looking first in a 12 Days series

Cons: Size (and related price); timing

The Bottom Line:

Starting song again

Partridge with papercraft twist

Bit big but looks good

A New Take on the 12 Days Begins

I really enjoyed the 12 Days of Christmas ornament series that Hallmark ended in 2022. Since they had just stopped that one, I was surprised when they started a new one in 2024. I figured they let a few years go between them, right? Still, I was intrigued and kept looking at the first one before snagging it during the after Christmas sales. 

No surprise, they started with A Partridge in a Pear Tree. Where else are you going to start? However, instead of being just a representation of the bird, this series is going to be a papercraft series. 

As such, the partridge is front and center in the wooden frame. He’s sitting on a branch of the pear tree, and we see leaves, flowers, and a couple of pears. Behind him, we have lines of music. No words on this side, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the notes were the right notes for the song. On the bottom of the frame was have Partridge in a Pear Tree. There are also little decorative holes up at the top that let in light.  I bet that looks great with Christmas tree lights shining through.  Up on top, there a 1, just in case you don’t remember which day it is.

Turning the ornament around, you’ll find that they’ve put the first verse of the song there.  And, of course, the series marker is back there as well.

I liked the looks of this ornament right away. Papercraft is a decorating fad right now, but I am enjoying the look, and this ornament is no exception. The predominant colors of tan and green go well together. It’s a bit stylized, but it works. And it’s not like the last series wasn’t stylized. I knew I was in trouble the more I looked at it because I really did like it. 

The main reason I didn’t buy it before Christmas was the size. This is larger than Hallmark’s typical ornament (although they are adding more and more of these larger ones each year). And it is priced to match. It’s hard to justify that because of the limited real estate on my trees. Heck, most Hallmark ornaments don’t get displayed each year. 

But, when I found it after Christmas, I just couldn’t resist. Does this mean I’ll keep buying the series? I don’t know, but I do like the looks of next year’s piece. 

The ornament is thick enough to stand if you set it out. But it really does cry out to be hung. 

The ornament comes with a green ribbon already attached on the top.  Given the shape of the piece, it’s no surprise that the ornament hangs straight. 

If you are looking for some 12 Days of Christmas themed ornaments, you should give this series a look. I think you’ll be happy with this version of A Partridge in a Pear Tree. 

Here are more of the 2024 12 Days of Christmas ornaments.

Book Review: What Comes Around by Annette Dashofy (Zoe Chambers #13)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters and mystery to pull you in

Cons: The cons never came around

The Bottom Line:

Confronting Davis

How does a murder tie in?

Always excellent

We’ve Been Waiting for This

An ongoing subplot for the last few books in the Zoe Chambers Mysteries has been the obnoxious Dr. Charles Davis.  When I learned that his contentious relationship with the main characters of the series would feature prominent in What Comes Around, the thirteenth book, I couldn’t wait to read it.  I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest.

If you haven’t yet checked out this series, Zoe started out as a paramedic, but she is now the coroner for Monongahela County in Pennsylvania.  She is married to Pete Adams, the Vance Township police chief.  And Dr. Charles Davis?  He’s Zoe’s chief deputy coroner, a job she gave him in hopes of creating some peace but has turned out to be nothing but a nightmare for her.

This book opens just days after book twelve ended, which makes sense.  Helpless ended with Zoe deciding to finally stand up to Dr. Charles Davis publicly.  But before she can line everything up to fire him, Pete and Zoe are called to scene of a homicide.  A woman has been brutally murdered in a hotel room.  The surprise is that the victim was Davis’s ex-wife who came to the area to tell Zoe something.  What was it?

I’m usually hooked pretty quickly when I pick up one of author Annette Dashofy’s books.  I felt like this one hooked me even faster.  It helps that we are able to jump into this story right away.  We know the major players already and are already invested in the coming conflict.  It might also help that I just read the last book a couple of months ago, so things were still fresh in my mind.

