TV Show Review: Step by Step - Season 1

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good laughs and performances, especially from the leads

Cons: Characters are weak cliches much of the time

The Bottom Line: 

New step family

Learning to live together

Needs growth, but still laughs

“We Do Things Together.  We Have Vicious Ugly Fights.”

Step by Step was somewhere in my pop culture subconscious, but it wasn’t a huge part of it.  I was too old to be the target audience, so none of my peers were talking about it.  And it was almost over when I graduated from college and started watching TV on my own.

But, with all the 90’s nostalgia I’ve been getting via podcasts in the last couple of years, I’ve started hearing more and more about it.  I finally gave in and got myself the complete series on DVD, and I’ve been listening to the rewatch podcast two of the stars are doing as I’ve watched season 1.  I’m glad I gave it a shot since I’m finding myself enjoying it.

Stop me if you’ve heard this premise before.  In the pilot episode, we meet a man and a woman who have recently gotten married.  They each have three kids, and everyone is going to have to learn to live together when they all move into one house.

Yes, the premise is very reminiscent of The Brady Bunch.  The wife/mother is even named Carol.  But this is a sitcom from the 90’s, so there is more of a bite to it.  It’s not without good messages and heartwarming moments, but it’s not quite as idealized as The Brady Bunch.

Let’s formally meet the characters, shall we?  The father is Frank Lambert (Patrick Duffy), and his three kids are J.T., Al, and Brendan (Brandon Call, Christine Lakin, and, Josh Byrne).  Meanwhile, Carol Foster (Suzanne Somers) was raising Dana, Karen, and Mark (Staci Keanan, Angela Watson, and Christopher Castile).  But these eight characters aren’t enough.  The first season features Carol’s sister and mother (Patrika Darbo and Peggy Rea).  Plus, pretty early on, we meet Frank’s nephew Cody (Sasha Mitchell) who lives in the backyard in his van.

Over the course of this first season, the new family competes together in the Port Washington Games and goes on a joint camping trip.  Dana sneaks out of the house to see her favorite folk singer, who is appearing in a dive bar.  A television show comes to doing an episode on the blended family.  Meanwhile, Carol gets a new car.  Mark has to deal with a bully at school.  And Frank is less than thrilled when the family gets an invite to join the local country club.

My biggest issue with the first season was the lacks of character development. I get it that we are starting with an insanely large cast, but I feel like we only got to know about half the kids. Aunt Penny and Grandma often just have a few walk on lines. It’s easy to see why they didn’t make it beyond the season 1 finale. And Cody has already devolved into a dumb character. 

We also fall into stereotypes for the characters we do have. This is obvious right from the pilot where Frank and his kids live in the messiest house ever since he’s a single dad. Men can’t clean anything, right? (The fact that my condo could use a good cleaning is beside the point.) Meanwhile, Carol is a hyper organized super achiever. Couldn’t they have found some other characteristics?

And yet, as I watched the first season, I found myself laughing and enjoying the episodes. Yes, the plot lines are familiar to anyone who watches sitcoms, but I’m having fun with it, which is what matters most to me. The insults the characters have for each other make me laugh. The physical comedy is wonderful as well. 

And the acting is great. Patrick Duffy and Susanne Summers are both phenomenal as the leads. The rest of the cast is doing their best with the material they are given. I’m blaming the writing not the acting for my earlier complaints about the characters. And the rest of the cast does get plenty of laughs.

I also appreciated that the family is starting to care for each other. They are far from a cohesive unit, but we get glimpses of the beginnings of those bonds. 

I do have to call out the chemistry between Patrick Duffy and Susanne Summers. You believe their characters are attracted to each other if they aren’t fully in love. The writing for their characters can be a bit risqué, especially for a family show, so keep that in mind. Still, we’ve got much worse on TV these days (or even back then in shows I enjoy).

Season 1 consisted of 22 episodes, what was the standard when this show premiered in the early 90’s. They are preserved in a three DVD set with their native full frame and stereo. The picture can be a little fuzzy at times, especially on modern tv’s, but it works to get the laughs. We don’t have anything in the way of extras. 

It can often be that shows get stronger in seasons two and three. I’m looking forward to seeing if that’s the case here. Because, yes, I was charmed enough by season one of Step by Step that I will continuing on with season two. If you haven’t seen this 90’s sitcom yet, I suspect you will be charmed as well. 

Movie Review: Double Indemnity

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Wonderful acting in a movie that builds suspense well

Cons: A few rushed moments in script and moments of dated acting

The Bottom Line:

Plot to kill husband

Classic movie for reason

Builds the suspense well

“You Want to Knock Him Off, Don’t You?”  “That’s a Horrible Things to Say.”

Being the mystery fan I am, I’ve heard of the film noir classics, including Double Indemnity.  Noir isn’t usually my thing, and, honestly, it didn’t sound that interesting, so I passed on it.  Until this year when I decided to give it a shot.  I should have watched it sooner.

When meet Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray), he is going into his insurance office in the middle of the night, obvious wounded.  When he sits down, he starts to use his Dictaphone to leave a message for his boss about what has been happening over the last few months.

It’s then he tells the story of stopping by the Dietrichson house one afternoon to try to get them to renew their insurance policy.  The wife, Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck) is the only one at home, but there is an instant attraction.

Which is why, when Walter learns how unhappy Phyllis is in her marriage, he begins to come up with ways that they can get her out of it, along with a hefty payment from his insurance company.  Since he works for the insurance company, he knows exactly what they need to do to pull it off.  Can they really do it?

Yes, I’m an accountant, but insurance didn’t strike me as an interesting plot point for the movie.  I should have known better.  The movie doesn’t truly get bogged down in that.  Instead, it uses that to help set up the stakes in the movie, and to keep raising them.

