May 19th's Friday Post Featuring Murder at the Marina

Hi everyone!  Welcome to Friday and another Friday post, where I will be linking up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

For the first three, my teasers will be coming from Murder at the Marina by Janet Finsilver.

This is the fifth in the Kelly Jackson series.

Horse lovers will be jealous of how the book opens:

My heart raced as the Appaloosa galloped down the beach, his hooves flinging sand high into the air.

Heck, I have only ridden on horseback a few times, and I was jealous of the opening scene.

Moving ahead to 56% of the ebook, we find this fun exchange.  To set the scene, Kelly has gone to the marina to get some information, and well, there's a reason this book is called Murder at the Marina.  Anyway, this is what happens when she shows up.

I spotted Joe in his usual attire and place—bib overalls and rocking chair. “Hey, Joe.”
“Hey back to you.” He leaned over and peered around me toward the parking lot.
I looked over my shoulder but didn’t see anything in the lot. “Are you looking for something or expecting someone?”
“Just checkin’ to see if the cop cars arrived yet. They have every time you’ve showed up.” He chuckled, a dry, cackling sound.

I've finished the book, and I enjoyed it.  I'm planning to review the book Wednesday of next week, so I hope you'll come back to see my full review.

Meanwhile, time to close things out with the Book Blogger Hop.  This week's question is:

Have you ever attempted to repair a damaged book?

I have a couple of times over the years, and it was mostly successful.  But, most recently, there was the ARC I got wet that I borrowed a friend's hairdryer and dried the book out.  Yes, the pages are all stiff now, but I was able to read it.

Have a great weekend.

Book Review: Her Dying Day by Mindy Carlson

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong mystery

Cons: One subplot in June’s life

The Bottom Line:

A missing author

Will June solve past mystery?

Strong; kept me engaged

What Really Happened to Greer Larkin?

This last December, a friend surprised me with a book, Her Dying Day by Mindy Carlson.  This mystery hadn’t even crossed my radar, but she happens to know the authors, and, since she knows I love mysteries, she sent it my way.  While I struggled with parts, overall, I enjoyed it.

June Masterson is an aspiring filmmaker about to get a graduate degree in documentary making.  The trouble is, she has to settle on her final project, and she keeps changing her focus.  Nothing is exciting her until she lands on the idea of doing a documentary on the disappearance of Greer Larkin.

Greer was a shining star in the mystery world, bursting onto the scene as a teenager.  But then, after releasing only a handful of books, she vanished after a very public fight with her fiancé.  That was twenty years ago, and no one has heard from her since.

June has been a fan of the author for years, and she has followed over scrap of news over the author’s fate.  As she interviews the principles in Greer’s life, conflicting theories and reports surface.  The stakes are raised when someone starts threatening Greer.  Can she figure out what happened to Greer?  Or will she have to settle for an unsatisfactory ending to her documentary?  Will she even finish it on time?

I’ve got to say, I struggled with parts of this book while being completely caught up in other aspects of it.  I struggled the most with June herself.  She is making some choices that made me want to sit her down and help her see sense.  I found many scenes around this to be difficult to read.  On the other hand, it gave us a great opportunity for some growth in June.

The main mystery of what really happened to Greer is solid.  I changed my mind multiple times over what I thought had happened all those years ago.  With so many of the main people in her life still alive, it gave us modern stakes even if the case was so old.  I liked that.

This is a weird book to place in a sub-genre of mystery.  We have an amateur sleuth, which makes it lean toward cozy.  But some of the content is too strong to really even be traditional.  Despite how it might sound, this really isn’t a thriller either.  However you want to sub-classify it, this is a good mystery.

That’s because, as we reached the climax, things came together wonderfully.  I did not see much of what June unearthed coming, but I was very pleased with how the author pulled it off.  One aspect of the book was left up in the air, and I would love to know what happened with that.  Maybe in a sequel?  I could definitely see it being used as fodder for a new book.

Ultimately, I turned the last page of Her Dying Day glad my friend sent it on to me.   If you enjoy a mystery that will keep you engaged, you’ll be glad you picked this one up.

Movie Review: Inheritance Lost - The Jane Mysteries

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great new characters in an engaging mystery

Cons: Some of Jane’s actions are very questionable

The Bottom Line:

Fifteen-year-old case

Jane honors late uncle’s wish

Great start to franchise

“I’m Just Trying to Help.”

