Spellbound by Murder (A Mystic Hollow Bookshop Mystery Book 1) by Stacie Ramey

Gilmore Girls meets Charmed in this spellbinding cozy mystery featuring a magical bookshop run by three generations of women.

When her grandmother suffers a nasty fall and asks for help managing the family business, coffee-addicted single mother Veronica Blackthorne moves her sixteen-year-old romcom-obsessed daughter to Mystic Hollow, Connecticut. Veronica is ecstatic to return to New England, but when she arrives, she quickly finds out that Mystic Hollow Books, her grandmother’s pride and joy, needs more than a little TLC.

Hoping to save the bookstore from a big box rival, Veronica enlists her sometimes-mentor and sometimes-crush Adam Whitford, a controversial but popular author, as the keynote speaker to kick off a literary festival that will hopefully bring in a new wave of customers. But when Adam turns up dead, all that romantic potential turns into a nightmare as Veronica becomes the prime suspect in his murder.

As the local sheriff investigates his murder, Veronica decides to take matters into her own hands to solve the case and clear her name. With the bookstore’s future on the line, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Until her gran reveals the biggest secret of all–the bookstore is magical and it was a botched love spell that led to this entire mess.

Witty and heartfelt, this mystery explores the price of magic and how it might be heftier than one can hope, perfect for fans of Amanda Flower and Nina Simon.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Spellbound by Murder is the first book in Stacie Ramey's A Mystic Hollow Bookshop Mystery series and I loved it and I think you will also.

In Spellbound by Murder main character Veronica who is living in Florida with her teenage daughter Phoebe gets a call from her grandmother that she needs Veronica to come home to Mystic Hollow.  She claims that she took a bad fall and needs help with the family bookstore.  But when they arrive it seems Gran is fine, but Veronica overlooks that little lie because she really is happy to be home and Phoebe seems to like it also.

They are just in time to help finish organizing the literary festival and Veronica comes to the rescue when the keynote speaker cancels.  She is able to get a friend and author to come take her place.  Veronica and Adam have a little history, so she agrees to meet him in the bell tower the one night .... unfortunately, she gets there just as he goes over the edge.  

When the local sheriff, Mack, zones in on Veronica as a suspect, she obviously is going to do what she can to prove her innocence.  Little did she know that she would have two tech savvy teenage girls, her grandmother, an owl and the magic surrounding the bookstore and Mystic Hollow.

I am a fan of magic, who isn't since Harry Potter was published, and when you can add it to solving a murder .... yes please !!  And it doesn't matter who many stories you read with magic in them, they are all different and draw the reader in, like they have a spell attached to them.

I highly encourage you to read this book and put it on your watch list for future books.  I'm sure it will cast its spell on you ......

Dazzling Death (A Cosmetic Crimes Mystery Book 4) by Arlene Kay

When faded movie star Teagen Doyle swans into Harbor Bay, trouble follows her. She lures artist Marketta Davis into joining her and proceeds to seduce Marky’s fiancé, Dr. Roddy Park. Disaster ensues when billionaire Brendan Doyle storms into town, determined to reclaim his wife. Murder, lust, and larceny confound Harbor Bay until the intrepid sleuths from Poppet intervene.  (Summary via Goodreads)

In Dazzling Death, the fourth book in the Cosmetic Crimes Mystery series written by Arlene Kay, main character Marky Davis is just trying to enjoy and life her life.  Unfortunately, that is not to be ...

When Teagen Doyle, who was a soap opera star years ago and her husband come to town, everyone goes crazy !!  Teagan and Brendan take residence at Madge Stone's estate and Marky dislikes her instantly which should be fine, they do not run in the same circles.  But for some reason Teagan is drawn to Marky and especially to Roddy, Marky's fiancé and hires both of them.  She hires Marky to paint her portrait and Roddy to be the face of her latest business venture, Teagan's Tinctures.  But Teagan has more in mind for Roddy as she goes about seducing him .... 

Although Marky's heart is broken, she tries to put Roddy and Teagan out of her mind and focus on her business, Poppet.  Sadly, that changes when Teagan dies during a romantic dinner with Roddy !!  Marky doesn't approve of what he did but she knows deep down that he is not capable of murder, so she decides to try to prove his innocence.

However, before she can get anywhere with Teagan's murder, something else happens in their little town of Harbor Bay that sends Marky rolling.