Another reason I didn’t think I’d like the movie is that I don’t like to root for the bad people in a story.  Yes, this is noir, and I suspected where the movie was going to go before I started.  Still, I got so caught up in the story that I was getting worried for the characters in all the right places.  I was conflicted as I was rooting for them even as I didn’t want to be rooting for them.  And I loved every second of it.  The script is brilliant in its reversals, which drew me in more and more as the story went along.

And the acting was wonderful.  I am mostly familiar with Fred MacMurray from his Disney comedies, and obviously, this was a different role from those.  I never struggled to believe his character.  And Barbara Stanwyck deserved her Oscar nomination.  Both of them have very subtle reactions to things that are completely believable and absolutely brilliant.  The rest of the cast is just as strong.

The movie did come out in 1944, and there are some elements that are dated by today’s standards.  The first is that the movie is filmed in black and white like most classic film noir films are.  Don’t let that stop you from what the film.  There were a few elements that felt rushed in the screen play, like how quickly Walter and Phyllis were in love.  I get it, they had to get the characters there to set up the story.  Also, at times the acting was a little over the top.  That was the style of the times, I get it.  Overall, those moments are few and far between.  I still stand behind my praise of the acting.

I don’t know that Double Indemnity is a movie I will watch regularly, but if you are looking for a masterclass in building suspense, this is the film to see.  I wish I’d seen it sooner, and I won’t hesitate to see it again.

Merry Christmas!

No new review today since I usually take today off.  If you celebrate Christmas, I hope you are having a great day with family and friends.  And I hope you take a few minutes to reflect on what Jesus coming to Earth means for us.

Ornament Review: Season's Treatings #17 - Charcuterie Board - 2025 Hallmark Release

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Festive salty treats

Cons: None for me

The Bottom Line:

Lay out salty treats

Diff’rent focus for series

But it’s still a treat

Some Treats for Your Salty Tooth

So far, the ornaments in the Season’s Treatings series have focused on sweet treats.  And, when it comes to Christmas, I usually do think of those sweet treats.  But this year, the series took a turn and is presenting something for those who enjoy salty snacks with a festive charcuterie board.

The board is shaped like a Christmas tree.  While the face of the board is white, it has a fun green border.  Up at the top of the tree, I mean board, we have a spread ball decked out to look like Rudolph complete with a red nose.  His antlers are pretzels and his eyes are olives.  Also on the board, we have a snowman spreader, crackers, a piece of Swiss cheese, and another spread.

The good ornaments in this series always make my mouth water, and this one is no exception.  Obviously, it’s watering for appetizers instead of dessert with this one, but the result is the same.  I love the creativity of the Rudolph ball.  And the rest look good enough to eat.  I have to keep reminding myself it’s fake.

As with most of the ornaments in this series, you can lay it out, but it is fairly flat.  It makes sense given when it is supposed to represent.  But this wouldn’t look that good even as part of a display if it isn’t hanging.

Fortunately, the hook is in the Rudolph spread, and the ornament hangs straight.  It’s looking very good on my tree.

And you’ll find the 17 in a Christmas tree on the back of the ornament.

Those who enjoy salty snacks and have been waiting their turn in the Season’s Treatings series will be thrilled with this charcuterie board.  Since I’m an equal opportunity snacker, I’m enjoying it as well.

Enjoy the rest of the Season’s Treatings ornaments.

Movie Review: Gremlins

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Fun third act

Cons: Dated effects; build up takes too long

The Bottom Line:

An early present

That gets very out of hand

Film slow and dated

“This is Christmas, Not Halloween”

Since I didn’t watch a lot of movies or TV shows growing up, I missed most of the popular 80’s movies.  I heard about them, but I didn’t watch them.  Every so often, I take a chance to go back and watch one of those, and recently, I caught Gremlins.

While an inventor (Hoyt Axton) is out trying to sell his latest gadget, he stumbles upon a shop in an alley in Chinatown.  There, he finds a weird little creature that he is sure his young adult son will love as an early Christmas present.

Sure enough, Billy (Zach Galligan), finds the creature cute.  He starts calling him Gizmo.  His father gives him the three warnings that taking care of Gizmo will require: Avoid light, especially sun light.  Don’t get him wet.  Don’t feed him after midnight.

As you can imagine, those rules get broken.  As Billy tries to figure out what is happening, the new creatures begin to change.  What will happen?

This movie originally came out in 1984, and is rated PG.  The sequel, which came out in 1990, was rater PG-13.  I think that’s probably about the right rating for the movie, so keep that in mind before you go to watch it.

Knowing very little about the movie before I sat down to watch it, I was surprised at just how much the movie was tied into Christmas.  There are carols in the soundtrack.  The third act takes place on Christmas Eve.  There are decorations everywhere.

Despite this, it is definitely not what I would consider a Christmas movie.  Then again, I lean toward the heartwarming movies during that season, not the mayhem we get here.  The gremlins that grow are pretty horrible to look at, for example.  They fit the film, but it isn’t Christmassy.  But I know others enjoy some mayhem with their holiday, so they will probably go for it.

I’m not sure I would quite label this as horror.  It’s more fantasy thriller, at least to me.  But I could see this being an intro to horror film.  Having said that, we do get some deaths.  Nothing too graphic, at least in the TV version I watched.  I can’t imagine there would be in a PG movie.

Overall, I was a little underwhelmed with the movie.  It was obvious to us early on something bad was going to happen, and it took quite a while for that to happen.  Once it does, the movie picks up.  The characters are only okay.  The creatures are the real star, and the characters just serve the plot.

This isn’t a reflection on the actors.  They are under served by the script.

This movie reflects 1984 technology.  For example, the creatures are all puppets of some kind, and we mostly see them in close ups, only occasionally in the scene with the actors.  Their movements are jerky.  Again, I get it, that’s what was available at the time.  But it is certainly dated at this point.

I’m glad I finally watched Gremlins.  And yes, I’m still curious about the sequel (even though it is, you know, a sequel).  But I have no desire to watch this movie again in the future, be it Christmas or Halloween.

