Book Review: #FollowMe for Murder by Sarah E. Burr (Trending Topic Mysteries #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong mystery, wonderful characters

Cons: Data dump first chapter

The Bottom Line:

Murder in closed store

Coco must navigate case

Builds to a great read

When Murder is a Trending Topic

I’ve noticed that cozies are starting to branch out into some newer topics.  I love that trend.  There’s a hook to draw everyone to the cozy mystery, right?  I haven’t read many of them – yet – but one I did pick up with #FollowMe for Murder, the first Trending Topic Mystery from Sarah E. Burr.

Coco Cline makes her living as a social influencer and as a consultant helping others make the most of social media for their own benefit.  She is lucky to live in her home town of Central Shores, Delaware.  Her latest clients are Sean and Olivia Chen, who have hired her to help them set up their second-hand cooking ware store.  Coco finds Olivia a bit hard to handle, but overall, she is happy with them as clients.

When the Chens are running late for a meeting in their store, Coco uses her key to let herself in.  And that’s when she finds Stacy, their assistant, dead in the backroom.  With the police looking at the Chens as their top suspects, Coco sets out to give the police other suspects.  Can she do that and help them keep their opening on track?

When you pick up this book, be prepared for a data dump in chapter one.  We get lots of background on Coco here.  Some of it we needed, but what we needed could have been worked into the story a little better.  It’s a major pet peeve of mine (and something easy to do, I know), so I noticed it right away.

However, starting with chapter two, the story builds on that foundation.  The pacing is still a little uneven early on, but the plot grows stronger as it goes along, and I was soon caught up in Coco’s investigation and the secrets she was uncovering about Stacy’s life.  The ending was perfect logical, especially with the clues Coco had collected along the way.

I really did love the characters.  They were all strong, and I never had any trouble keeping them straight.  Coco is surrounded by a great group of friends, and I can’t wait to send more time with the series regulars.

I will say that I found Coco’s relationship with her boyfriend interesting.  I’m curious to see where that is going.  I feel like they both have some maturing to do.

Don’t let the social media aspect of the hook scare you away.  Coco still does plenty of in person investigating.  Yes, social media does come into play in the plot, but it is never something that is too far outside anyone’s experience.  I even laughed a few times at how it impacted the plot.

#FollowMe for Murder is a promising series debut.  You can bet I’ll be following to see what Coco gets up to next.

To see what else is popular, be sure to follow the rest of the Trending Topic Mysteries.

Movie Review: Dying for Chocolate - A Curious Caterer Mystery

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Good characters, strong mystery

Cons: Still some moments of Hallmark cheese

The Bottom Line:

Meet movie Goldy

Who must solve a friend’s murder

Hope she returns soon

“I’m Sorry, I’m Usually Not Just…”  “Dealing with the Death of a Dear Friend While Talking to a Detective in Your Kitchen?”  “Yeah, Pretty Much.”

I know I read the first book in Diane Mott Davidson’s mystery series years ago, but I didn’t go on with it.  Still, when I found out that Hallmark was going to use the series for the inspiration for The Curious Caterer, their newest mystery movie franchise, I was all in.  Dying for Chocolate premiered this last Sunday, and I enjoyed it.

Goldy Berry (Nikki Deloach) is a divorced single mother trying to make a go of it with her catering business.  She’s just been hired to cater a lunch for the private school her daughter attends and where her friend Laura (Erin Boyes) is now working as a counselor.  Laura has something she wants to tell Goldy, but they don’t have a chance before Laura leaves.  Goldy is going to meet up with Laura when she comes across an accident scene.  It turns out the accident involved Laura, and she is dead.

That’s when Goldy meets Detective Tom Schultz (Andrew W. Walker).  Tom has questions about the accident, and it isn’t long before Goldy does as well.  As she begins to gather clues, she starts working with Tom to solve the case.  Will she figure out what is going on?

I did have to laugh when this movie employed one of my least favorite tropes in the first few minutes.  If you ever know a secret about someone – blurt it out to everyone as quickly as possible or you’ll wind up the victim of murder.  Poor Laura hadn’t learned that lesson, and she died as a result.  However, once I got past that, I got caught up in the story.