Being a fan of Full House and Fuller House (although I still need to watch the final season of that show), I was thrilled to see Jodie Sweetin start her own mystery franchise on the Hallmark Channel.  Inheritance Lost, the first Jane Mystery, proved to be a lot of fun.

Jane da Silva (Jodie Sweetin) is living in Paris and working as a singer until she gets word that her uncle has passed away.  She returns to Baltimore to be with her aunt Sadie (Paris Jefferson), and discovers that her uncle has named her as the head of his retirement project – a foundation that looks into old cases for those who need help and answers.

While Jane is still trying to figure out what to do about this, she meets a young client.  Lia (Danielle Smith) is a teen who wants to find out what happened to her mother who died fifteen years ago.  Officially, it was ruled a suicide, but Lia isn’t satisfied with that.  Then there’s the mystery of the inheritance that Lia’s mother had gotten not too long before she died.  With the help of homicide detective John Cameron (Stephen Huszar), can Jane figure out what happened?

This was a solid mystery to start the franchise.  I was very interested in what Jane was uncovering.  She is very green as an investigator, and made some very rookie mistakes.  Some might fault her for this, but I’m willing to let it slide here since she seemed to recognize the mistakes after she’d made them.  Hopefully, this is the kind of thing she will learn from so we won’t see as much of it going forward.  Anyway, Jane does put the pieces together at the end and reach a satisfying solution.

One aspect that was very fun is that Aunt Sadie also used to be a performer.  As a result, she has a huge collection of costumes that Jane uses at various times in the investigation.  I loved seeing what she’d pop up in next.

We also got a few snippets of Jodie Sweetin singing.  She’s not known for her singing, but she definitely should be.  Hope we see more of that in the future as well.

For a Hallmark movie, this film was refreshingly light on cheese.  Jodie leads things with a strong presence, and the writing is good, giving the actors quite a bit to work with.  I recognized Stephen Huszar from another Hallmark mystery franchise, one I struggled to watch.  He was great here, proving that the writing can often have a lot to do with how the actors come across.

I definitely hope that this is the start of a long running mystery franchise for Hallmark.  Inheritance Lost was a good introduction to characters I already love and can’t wait to see again.

Book Review: A Novel Disguise by Samantha Larsen (Lady Librarian #1)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Characters and plots that keep the pages flying

Cons: No real cons, disguised or otherwise

The Bottom Line:

A simple disguise

That spirals out of control

Delightful debut

How Long Can Tiffany Disguise the Danger She’s In?

It was about a month ago that A Novel Disguise really came onto my radar.  I’m not sure what made it stand out to me then, but I’m glad it did because I loved this book.

The book takes us back to 1784.  Tiffany Woodall is living in a small English village, keeping house for her half-brother.  That is until the day that she finds him dead in his bed.  Knowing that she has no options and will be kicked out of the cottage they lived in, Tiffany keeps his death quiet and takes on her half-brother’s job as the librarian for the Duke of Beaufort.

But Tiffany discovers that the quick decision to keep her life as she knew it is making things much more complicated.  For one thing, she has to balance being two different people.  It doesn’t help that she is developing feelings for the local bookseller.  Meanwhile, the rector wants her hand in marriage and won’t take no for an answer.

Then there’s the fact that one of the servants at the duke’s castle dies.  The doctor thinks that she was poisoned.  Suddenly, Tiffany wonders if there was more to her half-brother’s death than she realized.  Can she solve the mystery and keep her secret intact?

Quite obviously, there’s a lot going on here.  And, you might normally see me saying that the set up slowed down the mystery.  And it did, if I’m being honest.  But here’s the thing – I don’t care.  I was hooked on this story almost from the first page.  I couldn’t wait to see what complication Tiffany would face next, and there were plenty of them.

Now, this isn’t to say that we don’t have a strong mystery.  It’s very well done, with plenty of twists.  I was impressed with how this book brought everything together at the end in a way that felt completely natural.  I did figure out one plot point early, but the rest kept me guessing until Tiffany figured it out.

Obviously, this means that I liked the characters.  After all, if I didn’t sympathize with Tiffany, I wouldn’t have cared nearly as much as I did.  She is a strong main character, and she is surrounded by a wonderful cast.  Some we love; some we love to hate.  And yes, it is love to hate.  I enjoyed every second I spent with them.