Book Review: Five Golden Wings by Donna Andrews (Meg Langslow #38)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great characters, laughs, and Christmas spirit

Cons: Mystery could have been a little stronger, but it’s a minor issue

The Bottom Line:

Two Christmas weddings

Bring chaos before murder

Laughs, holiday cheer

Dueling Weddings and Murder at Christmas

At this point, it’s a tradition for me to read Donna Andrews’s latest Meg Langslow Christmas Mystery in the middle of December. While the mysteries don’t always revolve around the holiday these days, the Christmas spirit is still strong. The latest, Five Golden Wings, is a perfect example of that. 

If you have missed this long running series, it follows Meg and her extended circle of family and friends. They are mostly set is a small college town in Virginia. While this is book 38 in the series, you can mostly pick these up in random order and enjoy time with these characters. 

This book finds Meg and her mother helping to organize two weddings for two of Meg’s younger cousins set to take place the Saturday before Christmas. Unfortunately, these young women are constantly feuding, so the weddings are taking place back-to-back, even though they are sharing the venues. The two brides bring nothing but drama in the days leading up to their events, and that’s before Meg finds the wedding photographer dead. Unfortunately, the suspect list is long, including members of the bridal party. Can Meg figure out what happened?

As you can see, the plot doesn’t really revolve around Christmas. Having said that, I have had friends who got married this time of year, so Christmas weddings are a thing. And the book still infuses Christmas into the story with some subplots and talk about Christmas traditions. At this point, mentioning some of these things are enough to make me smile since they’ve played larger parts in previous books. They feel like my traditions, too.

The mystery itself got over shadowed a bit by the wedding drama. The resolution, while logical was a bit abrupt. 

But I didn’t mind because I was having fun. Any fan of the series will tell you these books will make you smile and laugh, and this one is no exception. Some of the wedding stuff was pure gold. 

And there are the characters. At this point, Meg’s family, at least the ones we see regularly, feels like my family, and it’s so wonderful to spend time around them. The new characters are just as entertaining. There may not be too much growth from one book to the next, but I don’t mind. They work for this series, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Visiting these characters, especially this time of year, is like wrapping up in a warm blanket. If you are looking for a great cozy mystery to enjoy this time of year, you won’t go wrong with Five Golden Wings. 

Here are the rest of the Meg Langslow Mysteries. 

December 21st's Sunday/Monday Post

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

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

This week was definitely better at work. Calmer and I was able to focus on what I needed to. In fact, I even worked on something that I don’t need to do until January!  Hoping to do a bit more of that working ahead this coming week. 

If only the getting ready for Christmas were going as well. I keep finding things to distract me from wrapping presents, like my friend inviting me to join her dinner and games group Tuesday night. Or blog work. But I finished that Friday night before midnight! (It was 11:45).

And on Monday I finally had a plumber come for what I thought was going to be a simple but annoying recurring job. It turned into something major he will have to come back and tackle in January. Which means I will have to take down Christmas decorations as soon as Christmas is over so I can organize some stuff so he has access to what he needs. I’m not looking forward to that at all. I like keeping my decorations up until mid-January before I start thinking about taking them down. I’m just trying to remind myself how nice it will be when they are all down since I dread the undecorating. Which is another reason I often don’t start taking them down until mid-January.

Joke of the Week:

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: The Hunger Games - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Tuesday - Book Review: At Death's Dough by Mindy Quigley

Wednesday - Ornament Review: Deck the Shelves

Thursday - Book Review: Home for the Homicides by Rosalie Spielman

Friday - Movie Review: Meet Me in St. Louis

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Book Review: Five Golden Wings by Donna Andrews

Tuesday - Movie Review: Gremlins

Wednesday - Ornament Review: Season's Treatings #17

Thursday - Merry Christmas!

Friday - Movie Review: Double Indemnity

Saturday - TV Show Review: Step by Step - Season 1

Book Haul:

Despite what I said last week, I’ve got two books to tell you about. Because I got two ARCs. 

The first is Lime and Punishment, the fifth in the Fatal Food Festival Mysteries by Cathy Wiley. This time, the main character is in the Florida Keys. I love this series, so I’m looking forward to it. The book actually came out this week, but I’m going to be reading it for review next month. Which is next year. Crazy to think about, isn’t it?

The other book is Buried in Shamrocks by Lisa Q. Matthews. This is the second in her Irish Bed and Breakfast Mysteries. Appropriately enough, it will come out close to St. Patrick’s Day at the end of February, so I’ll be reading it for review then. I’m looking forward to getting to know the characters a little better. 

What I'm Currently Reading:

I’m actually posting my last book review of the year tomorrow. So I decided to reread some to finish out the year. Specifically, I’m rereading Elizabeth George Speare. I finished The Witch of Blackbird Pond, which I enjoyed all over again. Now, I’m working on The Bronze Bow, which was my introduction to her books. I was hoping to get The Sign of the Beaver in as well, but I don’t get as much read typically when I’m with my family, so I might decide to save that one for later and start on 2026 books. That way, I don’t start the new year stressed about my reading.

And how crazy is it that we are looking at 2026!

Anyway, that’s it for me. Hope you have a Merry Christmas or happy whatever holiday you celebrate. 

December 20th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Percy Jackson and the Olympians – The books can be very episodic, which works well for this form for storytelling.  I know the story moved forward.  I just have to be patient as the quest slowly gets us to the real confrontation.  Not that I didn’t enjoy it.  But it feels like a side quest episode even though we got the information about the prophecy from Luke and made Anabeth question things.

Survivor – I finally figured out one reason why I couldn’t keep the women who wound up in the final three separate in my mind.  They all have names starting with S.  I guess I should have paid closer attention all along.  Pretty good finale, overall.  Entertaining season.  Not sure it was one of the best, but it’s hard to have a bad season of the show.