While Tom doesn’t necessarily welcome Goldy’s efforts to solve the case, I appreciated the fact that he still treated her with respect.  I also appreciated how Goldy went to Tom with what she learned quickly and often.  They avoided two more tropes of the cozy mystery genre right there, which I appreciated.

And I liked both of these characters.  There is obvious chemistry between them, which was also fun to watch.

Overall, the mystery is strong with several good suspects and multiple secrets that Goldy has to uncover before she can figure out who did it.  I also liked how the final pieces clicked into place for her and us at the same time.

Those who are fans of the books will definitely notice some differences here.  I looked up the first two books in the series, and this movie’s plot sounds like it might sort of maybe have an element or two in common with those early novels.  But the characters are very different, making them more Hallmark friendly than they are in the series.  I approve of the changes, but I’m sure they will bother those who are invested in the books.

I’ve been watching some older Hallmark mystery movies in the last few months, and I can definitely see how the quality of these movies has improved over the years.  There is still a little bit of cheese, but it isn’t nearly as bad as it used to be.  (And I’m happy to say that it’s not just that I’m getting used to it.)

I’m hopeful that we’ll see more of movie in this new Curious Caterer franchise.  Dying for Chocolate is a promising beginning.

April 13th's Can't Wait Wednesday

It's the middle of the week, so Can't Wait Wednesday.

This week, I'm highlighting The Shadow of Memory by Connie Berry.

This is the fourth book in an antiques themed cozy series set in England.  I tend to gravitate to American settings and I'm not super interested in antiques.  Yet, I found this series with the first book, and I've been hooked every sense.

Here's the official teaser:

In Connie Berry’s fourth Kate Hamilton mystery, American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton uncovers a dark secret buried in Victorian England.

As Kate Hamilton plans her upcoming wedding to Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, she is also assisting her colleague Ivor Tweedy with a project at the Netherfield Sanatorium, which is being converted into luxury townhouses. Kate and Ivor must appraise a fifteenth-century paintingand verify that its provenance is the Dutch master Jan Van Eyck. But when retired criminal inspector Will Parker is found dead, Kate learns that the halls of the sanatorium housed much more than priceless art.

Kate is surprised to learn that Will had been the first boyfriend of her friend Vivian Bunn, who hasn’t seen him in fifty-eight years. At a seaside holiday camp over sixty years ago, Will, Vivian, and three other teens broke into an abandoned house where a doctor and his wife had died under bizarre circumstances two years earlier. Now, when a second member of the childhood gang dies unexpectedly—and then a third—it becomes clear that the teens had discovered more in the house than they had realized.

Had Will returned to warn his old love? When Kate makes a shocking connection between a sixty-year-old murder and the long-buried secrets of the sanatorium, she suddenly understands that time is running out for Vivian—and anyone connected to her.

The book comes out May 10th, and I'll have a review that day thanks to an ARC I got a couple of months ago.  Really looking forward to diving in.

Book Review: Idle Gossip by Renee Patrick (Lillian Frost and Edith Head Mysteries #5)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Characters, plot, old Hollywood setting

Cons: I won’t be gossiping about any cons

The Bottom Line:

Gossip columnist

Caught up in a murder case

Fun historic read

Can Lillian and Edith Find the Deadly Truth in Some Gossip?

It’s always a pleasure to take a trip back in time with authors Renee Patrick (a pen name for a husband and wife duo).  Their Lillian Frost and Edith Head mysteries are always fun, and Idle Gossip, the fifth in the series, is no exception.

If you’ve missed the series, it takes us to the Hollywood of the past, this time in 1940.  The stories are told from the point of view of Lillian Frost, a New York transplant who has landed a job as social secretary for Addison Rice, a rich inventor who is obsessed with the movies.  She’s also become friends with Edith Head, the head of Paramount’s wardrobe department.  Since this is a mystery series, the duo keep finding themselves involved in murders.

As this book opens, Lillian and Edith have been summoned to the office of famed gossip columnist Lorna Whitcomb.  Her “leg man,” someone who goes out and gathers the gossip for her column, is the police’s prime suspect in the death of Glenn Hoyle, one of his sources.  But Sam Simcoe says he is innocent and only found Glenn’s body.

