A Date with Murder Winner

I just pulled the winner for A Date with Murder, the latest Murder, She Wrote tie in novel.  And that winner is...

...Valerie!

I've sent you an e-mail, so please be on the look out for it and get back to me as soon as possible.

Book Review: Pairing a Deception by Nadine Nettmann (Sommelier Mysteries #3)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good mystery, fun characters

Cons: A little light overall

The Bottom Line:

Festival murder

Katie sips wine and finds clues

Light, still very fun

Food, Wine, Murder

Since so many cozy mysteries have a theme to the series, it means I get an inside look into a world I might normally not go into in real life.  For example, in Pairing a Deception, I get to enjoy a food and wine festival.  I know, I know, but I don’t drink wine, so this was definitely a different experience for me.  Throw in a dead body, and you’ve got a fun mystery.

Katie Stillwell should be studying hard for her Advanced Sommelier exam, which starts in a few days, but instead she is attending a food and wine festival outside of Santa Barbara with her boyfriend, Dean.  While the two have been dating for a few months now, their jobs make spending any extended time together difficult, so both of them are looking forward to this trip.

The pair arrive and check into their hotel in time for the opening ceremonies, but as they attend the first few events, they keep finding a mysterious woman dogging the festival emcee, Hudson Wiley.  This woman has some kind of agenda.  What might it be?  Things only get more complicated when a dead body shows up.

Since this book takes Katie and Dean away from their home turf, they are the only series regulars we really see.  That isn’t a big deal since it was a joy to see them again and get to watch them interacting as a couple.  The new characters help fill in the gaps as well.

The mystery was a little light.  There’s some set up before the murder takes place, and as I expected, it starts to pay off after the body is discovered.  Once that happens, Katie finds some surprises and we get good twists before we reach the end.

Author Nadine Nettmann is a Certified Sommelier herself, and her love of wine comes through in the book.  Since I’m not a drinker, all of this information is new to me.  I did feel it slowed things down a little in the beginning, but I still enjoyed this information.  Heck, it almost made me want to go taste some wine myself to see if I could note any of the differences that Katie was talking about.  And, since each chapter comes with a wine pairing suggestion, those who do love wine could easily find a new favorite while reading the book.

 Whether you drink wine or not, Pairing a Deception is a quick read that will entertain.  Fans of the series will be delighted to visit Katie again, and anyone new to the series will want to learn more about wine from Katie.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

Ornament Review: The Sorcerer's Apprentice - 2017 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Mickey in an iconic role

Cons: None, as long as you remember it is a mini

The Bottom Line:

Iconic Mickey

Shrunk down to miniature

Small size, big magic

Shrinking One of Mickey’s Iconic Roles

When Hallmark started putting more emphasis on miniature ornaments again, I started buying more miniature ornaments.  And I started thinking I needed some ornaments to reflect my pop culture loves on my miniature tree, especially Disney.  Hallmark must have heard me because in 2017 they release this Sorcerer’s Apprentice ornament.

This ornament captures Mickey from his classic appears in Fantasia.  He’s wearing his red robes, and he’s just put on the sorcerer’s blue hat.  He’s smiling and ready to get the broom to do his chores for him.  If he only knew what was coming.

I’ve mentioned already that this is a miniature ornament, and I do mean it.  This ornament is just about an inch tall, and that’s the biggest dimension.  Having said that, the detail is pretty impressive.  You can see folds on his robe, for example.  If you have a miniature tree to put this on, it would be perfect.

A couple of years before, Fantasia had been the pick for the ornament in the Mickey’s Movie Mousterpieces series.  As a fun note, this ornament perfectly matches that full sized ornament, just smaller.  I like that touch.  Of course, it does help that I liked the full sized ornament.

You could set this ornament out to be displayed somewhere since Mickey’s robes flow out behind him.  I’d just remind you again of the size since it would be easy to lose it if you leave it out.

Mickey tips back slightly when you hang him on your tree.  I have a mini tree, and these ornaments look great on it.  It would be harder to see on a full sized tree, but you could enjoy it there as well.

Personally, I was glad to have Mickey to add to my mini tree.  Anyone else who loves Disney won’t go wrong with this Sorcerer’s Apprentice mini ornament.

