And we are half way through the year, if you can believe it. Time for my June monthly reading summary. As usual, the links take you to my full review, and
the index has been updated this month.
I should point out I have more audio books than normal this month, although I have been reading quite a bit, so between the two the list is long this month.
All ratings are on a scale of 1 (bad) to 5 (great).
Taken by Robert Crais (Elvis Cole and Joe Pike #15) – 3
Los Angeles PI Elvis Cole is hired by Nita Morales to find
her daughter Krista. Krista and her
boyfriend, Jack, disappeared several days ago.
Nita has received a ransom call, but she was only asked for $500. Surely, this is just Krista and Jack trying
to get some money from Nita so they can elope, right? However, Elvis quickly begins to determine
that Krista and Jack are in serious danger; they’ve been kidnapped by a group
that captures illegal immigrants trying to get into California. But knowing what happened to them only
increases the stakes. Can Elvis and his
partner, Joe Pike, find the two young adults and rescue them before it is too
late?
This book is an amazing thrill ride. The story starts off fast, and it never
really lets go until we reach the end.
However, it is too much like a movie thriller, which means it has some
serious weaknesses. The characters, even
series leads Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, are shallow. This doesn’t help since there are a lot of
players we have to try to keep straight.
Author Robert Crais uses shifting timelines to help increase the
tension, which works as intended, but he notes the time in a way that grows
confusing as the book progresses; he even spoils a major plot point early on as
a result. The book is brutal and filled
with foul language. While I expect that
when reading one of Robert Crais’s books, this one seemed excessive, even by
his standards. Despite all these
negatives, I still found the book extremely addicting and impossible to stop
thinking about. It’s worth reading as
long as you keep your expectations appropriate going into the book.
Annie “Halsey” Hall has moved from New York City to Southern
California, buying a house on Rose Avenue just a couple miles south of Santa
Monica. She’s excited about her new
neighborhood, except for her snooping next-door neighbor, and pleased to have
been invited to join the Rose Avenue Wine Club.
On her way to her first meeting, Halsey and her puppy, Bardot, stumble
into the wrong house and find a dead body in the backyard. Even though Halsey has never met the victim,
the police consider her their prime suspect.
With the help of her new friends, Halsey begins to investigate. But with everything happening in the
neighborhood, will they be able to figure out what really happened in time to
clear Halsey?
Even though I don’t drink wine, I decided to give this book
a try after meeting the author. I wanted
to like it since it is set in Southern California, and I got a kick out of
seeing the characters going to places I’m familiar with. However, I found the book was just a bit too
unfocused to really work well. I thought
there were timeline issues early on until I began to realize that the book
takes place over several months. This
wasn’t obvious early on, so maybe it helped explain some of the timeline issues
I thought I saw. While Halsey is
developed as a main character, many of the rest are still fairly flat. They can certainly develop as the series
progresses, so I’m not too concerned about that yet. The book has a couple of interesting
sub-plots, but they take over at times, and too much happens in them over the
course of the book. It would have been
better to stretch them out over the course of several books. The mystery plot has a lot going on, but it
worked to keep me guessing until the very end.
However, one key piece of evidence made me shake my head. It would have made more sense if the book
took place over a week instead of many months.
There is quite a bit of foul language for a cozy, even compared to some
of the cozies and traditional books I read that are pushing the
boundaries. Overall, this reads more
like an early draft that needed some polish to find the gem inside, because
there is certainly a gem here. Since I
already have the second book, I might find some time to read it to see if the
issues resolve themselves as the series progresses.
Barrister Reggie Heath and actress Laura Rankin have finally
tied the knot. When the paparazzi crash
their wedding, they make a hasty exit and change their honeymoon
destination. Laura find them the one
rental in a quiet village on a remote part of the British coast. Only after they land does Reggie find out
about Laura’s past in the village, but he doesn’t realize she has another
reason for visiting now. Something is
going on in what appears to be a quiet village.
Will they figure things out before it is too late?
Those familiar with this series know about the fun premise,
the letters that people send to Sherlock Holmes get Reggie involved in
mysteries. That’s true here again,
although how that comes together I will leave for you to discover. I did feel the beginning was a little slow. Yes, it was set up, but it still could have
moved faster. I was certainly enjoying
it, but about half way through it kicked into high gear and then I was really
hooked. Only a few characters return
from earlier books in the series, one of whom I wasn’t excited to see again,
but the new characters definitely help pick up the slack and made me care about
the outcome. Fans of the series will be
happy with this latest entry.