He also found a list with three names on it in Glenn’s trashcan.  The names on the list are a young and popular starlet, a producer of dubious intent, and a has been director of the silent era. 

Lorna all but blackmails Lillian and Edith into helping clear Sam’s name of the crime.  The pair intend to do as little as possible, but they keep getting drawn further into the case.  Does one of the names found in Glenn’s apartment hold the key to unraveling the murder?

This series always makes me realize how little I know about older movies.  Yes, I do recognize some of the real people who wander in and out of the pages of the book, but I’m sure there are others I don’t.  However, there is a part of me that doesn’t mind since it makes the lines between reality and fiction that much blurrier.

The plot is strong.  The more Lillian and Edith investigate, the more they are pulled in by the secrets that they are uncovering.  The ending surprised me, but the clues that they’d picked up on made perfect sense once they’d explained them.

As always, the characters are strong.  That’s another thing that makes is hard to tell the real people from the fictional people that populate these pages.  There are a couple of developments in Lillian’s life that are especially intriguing, and I can’t wait to see what happens with them in the next book.

If you enjoy a good mystery, you’ll enjoy this series.  But if you are a fan of old Hollywood, Idle Gossip is especially for you.

Enjoy more mysteries in the Lillian Frost and Edith Head series.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book.

Ornament Review: Stocking Stuffers #1 - Pets - 2021 Hallmark Release

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Cute animals in a festive stocking

Cons: A bit on the large size

The Bottom Line:

Animal stocking

Starts a festive new series

It’s a little large

Stockings Stuffed with Animal Cuteness

Through a mix-up, I wound up with the first in Hallmark’s Stocking Stuffers series.  I’d been debating about starting the series, so I’m not complaining too loudly.  And it is a cute addition to my collection.

Each ornament in this series will feature something different in the top of a stocking.  And each ornament will be created by a different Hallmark artist.  This first one was done by Nina Aube, and she chose pets as her theme.

The stocking is mostly green, but almost a mint green, so it doesn’t blend into the tree too badly.  There are white snowflake decorations on it, red bands, and even some bells.  Peeking out of the top of the ornament are pets.  We’ve got a dog, cat, rabbit, hamster, and, sitting on a candy cane, a bird.  They are a bit more cartoony in nature instead of realistic looking, but overall, they are cute.  Behind them, we’ve got green holly and a red bow.

My hesitation on starting this series was twofold.  First, I don’t need any new series to start (says the guy thinking hard about two, maybe three of the new series starting in 2022).  My condo is drowning in ornaments, I only put up a fraction of what I have, and I have stopped several of the series I back collected at one point.

The bigger issue with this ornament was a size.  It feels larger than many Hallmark ornaments.  I have a feeling that is because the ornament is so fat.  It has to be to squeeze in all the animals up on top.

On the other hand, it is cute.  I’ve mentioned that, right?  Nina shared that she included pets her family has had over the years.  While that personal touch obviously doesn’t connect to me personally, I appreciate that these animals do mean something special to her.

Being a stocking, this ornament is meant to be hung.  You won’t be able to set it out to be displayed.  But, when you go to hang it, you’ll find that it hangs straight.

The 1 in a Christmas tree series marker is on the back of the ornament.

I’m still on the fence about starting this series.  If it weren’t for my over abundance of ornaments, I wouldn’t hesitate.  While a bit large, the first Stocking Stuffers ornament is very cute.

Stuff you collection with the rest of the Stocking Stuffers ornaments.

Disney Pin Review: Stitch Crashes Pocahontas - Stitch Crashes Disney #10 - 2022 Release

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Colorful take on Pocahontas

Cons: None

The Bottom Line:

A colorful Stitch

Evokes Pocahontas well

Fans will enjoy pin

Stitch Has Been Painted by the Colors of the Wind

We are finally starting to get the final three entries in the Stitch Crashes Disney series!  I guess Stitch crashed the supply chain as well, making it hard to get these pins.  Anyway, the tenth pin is now out, and for this one, Stitch visited Pocahontas.

This pin is definitely inspired by the famous “Colors of the Wind” scene.  Stitch is covered in a multitude of colors.  They are on him pretty randomly, and it is fun.  The color pallet is definitely fall, which fits the scene and goes along with the leaf he is holding in his hand.  His front is a tan color that looks like Percy, which is made even more obvious by the fact that he is wearing Percy’s collar.  Plus, Stitch also has John Smith’s hat.

It feels a bit more of a mashup than some of the others in this series have had (although I’ll admit with the time off, I might have forgotten some of the details in the earlier releases), but it works.  I’m sure any Disney fan could easily identify the movie represented without being told, which is the most important thing.  I’m not a big fan of the movie, but that isn’t stopping me from liking this pin.

As always, the card the pin comes on is getting into the act.  It’s designed to look like a strip of film, and behind Stitch we can see a lovely forest scene.  Again, it fits the “Colors of the Wind” scene, so it complements the pin perfectly.

It’s taken a while, but it is nice to have Stitch back crashing Disney films.  Fans of the character and Pocahontas will be happy they have this pin.

April 10th's Sunday/Monday Posts

Another week is beginning, so that means it's time for another round of Sunday/Monday posts.  Once again, I will be participating in:

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

This past week was a rather quiet week, even at work.  Which is wonderful considering it was fiscal month end.  I'm an accountant, but I don't do taxes (except my own).  While I don't have an April 15th tax crunch, I do have a monthly cycle I am very much subject to, which some big deadlines.  But, as I say, this week things went smoothly.  Yes, even with an account that was unexpectedly out of balance when I went to reconcile it.  But I think I have a handle on that, so I entered the weekend happy.

Another reason why I'm happy?  These pastel lights for my balcony came.  In late 2020, I bought various colored lights to hang on my balcony for holidays other than Christmas throughout the year to give us a little more cheer.  Last spring, I got to thinking I wanted to find some pastel lights to hang up around Easter.  I didn't do anything about it last year, but I did this year.  I'm not sure if my neighbors have made the connection or not, but I like them, and that's what matters, right?

This morning, I went paddle boarding at a nearby lake.  A friend has two, and she invited me to go with her.  We were supposed to hit a pocket when the wind was going to die down.  It didn't.  Paddling out to the dam was rough, but once we got there, we turned around and didn't paddle at all back.  We were back in no time.  Still, it was nice to be outside for a while today.  We got plenty splashed, but it was a warm day, so it wasn't an issue.

So far, the squirrels are leaving my flower boxes alone.  It seems like they bother them most in late summer, but I'm taking it a week at a time.

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Book Review: Once Upon Another Time by James Riley
Monday - Ornament Review: Chewbacca miniature ornament
Tuesday - Book Review: Death in a Blackout by Jessica Ellicott

Wednesday - Can't Wait Wednesday
Wednesday - Movie Review: The Eternals
Thursday - Book Review: Murder in the Bowery by Victoria Thompson
Friday - Book Review: Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Disney Pin Review: Stitch Crashes Pocahontas

Monday - Ornament Review: Stocking Stuffers #1

Tuesday - Book Review: Idle Gossip by Renee Patrick

Wednesday - Movie Review: Curious Caterer - Dying for Chocolate

Thursday - Book Review: #FollowMe for Murder by Sarah E. Burr

Friday - Friday Posts

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

And I'll probably sneak in a Can't Wait Wednesday again as well.

Book Haul for the Week:

I went a little crazy with the ebooks this week.  Yes, all of these are ebooks.  I bought two of them when they were on sale early in the week for Kindle.  The other three are eARCS for review in May.

The two I bought are:

Little Bookshop of Murder by Maggie Blackburn

Fresh Brewed Murder by Emmeline Duncan

The eARCs are:

Claws for Suspicion by Deborah Blake

Strawberried Alive by Jenn McKinlay

Murder, She Wrote: Killer on the Court by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran 

What I'm Currently Reading:

I'm writing this Saturday night, and I spent some time Saturday afternoon finishing Uneasy Prey by Annette Dashofy.  Yes, it's a mystery, but it's a more traditional mystery than the cozies I typically read.  Very good, which isn't a surprise.

