Book Review: The Turncoat’s Widow by Mally Becker (Revolutionary War Mysteries #1)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Strong mystery, characters, setting

Cons: The romance, while good, felt cliched

The Bottom Line:

Spying during war

Plot and characters are great

Strong start to series

Spies and Mystery During the Revolutionary War

I have always been fascinated by the Revolutionary War period of American history.  While I’ve been reading more historical mysteries, I haven’t found too many set during those years.  When The Turncoat’s Widow by Mally Becker crossed my path, I immediately knew I had to read it because it was set then.  And I really enjoyed it.

The book opens in 1780, six months after Rebecca Parcell’s husband, Philip, died aboard a British prison ship.  Their marriage had been an arranged marriage, and Rebecca hasn’t exactly been mourning Philip’s death.  However, the rumors in Morristown are beginning to say that Rebecca was the one who turned her husband over to the British, and Rebecca is finding herself in danger as a result.

That’s why, when General Washington approaches Rebecca with an offer, she takes him up on it.  It turns out that Philip was a man of opportunity, willing to work for whichever side would offer him more money.  When he died, Philip had a list of spies and Washington wants that list as well as information on who Philip was passing messages to for the British.  To find that out, Rebecca must travel to British occupied New York City.  Washington sends her off with Daniel Alloway, a man who escaped from the same ship where Philip died and who was among the last to talk to Philip.  Will this unlikely pair be able to learn anything?

This book is just outside of the cozy mysteries I typically read.  While there isn’t any language, there is a bit more violence, and the romance is a little stronger than in a typical cozy.  As long as you know that going in, you’ll be fine.

The romance was the weakest part of the book for me. Don’t misunderstand, I liked both Rebecca and Daniel, and I was rooting for them to get together.  I just felt like that particular sub-plot was more filled with cliches than the rest of the book.

But that’s a minor complaint.  The main plot was strong with plenty of twists to keep me engaged.  The further along I got into the book, the more I was drawn into the action and the web that Rebecca and Daniel were trying to untangle.  The last 50 pages flew by in a rush as I had to know what was going to happen to them next.

I keep talking about both Rebecca and Daniel for a reason.  They are both featured prominently in the book and both bring something to the solution.  We even get scenes from both of their points of view, and it was always easy to follow when we were switching.

While they were both strong characters, they led a cast of strong characters.  I especially appreciated how the fictional characters interacted flawlessly with the real people in the book.  Unlike some historical mysteries that I read where the characters are mostly just in the historical setting, this one did use real people and the plot felt like it could be a little know story in the war.

And the writing is wonderful.  This may be a debut novel, but you’d never know it.  I was always fully immersed in the story as I was reading.

I’m so glad I’ve found this series.  I can’t wait to see what Rebecca and Daniel get up to next.  If you want a good Revolutionary War mystery, pick up The Turncoat’s Widow.

Movie Review: Encanto

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Animation, fun moments in songs

Cons: Overly serious and too quickly wrapped up

The Bottom Line:

Magical fam’ly

Surprisingly serious

It’s not Disney’s best

“How Do I Save a Miracle?”

I’m always up for an animated Disney movie.  While I’ll watch trailers, they don’t influence me one way or the other.  I know I’m going to see them.  I waited to watch Encanto until it was on Disney+, but I was really looking forward to it.  Sadly, it didn’t work for me.

The movie tells the story of Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz), the only member of her family not to have a magical gift.  While the rest of the family uses their gifts to help the village around them, Mirabel tries her best to help out in ordinary ways.  However, the magic that has helped the family and the village for years might be cracking, and Mirabel appears to be tied in to the magic’s fate.  Can she figure out how to save it?

I’ve got to admit, that premise was intriguing to me.  I thought I knew where it was going to go before I sat down to watch it, but I was okay with that.  I was expecting something fun.  Who wouldn’t with that premise?

Unfortunately, it wasn’t as fun as I was expecting it to be.  The story is pretty serious despite all the magic going on.  It might just be me – that I identified with Mirabel a bit too much – but it was somber.  My initial predictions for the plot proved to be wrong, and even once I got a bead on where the movie was going, it still surprised me a time or two along the way to the ending.

Then there’s the moral.  Don’t get me wrong, I completely agree with what they were going for with it.  But in a kid’s movie?  They aren’t going to understand the lessons about family expectations.  Furthermore, that part of the movie is so quick, and the resolution so abrupt, that it really doesn’t feel like a good resolution to things.

