Saturday 29 January 2022

Wedding Day and Foul Play (Consignment Shop Mystery #6) by Duffy Brown

Wedding cake on top of the table, dead body underneath and a
favorite auntie accused of putting it there is no way to start a
marriage.  (Summary via Goodreads)


Wedding Day and Foul Play by Duffy Brown is the sixth book in the Consignment Shop Mystery series and as soon as you open this book up and start reading, you are going to be hooked !!  

Wedding Day and Foul Play starts off with main character Reagan Summerside marrying her dreamboat lawyer fiance, Walker Boone.  Unfortunately during the reception a dead body is found under a table and Reagan's ex-husband is about to take Reagan's aunt house after  a deed is found in an old chest.......and Aunt Kiki is in the middle of everything !!  When Aunt Kiki is arrested for the murder of Corny McBride and placed on house arrest, Reagan knows she has to do something.  Not only does she have to prove her aunt's innocence but she has to find a way to keep her aunt and uncle in the house they have lived in for their entire married lives.

Reagan and Boone should be on their honeymoon but family is more important so they put their heads together to find out who really killed Corny.  The suspect list seems to get longer as they find out things about Corny and his blackmailing ways.  And just when they think they have it all figured out, something else comes to light and they are back to not knowing anything.

Readers will love this book as well as the series.  It doesn't matter what book you pick up, as soon as you start reading you will feel like you are right there in Savannah visiting family and friends.....you may not want to leave....even with a murder investigation going on, you will be invested in everything !!


Review by Missi M.







Friday 28 January 2022

Styled for Murder (The Bad Hair Day Mysteries, #17) by Nancy J. Cohen

A dead body in her mother’s bathroom during a home remodel leads hairstylist Marla Vail to flush out the clues and nail the killer.

When hairstylist and savvy sleuth, Marla Vail, gets a frantic call from her mother that there’s a dead body in her shower, Marla realizes this wasn’t part of the home renovation plans. The victim turns out to be the project manager, who had an untrustworthy reputation in town. Disgruntled customers, unpaid suppliers, and the design company’s staff are among the suspects. Which one of them wanted the foreman to pipe down about their shady dealings?

Meanwhile, the lead investigator sets his sights on Marla’s stepfather, Reed, who’s keeping secrets from his family. Reed has a past connection to the victim and won’t come clean about what he knows. As Marla drills deeper, she’s showered with suspicions, but nobody’s willing to leak any information. She needs to hammer down the prospects, or time will drain away and the murderer will strike again.

To flush out the culprit, Marla taps into her pipeline of resources. Can she assemble the clues and demolish the alibis to nail a killer? Or has someone designed the perfect murder? Recipes Included!  (Summary via Goodreads)


Even though I haven't read all of the books in the Bad Hair Day Mystery series by Nancy J. Cohen I am a huge fan and couldn't wait to dive into her latest.....Styled for Murder is the seventeenth book in this series.

In Styled for Murder main character Marla Vail and her detective husband Dalton are trying to get use to their lives as new parents to their son Ryder.  Dalton has a daughter, Brianna, from his first marriage but it's been a while since he had to change diapers and all.  They are both also busy with their jobs.  Beside being a new mom Marla owns a hair salon and day spa and dabbles in solving murders.  And when a dead body is found in the bathroom her mom and husband Reed are having remodeled, Marla has to jump in and look into his murder.

While Marla looks into the death of the project manager, she uncovers a lot of people who aren't going to miss him.  Unfortunately the list of suspects is a long one and the detective on the case has his sights on Marla's step father, Reed.  Even though Marla is trying to help him, Reed is keeping to himself and not talking to anyone.  And Dalton is not able to get much information as the case is not in his jurisdiction.

Readers will love any and all of the books in this series.  You can start at the first book and work your way through or grab any book and you will catch on pretty quick and fall in love with everything this series has to offer.  You will love the relationships throughout the books, the jobs that everyone has and you will want to hang out with Marla everywhere she goes !!!


Review by Missi M.



Friday 7 January 2022

Dangers and Empty Mangers: Paranormal Cozy Mystery (Mitzy Moon Mysteries Book 17) by Trixie Silvertale

A frozen cheesemaker. A vandalized Nativity. Can our psychic sleuth serve up justice before she’s iced?

Mitzy Moon might be getting too comfortable. Her love life is satisfying, her family is supportive, and her extra senses are becoming more reliable. But, before she can bask in that glow, a suspicious death and a missing Messiah threaten to spoil the New Year…

Sniffing out the murderer of a local cheesemaker should be her guiding star, but there’s nothing as upsetting as a stolen baby Jesus. And with the trail growing smellier than a ripe Limburger, she’s desperate for help from her supernatural supporting cast. Unfortunately, with her powers now leading her in circles, she may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Can Mitzy peel the rind off the culprit before she’s prematurely aged?

Dangers and Empty Mangers is the seventeenth book in the hilarious paranormal cozy mystery series, Mitzy Moon Mysteries. If you like snarky heroines, supernatural misfits, and a dash of romance, then you’ll love Trixie Silvertale’s heartfelt whodunits.  (Summary via Amazon)



It has been a while since I have read a paranormal cozy mystery and boy have I been missing out !!  Dangers and Empty Mangers is the seventeenth book in the Mitzy Moon Mystery series by Trixie Silvertale and even though it is the first one in this series that I have read, I was not lost at all and I caught on to everything going on immediately and I was sad when it ended.