Sunday, I plan to start one of the new books I got last week, Cheddar off Dead by Korina Moss.  Not sure how far I will get into it on Sunday, but I will definitely still be reading it come Monday.

That's it for me this week.  Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful week.

April 9th's Weekly TV Thoughts

The Weakest Link (4/3) – I was impressed with some of their totals.  And, twice (I think it was only twice) they had a long enough chain to get the top prize if they hadn’t banked.  I think that’s the largest prize I’ve seen.  I was a bit surprised Jaya did so poorly at the end.  Seemed like she peaked too early.

The Weakest Link (4/4) – Still a respectable total, but a bit more down to normal.  High side of normal, but still.  I am so disappointed that Emmanuel won, however.  He should have been the second to go after his ignorant comments about women who choose to stay home.

Moon Knight – I’m a bit more confused about how all of this works.  Is Marc real?  Stephen?  How long has Stephen been out if Marc done all these other things, including getting married?  Or am I thinking about this too logically and just need to go with the flow?  I enjoyed the big fight scene against the invisible foe.  Very well done.  Despite all my questions, I am intrigue by it.

The Flash – I’d forgotten that Ronnie was coming back, so that ending completely took me by surprise.  Obviously, that first attempt to trap the fire wasn’t going to work – way too early in the episode.  But I did like where they went with it from a character building position.  And what in the world is going on with Iris?  I assume we will get that mom back when this is over, but yikes!

Survivor – Sorry to see Daniel go.  I liked him.  And I can’t believe people didn’t see the difference between swimming like he was doing in the episode and swimming in the rough seas of the challenges.

Domino Masters – The teams made it easy to see who was going to go home again, but those were all impressive builds.  I’m glad only one team went home, and even then it was hard to see them go.  The stuff they can do I never would have thought of with Dominos is extremely impressive.

How We Roll – Not really getting much better.  This was amusing at best.  But, considering I used to say that about United States of Al, I’m willing to keep watching this one for a bit.  It’s not like Thursdays are super crowded.

Book Review: Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Entertaining story

Cons: Thin characters, dated elements

The Bottom Line:

Racing around globe

With paper thin characters

Wanted to like more

The Original Race Around the World

I’ve often thought about reading Jules Verne’s classic Around the World in 80 Days.  Even though I was disappointed with the recent PBS/BBC production loosely inspired by the book, I decided it was time to finally see what happened in the original book.

This book introduces us to Phileas Fogg, a wealthy Londoner in the 1870’s.  He’s a man of exacting standards and routine.  In fact, he has to hire a new man servant because his last one didn’t have his shaving water heated to the exact temperature that Fogg required.  His new servant, the Frenchman Passepartout, is thrilled about Fogg’s dependability since he is looking for a quiet life after leading a life of excitement for the last few years.

Of course, on the exact day that Passepartout enters Fogg’s employ, Fogg makes a bet with the members of his gentlemen’s club that Fogg can make it around the world in exactly 80 days.  So the two set off, planning to take trains and ships to accomplish this feat.

However, a bank has just been robbed a few days before they leave, and a detective in Suez thinks that Fogg matches the description of the bank robber.  Will Detective Fix arrest Fogg for a crime he didn’t commit?  Or will Fogg make it around the world?

I’ve got to say, I was a little surprised at how quickly they covered some parts of the journey, and then how long they spent in other locations.  We pretty much jump from England to Suez, for example.  And I feel like we spend more time in America than anywhere else on the trip.

I found myself struggling to enjoy this book as much as I expected to, and that’s mainly because of the characters.  They are paper thin.  Passepartout is the best of the lot.  Fogg, for example, never shows emotion.  It really makes Passepartout the main character.  Fix and his efforts to slow them down so he can arrest Fogg makes for an interesting complication, and I did get into the story the further along I went, but still, I wish there were more character development.

Another reason I struggled was the constant head hopping.  It’s definitely not a writing style I’m used to these days, and this book is a good example of why it is mostly avoided now.  It’s not done well here.