This is a collection of 36 short stories originally
available at the Malice Domestic conference in 2019. As the title suggests, each story revolves
around food in some way. Whether it’s a
poisoned tea party or death by airline food, you’ll find plenty of murder and
mayhem here. Some of the authors use
this to tell a story with their series sleuths.
That’s the case with Parnell Hall, who opens the collection with his
puzzle lady, Cora Felton. Some authors
take you back in time, like Victoria Thompson.
Others weave a great tale with characters created for their story here,
like Nancy Cole Silverman.
As if often the case with short story collections, a few
weren’t to my taste, particularly those stories where the villain managed to
get out of the hot water he or she should have been in. Most, however, are purely delectable, with a
fun twist or two along the way to the climax and characters that draw you
in. Whether the author included their
series characters or not, each story can be read on its own. There might be a wink and a nod that series
fans will get, but nothing that will distract you as you sample that author’s
world. There aren’t any recipes, but
with a book that is almost 400 pages long, it’s hard to imagine how large it
would have been if they had included some.
When Nora Paige’s movie star husband is caught having an
affair with a co-star, she decides it is time to start over. Fortunately, Nora’s friend Robbie needs
someone to manage the Palace Theater up in San Francisco. However, Nora’s first day doesn’t go as
planned. She’s barely met the staff when
she finds a dead body in the backup ice maker in the basement. Naturally, she doesn’t recognize the victim,
but none of the staff know who he is either.
Could his murder be tied to the death of the previous manager? And, if that shock weren’t enough, Nora
starts to see a hallucination that just might be the ghost of an usherette
named Trixie from the 1930’s. Is Nora
going crazy? Can she figure out what is
going on?
Since I rarely do paranormal cozies, I almost skipped this
book, but I was so drawn to the classic movies theme that I had to give it a
try. I’m very glad I did because it was
fun. While we find the body early on,
the set up, including introducing Trixie to the mix, does slow thing down at
the beginning, but there is a strong mystery for Nora to solve. Nora, Trixie, and the rest of the cast are a
hoot, and I can’t wait to hang out with all of them again. And there is plenty of talk about old
movies. While I haven’t seen many of the
movies mentioned yet, the discussion certainly made me want to fix that. I’m already buying my ticket for the next
entry in this series.
Gina Ricci is thrilled when she lands a job at The Third
Door, one of many speakeasies in 1929 Chicago.
Her friend, Lulu, already works there, and she has promised the tips are
good. Since Gina needs to support
herself and her sick father, the promised money is very welcome, and the
glitch, glamour, and possibility of meeting some celebrities captivates
Gina. As Gina settles into her new job,
she starts to hear that her predecessor was murdered, but no one seems willing
to talk about it. Besides, it happened
away from The Third Door, so surely the murder was unrelated to the job Gina
has now, right? Gina has just convinced
herself of that when she witnesses a murder.
Is she safe in her new job? Can
she figure out what is really happening?
Since I love history, especially US history, I’m always
looking for promising sounding new historical mysteries to add to my to be read
list. This one does a great job of
bringing the era and location to life as we get plenty of discussions about
life during the time, including celebrities of the day. However, this detail took away from the
mystery. The murder I teased takes place
a third of the way into the book, and that does make the plot move forward a
little faster, but still, we could have used some more clues and red
herrings. The climax does explain
everything, but it feels very rushed.
The characters are a little thin as well, although I did feel we got to
know Gina and a couple others well. In
you are interested in the time or location, I definitely recommend you pick up
the book. Hopefully, with some things
now established, the next in the series will be stronger.
The Promise by Robert Crais (Elvis Cole and
Joe Pike #16, Scott and Maggie #2) – 4
Elvis Cole is hired to track down a woman, and the most
promising clue takes him to a house that appears to be empty. When Cole gets no answer, he tries to leave
only to be trapped by the police swarming into the neighborhood looking for a
suspect on the run. Meanwhile, K-9
officer Scott James and his dog, Maggie, are tracking the suspect to the very
house Cole was interested in. Inside,
they find a dead body and a room full of explosives. As the two cases intertwine, can the two find
a way to work together?