What kids will enjoy is the animation.  This movie is gorgeous!  The colors pop off the screen, and there are many fun moments in the film.  Heck, the scenes with the house acting magically alone will keep them entertained.

Then there’s the music.  While these aren’t the most memorable songs we’ve gotten from Disney, and I don’t see any hits coming from this film, the animators went to town with many of them, conjuring some of the best musical fantasy scenes we’ve gotten in recent Disney animated films.

The voice cast is also fantastic.  I’m not familiar with any of them, but that just helped me get lost in the characters they were creating on the screen.

This is Disney’s 60^th animated movie.  For such a landmark film, I wish I had liked it more.  Encanto isn’t a bad movie, but it’s not up to Disney usual magic, either.  I don’t think it will have the rewatch factor of their better films – at least for me.

Book Review: Knot What You Think by Mary Marks (Quilting Mysteries #5)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong mystery and characters; fun

Cons: Didn’t like the scenes with the psychic

The Bottom Line:

Stumbling on body

With connection to a scheme

Fun book as always

Discovering a Dead Body is Complicated

With very few books I have agreed to read this month, I’m trying to get to some of the books I’ve had sitting on my to be read pile for a while now while I can.  I was quite happy to get back to the Quilting Mysteries by Mary Marks with Knot What You Think, the fifth in this fun series.

If you’ve yet to start the series, it features Martha Rose, a quilter who has been forced into an early retirement due to some health issues.  She lives in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, and she manages to find herself involved in some interesting cases.

Before we go any further, you need to know that the fourth book in the series includes some pretty big surprises for Martha and some changes to her circle of friends.  By necessity, this book is going to spoil some of those surprises, so it is best to read book four before you venture any further into the series.

It began as any ordinary Tuesday for Martha Rose and her quilting friends until Jazz Fletcher, the newest member of the group, arrives.  As Jazz talks about his morning, Martha and the others begin to worry that something has happened to the friend he was trying to connect to before he joined them for quilting.  Sure enough, when they arrive at Dolleen Doyle’s house, they find Dolleen dead on her kitchen floor.

Dolleen is the second wife of a man currently in jail for creating a Ponzi scheme.  While the police look at Jazz as their prime suspect, Martha thinks that there are many more suspects.  Can she clear her friend?

It’s no surprise to any fans of the series that this book has a strong plot.  It wove in some pretty interesting directions before Martha figured things out.  The clues fit, and we had plenty of conflict before reaching the climax.  The suspects are all strong and kept me guessing.

There were several scenes involving a psychic.  I get what the author was going for with them, but I didn’t care for them.  Hopefully, that character won’t be popping back up later in the series.  It isn’t be enough to keep me from reading more, but it is a disappointment.

Martha and her friends aren’t your typical cozy mystery leads, which is one thing I love about them.  It’s nice to have some variety.  They are very well drawn characters, and it is easy to come to care for them quickly.  I enjoy watching them grow as the series progresses and can’t wait to see what comes next for them.

Martha’s love life continues to go in some unexpected directions.  While some of the events here weren’t quite believable to me, I’m having fun with it, so I don’t mind too much.

Martha is Jewish, and once again, we got to see bits of that sprinkled into the book.  The action takes place in the spring in the weeks leading up to Passover, so planning for that comes up a time or two.  It isn’t enough to come close to slowing down the story, but I appreciated the color it gave the story.

As always, I enjoyed reading a cozy set in the Los Angeles area.  It’s not your typical cozy setting, but it works.  I get a kick out of seeing the characters driving around areas that I know since I live there myself.

There were some very funny moments in this book as well.  One of those scenes happened near the end, and it left me very anxious to find out what happens next in Martha’s life.

On the whole, Knot What You Think is exactly what I expected, a fun cozy mystery that kept me guessing until the end.  If that’s what you are looking for, be sure to start this series.

Stitch together the Quilting Mysteries in order.

Ornament Review: Ten Sweet Years - Cookie Cutter Christmas Anniversary Piece - 2021 Hallmark Release

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Nice series anniversary piece

Cons: Not really Christmassy, so will stand out on a tree

The Bottom Line:

Celebrate ten years

But does not look like Christmas

Still glad I have it

Celebrating 10 Years at Christmas

Hallmark loves to mark milestones in their ornament series with limited edition ornaments.  In 2021, we got Ten Sweet Years to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Cookie Cutter Christmas series.