Original Price: $7.95

Book Review: Waste of Space by Stuart Gibbs (Moon Base Alpha #3)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Creative mystery in a great location

Cons: Pacing at one point in the middle

The Bottom Line:

Attempt to poison

In case with many suspects

Creative and fun

Can Dash Find the Right Suspect?

I love a good mystery no matter who the target audience is.  That’s why I grab up Stuart Gibbs’ books as fast as he can write them.  He may write for middle graders, but his mysteries are always fantastic, and his settings are creative.  Or, in the case of the Moon Base Alpha series, I guess I could call them out of this world.  Waste of Space may be bringing this series to a close, but it goes out with a bang.

As this book opens, Moon Base Alpha has been open for eight months now, and everyone is going a little stir crazy.  This is especially true for thirteen-year-old Dashiell Gibson.  However, the true terror of the base is the Sjoberg family.  They paid money to come for several months as tourists, and they’ve been making life extremely difficult for everyone ever since they arrived

So it isn’t super surprising when someone attempts to poison Lars Sjoberg, the father and by far the worst member of the family.  In fact, the list of suspects includes every single person on the base.  Complicating matters, however, is how the person even got the poison in the base in the first place.  While Dashiell has no interest in getting involved, the base’s commander strong arms him into following up on some leads.  Will he piece it together?

Any fan of the series knows that the Sjoberg family makes a great target, and I was thrilled to see them taking center stage in this book.  The questions this mystery raises are fantastic, and I loved seeing how Dashiell pieced it all together by the end.  I did think the book slowed down a little in the middle for a series long sub-plot, but that was a minor complaint.

Meanwhile, the characters continue to be wonderful.  Naturally, we have a limited number of characters here, and we’ve seen them in previous books, so it was all about seeing how characters interact here.  There are some very fun moments for most of the characters in this book.  Kids will absolutely enjoy these scenes; I know I did.

Since this is the final book in the series, Stuart Gibbs had a chance to wrap up some on going storylines.  Despite my complaint earlier about what the meant for the pacing, I am confident that fans will be happy with the resolutions we get here.

So, if you are looking for something different and completely enjoyable, I highly recommend Waste of Space.  No matter your age, you’ll find the mystery is great and the book is just plain fun.

This review is part of this week's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday.

May 5th's Weekly TV Thoughts

We are getting closer to season ending cliffhangers.  Getting nervous to see how the writers will be leaving my characters this year.  But for now, here's what I thought about this week's shows.

Once Upon a Time (4/27) – I can’t believe I fell for it.  Of course the kiss at the end of the episode isn’t going to work.  Henry has to kiss Lucy to break the spell.  Think of the other times they’ve broken curses like this.  It’s always been mother to child before, but I think this time it will be father to daughter.  At least Henry isn’t poisoned any more.  I wonder if we can do that for Hook and Alice, too.  And I’m dying to know what the coven has unleashed.

Deception – I was wrong.  Cameron didn’t have a trick up his sleave or some way out of the room.  But at least he got out of it.  I knew he wasn’t going to die, but still, that was very intense.  That woman is absolutely crazy!  And I’ll be very interested in seeing the fallout from what he did next week.

Supergirl – The sub-plot of people getting sick wasn’t a surprise, right down to them getting worse before they found the real cure.  I’m a little surprised they brought all three world killers together at this point in the season, however.  We’ve still got six episodes left this season, but I don’t see how this plot will last that long.  This feels like the next to last episode of the season, so I’m curious where they will go from here.

Dancing with the Stars – Two eliminations right off the bat?  I’m glad they aren’t taking live votes any more since it impacts us on the west coast so much.  Some very impressive athletes in the mix, not that this is a surprise.  I think I will be sorry this is only four weeks.  I’d really like to see how they all improve.

American Ninja Warrior: Ninja Vs. Ninja – I am so happy that the Lizard Kings won their match up.  They won me over before, so I was rooting for them from the beginning this time.  The come from behind win at the end with the Norcal Ninjas was very impressive, too.  I was rooting for Lance, but I have to hand it to them.

Lethal Weapon – We are obviously getting close to the end of the season as the stunts budget has greatly improved.  Couldn’t look away from those scenes.  Definitely well done.  I’m shocked by Riggs’ dad being out of prison, but I shouldn’t be.  Of course, it was an obvious plot twist, so I should have seen it coming.  Looks like we will be wrapping this up one way or the other next week.