Knowing Scott and Maggie were going to be featured very
heavily in this book was what got me reading the Cole and Pike books several
years ago, so it was nice to finally get to read this one. I’m happy to say it lived up to the promise
of the premise. The book is another
great thriller with plenty of things happening to keep us interested. Both sets of characters contribute something
to the eventual outcome. I did think
there was a plot hole early on in the book, but it was resolved by the time we
reach the climax. The characters were a
little thin again, although I enjoyed getting to see a bit of a different side
to John Stone here. The violence,
language, and general depravity is definitely toned down from the previous
book, although there is still more than in my typical cozies, which is no
surprise. Fans of author Robert Crais or
either set of characters will be pleased by this book.
Sarah Blair is awakened in the middle of the night by a
phone call from her twin sister Emily who exclaims that Bill is dead and the
police think Emily is responsible. Sarah
isn’t that upset that her ex-husband is dead, but she is surprised that Emily
is the chief suspect. But Emily was
found with Bill, who had eaten her rhubarb crisp despite the fact that he hated
rhubarb and avoid the nuts Emily used because of his allergies. What is really going on? Meanwhile, Sarah gets a shock when Bill’s
current girlfriend, Jane, produces a will that claims Jane gets custody of
RahRah, the Siamese cat that Sarah has had ever since Bill’s mother died several
years ago. Can Sarah prove she should
keep RahRah while clearing Emily of murder?
While it doesn’t take much to intrigue me with a culinary
cozy, I found Sarah’s status as a cook of convenience to be a great pull for
this series. For more serious culinary
lovers, Emily works as a line chef and is part of a culinary festival taking
place in their town, so all abilities are covered, although the two recipes at
the end are definitely on the simple side.
The mystery starts strong, with us learning about Bill’s death on the
first page. I did find it harder to care
about the sub-plot involving RahRah; I think it’s more because I’m not a pet
person so I needed more time to warm up to him before I would care. Still, both storylines reach great climaxes,
and Sarah manages to figure out all the twists along the way. The characters have some room to grow, but
the main cast, including the suspects, are all solid, providing a good base for
future growth. Fans of culinary cozies
will enjoy this tasty debut.
Treasure hunters have come to town, certain they have a map
to Captain Kidd’s treasure that he buried off the coast of Briar Creek,
Connecticut. Their presence quickly
divides the town, with the library that Lindsay Norris runs becoming ground
zero for some of the fights. However,
when the tension leads to a dead body at the dig site, several of her friends
become suspects. Naturally, Lindsay
begins looking for a clue that might point the police in a different
direction. Can she dig up the correct X
to mark the killer?
I completely enjoyed this book. The plot is a little different for a cozy
mystery, but in this case that was a good thing. Just adjust your expectations accordingly,
but you will be satisfied when you turn the final page. Lindsay’s love life gets complicated when her
ex-fiance shows up, but I enjoyed seeing how that storyline played out, and I
felt it allowed us to get to know Lindsay better. The characters are as charming as always; I’m
especially pleased to see that Lindsay’s relationship with the police is
already changing for the better. We get
some extras, thanks to the crafternoon group, including discussion questions for
The Great Gatsby, a cross stitch pattern, and two recipes. I may be behind in this series, but I am
certainly enjoying catching up.
Mae West’s life has turned upside down. Unbeknownst to her, her husband Paul was
running a Ponzi scheme. When the dust
from the FBI raid settles, Mae is left with no money, no home, and no
friends. All she has is an RV and a
campground in Kentucky. She heads there,
hoping to figure out what she wants to do next with her life while she sells
the place. However, when she arrives,
she finds the place has been neglected and needs a lot of work. Then Paul escapes from prison and turns up dead
in the campground’s lake. With Mae a
logical prime suspect, she begins to work to clear her name. Can she do it?
I grew up camping, and I wanted to love this series set at a
campground. Unfortunately, the flaws
were just too many. The plot was good,
including a logical killer and motive.
However, there is a major plot hole in the final quarter of the book –
one big enough to drive an RV through.