I’ve got to admit, I am a bit surprised by the choice of the cookie cutter shape that frames this ornament.  It’s a heart.  I guess it is because fans love the series or the artist loves the fans.  Something like that.  It is a bit of a disappointment since we did already have a heart in the Cookie Cutter Through the Years spin off series.  But I’m also stuck on what we could have had that would have made a better frame for this ornament.

The scene inside the ornament features two mice.  Who knew our little mouse friend had a friend of his own?  They are working on a large cake.  It’s got two tiers, and covered in white frosting.  One mouse is piping pink frosting on the cake while the other is putting 10 on top to celebrate ten years.  Behind them, we can see confetti on a yellow background.

I’m a bit surprised to see that this ornament hasn’t been as popular as I expected.  Usually when there is an anniversary piece like this, fans of the series flock to get it, but this one has stuck around in stores.  Maybe, like me, they aren’t in love with the heart shape.  Maybe the scene inside doesn’t inspire them since it isn’t related to a holiday.  For whatever reason, it hasn’t been super popular.

While this isn’t my favorite in a series that I do love, I do still like it.  It’s nice to celebrate ten years.  But I don’t see myself putting it on my Christmas tree more than this year, or even being tempted to do so.  Maybe that’s why it stayed on the shelves.

Since the shape is a heart, it can’t stand on its own.  I’m a bit surprised to find that it doesn’t hang straight.  It tips back noticeably.  Since the loop has the entire top surface, it seems like they could have balanced it a little better.

While Ten Sweet Years isn’t a great ornament on its own, it does serve as a nice memento to celebrate ten years of Cookie Cutter Christmas ornaments.  For that reason, I’m glad I got it.

Enjoy the rest of the Cookie Cutter Christmas ornaments.

Disney Pin Review: Snow White - Cuckoo for Disney Pins - 2021 Release

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Snow White appropriately gets a cuckoo clock pin

Cons: None worth dwelling on

The Bottom Line:

Snow White’s cuckoo pin

An appropriate combo

Couple nice touches

This Pin Has a Sinister Weight to it

The Cuckoo for Disney Pins series makes several stops in Fantasyland, which isn’t a surprise.  There are many popular attractions there.  However, I was surprised to see Snow White pop up as one of the pins chosen.

While I wasn’t expecting it, it makes sense they would include Snow White for this series.  The series reimagines classic Disney attractions as cuckoo clocks.  And cuckoo clocks are German in their origins.  I shouldn’t be surprised that Disney made this connection and included Snow White in the series, but I’m thrilled they did.  My surprise comes from the fact that they don’t usually include Snow White’s attraction when they are doing attraction based series.

I’ve been talking about the connection to the attraction, but the reality is this is just themed to Snow White in general.  I know from some of the other pins in this series that these pins are themed around attractions.

Anyway, the main focus of the pin is the Dwarfs’ cottage.  While we don’t see any of the characters from the film, we do see a blue bird and deer outside.  The face of the clock is dead center in the cottage.  It looks like the time is 5 o’clock, although we don’t see any numbers on the face of the clock.  Hanging from the clock are three weights.  The outer ones are very much classic cuckoo clock designs, which is what actually made me remember the German connection between cuckoo clocks and Snow White.  It’s the middle weight that is the most fun.  It’s shaped like an apple – well, a poisoned apple.  We can see the skull on it, meaning that one bite will send someone to the sleeping death.

As a result, this is the perfect pin for fans of the ride (in any version) or the movie.  And, since Snow White is such a historic movie, that means it has lots of Disney fans, right?

It would be nice if the clock part of the pin were a little more themed around Snow White, but I’m being picky.  Overall, this is a great pin that captures Snow White.

As a result, I was happy to add it to my pin collection.  I love seeing the touches that the artists give these twists on cuckoo clocks each month, and Snow White was no exception.

January 8th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Shows are beginning to come back, but things will be going in earnest next week.  I hope I can keep up.

Around the World in 80 Days – I’ve always been curious about the story, but I’m just not sure about this adaptation.  I wish I could feel like some of what happened was actually in the book and not a change to lecture us, but I’m getting cynical enough I can’t help but feel that way.  I’ll probably give it another week, but we will see if I stick with it.

The Equalizer – The irony.  After that comment, I watch The Equalizer.  I don’t think they realize just how serious I was about giving up on the show back in December.  I watched this episode to find out what was going on with Harry.  I am curious how he will be involved if he can’t touch a computer, but I don’t know if I will be around to find out.  Could they have been any more political if they had tried?