I will say the poison causes the victims to be sick, and we got a little too much descriptions of that for me, but it was a very minor complaint overall.

The time period was brought to life well without slowing the story down in the slightest.

It was with reluctance that I set down A Novel Disguise when I turned the final page.  I’m already looking forward to seeing what happens to Tiffany next.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

I'm reviewing this book as part of a blog tour.  Check out the tour page for the rest of the participants.

And please enter the tour wide giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ornament Review: A Very Merry Grinchmas!

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Fun light and music display

Cons: New recording of song, lights up in sections

The Bottom Line:

Big decorations

That are themed around the Grinch

With lights and a song

Crazy Decorations Featuring…the Grinch?

I’ve had a hard time resisting Hallmark’s ornaments inspired by some of the crazy house decorations you see around in December.  Combined that with The Grinch, and I spent all of ornament season in 2022 eyeing A Very Merry Grinchmas!  I resisted for a while, but I finally bought it when it was on sale after Christmas.

If you’ve seen videos (or one in person) of the houses with lots of lights and music, you’ pretty much know what to expect.  This ornament features a two story house with lights everywhere.  In the windows, on the sides of the house, the stocking hanging under the lower story window, in the sleigh out front.

What makes this part of a theme are the characters we have.  In front of the driveway, we have the Grinch himself, caught in the act of stealing a tree (with lights on it, of course).  In the upper story windows, we have Max (his dog) and Cindy Lou Who.  Above the house is a big light up banner that says Merry Grinchmas!

For all these lights to work, you need Hallmark’s power cord, which is the current cord they sell.  It is sold separately.  Without the cord, you get the fun house, but you don’t get any of the light or sound.  And I wouldn’t pay full price for this ornament ($39.99) without planning on hooking it up to the power cord.

The lights don’t light up individually, but they light from bulbs inside.  The various sections of the house do change color, but all the lights in that section do it all at the same time.

There’s a small button on the right side of the ornament.  When you press that, you get music and a sync’d light show.  You guessed it, the ornament plays “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”  It’s an instrumental version that speeds up as it goes along.  Yes, it would be better if it were the version from the special, but this is still fun.  The lights blink in time with the music, and it is fun to watch.  All told, the show lasts about 24 seconds.

Since this is a house, the ornament has a flat base, so you could set this out as part of any display you wanted it to be part of.  The loop for hanging the ornament sticks out from the top of the banner.  It tips back slightly when you go to hang it, but get a few tree branches around it, and you’ll never know.

I’m glad I added this ornament to my collection.  Full price seems a bit much to me, but fans of the Grinch will definitely enjoy having A Very Merry Grinchmas! each year.

Disney Pin Review: Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar - Decades Collection - 2023 Release

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Two pins for almost forgotten Disney characters

Cons: None for me

The Bottom Line:

Two rare characters

Honored with a two pin set

For second decade

A Pair of Pins for Mickey and Minnie’s Early Friends

I was still debating about the Decades collection that Disney is releasing to celebrate the company’s 100^th anniversary when the second round came out.  The collection is celebrating the 1930’s.  Naturally, I was expecting things themed around Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  And they released some merchandise for that movie as part of the collection.  But when I saw the pins, I knew I had to get them.

You see, instead of featuring Snow White, they went with something even rarer in Disney history.  They released a two pin set featuring Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar.

Diehard DisNerds like me immediately got excited while everyone else was just scratching their heads, right?  If you don’t know who this duo is, they were early friends of Mickey and Minnie.  Horace actually first appeared as Mickey’s horse before slowly morphing into a more human character while Clarabelle was pretty much an anthropomorphized character for most of her screen time.

Basically, they were the early side kicks before Donald, Daisy, and Goofy came along.  They were used the most in the early 1930’s, making them perfect for this decade in the collection.  And yes, they have popped up at various times over the years, including an effort to bring them back more now, which I love seeing.

Anyway, these pins capture them in their early 1930’s form, including mostly black and white.  The characters have a red circle behind them and some blue highlights.  And they pretty much look like their characters did back then.  The only thing that really stands out is the bell hanging from Clarabelle’s neck.  And I do mean that literally since it is 3D and not a 2D pin element.  There’s even a little dangle in it, so it makes a noise.