The Challenge – I fast forwarded through some of those screaming matches.  But I appreciated hearing a bit more about the mini-final.  Wish more people would have fessed up. 

Happy’s Place – I knew what the first twist was going to be, but still enjoyed how it was delivered.  And I really enjoyed how it played out.  It wasn’t quite as predictable as I thought it would be.  I guessed early on where the subplot was going, especially since they’d talked about the guest stars in the ads for this episode.  Still, enjoyed seeing them.  All told, another solid episode.

Movie Review: Meet Me in St. Louis

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Acting, “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”

Cons: Weak story hampered by underdeveloped male characters

The Bottom Line:

Classic musical

Movie did not work for me

Has too many flaws

Romance in the Lead Up to the World’s Fair

I’ve long heard of Meet Me in St. Louis.  Since I love musicals, it was on my list to watch, but when I finally did, I was disappointed.

The film follows the Smith family, starting in the summer of 1903.  They have five kids, four of them girls, and the older two daughters, Esther and Rose (Judy Garland and Lucille Bremer) can think of nothing but the young men they are hoping to marry.

But that’s not all that is going on in their world.  For one thing, St. Louis is getting ready to host a world’s fair.  And, as autumn falls on the family, their father (Leon Ames) has some shocking news.  What will happen to them before they hit spring?

Stories that cover a long period of time need to be very careful as they try to navigate those times jumps.  In this case, the movie didn’t do it well.  Honestly, I was trying to figure out what the central plot of the movie was.  I figured, like many musicals, it was the romance of the two daughters, but when we hit autumn, we get a long sequence on Halloween night involving the two younger sisters (played by Margaret O'Brien and Joan Carroll) that really has little to do with anything else in the movie.  Then there’s the plot set in motion about half way through.  It could have been a great plot twist, but instead, it felt forced into the movie.

Really, it felt more like short stories only connected because they had the same characters.  Which can work, but in this case, didn’t really work for me.

The female characters are certainly the stars of this story, which is fine.  Obviously, I love female driven stories, just look at the many books I read and review here.  However, the male characters were so underdeveloped it hampered the story.  The Smith brother has so little to do I actually didn’t even figure out who he was for a while.  The father is a one note head of the family who will not be questioned.  And the love interests?  We don’t get to know them well enough to be invested in the romance.

While the dance numbers are fun, the songs themselves aren’t that memorable.  And I do have to question if teens, even in 1903, would have been that excited to dance to “Skip to My Lou.”  The exception to the forgettable songs is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” which was originally written for this film.  It’s one of my favorite Christmas carols, so it is fun to see it’s premier.

None of this is a reflection on the actors and actresses, who all do a good job with the material they have.  But there’s only so much they can do with a poor script.

I suspect that my take on the film is fueled in part by the fact that I didn’t see this until I was well into adulthood.  I’ve met people who absolutely love it, and it is because they have fond memories of watching it for years.  So there are people who love this movie.

Unfortunately, I’m not one of them.  I won’t be wasting my time watching Meet Me in St. Louis a second time.

Book Review: Home for the Homicides by Rosalie Spielman (Hometown Mysteries #4)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good Christmas set mystery

Cons: Some of the characters’ ages didn’t work for me

The Bottom Line:

Mayhem at Christmas

Who is behind the attacks?

Great seasonal read

Who is the Christmas Grinch?

At the beginning of the year, I hadn’t read any of Rosalie Spielman’s Hometown Mysteries.  And here I am finishing up book four, Home for the Homicides.  Obviously, I’m enjoying the series, and this book was no exception.

The first book introduced us to Tessa Treslow, who has just retired from a career in the United States Army.  In that first book, she just intended to return to her hometown of New Oslo, Idaho, for a short visit until she decided where to move permanently, but she wound up deciding to stay.

This book opens in the middle of December.  New Oslo has been subjected to some pranks in the last few days, but things are about to escalate.  First, Tessa and her aunt Edna find a man who was car jacked and left on the side of the road.  Then, various businesses in town are being vandalized.  But when a murder victim is found at the sight of a fire, Tessa really steps up her sleuthing.  Can she figure out who is responsible before things take a second deadly turn?

Because of the seemingly random nature of the attacks, it’s hard to zero in on a suspect or motive.  That frustrates the police and Tessa, who isn’t exactly working with them but isn’t exactly discouraged from doing a little sleuthing on her own.  Quite often, I would find a story like this frustrating since I don’t feel like the story is really moving forward.  That wasn’t the case here.  Yes, I did think about it, but the way the story was evolving did make it feel like we were moving forward even if it was slowly.  While we do reach a logical conclusion, a couple of things are still a little ambiguous at the end.  In this case, it does work, but it’s not quite the tight solution I’m used to and prefer.

My bigger issue with the book was the ages of the characters we met along the way.  I feel like we were missing a generation in the family tree, which kept bugging me.

On the other hand, it was great to spend more time with Tessa, Edna, and the rest of the regulars.  I love Tessa’s family, and we got to meet more of them in this book, which was great.  The relationships feel real, and this is a family I would love to spend more time with.  We’ve gotten to know others in the community, and while we didn’t see quite as much of some of them as in books past, I did enjoy their page time as well.

And this book has a nice Christmas vibe going for it.  It adds to the story in some creative ways and is definitely a story we could only get at this time of the year.

If you haven’t started this series yet, you are in for a treat.  Home for the Homicides gives us a nice holiday visit that fans will enjoy.

Plan for return visits to the Hometown Mysteries.

Ornament Review: Deck the Shelves - 2025 Hallmark Release

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Fun ornament for book lovers

Cons: Green books tend to blend into the tree

The Bottom Line:

Books stacked like a tree

Making readers’ spirits bright

A fun ornament

How Could This Book Lover Resist?

If you’ve noticed, I typically get pop culture or series ornaments from Hallmark.  But I do look at the rest of the line.  Even though I was cutting back on ornaments this year, Deck the Shelves caught my eye, and I knew I had to get it.