The Amazing Race – They answered my biggest question first.  I knew they shut down production on a season as the Covid pandemic was first hitting almost two years ago.  I was wondering if those teams were going to get to race or if that season was going to be scrapped.  Glad to know they get to race.  Sorry that the singing cops went out first.  They may have been the only ones to not continue on past the break in filming.  This is the first time I can remember teams leaving from all over the place.  I’m assuming they timed the flights to land close together and they didn’t all leave for the airport at the same time.  And I called it, the flight attendants are making some of the mistakes I would expect them to know better than after all the bragging they’ve done about the advantages they will have.

United States of Al – They were on such a roll at the end of last year, but this wasn’t one of their better episodes.  The sub-plot with Riley was cringe inducing and the main plot was only marginally better.

January 7th's Book Beginnings and Friday 56

It's been way too long since I did Book Beginnings and Friday 56, at least on a regular basis.  I need to get back into that habit.

And I'm kicking off the new year with The Turncoat's Widow by Mally Becker.

This is the first in a historical mystery series set during the Revolutionary War.  I finished the book already, and I really enjoyed it.  It's a bit darker than the cozies I often read, but only just a little.

And it's got a couple of good teasers.

Here's how the book begins:

Rebecca's laughter floated above the symphony of clinking chain and creaking wood as the British prison ship rocked gently at anchor.

That certainly caught my attention as I wondered what exactly was going on.  Meanwhile, on page 56, we find this:

"You would place me in grave danger."

Even out of context, I like that quote, but in context, the main character is speaking to General Washington.

That's all for this week.  I'll be reviewing the book on Thursday, so I hope you'll come back to read my full review then.

In the meantime, have a great weekend.

Book Review: Murder Lo Mein by Vivien Chien (Noodle Shop Mysteries #3)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good mystery, Lana

Cons: Pacing a bit, a few clinched character moments

The Bottom Line:

Noodle contest death

Lana gets the run around

Enjoyable book

Killer Noodle Contest

About the time each new year rolls around, I look at all the books in series I’ve partially read and vow I will make real progress in some of those series this year.  That’s what lead me to Murder Lo Mein, the third Noodle Shop Mystery.

It’s time for Cleveland’s Best Noodle Contest, and this year, the Ho-Lee Noodle House has the home court advantage since the Asian Village where the restaurant is located is hosting the event.  Lana Lee has just taken over the day-to-day management of the restaurant, but her mother is really putting the pressure on Lana and Peter, the restaurant’s chef, to finally bring the restaurant a win.

The first day of the contest is going well until the head judge turns over a suspicious fortune cookie with a sinister message inside.  A couple of hours later, that judge is dead.  Since he has made a career out of trashing restaurants as a local food critic, the list of suspects is long, but when a friend of Lana’s begins to be the focus of the investigation, Lana begins poking into the case.  Can she clear her friend?

The book does a great job of setting up the contest and introducing us to the victim and suspects quickly.  It wasn’t long before the murder happened and Lana was beginning to poke around.  I did get a little frustrated as the suspects just gave Lana the run around for quite a while, but since Lana was getting frustrated by that as well, I definitely felt like I was in good company.  Eventually, we did learn the secrets and Lana was able to figure out who the killer was.  At that point, everything made perfect sense.

My frustration with the characters is that, once they were introduced, we weren’t given much context on who they were again.  While I didn’t have a problem with the main characters or the prime suspects, I did find a few of the minor characters could have used a little more context.

On the other hand, I did appreciate that we got some growth in a few of the recurring characters and their relationships.  I did feel like it was a bit cliché, but I’m curious to see where things go.

And I definitely do intend to visit Lana again.  I’m enjoying watching her grow as a character, and her relationships are relatable.

Unlike many culinary cozies, there aren’t recipes at the end of this book.  It’s something that St. Martin’s is hit or miss with when they publish a culinary cozy.  As long as you know that when you pick up the book, you’ll be fine.

Overall, I’m glad I picked up Murder Lo Mein.  This is a fun mystery, and it is easy to see why the series has so many fans.

Make reservations for the rest of the Noodle Shop Mysteries.

Movie Review: Bad Boys

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Some fun action and comedy

Cons: Cliches; not all the comedy works

The Bottom Line:

A 90’s movie

Typical buddy cop plot

Just average fun

“Do What You Do, Only Faster.”