Which brings us to reading in order or not.  Yes, you get enough background that you could jump in here if you wanted to.  But, as I usually say, the characters and their relationships will mean that much more to you if you have read them in order.

Anyway, the plot is strong as always.  Things unfold in a way that just keeps raising the stakes for the characters and pull us further into the book.  Honestly, any time I had to put the book down, it was a struggle.  The climax was great, and yes, everything made perfect sense when we got there.

As I always point out, Pete is just as much a main character as Zoe is.  The story unfolds from both of their points of view, which helps raise the suspense at times and gives us a better view of the action at all times.  The shifts are always clearly marked and easy to follow.  At this point in the series, they are newlyweds, and I enjoyed seeing their relationship here.  We don’t get to see all the regulars, but we see enough to make this book feel like home.  And the new characters are just as real as the characters we’ve gotten to know over the course of the series.

Given what our main characters do, this isn’t one of my cozy mysteries.  They are definitely darker.  I promise you, they are worth it.  As long as you are in the proper mood when you pick up one of Annette’s books, you’ll find it is well worth the ride.

Once again, Annette has borrowed a character from her friend Liz Milliron’s Laurel Highlands series.  Fans of that series will enjoy seeing Jim here.  Me?  I’m actually about to read the first in the series, and I’m looking forward to meeting him on his home turf after getting to know him here.

Annette has announced that this book marks the end of the Zoe Chambers series.  (Sob!)  However, that’s only because she is moving on to other characters and other series.  It’s hard to be too upset when a series gets this many books.  And she hasn’t ruled out coming back to the characters in the future in she finds more stories to tell with them.  While there are definitely some things I’d like to see explored in future books, I’ll be happy with where things ended if this is the final book.

If you are a fan still catching up, you’ll devour every page of What Comes Around.  If you aren’t a fan yet, that needs to change.  Meet Zoe and Pete today, and you’ll find yourself hooked before you know it.

Enjoy the rest of the Zoe Chambers Mysteries.

Movie Review: Tremors 4 - The Legend Begins

Stars: 3 out of 5 (for fans)

Pros: Second half, jokes for fans

Cons: Very low budget effects, only for fans

The Bottom Line:

First creature attack

Movie overcomes first half

Still only for fans

“Do You Want Me to Strangle Him?”

It had been a while since I’d seen a Tremors movie.  And even longer since I recorded the fourth one from TV.  Obviously, I’m not a diehard fan of the franchise, but I was curious enough about the movie to finally sit down and watch Tremors 4: The Legend Begins.

This movie takes us back to 1889, 100 years before the events of the first film.  The town of Rejection, Nevada survives because of the nearby silver mine.  However, when something starts attacking and killing the miners, people start to move away.

And so, the mine’s owner, Hiram Gummer (Michael Gross) shows up to find out why no one is working his mine any more.  It isn’t long before he sees the problem himself.  Will his plan to hire a gun slinger help defeat the creatures?

I’ll admit, I wasn’t that excited about the idea of a prequel.  Maybe that’s one reason why I put the movie off for so long.  And yes, I did find parts of it slow as the characters had to relearn everything we already knew.  A bigger question for me is why we would want to go back in time.  Other than to keep the setting of Perfection since the location is as tied into the franchise as the creatures themselves.

Speaking of whom, we see a younger version of the life cycle that’s new here, but most of the time, we are dealing with the classic creature.  Which made me very happy.  All the life cycles were getting a bit ridiculous.  The characters also don’t call them graboids.  I kind of like the name they are given – dirt dragons.

Those familiar with the franchise will immediately pick up on Hiram being the ancestor of Burt Gummer, played in the rest of the movies in the franchise by … Michael Gross.  I really enjoyed the humor from his character.  He was annoying at time, and he was supposed to be.  But his character arc was great.  Predictable, but great.

Not so great were the effects.  I mean, the effects have always been in keeping with the status as a B movie.  But here they seem to be even worse than normal.  They were a definite flaw as far as I was concerned.

But the third act?  Not only did it feature some smart characters, but it was very satisfying.  Honestly, the movie got better as it went along, and by the second half I was quite enjoying it.

That included great performances by the cast.  Everyone took their parts seriously and made us care for their characters.

And they even fixed a potential plot hole I saw for the series, which I appreciated.

I don’t recommend Tremors 4 if you aren’t a fan of the franchise.  But if you have enjoyed the first three movies, you’ll find something here to make it worth your while.

May 18th's Sunday/Monday Post

Welcome to this week's Sunday/Monday post.  As usual, I will be linking up to:

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

Another quiet week around here.  The weather was pretty pleasant, upper 70's or lower 80's.  Then there's today (Saturday).  It's overcast and cool.  Only supposed to hit the 60's.  But it's going to start warming up again come Sunday.  It'll be downright hot part of the week.

I was thinking about going to Six Flags Magic Mountain for a few hours this morning, but let the weather talk me out of it.  The weather probably would have kept the crowds low, which would have been nice, but I just wasn't feeling it.  Instead, I've had a few lazy hours around the condo, which has been wonderful.

But I am going out tonight.  I'm meeting up with a friend to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.  Looking forward to seeing her and seeing the play.  Yes, I read the script years ago (although I don't remember much about it), but I was always curious to see how they did all that magic on stage.  Hope we can see from our seats.  Didn't splurge and get the closest ones.  Either way, I'm sure we'll enjoy it.

Joke of the Week:

A guy goes into a lawyer’s office and asks the lawyer: “Excuse me, how much do you charge?”

The lawyer responds: “I charge $1,000 to answer three questions.”

“That’s a bit expensive, isn’t it?”

“Yes.  What’s your third question?”

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: The Jane Mysteries - Murder at Moseby

Tuesday - Book Review: Bait and Swiss by Korina Moss

Wednesday - TV Show Review: Extended Family

Thursday - Book Review: The Tale of the Tenpenny Tontine by P.J. Fitzsimmons

Friday - Friday Post featuring What Comes Around

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: Tremors 4

Tuesday - Book Review: What Comes Around by Annette Dashofy

Wednesday - Ornament Review: A Partridge in a Pear Tree

Thursday - Book Review: Root of All Evil by Liz Milliron

Friday - Friday Post

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

Got another three ebooks to tell you about this week.

The first book wasn't on sale.  Murder Most Scenic is a collection of the short stories that Liz Milliron first used to introduce the characters in her Laurel Highlands Mysteries.  I realized when reading the first book (review coming Thursday) that I really wasn't meeting the characters here.  So I snagged that so I can hopefully go back and properly meet them soon.  Of course, I've been saying that for years about reading the first book, so we'll see.

In a somewhat related post, I also grabbed a prequel novel this week.  Exercise is Murder is from Bruce Hammack.  I already had the first book in the series, not that I've read it.  But this was free.  And it's so hard to turn down free.

It's also hard to turn down super cheap.  Murder on the Steel Pier by Rosie Genova caught my attention when it came out.  The story is about a woman who winds up time traveling back to the 1950's and finds herself living as a relative who disappeared.  Oh, and she gets involved in a murder, too.  The premise intrigued me.  And it is only 99 cents, so I snagged it.

As of my typing this on Saturday, it looks like both of those prices are still valid, so if you are interested, go snag them.

What I'm Currently Reading:

I'm working on the audiobook I picked up from the library last week - Two Kinds of Truth by Michael Connelly.  I've got about an hour and a half left.  If I don't finish it going to and from the play tonight, it will be close.  As usual, there are two stories, and I enjoyed one.  The other, I found slow.  But I'll get into that more in my review.

I've just started There's No Murder Like Show Murder by M.S. Greene.  I bought the hardcover and got it signed when I was at Malice Domestic only to realize when I got home that I already had bought it on Kindle.  Oh well.  If you haven't figured it out, I tend to buy Kindle books when they are cheap, so I doubt this was that costly a duplicate.  But I figured that was a sign that I should read it.  I'm not that far into it yet, but so far, I'm enjoying it.