With the first pin in the series, I complained about the price.  I don’t feel that is an issue here.  If sold individually, I can easily see these pins going for $14.95, so $29.95 for the two of them seems reasonable to me.  Maybe the pins would be a buck or two cheaper if bought in the parks, but it still seems reasonable.  And maybe I was expecting it this time, and it was just the surprise with the first pin that bothered me.

This is also filling a gap in my pin collection.  I don’t remember ever even seeing Horace and Clarabelle being offered as pins.  So, naturally, I had to snag them.

The result is a two pin set that I’m very happy to own.  Any fans of the classic shorts will also be glad to see Disney honoring Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow.

Mother's Day Sunday/Monday Post

 Hi everyone.  Happy weekend.  Time for a Sunday/Monday Post.  I'll be linking up to:

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

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers reading this, including my own Mom.

It's was a fairly quiet week at work.  Not too many meetings, and I was working on account recs.  I'm in a good place with them, so hopefully, I can finish up the little bit I have to do early in the week and start on reports.

Saturday, I went to the lake.  But I didn't go paddling.  Rugged Maniac, a mud run, was at the lake, and I did that instead.  Unfortunately, I reinjured my shoulder about a mile into the 3.1 mile course.  I don't know what I did two weeks ago, but I'd been babying it for the last couple of weeks so it wouldn't be an issue.  But as I was trying to navigate one of the obstacles, I tweaked it again.  I still finished, and it should be fine in a couple of weeks, but it's frustrating.

Let's see, other than that, it's game day with my friends.  I missed last month since I went home for Easter, so I'm looking forward to going.  In fact, let's get this finished up so I can leave.

This Last Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Ornament Review: A Beauty in Blue

Tuesday - Book Review: Silence is Golden by Penny Warner

Wednesday - TV Show Review: Quantum Leap - Season 3

Thursday - Book Review: If I Had a Hammer by Teresa Trent

Friday - Friday Post featuring A Novel Disguise

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Disney Pin Review: Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar

Monday - Ornament Review: A Very Merry Grinchmas!

Tuesday - Book Review: A Novel Disguise by Samantha Larsen

Wednesday - Movie Review: The Jane Mysteries - Inheritance Lost
Thursday - Book Review: Her Dying Day by Mindy Carlson

Friday - Friday Post

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

It was a five book week, darn it.  I think tracking this like I do has made me realize just how many books I am behind in what I'd like to be reading.  I need to figure out a way to catch up.

First up were my last two June ARCs.  Hot Pot Murder is the second LA Night Market Mystery from Jennifer Chow.  I enjoyed the first, and I'm looking forward to this one.  That comes out at the beginning of June.  At the end of June, we get the fifteenth Cat in the Stacks Mystery from Miranda James.  It's been a couple of years since the previous books came out, so I'm really looking forward to revisiting the characters in Hiss Me Deadly.

I've been thinking about starting Lee Hollis's books for the last few months, so when I saw that Death of a Kitchen Diva, the first in the Hayley Powell series, was on sale on Kindle for $3.99, I jumped on it.  Then I saw that the first Desert Flowers Mystery was also on sale, and for only $0.99.  How could I turn down Poppy Harmon Investigates.

Finally, I got another audio book from the library.  I wasn't necessarily looking for one, but I'd been trying to get Racing the Light, the new Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Mystery from Robert Crais for a while since this is one of my audio series.  I only seem to be able to find it on CD and not downloadable audio from the libraries around here.  I put in a request for it, and it came in right AFTER Christmas.  I knew I wasn't going to be able to listen to it then.  But then it dropped off my library's website completely.  I asked about it a month ago, and they were going to investigate.  I guess they figured out what was going on since I got a notification this week that it was available for me to pick up.  As I said, it is CD.  Working from home, I'm not driving that much, and a CD makes it much harder to just randomly listen to a little bit around the condo.  Not quite sure how I'm going to get it all listened to in the next three weeks.

What I'm Currently Reading:

But I started Racing the Light today.  Only about an hour into it, and it is only an eight hour book, so at least I made some progress.

I've also just started a book that I'm reading - Murder at the Marina by Janet Finsilver.  This is the fifth Kelly Jackson mystery set up in Northern California.  I'm only about 10% into the book, and I'm already hooked.