As the title suggests, this is an ornament for book lovers.  The ornament is framed like a Christmas tree, with the sides being painted to look like wood.  Inside, we have three shelves, each filled with books that are various shades of green.  There’s a star on top.  And each shelf has a decoration of some sort.  Two of them have ornaments, and one has a second star.

I mean, really, how could I not get this ornament?  It’s cute and fun and makes me smile.  I’ll confess that many of my Hallmark ornaments don’t wind up on my tree each year, but I have a feeling this one will need to be part of my permanent rotation.

I do wish the books weren’t all green.  I get it, they are supposed to help represent the tree.  And they are various shades of green, which makes the ornament more interesting to look at.  But it does tend to blend into the tree a bit.  I prefer ornaments in other colors so they stand out more.  And this is coming from someone who loves green.  But that’s my only complaint.

The base of the tree is nice and wide and flat, so you can set this out to display year-round if you wanted to.  And when you go to hang the ornament, you’ll find that it hangs straight.

When I bought this ornament in November (I spread out my purchases), I bought the last one in my store, so I’m not the only one who likes this one.  If you want to add Deck the Shelves to your collection, I suggest you do so quickly.

Book Review: At Death’s Dough by Mindy Quigley (Deep Dish Mysteries #5)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Characters and an overall good mystery

Cons: Some pacing issues early on

The Bottom Line:

Body under ice

The pacing is off early

Still good overall

A Frozen Valentine’s Day

I’ve always enjoyed reading series set in resort communities, either real or fictional. I enjoy getting to take virtual vacations when a book is set during popular times, but I also enjoy it when those series set books in the quieter seasons. That’s what we get with At Death’s Dough, the fifth Deep Dish Mystery from Mindy Quigley. 

These books are set in Geneva Bay, Wisconsin, and focus on Delilah O’Leary, who owns a deep dish, gourmet pizza restaurant. You’d think that would keep her out of trouble, but she still finds ways to get involved in danger. 

It’s the beginning of February, and Delilah is finding the quiet season is quieter than she planned on. She’s hoping for a full restaurant on Valentine’s Day to help carry her through to tourist season again. On one of the restaurant’s days closed, Delilah and her great aunt go out ice fishing, and they make an unexpected discovery - a dead body under the ice. The victim was dressed for scuba diving, but who would dive in the lake in the middle of the winter?

This book certainly has an intriguing premise, and I was quickly hooked. However, the book seemed to take more time than it needed to really get to the meat of the story. Yes, the story was setting up suspects, but it wasn’t obvious how everything was going to tie into the main story early on, and I found myself frustrated by what appeared to be random characters, wishing things would move forward. 

Also, we got a bit more details about the discovery of the body than I felt we needed, especially for a cozy. It was pushing the boundaries a bit. 

Once the plot really kicked in, I did get caught up in the mystery. The suspects were good, and the plot took some fun twists. There was one aspect that was obvious early on, but I was still wondering how it would play into the overall story. The last quarter really ramped up with some page turning scenes. And the climax brought things to a logical conclusion.

The series has always had strong characters, and this book is no exception. I enjoyed getting to see Delilah’s staff again, and we got to spend a bit of time with a couple of them. What I really enjoyed was seeing her relationship with her boyfriend grow. Delilah herself is not a typical cozy heroine is some ways, and I also appreciated seeing how she is growing over the course of the series.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a culinary cozy without some recipes. There are a total of four here, and only one is a pizza recipe, so there is some variety.

At Death’s Dough will leave you with cravings for pizza and more of the series. If you are a fan of culinary cozies, this is a series not to be missed.

Grab another slice and the rest of the Deep Dish Mysteries.

Movie Review: The Hunger Games - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Performances are good

Cons: The story is a slow mess

The Bottom Line:

A needless prequel

Confusing character arc

And drawn-out story

Needless and Slow Prequel

I never got into The Hunger Games.  Yes, I watched the movies, but I waited until they were on TV.  I wasn’t that excited to see the prequel, The Ballad of Songs and Snakes, but I figured I would eventually.  I was right not to be excited for it.

Set sixty plus years before the events of the earlier story, this movie takes us to the tenth annual hunger games.  The citizens of the Capital are growing tired of watching the children of the districts fight each other to the death, so, in an effort to spice things up, the teens of the prep school are being assigned students to mentor.  And they are being asked for ideas to draw in the audience again.

Future dictator Coriolanus Snow (here played by Tom Blyth) is one of those teens, and he’s been assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler).  Lucy Gray is a singer, and Coriolanus’s ideas of promoting the tributes to the citizens of the Capital make her the favorite.  But what will happen when the games begin?  And what will the fallout of the games be?

Prequels are tricky to tell since we know where the story has to wind up.  As a result, it makes it hard to root for characters or relationships we know are doomed.  That’s part of the problem here.  Much of the movie wants us to root for certain things and people, but we know it is just a waste of time.

And there is a lot of waste of time here.  At over two and a half hours, the movie takes too long to get to the point.  A good portion to the movie is dedicated to the games, which worked in the original since Katniss was the main character.  Here, Coriolanus is the man character, and he’s observing most of the action.  Yes, he gets involved at times, but it just made the entire thing feel slow.

Then there’s Coriolanus’s arc.  It’s too confusing.  We’re supposed to be watching the movie wondering how he turns into the evil dictator we already know him to be.  Honestly, I’m still wondering that at the end.  I mean, yes, the movie ends with him on the path that makes him the evil President Snow, but his actions along the way are confusing.  One minute, he seems to be acting evil, the next he’s acting good, with nothing to indicate why he is changing sides.  As much as I dislike Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, at least there, Anakin/Darth Vader’s character arc makes sense.  Here, it just feels random.