In Dangers and Empty Mangers main character Mitzy Moon is asked to look into the disappearance of the Baby Jesus from a church's nativity scene.  And considering the person asking is her boyfriend, Sheriff Erick Harper she feels she has to say yes.  While Mitzy is looking into the disappearance for the church a friend of her's, Quince Knudsen calls asking to talk to her.  Unfortunately Quince's uncle just died and the police are ruling it an accident.  However when Mitzy and Quince go to the scene which is a fishing house on the lake, they find evidence leaning towards murder.  They are able to convince the sheriff to look into the death and he soon changes his mind also.

Luckily Mitzy has "special" powers that few people know about.  She inherited her grandmother's bookstore, Bell, Book & Candle, and her ghostly grandmother whose ghostlike body is still there at the shop and can communicate with Mitzy.  Mitzy also has some psychic powers and a moodring that provides clues at times.  And she has a unique cat for a pet.  Luckily she has confided in some people, her boyfriend being one of them, that she sees and talks to her grandmother regularly.  Mitzy's grandfather also lives in the same town, Pin Cherry Harbor and owns and runs Myrtle's Diner and seems to also have psychic abilities in that you never have to put in an order for food.  Odell knows exactly what you want to eat without you telling him and he always gets it right !!

Mitzy seems to have a great town that she lives in, a great job and apartment, her boyfriend is awesome but she has a hard time navigating her powers sometimes.  ( You would think that by now in the series that she would have all that figured out but that wouldn't be as much fun, would it ? )  And even though the Sheriff knows some of her abilities, she still has to keep some things secretive ..... for her own sake.

I don't think I have to tell readers that they will fall in love with this series and everything Silvertale puts into each book but I will nonetheless.....  I have only read this one book out of the seventeen that are in this series and just reading Dangers and Empty Mangers, I am hooked !!  I wish I had the time to go back are read the previous sixteen but unfortunately I don't possess that time...  so I will go with the hopes that any more in this series I am able to read and will love hanging out with Mitzy and seeing what happens next in her crazy life.


Review by Missi M.


Tuesday 4 January 2022

A Deadly Endowment (A Lady & Lady's Maid Mystery #7) by Alyssa Maxwell

Set among the landed gentry of post-WWI England and perfect for fans of Downton Abbey, Alyssa Maxwell’s latest historical mystery finds sleuthing duo Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady’s maid, Eva Huntford, hunting a killer after the decision to open Foxwood Hall for guided tours turns deadly...

To make ends meet, Lady Phoebe Renshaw and her lady’s maid, Eva Huntford, have decided to open up Foxwood Hall to guided public tours. Not everyone is pleased about it—even to the point of committing murder…

The lean times following the Great War continue to require creative solutions for England's noble class. But Lady Phoebe’s proposal to open up the Renshaw estate to guided tours for additional income strikes many in the family as a “vulgar enterprise.” Phoebe’s grandfather, the Earl of Wroxly, however, reluctantly concedes the necessity.

Their first tour group consists of members of the Historical Society, a magazine writer, and a flock of students. It’s a large group for Phoebe, her sister Amelia, and Eva to manage, and when the widow Arvina Bell goes missing, Eva goes in search of her—only to find her in the library, strangled with a silken drapery cord.

The schoolchildren are promptly sent home, but the members of the Historical Society—many of whom also wandered off at times—remain for interrogation. There is also, curiously, a framed photo missing from the library. As the police hastily zero in on a suspect, Phoebe and Eva weigh the clues. Does the crime have to do with rumors of hidden treasure at Foxwood Hall? But they must make haste to solve the widow’s murder—before someone else becomes history…   (Summary via Goodreads)


It's always a treat to escape into one of Alyssa Maxwell's book and A Deadly Endowment is a fast paced, exciting and exhilarating read !!  And with it being the seventh book in her Lady & Lady's Maid Mystery series not only should you feel like a part of the family but you will love traveling back in time.  If this is the first book you are reading in this series, don't worry... you will catch on quick enough.

In A Deadly Endowment Lady Phoebe has persuaded her grandparents, the Earl and Lady of Wroxly, to open their home, Foxwood Hall, to the public for scheduled tours of the property for a small fee.  Even though they are hesitant, they agree as long as the guests are supervised at all times.  Unfortunately their first scheduled tour turns into a huge disaster when Lady Phoebe and her maid Eva are unable to keep track of everyone at all times and one of the guests is found murdered in the library !!

As Lady Phoebe and Eva take investigative matters into their own hands as they are use to doing when something like this happens, they find that most of the people that were on that tour have a lot of secrets.  Members of the local chapter of the Historical Society as well as a magazine writer are at the top of the list of suspects when Arvina Bell is found murdered in the library.  Arvina was a member of the Historical Society and was with her son on the tour.  The authorities take the son in for his mother's murder but when he is let go, Lady Phoebe and Eva begin to look into the others in the group.  Unfortunately every time they think that they are getting close to crossing someone off the list something else happens and they are still left with a long list of suspects.

The murder at the estate isn't the only thing that the Renshaw family has to deal with....after the murder eldest granddaughter Julia feels that she and her son are no longer safe there so she takes him and goes to the estate she inherited when her husband died.  She takes along the youngest granddaughter, Amelia, but the family soon learns that Julia left Amelia at Lyndale Park and her whereabouts are unknown.

Unfortunately Lady Phoebe and Eva cannot do anything much about finding Julia knowing that if she doesn't want to be found, they won't find her until she is ready to let her whereabouts known.  So they set their sights on looking into Arvina's death and the secrets within the Historical Society.

I don't know how to prove it but I think that Maxwell has a time machine and can travel back in time to the era that she writes about.  She is so knowledgeable in that time frame that she has you convinced that you are there as well.  She describes everything so well that you will see it vividly in your mind.  It is such a vivid picture that you will want to stay there as long as you can even if there is a murderer running around and you may not be safe.......


Review by Missi M.