That's it for me.  Have a great week!

May 17th's Weekly TV Thoughts

As with last week, there are some spoilers below.

Tracker – That’s the big reveal?  Sorry, but that was pretty much sharing nothing new.  Going into this episode, I thought I’d be willing to watch at least some of next season depending on what we learned here.  Not really enough.  Yes, I guess I’m very much an impatient person, but I had hoped for more than this by the end of season two.  Meanwhile, I knew the person he was tracking down this episode was dead from the beginning.  At least, here, I felt like it was set up and made sense, unlike some of the random death’s we’ve had all year.

Suits LA – What did we learn in the flashback?  Pretty much nothing.  Some fun moments.  Louis Litt was always a character who could get very annoying in the original Suits, and he was more annoying than entertaining here.  So many jokes they didn’t need to be making.  I hope we get a good enough resolution next week since the show has now been cancelled.

Survivor – You’ve got to feel for Shaheen.  He was voted out by people who trusted him because other people lied to them.  Yes, it’s the game, but it’s brutal at times.  At least he won the reward challenge.  I’m sure he would have preferred to win immunity.

The Amazing Race (Wednesday) – I’m so upset with that cliffhanger.  I need to know if I will be grumbling all through Thursday’s episode or not.  Seriously, Jonathan, take a chill pill!  I just can’t.  I mean, look at how he treated his wife about stepping in front of him in line.  Meanwhile, look at how the other married couple are handling their stress.  They aren’t constantly at each other.  Yes, she’s having to calm him down some, but they are behaving in a much more civilized manner.  If they wind up out, I’m going to be upset.  Meanwhile, I’m curious if the prize for first place this leg was the upgrade, or if all the teams are going to get that.

The Amazing Race (Thursday) – I was hoping that broken tile would be more of a hindrance.  Oh well, at least they weren’t fighting and actually seemed to be supportive.  I found it funny that all the teams paddled through the sailing challenge.  And they all did them in the same order.  The order made sense, and I would have done it that way, too.  But I like a scramble where they don’t know where everyone else is.  Makes it fun for something different.  Of the three teams left, I was happy with who won.

May 16th's Friday Post

It's Friday, so time for another Friday Post.  As usual, I will be linking up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

My teaser for the first three will be coming from What Comes Around by Annette Dashofy.

This is book thirteen in the Zoe Chambers series.  It was fantastic!  I'll admit the teasers don't do it justice, but here's how the book begins:

Lyle Abercrombie followed the aroma of fresh coffee down the staircase of his home, through the living room, and into the kitchen.

As I said, not super exciting.  Especially for a non-coffee drinker like me.

The mystery has started in earnest by page 56, where we find this exchange between two cops:

"When we get back to the station-"
Abby finished his sentence. "I'll dig deeper."

My review will be up on Tuesday.  I hope you'll come back to see my full thoughts.

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

What are some of your favorite books to re-read?

I don't do that much rereading.  I want to, but there are so many new books calling my name.  Among those I have reread and enjoyed over the years (some of which are calling for me to reread them) are:

Trixie Belden (especially book 3, The Gatehouse Mystery)
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Mrs. Pollifax Series (did reread The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax last month and enjoyed it)
The Bronze Bow
The Witch of Blackbird Pond

That's it for me.  Have a great weekend!

Book Review: The Tale of the Tenpenny Tontine by P.J. Fitzsimmons (Anty Boisjoly Mysteries #3)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Laughs and a solid locked room mystery

Cons: Characters a little thin

The Bottom Line:

Duel or murder?

Anty must find out the truth

While we laugh through book

Tickle Your Funny Bone with this Tale

While I’m not getting back to them as quickly as I’d like, I am making my way through the Anty Boisjoly Mysteries. These are books to pick up when you are ready to laugh while working on a locked room mystery, and The Tale of the Tenpenny Tontine is no exception. 