Having watched the TV Show L.A.’s Finest over the last couple of years, I was curious to see the Bad Boys movies since the show was a spin off (of sorts) from the second movie.  So when I spotted the first two movies on TV recently, I figured this was the perfect time to view them.  Naturally, I started with the first.

This movie takes us back to 1995 and introduces us to cops Marcus Burnette (Martin Lawrence) and Mike Lowrey (Will Smith).  They are longtime friends and partners.  Naturally, they are also polar opposites (this is a buddy cop action/comedy film, after all).  Things get very complicated for them when someone breaks into the police lock up and steals hundreds of thousands of drug evidence.  When an informant of Mike’s is killed trying to get some information for him, they wind up also having to babysit Julie (Téa Leoni), the only surviving witness.  Will that be enough to figure out what is going on?

As I already hinted, this is your typical buddy cop action/comedy movie.  You might not know exactly how they will figure things out, but you know they will.  I had fun getting to the end of the movie, so I’m not complaining too loudly.

Now, I watched this movie on TV.  As such, I’m sure some things were edited out for time.  Still, I felt like in the rush to wrap up the movie with a big action scene (and I did enjoy the big action scene), some of the story points were left wide opened.  Maybe it was the editing of the film, however, because there were some pretty bad edits even in that final scene, that made it hard to follow the action.

The plot included some pretty absurd twists as Marcus and Mike got involved in solving the case.  Did I honestly believe that they would go along with what their captain told them to do at that point?  No.  But it did make for some fun comedy.  Other times, they argued so much in what was supposed to be funny scenes but didn’t really feel that funny to me.  So the comedy was as a mixed bag as the plot was.

The characters were pretty typical characters for this type of movie.  They were a little deeper than cliché, but only just a touch.  Still, I cared enough to want the characters to succeed.  This is no fault of the actors, who did what they could with the script.  Oh, and why did Julie have to do the stupidest thing she could half of the time?  Again, I’m blaming the script for these too stupid to live moments.

I will give the movie this.  It may have been released in 1995, but it wasn’t quite as dated as I expected it to be.  Oh, there were still dated clothes and hairstyles, but it could have been much worse.

I had never been super anxious to watch these movies, and I can see why.  While Bad Boys had its moments, watching them on TV was definitely the right way to go.  I’m still definitely planning to watch the second one.  If you can find them on TV and you are curious about them, watch it.  But don’t go out of your way to do so.

Book Review: Vintage Trailers and Blackmailers by Heather Weidner (Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries #1)

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Characters and setting

Cons: Pacing of the plot

The Bottom Line:

Murder at resort

Wonderful cozy setting

Plot could be better

Murder at a Campground

I grew up camping. My parents still have a trailer, and I still enjoy it when I get a chance to join them. I’ve been on the lookout for a camping or campground themed series for a while now, so Vintage Trailers and Blackmailers was already on my radar before author Heather Weidner offered me a copy for review. 

Jules Keene has taken over the campground she inherited from her parents. She’s renovated vintages trailers to turn them into luxurious places to stay and is finding that the resort is beginning to gain a positive reputation. 

Jules even has some people staying there long term, like Ira Perkins, a writer looking for some peace and quiet to finish his book. Unfortunately, he is a pain as a guest, complaining about everything. Then two guests stumble over his body in the woods next to the campground. Jules can’t help but wonder what happened, especially as more strange things begin happening around the resort. Can she figure out what happened before the resort’s reputation is ruined?

I felt right at home as soon as I started reading this book.  The setting brought back memories of great camping trips, and I could picture my family having a great time at this campground.  If only this were a real place.

Unfortunately, the mystery wasn’t as strong as the setting.  I think part of it was the fact that the story took place over a longer period than I am used to, so it felt like it was moving slowly.  It’s funny because things were happening early on, so I’m not quite sure where that was coming from.  However, the second half confused twists with events.  There were things happening, but it needed some twists to it.  The ending did make sense, which is always a good thing in a mystery.

It is a shame the plot wasn’t stronger because I also liked the characters.  Jules is a great lead, and she is surrounded by some fun characters – her aunt who helps her run the resort, the handyman, even the FBI agent who gets involved.  I enjoyed spending time with them.

There was enough I enjoyed that I’m glad I got a chance to read Vintage Trailers and Blackmailers.  However, I do wish the plot has been stronger.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.