That's about it for me.  Have a wonderful week!

May 13th's Weekly TV Thoughts

The Company You Keep – What a ride.  Okay, so there weren’t a ton of surprises, but I had lots of fun watching the events play out.  And they definitely set things up for a second season.  I don’t know that the ratings were strong enough, and with the writer’s strike, I am doubtful that we will see any more of the show.  But I’d love to be wrong.  Yes, this show definitely grew on me.

Race to Survive: Alaska – I’m surprised and glad to see the brothers be brought down a few pegs.  Granted, it didn’t last for long, but still, it was nice.  Things are looking good for the last all female team, but that’s not a surprise.  They’ve been at the back of the pack every leg.  I kind of figured they’d be out this leg.

Night Court – If I’d watched the original show, I would have gotten that cameo at the end instead of having to read about it.  The episode went pretty much where I expected it to, including the break up.  Which is good because I didn’t like Rand’s character at all.  Still, the big reveal (the one that actually got the gasp) was fun.  And, for the record, I don’t think that Dan is going to stay away for too long.  They’ve bring him back to New York soon.

Superman & Lois – Are all the secrets of this season out?  I think so.  Now, it’s just seeing how all of these balls play out as everything crashes together.  Also interesting to see how they are going to bring Lex back into things.  I knew he was coming on at some point this season, but I was curious how.

Gotham Knights – I’m not a fan of the addict mom storyline.  Not saying it is bad or anything, it just doesn’t quite feel like it is part of the show.  But maybe that will come into play later.  Some interesting developments, however.  Is the assassin really dead?  I feel like we came back from something like this already.  The Owl’s big plan seems a bit out there to be, but it fits with what else we’ve got going on.  And that cliffhanger ending?  I’ll definitely be back to see what happens next.  Why does it have to be in two weeks?

The Weakest Link – Once again, there were some rounds were I knew most of the answers, and they couldn’t seem to get any.  Of course, if I were on the show, I’d get all the questions I couldn’t answer.  Or I’d freeze up.  But it didn’t seem to be that they were freezing up.  They just didn’t know.

The Flash – I was not aware we were working on the season ending arc.  I thought this was a two parter and then we’d move into the finale.  So you can imagine my surprise when we got another to be continued.  I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as last week.  Still better than some we’ve had, but it wasn’t outstanding.  I hate what they are doing with Caitlyn/Frost’s new character.  I was glad to see Marc back.  But the biggest question that keeps running through my head during Eddie’s scenes is who is that captain.  Because she’s not the captain we’ve been dealing with recently.  Or am I forgetting a plot point?

Survivor – So, Carolyn didn’t need to play her idol for Carson.  But I love that she did.  Especially since she started the episode so upset at him.  I get the emotion of the moment, and I was glad to see her move past that.  I also loved the look on everyone’s place when they realized she’d had one all along.  Plus, they took out Danny, who arrogance has been bothering me.

True Lies – They announced the show was cancelled this week.  I’m not surprised given how they placed it on the schedule (with a lead in of reruns).  But I’m not really going to miss it.  This episode had some fun moments, but it was just okay overall.

May 12th's Friday Post

Welcome to Friday.  We made it!  It's been a few weeks since I did a Friday post, but it's time to get back in the swing of it.  As before, I will be linking up to:

Book Beginnings
First Line Friday
Friday 56
Book Blogger Hop

My teasers for the first three will be coming from A Novel Disguise by Samantha Larsen.

This is a historical mystery set in the 1780's.  And here is how the book begins:

Miss Tiffany Woodall’s fortieth birthday commenced rather sourly.

Short and sweet, but it definitely made me want to read on.

Since I read an eARC of the book, let's skip ahead to 56% into the novel.  It was hard to find something that wasn't a spoiler, but I finally settled on one.  To fully understand this quote, you must know that, at this point in the book, Tiffany Woodall is masquerading as her dead brother.

Returning to the door, she ascertained that no one was in the male servants’ hall. She ran to the door that led to the stairs. Breathless, she ascended as quickly as her stocking feet would allow. Her foot touched the marble on the ground floor.

“Mr. Woodall, can I help you?” Mr. Ford asked with a bow. He was standing in the common room.

Looks like she got caught.  But what will happen next?  I'll leave it for you to discover.