The book is definitely dated in its portrayal of native cultures.  There are two events that especially stood out to me, one in America and one in India.  Of course, I know that both of the things portrayed did actually happen in real life; and one of them was a major issue that was being dealt with at the time.  I do wonder how prevalent that other was.  As such, it leaves me with mixed thoughts on the inclusion of these incidents in the book from a historical and cultural perspective since they were reflecting the world at the time.  From a dramatic perspective, they gave us some of the most exciting events of the story.

Then there’s Aouda, the only woman in the entire book.  Even by the standards of the thin characters already in the book, she is absolutely the worst character here.  She doesn’t do much throughout the book until the climax, where her presence plays a vital part.  Even so, she is a waste of a character and got on my nerves because of it.  To be clear, she got on my nerves because of how thin and undeveloped she was.  And that is why I found her the worst character.

I really appreciated how the ending was set up.  Yes, I already knew what was going to happen (I’d heard about the ending of the book years ago, so even before I watched the PBS version), so I appreciated the little clues to that which were worked into the book earlier.

Having now read the book, I can certainly appreciate why the PBS version made some of the changes they did to this story.  The dated elements and thin characters wouldn’t fly with today’s audience.  However, I don’t think their fixes were necessarily any better.  In fact, in many cases, they were worse and will date the new production as badly in another few years.

While I’ve been saying I read the book, technically, I listened to the audio version.  The version I got from the library was unabridged, and it was the Recorded Books version narrated by Patrick Tull.  I thought he did fine with the story and keeping the characters straight for us.

I enjoyed the story enough that I’m glad I’ve finally read Around the World in 80 Days.  However, the weak characters and dated elements make it a book to think carefully about before you pick it up.

Book Review: Murder in the Bowery by Victoria Thompson (Gaslight Mysteries #20)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Characters, historical backdrop, good mystery

Cons: Very adult storyline

The Bottom Line:

Tracking a newsie

Gets Frank involved in murder

More adult than some

Death of a Newsie

Like many, I am a fan of the Disney film Newsies.  (Yes, I am well aware it isn’t historically accurate.)  So when I realized that Murder in the Bowery in Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight Mysteries series was going to be set during the newsie’s strike, I got excited.  While it turned out to only be part of the backdrop to the story, I still enjoyed the book overall.

Things have been quiet for the last couple of weeks, so Frank Malloy is happy to have a new client.  Will Bert comes in looking for his younger brother.  The two had been sent out west on the orphan trains, but had become separated.  Will thinks his brother was sent back to New York City and is living as a newsie.  Will has inherited a store, and is hoping to take his brother back to live with him.

Frank is only too happy to track down Freddie, the younger brother, and bring about a happy reunion.  However, as he begins his hunt, he begins to find holes in Will’s story.  He does finds Freddie only for the boy to run off.  Then Freddie turns up dead.  What was really going on?  Did Frank finding him lead to Freddie’s death?

As I hinted earlier, it quickly becomes evident to Frank and us that Freddie’s death has to do with something else that happened, and that becomes the focus of the book without forgetting about Freddie’s death.  This ultimately lead in some very adult directions.  It was handled with the usual discretion (the book is set in 1899, after all) but it still was a bit more than I was completely comfortable with.  I’ve found that happens every few books in this series.

The mystery itself kept me guessing.  Yes, I did figure out a few of the things that were uncovered before the characters did, but I had no clue who had actually committed the murder until about the time the characters figured it out.

So far, I’ve just talked about Frank, but don’t worry, all the series regulars are here, and Sarah, his new wife, contributes to solving the mystery as much as always.  While I didn’t find quite as much humor as in the last few books, I did laugh at some of the characters’ interactions, especially early on in the story.  The new characters are just as strong, and I enjoyed meeting them.

This series has always been wonderful about bringing life in the 1890’s to life, but they don’t always weave in real history.  This is definitely an exception since the newsies’ strike is happening while this book takes place.  As I’ve said, it’s not a major factor in the story, but it, and the life of the newsies in general, provide some nice background to the action taking place.

As long as you are aware this book tackles some adult topics, you’ll be fine.  Fans will certainly appreciate seeing what Frank, Sarah, and the rest are up to in Murder in the Bowery.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Gaslight Mysteries.