I’m blaming this solely on the writing.  The actors all do a good job bringing their characters to life.  Rachel Zegler gets to show off her beautiful singing voice as well.  In addition, the cast includes Viola Davis and Peter Dinklage and many others I didn’t recognize.  Likewise, the effects are good.

Clearly this movie, and the book it was based on, are just excuses to extend the franchise.  If you are a diehard fan, you’ll be interested in watching it, but if you are a casual fan like me, you can skip The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes.

December 14th'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?

What a week.  When I last checked in, I thought the worst of fiscal year end craziness was behind me at work.  

I was wrong.

Almost every day this week, I got some last minute, drop everything and work on this request for me.  And, either the way it was worded or the timing or the stress factor made them all take me longer than they should have.  I really do not get it.  Why can't these things be better planned out so they don't add as much stress.  The worst was one where I had done the work only for the file it was in to have vanished.  I'm not sure if it was accidentally deleted or was a victim of our new file storage system.  I'm not a fan and will be going back to the old network location, at least for my files.

Hopefully, this coming week will be better.  At least, I have my deadline met, so I will have time for any more fire drill requests.  I wish I felt like people would learn from this and things would be better going forward, but I know they won't be.

Ok, deep breath.

Today is my friends' monthly game day.  The one is December is always a big deal since it's Christmas.  Really looking forward to it.

And, it's time to get serious about wrapping presents.  I've been putting it off, but I can't do that much longer.  At least all the presents are in the condo, so when I start, I can dive in and get it all done in a night or two.

Joke of the Week:

Why did the Christmas tree go to the doctor? Tinselitis!

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Book Review: Murder in Manhattan by Julie Mulhern

Tuesday - Ornament Review: Emperor Kuzco

Wednesday - Book Review: No Stone Left Unturned by Annette Dashofy

Thursday - Ornament Review: Kronk and the Squirrel

Friday - Book Review: The Night Fire by Michael Connelly

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: The Hunger Games - The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Tuesday - Book Review: At Death's Dough by Mindy Quigley

Wednesday - Ornament Review: Deck the Shelves

Thursday - Book Review: Home for the Homicides by Rosalie Spielman

Friday - Movie Review: Meet Me in St. Louis

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

Just two books to tell you about again this week.  And this will probably be in until Christmas.  (Now watch, some books I'm interested in will go on sale this coming week.)

The first is Whine and Dine by Marc Jedel.  It's the second in his Redwoods Country Mysteries.  I'm planning to make it the first book I read for 2026.  It's set up near where my family lives, so I'm hoping to at least start it when I'm home for Christmas.

If you haven't noticed, I rotate through some series/authors for my audiobooks.  I went to get the next in one of those series to listen to coming home from Christmas, and discovered that none of the library systems I have access to have the book in audio format.  I guess I'll have to read that book.  I might even have it around the condo, although finding it would be a challenge.  Anyway, I skipped ahead to the next author in the rotation, and fortunately, I was able to get that one.  And that book?  Skinwalkers by Tony Hillerman, the first team up for his two characters, Leaphorn and Chee.

What I'm Currently Reading:

As I teased last week, I've been reading Christmas cozy mysteries this week.  I've only got two this year.

I've finished the first, which was Home for the Homicides by Rosalie Spielman.  It's the fourth in her series, and the fourth I've read this year.  Given all that, I'm sure it will be no surprise to say I enjoyed it.  I've got to get the review written since I am hoping/planning to review it this coming Thursday.

As is tradition, the final Christmas cozy of the year is Five Golden Wings by Donna Andrews.  She releases a Christmas entry in her long running Meg Langslow series most years, and I save it to read during December.  I'm currently about half way through and completely enjoying it.

That's it for me this week.  Off to hopefully write a review or two before I leave for game day.  Have a great week!

December 13th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Celebrity Weakest Link – That was painful in many ways.  The number of truly easy question they got wrong.  The obvious voting block made things predictable.  And did I mention how many questions they got wrong?  Given that, I was impressed with how much money they earned.

Wipeout – At first, I didn’t think I remembered any of the teams, but then I did remember the creepy make up team.  Still not a fan.  I’m happy for them they won, but they sure were creepy.  And the show is officially off the air again.  I think I liked the original better.  Or I’m just less likely to laugh at people falling like that.  The show made me wince more than laugh these days.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians – It’s been so long since I read the book (or watched the movie), that I really don’t remember where this story is going.  I have so many questions.  I’m very much enjoying it.  I’m a little weirded out by Tyson, however.  Impressed by the special effects, but it is weird just seeing a guy with one eye like that.

Shifting Gears – I really don’t like that they are leaning into the adult jokes a bit more this year, so the scenes with the new girlfriend made me cringe.  Even so, I was still laughing as I watched them.  The promposal was so cute.  Loved the reference to The Santa Clause.  But I’m very confused.  Are they writing Eve off the show?  Or is that just a cliffhanger?  Because, as much as I have struggled a bit with their relationship, I was really growing to like her.

The Challenge – Considering how much I hate the drama between the people on the show, I’m kind of surprised I was looking forward to this.  Yeah, that was stupid of me.  Fast forwarded through parts.  Probably do the same next week.  It was interesting that Olivia was unknowingly pregnant when they were filming. 

Survivor – Wow.  I’m still trying to figure out what exactly happened.  Okay, in reality I know what happened.  But there were some twists and turns in that final tribal for sure.  I liked Steven, so I’m sorry to see him go.  I was hoping he’d wind up winning.

The Amazing Race – That pretty much went how I was expecting it to go.  I think I was rooting most of an underdog team to win.  And they were both underdogs in my book.  On the positive side, the stop at Sesame Street was fun.  But I would not have enjoyed the Empire State Building stop.

Happy’s Place – That wasn’t quite the farce I was expecting it to be, but it was still a lot of fun.  Even though we really only saw the mouse a couple of times, the reactions the rest were enough to make us believe it was really there.  And yes, I laughed plenty.