The Flash – I figured The Thinker’s wife was going to leave him.  I still wager that she is the key to his undoing.  I’m not sure how yet, but I bet it is coming.  The only seed of doubt in my mind came from the flashbacks.  I’m surprised Cisco and Gypsy broke up.  I honestly thought they were going to write him out of the show.  Nice to see Cecile’s power come into play to help us out instead of for laughs.  I’m betting she also holds a key somehow.  Getting very curious about this mystery woman.  She’s a speedster, but I don’t know comics enough to know what that might mean.

Survivor – They attempted to shake things up, and I applaud them for that.  However, this season is getting boring since the dominate tribe is pretty much sticking together.  Let’s just get those final couple of people out so we can get to the interesting backstabbing again.

Designated Survivor – They got me with the Hannah having been fired thing.  But now she quits.  I’m assuming this one is real, right?  The only thing I was wondering about was the fact that the house was supposed to be 42 minutes from the restaurant, but when Hannah was inside, it was only 30.  The judge sounds like he would have been a judicial activist.  They weren’t concerned about that, although he also seemed like a slimy individual.  And I’m glad they worked something out for the kid.

Big Bang Theory – I wasn’t that impressed with Georgie in the few episodes of Young Sheldon I watched, so I wasn’t sure what to think here.  I actually really liked the episode.  I could see where both of them were coming from, and I loved that final episode.  Pretty funny pink eye storyline, too.  They are upping the game here at the end of the season.

Arrow – I knew that Tommy was going to claim to be the Green Arrow, but I wasn’t sure how they were going to pull it off.  Oliver’s expression during that scene was priceless.  What shocked me was the judge at the end.  I feel a little bad for him being murdered like that.  I get why these people are doing Diaz’s bidding.  They don’t really have a choice in the matter, so I feel sorry the guy got killed because he was kidnapped.  I don’t see how they are doing to take Diaz out, but the next couple of episodes are going to be intense.  I just hope that scene between Olive and Renee means the teams will at least partially be working together again if not completely back on the same page.

Book Review: A Darkness More Than Night by Michael Connelly (Harry Bosch #7)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong story and characters

Cons: Pacing at times a little slow

The Bottom Line:

Characters combine

In gripping novel to make

Fans read into night

Connelly’s First Great Team Up

Fans of Michael Connelly’s books have learned to expect characters from any book he’s written to suddenly pop up in any other novel.  While there had been references to his characters in other books, the first time he really brought back characters in a major way was in A Darkness More Than Night.  While it is a good book all on its own, those extra moments make it even better.

Former FBI Agent Terry McCaleb is enjoying his new life on Catalina running a charter fishing company.  He’s a family man now, but when he is asked to profile a crime scene in hopes of stopping a potential serial killer, he can’t resist dipping his toe back into his old life.  The scene is especially nasty, but one thing sticks out to Terry – a plastic owl at the scene.  What does it mean?

Meanwhile, LA detective Harry Bosch is in court.  A high-profile defendant, director David Story, is on trial for killing a young woman, and Bosch was the lead investigator on the case.  He is confident they have the right man, but can they prove it to a jury?

While this is listed as a Bosch novel, in many ways I feel this is more about Terry McCaleb.  He is the one driving most of the investigation while Bosch is tied up in court.  Since I loved his character in Blood Work, I was thrilled to see him again and find out what is going on in his life.  Not that we don’t get some updates on Bosch and the rest of the regulars in his life, but they aren’t to the same level.

In many ways, this is a super collaboration, with multiple characters showing up.  We also see Jack McEvoy from The Poet and get a very brief glimpse of a character from Void Moon. If you haven’t read those books, you aren’t missing out on anything here, but if you have been reading the books in order, this is an added bonus.

And if you just pick up this book, you are in for a great ride, but that’s really no surprise.  There is a major plot point that is obvious early on, so we spent some time waiting for the characters to catch up.  I felt the scenes with Bosch in court dragged a bit as well.  But those are minor issues overall.  There are plenty of good complications before we get to the climax.  And that climax had me smiling.

It’s also no surprise, I’m sure, to learn that the characters are wonderful.  I already touched briefly on the series regulars, but the characters introduced for this book are just as fascinating.  Michael Connelly is a master at creating great characters.