Readers will fall in love with this story instantly.  You will love the characters and all their sass, the town, the businesses and all the craziness within.  Trying to solve Teagan's murder will be difficult so I would just encourage you to sit back and let the story draw you in and ride it through.

Murder at an Irish Session (Irish Village Mystery Book # 12) by Carlene O'Connor

As pregnant Siobhán O’Sullivan awaits bringing her new life into the world, she’s bringing new life to her village of Kilbane in County Cork, Ireland, with a music and matchmaking festival. But one matchmaker is about to find out that Cupid’s arrow can be fatal in the latest Irish Village Mystery from USA Today bestselling author Carlene O’Connor.

Siobhán loves to see the joy playing trad music brings to her brother Ciaran, but his concern that he’ll never find a mate pulls at her heartstrings. So, she proposes that Kilbane host a music and matchmaking festival to draw single trad musicians. While renowned matchmaker Liam Noone plays Cupid with his Lucky Book, music—and hopefully love—will fill the pubs and the autumn air.

Turning over his precious Lucky Book to Siobhán for safekeeping, Liam takes the stage to introduce matched musician couples who will kick off the festival in the
town square. Suddenly all goes black. When the lights come back on, the matchmaker has met his maker, impaled through the heart with an arrow made from the sharpened bow of a bass.

Was it the fiddle player, the flute player, the drummer, the piper, the squeeze box player, or the bass player who struck a sour note? Garda Siobhán and her husband Macdara must pick up the tempo to make whoever committed this crime of passion face the music…  (Summary via Goodreads)

Even though Siobhan has her hands full, with her new promotion to Detective Sergeant as well as being pregnant with twins, she will always look after her siblings and their happiness.  And in Murder at an Irish Session, the twelfth book in Carlene O'Connor's Irish Village Mystery series, the focus is on her younger brother Ciaran.

Seeing as Ciaran is a fiddler player and interested in music, when Siobhan learns of a matchmaker who combines music and love, she works with him and his assistants to host a festival in Kilbane.  The host, Liam, brings his two assistants as well as a group of couples that he successfully matched a year ago to town.

Unfortunately, at the beginning of the festival there is a lighting problem and when it is fixed and the lights come back on, Liam is dead, shot in the heart by bow and arrow.  Readers may think that this would be an easy case to solve, but with this being O'Connor's twelfth book, she knows what she is doing .... and she will have you guessing until the very end.

I am a huge fan of mysteries and cozy mysteries; however, I never try to solve the case.  Although there have been a few times where I was pretty sure I knew who the guilty party was.  I like to relax and read the story and just get lost in it all.  O'Connor knows how to write the story keeping readers on the edge of their seats.  And I hope you are a fan of this series as well and have come to love Siobhan, her family and Kilbane as much as I have.  If not, you have plenty of time to catch up.

Casket Case (Cynthia Shade Mystery series Book #1) by Lee James

Cynthia Shade. That's her name. She has ADHD and cynophobia. That's just a fancy way of saying she's terrified of dogs. Not all dogs mind you, just the tiny ones that come at you with their razor-sharp fangs and frenzied eyes. To make it worse, she can't find a job, rather, she can't keep a job, and she's about to be evicted. Just when she gets a glimmer of hope she's blackmailed into trying to solve a murder.

Wait-what?

Cue the handsome sheriff who awakens real interest in perpetually single Cynthia, and a cast of crazed suspects. One of whom is determined she doesn't make it out of this adventure alive.  (Summary via Goodreads)

In Casket Case by Lee James Cynthia Shade is just trying to live her life the way she wants to even though she is avoiding calls on her cell from collection agencies and she never knows if the lights will turn on in her apartment.  Cynthia has a dream and the only person who understands is her uncle Garrett.  And it looks like she might just get that dream come true.

Uncle Garrett has a food truck for Cynthia, yeah it needs some work, but she can see herself running her very own business in it.  Unfortunately, when she takes it for a test drive, she gets on a road where she has trouble turning it around.  And when she is in a driveway getting ready to back up, the crazy owner comes out yelling at her.  To make matter worse, when she is out of the truck, the truck starts to move on its own right over into the neighbor's very expensive water fountain.  And to make matters even worse when she meets the neighbor after tackling her from the moving food truck, she is brought into her house to find the woman's husband dead in the kitchen !!!