Anty is a young man in 1920’s England. He’s upper class, so he has little more to do with his time than visit his gentlemen’s club. And that’s where he runs into his friend Lager Tenpenny on the day this story starts. It seems that two of Lager’s relatives have just killed each other in a duel. But there’s a family tontine on the line. Essentially, it’s a trust that is set to expire, but they need to know who died first so they know which branch of the Tenpenny family gets it. Anty is gaining a reputation for solving particularly puzzling problems, and so Lager wants his help figuring things out. 

When Anty inspects the scene, he determines that it was murder. Inside a locked room. But who is the killer? And how did they get out of the room?

This is a pretty puzzling locked room mystery. I found the story compelling with enough forward movement and twists to keep me engaged. We do follow a couple of rabbit trails, but they are fun. The solution, when we reach it, is completely logical not only with the who but also the why and the how. 

But these books are just as funny as they are mysterious. They are filled with banter, quick wit, and sarcasm. I laughed out loud many times, starting with the first page, and grinned plenty more. 

The unfortunate side effect is that this makes the characters a little thin. They all tend to sound the same. They have enough distinction to make us care about who done it and to help us keep them straight, but these are not going to be the deep characters who draw you into the story. 

But they don’t have to be. These books are designed to be an homage to authors like P.G. Wodehouse or Oscar Wilde. It’s filled with that dry wit and, I’ll say it again, sarcasm. And I do mean filled.

Basically, this is a case of knowing what you are in the mood for when you pick up a book. If you want something dark or realistic, look elsewhere. But when you are looking for something light and funny with a good plot holding it together, this series is just what you need. 

Given what I said about characters, it’s no surprise that you can read the books in any order. While there are a couple of references to the first two books in the series, there’s nothing spoiler related. And there are so few returning characters, you’ll get what you need to know about their relationships from this book. 

When you are ready to laugh, pick up an Anty book. Whether it’s The Tale of the Tenpenny Tontine or another book that catches your fancy, you’ll be glad you did. 

Laugh your way through the rest of the Anty Boisjoly Mysteries.

TV Show Review: Extended Family - Complete Series

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: A few laughs; growth of one relationship

Cons: Most of the show isn’t funny

The Bottom Line:

Divorced family

Sitcom without many laughs

So you can avoid

“Interesting Idea.  Don’t Just Criticize, Pitch In.  I Don’t Know That I’ve Ever Considered That Before.”  “I’ve Never Seen You Do It.”

My search for a good sitcom brought me to Extended Family early in 2024.  I thought it sounded promising.  From Mike O’Malley, it featuring a family trying to figure out how to move forward from a divorce.  I know, not exactly funny on the surface, but I have seen some great comedies that took off from there.  Sadly, this wasn’t one of them.

As I said, Jim (Jon Cryer) and Julia (Abigail Spencer) have recently divorced.  But, instead of making their kids, Grace and Jimmy (Sofia Capanna and Finn Sweeney) move houses each week, the exes have decided they will move into their old house for their week of custody, moving to their own place on their off weeks.  Oh, and Julia is now engaged to Trey (Donald Faison), the owner of the Boston Celtics.  Rounding out the cast is Jim’s father Bobby (Lenny Clarke).

Honestly, the storylines weren’t that surprising or original.  They dealt with Jim trying to date again and he and Trey learning how to get along in their new family dynamic.  Honestly, I appreciated the growth we saw for both of their characters when it came to dealing with each other.

But that’s the only character growth we got in the course of these 13 episodes.  Anything else was forgotten by the time the next episode rolled around.  I know, nothing new when it comes to sitcoms, but it was so obvious here it made me roll my eyes.  It would have been nice to see a little of it stick.  We also had man childs in both Jim and Trey, leaving Julia to be the long-suffering mature adult.  Seriously, can we let this stereotype go already?  And, I think this was my issue with the lack of character growth – I really wanted to see some maturity from more of the characters.