Book Review: The Night Fire by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch #22, Renee Ballard #3)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Compelling mysteries and great characters

Cons: All cons burned away

The Bottom Line:

A mentor’s cold case

Bring Bosch, Ballard together

Hard to put book down

An Old Case and Two Modern Ones Heat Up

I’m still about six years behind on Michael Connelly’s books, but I feel like I’m catching up.  Considering he often writes two books a year, I still have a few years to go before I’ll actually be reading his new releases as they are published.  But his books are so good  I’m enjoying catching up, and The Night Fire was another great one.

This book is the second time he’s teamed up retired LAPD Detective Harry Bosch and current LAPD Detective Renee Ballard.  Renee typically works the night shift out of the Hollywood station, which means her cases are passed on to others, leaving her with time to work on other cases that catch her interest.

Which is what happens here when Bosch brings her an old murder book that his mentor, John Jack Thompson, took when he retired.  The case is decades old, but Bosch is hoping that Ballard can shake something lose by taking a fresh look at it.  Their initial review of the documents leaves them with questions about what work, if any, has been done in the last twenty years.  Can they find anything new?

Meanwhile, Bosch gets involved in a case his half-brother, Mickey Haller, was defending in court.  Is Mickey’s client guilty of killing a judge?  And Ballard gets involved in the case of a vagrant who was burned to death in his sleep.

Obviously, there is plenty to keep the reader engaged.  There are some other storylines that pop up for a scene or two that are just as entertaining as the main mysteries.  We might have a couple of things that are too convenient over the course of the story, but I didn’t mind because I was having fun, and I was enjoying seeing what unfolded as the book went along.  The climax was great and my questions were resolved when I was done.

As with the last team up with the two characters, we get chapters from both of their points of view.  That means, we get updates on other characters in each of their lives, which I appreciated.  It also means we get to see some growth in both of them.  Each time the point of view shifts, the change is clearly labeled, which is helpful.

Each character we meet, whether a regular we’ve met before or some kind or a suspect or just a random character, feels real, which always pulls me into the book.

This book introduces a storyline that I knew was coming, and I’m not going to like watching it play out in future books.  But it is what it is, and did play into this book well.

These books are police procedurals, so they have more sex, language, and violence than in the books I would typically read.  That holds true here again as well.  Usually, it’s easy to skim past the worst scenes if that kind of things bothers you, but keep that in mind before you pick up this or any of his other books.

I read this via audiobook again, and Titus Welliver and Christine Lakin shared narration duties.  This time, any time Bosch was speaking, Titus delivered his lines, and same for Christine as Ballard.  Then, each actor narrated the sections from their character’s point of view.  This was different from their first team up.  I found I enjoyed this, and it helped me get even more lost in the story.

The Night Fire proves why Michael Connelly is still considered one of the top of today’s mystery writers.  If you are looking for a book you won’t be able to put down, you’ll be glad you picked this one up.

Enjoy the rest of the Harry Bosch and Renee Ballard Mysteries.

Ornament Review: Kronk and the Squirrel - 2025 Hallmark Release

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Captures Kronk and a squirrel friend perfectly

Cons: You owe me no cons

The Bottom Line:

Kronk and a squirrel

Movie fans will love this pose

It’s making me smile

This Ornament is so Squeaky!

Hallmark released two ornaments this year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Emperor’s New Groove. While the ornament of the emperor was a regular line release, they also released this limited-edition ornament of Kronk and the Squirrel. 

Any fan of the series will recognize him right off the bat since he looks exactly like he does in the movie. He’s standing with his arms crossed under his chest. He’s looking out of the corner of his eye at the squirrel on his shoulder. The squirrel is looking at him, obviously engaged in conversation. 

While I did cut back on ornaments this year, I had to get this one. Kronk and his talking to squirrels is such a funny part of the movie, and the ornament captures that perfectly. 

And my review title is playing on those moments as well. This is not a magic ornament in any way. There are no sound clips. But I couldn’t pass up the reference for my title. 

While Kronk is standing on his feet, he’s top heavy. If you set him out to be displayed, you’ll find he tips over easily. I’d recommend you hang him on your tree. And when you do, you’ll find he tips forward slightly, but nothing that will be obvious when you have him surrounded by branches. 

Kronk would not have been at the top of the list of characters I would have expected to represent this movie, but I’m glad Hallmark selected him. Any fan of the movie will agree with me - he’s perfect. 

Book Review: No Stone Left Unturned by Annette Dashofy (Detective Honeywell Mysteries #4)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters and mystery

Cons: No cons found under the stones

The Bottom Line:

Shooting at clinic

Is there a darker motive?

Hard to put it down

Random Robbery?  Or Something More?

Normally, I try to space out the authors I read by at least two months, even authors I love.  This gives time for other authors to get on my reading list and it keeps me from burning out on authors I love.  (Yes, it does happen.)  But when Annette Dashofy’s publisher decided to release books three and four in her Detective Honeywell series about six weeks apart, I immediately knew I’d be reading them about six weeks apart.  I wouldn’t be able to wait any longer than that.  And No Stone Left Unturned was well worth breaking my self-imposed rule.

This series is set in Erie, Pennsylvania, and focuses on two characters.  Detective Matthias Honeywell works for the local police, while Emma Anderson is a photographer who has just started working the crime beat for a local online news site.  Matthias and Emma have recently started dating, and they are trying to navigate what that means for their jobs.

When Honeywell is called to the scene of a robbery turned shooting at a veterinary clinic, the case immediately becomes personal since he knows the man the robbers shot.  But he can’t help but question what happened.  It doesn’t feel like a true robbery but something personal.  Meanwhile, Emma is on hand getting shots from outside the clinic.  Given the connection Honeywell has to the case, Emma starts to dig into the background of the victim to try to see if she can uncover any leads to help.  Will they be able to find the perpetrator before he strikes again?