Sam insists that she didn't kill her husband.  She received a text from. him, rushed home and found him dead.  And because Cynthia doesn't have any money to pay for the damages done to the fountain, Sam ropes her into helping prove her innocence.  But Cynthia soon learns that Sam's live was full of secrets and lies and doesn't know what to believe.

Casket Case is captivating from the very first chapter.  You cannot help but fall in love with Cynthia and the rest of the characters.  You will love the storyline and want to read as fast as you can to see who killed Sam's husband. And you will even like the Sheriff.  I could not put the book down once I opened it and I'm sure that will be the same for you.

A Field Guide to Murder by Michelle L. Cullen

A cranky widower and his spirited caregiver team up to solve his neighbor’s murder in this charming and original mystery, perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Benjamin Stevenson.

Once a globe-trotting anthropologist, Harry Lancaster is now certain that all his grand adventures are behind him. Recently widowed and suffering from a fractured hip, Harry spends his days and nights behind a pair of binoculars, nose-deep in his neighbors’ affairs. His millennial caregiver, Emma, is determined to get him out of his armchair and back into the world.

Fate intervenes when Harry’s mysterious neighbor Sue phones, pleading for help. But instead of rescuing her, Harry and Emma find Sue dead: poisoned, days after a break-in at Sue’s house. Harry resolves to find out what happened, and Emma insists on going along for the ride. Together, they discover motives and suspects abound in Harry’s quaint condominium community—putting them both in the crosshairs of a cold-blooded killer.

Readers of Kristen Perrin and Deanna Raybourn will be charmed by this quirky, cross-generational murder mystery.  (Summary via Goodreads)

I had so much fun reading A Field Guide to Murder by Michelle L. Cullen.  I did not want it to end.  You cannot help but fall in love with Harry and Emma.

In A Field Guide to Murder main character Harry is recovering from injuring his hip from a fall and he has Emma as his temporary caregiver.  Harry lives on Lakeview Lane with a cast of colorful and fun neighbors.  Unfortunately, one day one of his neighbors, Sue, calls him and is having trouble talking and breathing.  Luckily Emma is there so she rushes over to help until the paramedics arrive.  Sadly, it is too late and Sue passes away.  But Harry believes that she said she was poisoned during the distressing phone call.

When the detective informs Harry that Sue's death is ruled an accident and closes the case, Harry knows that something isn't right.  It takes a while but eventually Emma comes around to that conclusion also and the two team up and begin investigating the neighbors. During this investigating harry learns that he doesn't know his neighbors like he thought he did.

Emma, who was a critical care nurse but needed a change so she went into the caregiving job, is having some personal issues that are weighing heavily on her.  Harry doesn't want to overstep so he tries to help in his own unique way.

I love Harry and Emma together and hope that they continue working together or at least keep their friendship going.  They complimented each other very well throughout the story.  Getting to know them as well as the neighbors on Harry's street was fun and having the murder case centralized helped me keep track of things.  I look forward to whatever Cullen comes up with next.

Mastermind for Murder (A Merry Wrath Mystery series Book # 38) by Leslie Langtry

From USA Today bestselling author Leslie Langtry comes a laugh-out-loud story of spies, spoofs, and sleepers cells in middle America!

When one of the girls in ex-CIA spy turned Girl Scout leader, Merry Wrath Ferguson's, scout troop insists that there’s a sleeper cell in Who’s There, Iowa, Merry laughs it off. After all, she was an actual spy! What would a middle school kid know about things like that? Of course, the fact that it’s Betty, the most dangerous thirteen-year-old on the planet, does give Merry a little pause. But seriously, in a town of about five thousand people, a group of foreign terrorists would stand out…right?

Or so she thinks, until the CIA quietly asks Merry and her former handler Riley to look into it. It doesn’t help that inept-beyond-all-belief FBI agents Summer and Winter (yes, their real names) are also looking into it, or that Merry’s buddy, CIA assassin Hilly, plays hooky from an assignment to help out—by sending the hapless Abed (CIA flunkie and Girl Scout cookie junkie) to float the flounder in her place. Still, Merry thinks this is nothing more than a wild goose chase until a mysterious, elderly woman is murdered. Now, Merry has second thoughts and finds herself in a race to unravel the woman’s past and find the sleeper cell, before she becomes the next target.