I mentioned earlier that the crime scene that Terry is called in to help with is gruesome.  I really do mean that.  This isn’t one of my normal cozies, and you need to remember that when you sit down to read the book.  There is a point to it, so it isn’t gratuitous.

Once again, I listened to this book on audio.  Richard M. Davidson was the narrator this time around.  He did a good job, although I found his take on Bosch to be a bit annoying.  He gave him a gravely voice that I didn’t care for.  Just a personal preference issue, and a minor one at that overall.

A Darkness More Than Night is another fantastic book from Michael Connelly.  I’m so glad I’ve finally made the time to listen to these books and am already looking forward to his next one.

Here are the rest of the Harry Bosch novels in order.

This review is part of this week's Friday's Forgotten Books.

May 4th's Book Beginnings and Friday 56

It's Friday, so it must be time for Book Beginnings and Friday 56.

This week's book is Hair of the Dog by Carlene O'Neil.

                                                           


This is the newest in her Cypress Cove mystery series.  I actually finished it last week, but I will be reviewing it this coming Thursday.  I hope you'll come back for that, but in the mean time, here's how the book begins:

My cousin Annie is a terrific veterinarian, so two deaths at her clinic was both tragic and unusual.  Of course, that wasn't the worst of it.  The real problem was that both casualties were human.

Skipping ahead to page 56, we find:

"I supposed Lucas won't approve, since I'm his best suspect," Annie said.
"That's easy enough to solve.  We won't mention it to him."

I hope you have a great weekend.

Book Review: The Art of Vanishing by Cynthia Kuhn (Lila Maclean #2)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters, different mystery

Cons: Academic life overshadows mystery at times

The Bottom Line:

Visiting author

Disappears, starting diff’rent

Mystery story

Someone is Out to Destroy Arts Week

Despite the fact that I spent years working at a college (in the accounting department, not teaching), I haven’t read too many mysteries set in schools.  The one exception to that has been the Lila Maclean series by Cynthia Kunh.  I’m not up to date with The Art of Vanishing, the second in the series.

It’s the start of Lila’s second semester teaching at Stonedale University.  She’s still trying to survive the college politics, doubly important for her since she wants to get tenure eventually.  So, when she is asked to be on the committee for Arts Week, an annual conference that brings in authors and artists to the college, she doesn’t feel she can say no.

Likewise, when the chancellor sends her out to interview the headline author, Damon Von Tussel, to bring in more publicity, she doesn’t feel she can say no.  Damon is most famous for a novel he wrote decades ago that has received tons of acclaim, and he’s just published his second book.  He also happens to be Lila’s mother’s ex.  However, before Lila can get the interview, Damon disappears from his dressing room backstage.  Then everyone on the Arts Week committee starts getting e-mails warning them that something bad will happen if Damon does speak.  What is going on?

Author Cynthia Kuhn is herself a professor, and she brings an insider look at the going ons at a college to this book.  There is a lot of internal politics present here, and at times, that seems to get in the way of the mystery.

This is a different mystery than I normally read, and I didn’t fully appreciate everything that was going on until the end.  As Lila tied things together, I could see how pieces of the puzzle were being set up earlier.  And, it was refreshing to have a variation on the usual to read.

The characters in this book are good.  I really like Lila, and it was a pleasure getting to meet her mom this time around.  Her mom is an artist, and she is a hoot.  I hope she comes to visit again in future books.  There are several other series regulars I like or, in one case, love to hate, and I’m interested to see how these relationships grow in future volumes.

I did find some minor timeline issues.  Yes, this is one of my biggest pet peeves.  Here, they are worth noting only in passing since they didn’t impact the story at all.

If you are looking for a different mystery with great characters, pick up The Art of Vanishing today.  I’m looking forward to my next chance to check in with these characters.

Study up with the rest of the Lila Maclean Mysteries.

Ornament Review: Toymaker Santa #18 - Remote-Control Car - 2017 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Santa having fun

Cons: Tips, could show a little more fun

The Bottom Line:

Remote-control car

Santa’s ready to test it

Fun part of the job

Race to Get This Ornament

Santa makes all kinds of toys, right?  I mean, just because we usually picture him with younger kids and younger kid’s toys doesn’t mean he doesn’t make stuff for their older siblings, right?  He’s certainly working on one of those for 2017’s Toymaker Santa ornament.