As with the previous books in the series, Matthias and Emma share time as our third person point of view character.  These changes are always obvious and do a great job of showing us the entire story as it unfolds.  And yes, Emma does find some things to advance the story.  Having said that, this book really focuses on Matthias and people from his world, letting us get to know them better.  I appreciated that focus, and feel like I have a good picture of all the main characters in the series now.  Because of the nature of the plot, we don’t get to know the suspects that well, but they are still strong enough to keep us engaged by what the mystery is uncovering.

And the mystery?  Annette Dashofy is a master at unraveling a mystery, and this book is no exception.  I followed along with everything the characters were thinking as they uncovered the clues and red herrings, but at the end, I was once again in awe at how everything came together.  Meanwhile, there are enough twists to make the book hard to put down, especially when I reached the final third.

I will say, having read this book so quickly after having read book three, I enjoyed seeing the threads and character moments that this book built upon more clearly.  There is something to be said for reading books closer together for that kind of thing.  Maybe I should reconsider my approach to catching up on series.

Having said that, there aren’t any spoilers for previous books here.  Any references to previous events are vague enough that you’ll be fine going back to read the earlier books if you haven’t yet.  But you’ll want to read them all, so you might as well jump in with the first.

Do keep in mind that these are police procedurals, so they aren’t the light, clean cozies I often read.  However, they also don’t go any further than they have to.  And they are completely worth it.

While the main mystery is wrapped up here, we do get while I’m sure is a tease about the next book in the series.  I’m already anxious to find out what happens to the characters in it.

No Stone Left Unturned is another page turner that will thrill Annette Dashofy’s fans.  She is one of the best mystery writers out there today.  If you aren’t reading her books, you are truly missing out and you need to fix that today.

Enjoy the rest of the Detective Honeywell Mysteries.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

Ornament Review: Emperor Kuzco

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: A lessor known character captured from the beginning of his movie

Cons: A bit on the big size for my taste

The Bottom Line:

Kuzco and his throne

Annivers’ry ornament

Bit big but still good

No Touchy This Ornament!

2025 marks the 25th anniversary for The Emperor’s New Groove. While I admit I didn’t quite get it the first time I watched it, the has since grown into a favorite of mine. Naturally, that meant I was going to snag the two ornaments Hallmark released to honor the anniversary. 

The first, and bigger, is of Emperor Kuzco himself. He’s sitting on his massive gold throne from the beginning of the movie although it’s not quite as big as it was in the movie. He’s sitting on his blue cushion on the throne with an unhappy look on his face. 

I’ve been disappointed in Hallmark’s recent trend to make their ornaments bigger, especially the pop culture ornaments. And this ornament follows the trend. Fortunately, it’s not as big as it could be, but still, a little smaller would have helped me fit more ornaments on my tree. 

That’s my only complaint with the ornament. It expertly captures Kuzco and his attitude at the beginning of the movie. I had no hesitation in adding this ornament to my collection. 

Since the ornament is really a throne, it’s no surprise to me that it sits just fine, so if you want to display it, you can. Also, I wasn’t surprised to see that it hangs straight. 

The Emperor’s New Groove doesn’t get as much love in merchandise as many of Disney’s other movies, so I was thrilled to see this ornament of Emperor Kuzco in this year’s Hallmark ornament line up. Fans of the movie will be glad to add it to their collection. 

Book Review: Murder in Manhattan by Julie Mulhern (Freddie Archer #1)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Decent mystery with a fun main characters

Cons: Slow start that I didn’t enjoy

The Bottom Line:

New series begins

With slow start to mystery

Enjoyed by the end

Freddie’s First Case Gets off to an Uneven Start

Julie Mulhern is an author I want to read more of, but I seem to keep falling further behind in her series. So, when she announced she was starting a new series, I figured this was a good opportunity to stay current in at least one of her series. Sadly, Murder in Manhattan wasn’t as good as I was expecting.

This series is set in New York City in 1925. The main character is Freddie Archer, the gossip and fashion columnist for Gotham Magazine. She comes from a well-off family, so she doesn’t need to work, but she finds the work fulfilling and it’s something she’s good at. Plus, it gives her a perfect excuse to be out in speakeasies all night every night.

However, reality enters her world when someone she mentioned in her column is murdered. The police ask for her help identifying a woman the victim was seen with - just observe and report back. But as the bodies keep piling up, Freddie can’t help but dig in more. Can she find the killer?

Since I’ve read several of the author’s other books, I knew what to expect when I picked up this book. Or at least I thought I did. Far too much time was spent on Freddie’s lifestyle early in the book, and far too little was spent on the mystery. Stuff was happening, but Freddie was just observing between nights spent drinking too much and name dropping all the famous people Freddie knew.

Things did improve around a third of the way into the book, as Freddie finally started to take the mystery seriously. At that point, I finally got pulled into the book. Even so, one thing either was dropped or I was expecting too much. Honestly, I’m not sure which. The ending was great, and things did wrap up satisfactory.

Freddie Archer was inspired by a real-life columnist of the time, Lois Long. I did enjoy getting to know the character as presented here. As I expected, there is a strong romance as well. I’ll be interested in seeing how things play out going forward. Freddie herself grew on me as the book went along, although her self-destructive behavior bugged me early on.

Again, once the mystery got going, I enjoyed all the name dropping we got. There are lots of famous people who are either supporting characters or have cameos. Early on, it felt forced, but when the focus was on the story, these made me smile.

Freddie is a radical for her time, and we run into macho men who think Freddie should behave more like a woman of her time. Yep, you guessed it, I didn’t care for how that was handled either. I expected it given the author’s other books that I’ve read, but a little less would have improved things.

There is a humorous tone for the entire book, which I did enjoy. The book gets serious when it needs to, but there are fun moments to make you smile or laugh along the way.

By the end, I was enjoying Murder in Manhattan, and I’d be willing to revisit Freddie. I hope future books in the series are better paced.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.