What critics are saying about Leslie Langtry's

"I laughed so hard I cried on multiple occasions! Girl Scouts, the CIA, and the Yakuza... what could possibly go wrong?"
~ Fresh Fiction

"Darkly funny and wildly over the top, this mystery answers the burning question, 'Do assassin skills and Girl Scout merit badges mix…?'"
~ RT BOOKreviews

"Mixing a deadly sense of humor and plenty of sexy sizzle, Leslie Langtry creates a brilliantly original, laughter-rich mix of contemporary romance and suspense."
~ Chicago Tribune

"Langtry gets the fun started from page one."
~ Publisher's Weekly  (Summary via Goodreads)

When there are thirty-eight books in a series, is there really anything to say ? Obviously, this author and this series is a success ..... 

The series that I am referring to is the Merry Wrath Mystery series and the author is Leslie Langtry.  And she has just released Mastermind for Murder which is the thirty-eighth book in this series. 

I'll be honest I have not read all of the books in this series, but I have read enough to know that this is a unique and fun series, and I can see why people are drawn to it.  And you can bet that I will continue reading it as best as I can.  Now let's talk about the insides of the books ...

In Mastermind for Murder main character Merry Wrath, who is an ex-CIA agent married to Rex, who is a detective, and runs a Girl's Scout Troop with her best friend Kelly is looking for a sleeper cell in her hometown of Who's There, Iowa.  But when Merry and her CIA assassin friend Hilly are out looking for the sleeper cell, they find a dead body in a little development just outside the town.

So, it would seem Merry, as always, has her hands full but that's not really the case.  Dealing with her middle school aged Girl Scout Troop who are extremely intelligent as well as one of them is the actual mayor of Who's There, keeping her assassin friend on a short leash, she always seems to have to solve the murders that occur .... or I mean help the police solve the murders. 

The Merry Wrath Mystery series has so much to love, and it is so different from other cozy mysteries that you can't help but be drawn to it.  And with Mastermind for Murder being the thirty eighth book in the series, it looks like there is a lot to love!!!

The Coggery (An Annabelle Sweeting Mystery Book # 2) by LK Billips

The second book in the Annabelle Sweeting Mystery series finds our heroine in the midst of a turbulent romance, a undetermined career path, and a new set of murders to solve.

To say things have become rocky between Annabelle and Constable Weston would be an understatement. Can the two put their personal lives on hold to work together? Can they help Nathan Starling discover who is hunting his old team of pickpocketing orphans, or will Annabelle give up investigating and leave the city completely? Find out now!  (Summary via Goodreads)

When I read The Catalyst by LK Billips, the first book in the Annabelle Sweeting Mystery series, I didn't know what to think.  The book is set in London in the 1800's but some aspects seem ahead of the times.  The main character Annabelle makes outfits using nuts and bolts and metal pieces that she gets from a trash pile behind a business.  And she has a unique "pet" Purgatorio which is a mechanical flying creature that can do so much.  The only normal thing about the story is that she helps the police with a murder and she butts heads with the constable.

Now I have just finished reading the second book in this series, The Coggery, and I am again not sure what to think.  This is not to say I didn't like the stories, I did, I thoroughly enjoyed them and quickly got lost in them.  They are definitely different and I think readers will love them as well.

In The Coggery Annabelle and Nathan, a young boy she has taken in are doing a little investigating on a previous case when Nathan comes across the body of a dead girl.  They are in the poor section where it is dangerous, especially for the misfortunate children to which the deceased, Gwennie, was.  Nathan knows this area too well as that is where he used to live until Anabelle saved him from it.  Now he will do whatever he can to help the others.

Even though Annabella and Constable Weston are not on good terms since they didn't agree on their last case, she knows that he will do everything in his power to find justice for Gwennie.  Unfortunately, before they can do that, more children are found dead.  They will find themselves working with some abnormal characters and taken down a dark path .....

I read a lot of books and can usually write my thoughts out with no problems but for some reason it's hard to wrap my head around these books.  Don't get me wrong .... there is a lot I can say, I just don't want to give much away.  There is a lot within these two books that have a surprising and exciting factor to it that if I write about it, it will ruin it for the reader.  I wish I could just say to go grab your copy and start reading but I feel I have to say something.  I hope that I have provided enough intrigue for you.