However, the show suffered from the biggest sin for a sitcom – it just isn’t funny.  The laughs are few and far between.  There were one or two good episodes, and usually there is a laugh in each episode.  But that’s about it.  Maybe it’s because I don’t find the characters that funny.  Or maybe it’s because we’ve seen these storylines before with this show adding nothing original to it character or punch line wise.  But I still go back to my thoughts on modern sitcoms revolving around tone.  I feel like the scripts are winking at us the entire way through – “Notice how funny we are.  Wasn’t that a clever line.  Laugh.”

Going along with that was the laugh track.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a good laugh track, which usually comes from a show that was filmed in front of a live audience.  Somehow, I catch that energy and laugh along.  I know actors talk about feeling that energy from tape night, and I swear some of that magic comes through to my living room as well.  Anyway, I doubt this show was filmed in front of a live audience.  While the majority of each episode is filmed in what could have been multicamera format, we get inserts of the characters commenting to the camera on the action.  I feel like, because of those cuts, it wasn’t filmed in front of a live audience.  But again, I could very easily be wrong.

Since there were only 13 episodes of the show and there wasn’t much else on I was interested in, I stuck with it through the end of season 1.  But I wouldn’t have returned for season 2 of Extended Family.  NBC cancelled it, so it isn’t an issue either way.  If you haven’t watched the show, you really aren’t missing much.

Book Review: Bait and Swiss by Korina Moss (Cheese Shop Mysteries #6)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Characters we love in a great mystery

Cons: Willa does something head scratching early

The Bottom Line:

Willa’s past in town

Who would poison chocolate?

Winning sixth entry

Chocolate and Cheese Make a Deadly Pairing 

If a main character in a mystery series has something interesting in her past, you know that it will eventually show up in the series. That’s the case for Willa Bauer in Bait and Swiss, the sixth Cheese Shop Mystery from Korina Moss. And it makes for another great entry. 

As this book opens, Willa is looking forward to celebrating the second anniversary of her cheese shop, Curds & Whey, in the small town of Yarrow Glen. In that time, she’s come to love the friends she’s made with her neighbors and employees. It’s why she is happy for Hope, who is about to celebrate the grand opening of her rebranded Cakery (a bakery focused on cakes). However, that celebration comes with a bitter surprise for Willa. Hope has teamed up with Chocolate Bliss to offer specialty chocolate. 

Willa knows the two owners of Chocolate Bliss all too well – her ex-fiancé who left her for her ex-best friend. With both of them in town, she is going to be forced to deal with feelings she’d been trying to avoid for years. 

But then someone dies, and it looks like they were poisoned by some chocolates. The question becomes, who was the intended victim? Can Willa figure out what is going on?

Before we get any further, I do need to point at that Willa does something pretty stupid near the beginning of the book. I’m not talking about stupid because you are the character in a book, which I can usually forgive. I’m talking about something that made no sense other than to make her a suspect. As head scratching as it was, it is a minor part of the book. 

And the rest of the book is great. There are many different questions that Willa needs to answer, so there is always something to confuse us. I did feel things got a little over complicated at the end, but ultimately, everything made sense. 

Over the course of these six books, we’ve made some good friends, and I enjoyed spending time with many of them again. The core cast is present, and I love them. It was nice to see some advancement in their lives. We also got to see some characters we haven’t seen much in the last couple of books, which I greatly enjoyed. Naturally, there are some new characters who make for excellent suspects. 

As I always talk about, Yarrow Glen is supposedly in Sonoma County, an area I grew up in in Northern California. It is always nice to return fictionally. 

And if you are expecting some cheese related recipes, you’ll be rewarded. There are three, and they all sound delicious if you love cheese. Which is almost everyone, right?

Bait and Swiss will please fans of the series. If you enjoy a good culinary cozy mystery and haven’t read this series yet, fix that today. 

Be sure to check out the rest of the Cheese Shop Mysteries.