Then there’s the law enforcement character who is supposed to be FBI but
acts more like the local sheriff. The
characters are pushing the edges of quirky, but they definitely grew on
me. There are multiple issues with the
grammar, something I am usually able to ignore pretty well, but here they were
pretty bad. I think most of the flaws
could have been fixed with a good, solid edit, but instead the book feels like
it was rushed out. It is a quick read,
and includes three delicious recipes and some household tips at the end. I really wanted to like this book, but
unfortunately, I will have to keep driving until I find a better campground
cozy series.
A year ago, Jane Darrowfield took an early retirement, and
she’s already beginning to look for things to do. She’s started helping her friends with
problems, but she is surprised when she is approached by Paul Peavy, and
manager of Walden Spring, a nearby 55-and-over community. It seems their community has devolved into
high school, and the popular clique and the biker clique are at open war with
each other through a series of nasty, escalating pranks. But before Jane’s suggestions can be put into
practice, a dead body is found out on the community’s golf course. Have the pranks escalated to murder? Can Jane figure out what happened, or is she
in over her head?
I love Barbara Ross’s books, so I was looking forward to
starting this new series. I wasn’t
disappointed. While the book does need a
little time to set up these new characters, it does so without slowing down the
mystery. Things only pick up when the
murder takes place, and we follow Jane on some twists and turns that lead to
the climax. We get glimpses of Jane’s
past, but there is plenty more to explore in future installments; likewise, I
suspect we’ll get to know the supporting players better as the series
progresses. The suspects are a diverse
and complex group, growing deeper as the book progresses. There are some funny scenes, especially at
the beginning of the book. It does grow
more serious as the book progresses, but we do still get some great moments
that lighten the story. I’m definitely
looking forward to getting to know Jane better as the series progresses.
NOTE 1: I received an ARC of this book.
NOTE 2: This book is originally being released as a Barnes
and Nobel paperback exclusive. It will
be available in all bookstores and formats in mid-2020.
Strangled Eggs and Ham by Maddie Day (Country
Store Mystery #6) – 5
Summer may be winding down in South Lick, Indiana, but tensions are on the rise
thanks to the proposed resort on the edge of town.
Some residents want the jobs it would bring,
but others, like Robbie’s Aunt Adele, don’t want the increased traffic and
impact on the environment.
When a dead
body turns up on the proposed construction site, Robbie’s restaurant, Pans ‘N
Pancakes, becomes gossip central once again.
Can Robbie gather enough clues to solve this case?
The book takes a little time setting up the characters and motives before the
murder takes place, but once the murder happens, things are off and running.
Robbie combines what she learns while working at her restaurant with sleuthing
outside of work hours to reach the logical conclusion. I appreciated how both
sides of the resort issue were presented fairly because both sides did have
views that needed to be heard. Part of that comes from well-rounded suspects.
The series regulars are as fantastic as always; I enjoy spending time with
them. If the book leaves you hungry, you’ll be happy with the five recipes at
the end. Spending time with Robbie is always a pleasure and this book is no
exception.
Note: I received an ARC of this book.
P.I. Kinsey Millhone has been hired to ease the mind of a
widow. No one is questioning that Tom
Newquist died of a heart attack, something brought on by his poor health
habits. However, his widow, Selma, is
convinced that something was bothering her husband in the last few weeks of his
life, and she needs to know what that was.
The problem is, she has no clue where Kinsey might begin to look, and
none of Tom’s friends or co-workers in the Nota Lake Sheriff’s office are
willing to speak ill of the man or have any clue what might have been bothering
him. So Kinsey digs into his life,
hoping to find some thread she can unravel.
Was Tom hiding something? Can
Kinsey figure out what it was?
Since this is a mystery, you know that Kinsey will
eventually uncover something. The key
word here in eventually. The first part
of the book is very slow, and we are over a quarter of the way in before we
begin to see evidence that there is something for Kinsey to uncover. However, the further it goes along, the more
we get drawn in to another great mystery, and by the climax I was glad I had
stuck with the book. We do get a little
time in Kinsey’s native Santa Teresa, and it is nice to see the series regulars
however briefly. Not that this book is
lacking strong characters. The new cast
are outstanding and help pull us into the story even before the plot takes
off. While I don’t recommend this book
as an introduction to the series, I think series fans will be thankful they
stuck with the book until the end.