This year, he’s working on a remote-control car.  And, as always, he’s got to test it out first, right?  The car itself is down at his feet, and he’s got the remote in his hand.  He’s all set to send it racing through his workshop.

One reason I like this series is that it shows Santa out there having fun.  The better ornaments in the series capture that wonderfully.  This one has Santa’s small smile on his face, but it lacks a bit of the magic of some of the others.  Not saying it is a bad ornament, just saying it’s not quite as good as it could be.

The ornament has a round base which allows it to stand on its own, a rarity for this series.  It also means we don’t have to hunt for the series marker since the 18 in a Christmas tree is on the bottom.  Speaking of fun things like that, you’ll find the car’s spoiler has a 17 on it for the year of the ornament’s original release.

The ornaments in this series often tip a little as well.  That holds true here despite how Santa is tipped to make the ornament as balanced as it can be.  Unfortunately, the result is a little awkward whether the ornament is standing or hanging because of how Santa leans.

Hallmark’s Toymaker Santa series continues to show just how much Santa enjoys his job making all those toys all year long.  It really does sound like a wonderful job to me, too, as this ornament shows us.

Check out the rest of the Toymaker Santa series.

Original price: $17.95

Book Review: A Date with Murder by Jessica Fletcher, Donald Bain, & Jon Land (Murder, She Wrote #47)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Characters we love; twists in the mystery

Cons: Ending not quite satisfying

The Bottom Line:

Cabot Cove murder

Jessica still in top form

Delight for her fans

Cabot Cove is Still Proving to be Deadly

Despite the fact that I’ve been a fan of Murder, She Wrote for years, I must admit I’ve never read one of the tie in novels to the TV show.  Oh, I’ve bought a few over the years, but I hadn’t actually picked them up to read – until now.  I jumped in with A Date with Murder, and I’m glad I read it.

It’s Labor Day, and that means that the entire town of Cabot Cove is at the Wirth home for their annual picnic.  Jessica Fletcher is enjoying hanging out with her friends and neighbors, especially Barbara “Babs” Wirth, who has become a good friend over the years.  The day ends in tragedy, however, when Babs’ husband Hal suffers a fatal heart attack.

Something about it doesn’t feel right to Jessica, however.  That feeling only grows when someone tries to warn her away from the Wirths and then a second body turns up..  Was Hal’s death more than it seems?

I have often defended the TV series, pointing out that Jessica actually traveled more than she was home for the murders that she solved on the show.  Having said that, the episodes set in Cabot Cove were always my favorites since I enjoyed the supporting cast.  As a result, I’m glad that the first book I wound up reading was set in this small Maine town.  I felt right at home and enjoyed catching up with Seth and Mort as well as Jessica.  I could easily picture the three of them as the book captures their personalities from the show perfectly.  A couple other supporting players from those episodes put in appearances as well.

The new characters felt like the guest stars from the episode.  I don’t know if they previous appeared in the books or not, but everything I needed to know about them was here for this book.  Because Jessica cared about them, I found them sympathetic and likable, and I got invested in the book as a result.

We are treated to a great mystery.  There were plenty of twists and surprises along the way, and I was completely hooked.  However, the book didn’t quite wrap up as well as I would have liked.  There was a chapter that was a lot of exposition – explanation we needed to fully understand how things had happened – but it felt slow.  Meanwhile, in the rush to wrap things up after that, a rather key plot point is overlooked.

Having not read any of the previous entries in the series, I was a bit surprised by the couple of swear words in the book.  I don’t know if this was a first for the novels or not, but they definitely didn’t fit within the world of the show for me.

On the other hand, I didn’t feel I had missed anything by skipping the other books in the series and jumping in here.  This is still the same Jessica we know and love from the series, and it was wonderful to connect up with this old friend.

Overall, I enjoyed A Date with Murder, and I’m kicking myself for not starting to read these tie ins sooner.  I will soon be making another date with Jessica myself and suggest her many fans plan to do the same.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book.

Giveaway!

Thanks to the publisher, I have one copy of this book to give away.  Because it is a physical book, the contest is limited to residence of the US.

Just leave me a comment with your e-mail address so I can get in touch with you if you win.  I will pick the winner Tuesday May 8th, so please leave your comment before midnight Pacific Time on 5/8.  You will have until midnight on 5/13 to get back to me, or I will choose a new winner on 5/14.