I really enjoyed this book.  I'll be reviewing it Tuesday as part of a plot tour, so I hope you'll come back to read my full review.

Now, let's finish things off with the Book Blogger Hop.  This week's question is:

Do you have a "trademark" that everyone would know it's you whether you said your name or your blog name?

I'm not really sure.  Maybe the picture on the top of my blog?  I'd be curious to see if you have anything for me.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Book Review: If I Had a Hammer by Teresa Trent (Swinging Sixties Mysteries #2)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Dot, good mystery

Cons: Sub-plot wraps up too quickly

The Bottom Line:

Murder at first job

As Dot reels from history

Combine for good book.

Dealing with History and Solving a Mystery

In my efforts to read more historical mysteries, I picked up the first Swinging Sixties Mystery last year and enjoyed it, so naturally, I was going to return for If I Had a Hammer.  This was another good trip back in time.

This book opens in November of 1963, and Dot Morgan, our protagonist, and her cousin, Ellie, have taken a Friday off work to go witness history – President Kennedy’s visit to Dallas, Texas.  When the unthinkable happens, she is devastated and quickly returns to her hometown in the Dallas suburbs.

While Ellie really reals from what the two witnessed, Dot tries to get on with her life, which includes her first job now that she’s graduated from secretary school.  She’s working for the biggest construction company in the area, which is run by two step-brothers.  The one boss she actually likes has a mysterious accident at a construction site.  Can Dot figure out what is going on?

You really can’t write a historical series set in 1960’s Texas without bringing in the assassination of JFK.  I knew that was going to be a part of this book, and I was wondering how exactly it was going to fit into the plot.  I actually respect the way it was handled, with the aftermath of that being a strong sub-plot behind an unrelated compelling mystery.

However, I feel like that sub-plot turned out to be the weakest element of the book.  I could definitely understand Ellie’s reaction to things at first.  But I felt like they were taken to extremes, and the resolution of this particular storyline felt rushed.

The main mystery was strong.  I was kept guessing as to what was going to happen next the entire time.  Dot gets herself into plenty of trouble while investigating, which I appreciated.  And yes, the climax was a page turner.  The resolution answered most of my questions, although I do still wonder exactly why the victim did a couple of things he did.  Still, these are minor issues.

I enjoyed getting to visit Dot again.  I’d liked her in the first book, and that continued here.  I would have liked to see more of her parents, but I enjoyed their appearances.  And her potential boyfriend is a great character as well.  The suspects did their job of making us care about the outcoming and keeping us from figuring things out.

Much of this book takes place in December, which means we get some Christmas trappings added to the story, especially in the second half.  I enjoyed that, especially getting to see how things were different back then.

Overall, I really did enjoy my second trip back in time to visit Dot.  If I Had a Hammer will appeal to anyone who is looking for a good mystery set near a major event in American history.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Mystery
Published by: Level Best Books
Publication Date: March 2023
Number of Pages: 230
ISBN: 978-1685123017
Series: The Swinging Sixties Mystery Series, Book 2 | Each is a stand alone
Book Links: Amazon | Goodreads

About the Author:

Teresa Trent is the author of over 15 books. She started writing cozy mysteries with the Pecan Bayou and Piney Woods Mystery Series. She sets her stories in different geographical areas of Texas and The Swinging Sixties historical series is set just north of Dallas, starting in 1962. You might think with so many books set in the Lone Star state, she was born there, but no. She has lived all over the world, thanks to her father's career in the army. After living in Texas for twenty-five years, she's finally put down roots.

Teresa is a hybrid author, self-publishing early in her career, which led her to traditional publishing with Level Best Books and Camel Press. She is the author of several short stories that have appeared in a host of anthologies. Teresa publishes the blog and podcast, Books to the Ceiling at https://teresatrent.blog where she loves to read the book excerpts of other writers and share in the writing community.

Teresa is a member of Sisters in Crime and lives in Houston, Texas with her husband and son.

Catch up with Teresa Trent here:

TeresaTrent.com
Books to the Ceiling Podcast
Goodreads
BookBub - @TeresaTrent
Instagram - @teresatrent_cozymys
Twitter - @ttrent_cozymys
Facebook - @teresatrentmysterywriter

I'm reviewing this book as part of a blog tour.  Please check out the rest of the stops:

And please enter the tour wide giveaway: