Seaside Café Mystery Books 1-7 by Bree Baker

Live and Let Chai (Seaside Café Mystery #1) by Bree Baker 

The first book in a delightful new beachside cozy mystery series!

Trouble is brewing in Everly's new café. Can she bag the culprit?

Life hasn't been so sweet for Everly Swan over the past couple of years, but now that she is back in her seaside hometown and the proud owner of a little iced tea shop and café right on the beach, things are finally starting to look up--until a curmudgeonly customer turns up dead on the boardwalk. With one of her hallmark glass tea jars lying right next to him and an autopsy that reports poison in his system, it doesn't look good for Everly or her brand new business.

As the townspeople of Charm, formerly so welcoming and homey, turn their back on Everly, she fights to dig up clues about who could have had it in for the former town councilman. With a maddeningly handsome detective discouraging her from uncovering leads and a series of anonymous attacks on Everly and her business, it will take everything she's got to keep this mystery from boiling over.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Live and Let Chai by Bree Baker is the first book in her Seaside Cafe Mystery series and I am HOOKED !!!  As soon as you open this book, you are swept away to the seaside town of Charm, North Carolina and you will not want to leave !!

In Live and Let Chai readers meet Everly Swan who had left Charm for a few years but returned home after her cowboy boyfriend threw her out to pasture.  She moved home and purchased her dream house and was gearing up to open her dream shop, Sun, Sand and Tea, which specialized in flavored iced teas that are long family recipes.  Unfortunately before she can have her grand opening Everly stumbles across the body of a resident of Charm on the boardwalk and the new detective in town voices that he was poisoned and one of Everly's glasses was found near his body with the poison in it !!  Now Everly has to prove her innocence so that she can live the fairytale life she dreamed about.

Een though the new detective, Grady Hays, has Everly on the top of his suspect list, Everly knows that it wasn't her.  Why would she kill someone with one of her ice tea glasses when she is just starting out ?  Even though Benedict Paine could be a pain, he didn't deserve to die and to die by poison.  And even though Everly was away for a few years, she still knows a lot of the residents in Charm and if she doesn't her great-aunts Clara and Fran can fill in the blanks.  Unfortunately trouble seems to follow Everly.... as soon as she thinks she uncovers a clue, something happens to her to throw her off.....and the new detective wishes she would stop looking into the case and let him do his job.

Readers will LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Live and Let Chai and will want to move to Charm even if there is a killer running loose.  The residents and the seaside town are definite pluses !!!  As soon as you start reading you will easily be able to picture Everly, her home, the shop, the boardwalk and the rest of the town and people.  You may even feel like you can smell the ocean air and feel the sand in your toes.......

No Good Tea Goes Unpunished (Seaside Café Mystery #2) by Bree Baker 

Don’t marry into murder...

Catering her childhood friend’s beachfront wedding was a dream come true for Everly Swan—and, with hundreds of guests in attendance, great exposure for her new iced tea shop and café. But when the well-to-do groom is found floating facedown in the surf, the locals of Charm, North Carolina turn their suspicions on his new bride. Could she have been so desperate to lay hands on his fortune that she arranged for his murder even before they set off on their honeymoon?

Everly knows her lovestruck friend couldn’t be behind the murder, but with clues pointing in several directions, she can’t decide which wedding guest is the most likely culprit. Meanwhile, the frustratingly handsome Detective Hays has made it clear that Everly should stay out of the investigation altogether. But with a killer on the loose and a feeling that someone is watching her café very closely, Everly knows that if she can’t solve this murder soon, her cake might be iced for good.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Once you open a book in the Seaside Cafe Mystery series by Bree Baker you are swept away to a quaint seaside town and you will never want to leave !!

No Good Tea Goes Unpunished is the second book in this amazing series and boy is there a lot going on !!!  Main character Everly Swan has her ice tea shop, Sun, Sand and Tea, up and running and she is hosting the reception of a childhood friend Judy who just married her rich knight in shining armor.  And everything is going according to schedule until the photographer cannot find the groom......unfortunately Everly and her best friend Amelia find him floating face down in the ocean.  The two get him to shore and begin performing CPR until they realize he is dead and the cause of death is not from drowning.

All of the wedding guest are ordered to stay in town while they are interviewed so Everly insists on Judy staying with her above the shop.  It was already planned that way but it would be without the groom and moods were a lot different.

Everly again takes the murder and the case personally even though she is warned away from Detective Hays but when it involves someone close to her she cannot help it.

And to make things worse, if possible, Everly's ex shows up in town with a traveling rodeo circuit to perform during the towns annual Summer Splash....and he has decided that he wants Everly back and will do whatever it takes !!  Luckily she has gotten over him and readers will kind of feel sorry for Wyatt as he crashes and burns in his attempts.

The Seaside Cafe Mystery series is an all out fun series for readers to get lost in.  One you start reading you will want to pack a bag and head on out to Charm, North Carolina and grab a sweet tea and walk the boardwalk. 

Tide and Punishment (Seaside Café Mystery #3) by Bree Baker 

No one dreams of a killer Christmas...

It's Christmastime in Charm, North Carolina, and while Everly Swan would prefer to focus on decorating her iced tea shop for its first holiday season, Great-Aunt Fran has decided to run for mayor against her long-time nemesis. But when the other candidate turns up dead just before the first scheduled debate, all eyes turn to Fran as the suspect with the most obvious motive.

Everly knows her sweet, elderly Aunt Fran couldn't have murdered anyone, but as she struggles to find the real killer, it begins to seem like this may be the last merry Christmas her family may ever have.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Tide and Punishment is the third book in the Seaside Cafe Mystery series by Bree Baker and I just LOVE the direction she is taking this series !!!

In the Seaside Cafe Mystery series you are introduced to Everly Swan, her business Sun, Sand, and Tea, her family, her seaside town and its residents and you will want to move there instantly... even though Everly seems to attract murder.

In Tide and Punishment the seaside town of Charm, North Carolina is preparing for the Christmas holiday and everyone is in good spirits.  Everly is kicking off the celebrations with a Christmas party at Sun, Sand, and Tea and everything is going well until Everly's great aunt Fran is found leaning over the body of Mayor Dunfrees outside holding the murder weapon !!!   The timing also couldn't be any worse as Aunt Fran had just announced that she was planning to run for Mayor in the fall election and Mayor Dunfrees announces that he plans to run again with a partner.

Everly, as well as the entire town of Charm, know that Aunt Fran would never hurt anyone let alone kill them but Detective Grady Hays has to look at the evidence and it's all pointing towards Aunt Fran.

Detective Grady does everything in his power to pursuade Everly to stay out of the investigation and let him do his job but we all know that she will do ANYTHING for her family and town so we know she will do the complete opposite of what he asks.....she cannot help it, it's in her nature.

Readers will fall instantly in love with this series and as you read each book, you will fall deeper and deeper in love with it.  And now that Everly's old flame, Wyatt, has moved to Charm to try to win her back, you know it's going to be explosive !!  And the chemistry between Everly and the detective is so hot you will need a cold beverage to cool yourself off !!  Readers may find themselves torn as to who they are rooting for...Wyatt or Grady..... I know who I'm rooting for but I'm keeping that to myself for the time being.

Baker has an incredible talent in introducing new characters into the story as well as providing readers with a few possible suspects in the murders and she will have you guessing until the very end as to who the guilty party is......and you will always end up in shock !!!!

A Call for Kelp (Seaside Café Mystery #4) by Bree Baker

It's sink or swim for Everly with her most bizarre case yet!  

Everly Swan is busy as a bee running her beachside iced tea shop, and the small island of Charm, North Carolina is abuzz-Mitzi Calgon, an iconic Hollywood actress, is in town! Everly's great-aunts are making a documentary about beekeeping and Mira has agreed to help. But when the actress turns up dead, reporters and fans swarm the island, muddying the water and disrupting the peaceful lives of the townspeople.

Everly's never been good at minding her own beeswax, so she starts following her own leads and combing through the evidence. Then there's the mystery of Detective Hays-ever since their kiss under the mistletoe, he's been acting distant. And he's annoyingly determined to keep Everly away from the case. But when she receives a cryptic warning to "Bee Careful", Everly realizes that she's gotten herself into a really sticky situation...

The fourth book in Bree Baker's Seaside Café Mystery series, readers of Joanne Fluke and Kate Carlisle will love A Call for Kelp!   (Summary via Goodreads)

The Seaside Cafe Mystery series by Bree Baker is such a treat for readers and an awesome way for readers to escape to a charming town without leaving the comforts of their own home.  Readers will instantly fall in love with Everly Swan, her family and friends, her hometown, her business and even the way she inserts herself into murder investigations.....and you will surely fall in love with the chemistry she has with Detective Grady Hays !!!

In A Call for Kelp, the fourth book in this series, there is a lot going on  !!!  Everly's ice tea shop, Sun, Sand, and Tea is doing so well that she has hired a part time employee, an old friend of her grandmother's is coming to town to help her great-aunts with their beekeeping documentary, Everly is still trying to figure out what is going on between her and Grady since their kiss at Christmas time and a few other things that I don't want to say to spoil the reading.....

Unfortunately before Everly can talk to Mitzi Calgon, her grandmother's old friend who is also a retired actress, Mitzi is found dead in front of an alarming number of people !!  Everly was hoping to talk to Mitzi to learn more about her grandmother when she was younger and maybe even learn something about her grandfather who has always been a mystery to the family.

Even though Everly isn't investigating Mitzi's murder, she somehow gets herself in trouble.....she cannot help it when someone she knows is looked at as a suspect and she knows they could never hurt anyone...so she has to do some research and ask questions....anyone else would do the same thing.  Right ??

There is so much more that I could write about and tell you but that is only preventing you from opening up the book and getting yourself lost in the seaside town of Charm, North Carolina.  Once you start reading you will not want to stop....you will fight with yourself to try to slow down your reading so that you can stay there longer.  But you can read at whatever speed you want and when you get to the end you can rest easy knowing that the fifth book, Closely Harbored Secrets is ready for you........

Closely Harbored Secrets (Seaside Café Mystery #5) by Bree Baker 

In the fifth book of the popular Seaside Café Mysteries, Closely Harbored Secrets, Everly Swan just wants to make Halloween-themed treats and specialty teas for her customers. But when it seems that she's being haunted by the phantom of a sailor straight out of a ghost story, her plans are capsized. Could this be the bitter end for Everly?

It's almost Halloween, and the small island of Charm, North Carolina is decked out for the festivities. When Everly Swan agrees to close her iced tea shop early to help her aunts host their annual haunted historic walking tour, she expects some good-natured spooks. But the night turns grave when one of the ghostly actors is found dead. To complicate matters, the victim scratched Everly's name into the ground before she died, making her a key suspect.

The murder mystery heats up when Everly's potential boo, Detective Grady, takes the case―and he definitely doesn't want her getting involved. Will their seaside romance be threatened by all the ghostly drama? But when a phantom sailor straight out of local legend starts leaving Everly threatening messages, she has to get involved... With a local election under way, ghosts on the loose, and a search for long-lost buried treasure, Everly can't help but stir the pot!  (Summary via Goodreads)

I LOVE the Seaside Cafe Mystery series by Bree Baker and so glad that I am taking the time to read the entire seven book series all at once.   I'm also a little sad that I have just finished Closely Harbored Secrets which is the fifth book in the series.....which means that I only have two more to go until my time in Charm, North Carolina comes to an end.

Normally I would focus on the murder that occurs in the story, and I will talk about that, but I wanted to go in a different direction on this review....

When reading a series all of the books will repeat some things so that readers get to know the characters and town and don't feel lost.  In the Seaside Cafe Mystery series as you get to know main character Everly Swan, you are introduced to a seagull Everly named Lou and a white cat she names Maggie.  Everly believes that they are the reincarnation of two people that had history with her house many years ago.  Lou and Maggie have great importance in the stories as they tend to "help"  when Everly gets in trouble,  Readers will also learn that Everly and her great-aunts Fran and Clara come from a very long line of strong Swan women who actually came from Salem and were the first to establish themselves in Charm.  It is also rumored that the Swan women are witches....and there are times throughout the series that you may agree.  You will also get to know Amelia and her father Mr. Butters, who own and run the bookstore, Charming Reads.  One thing that is mentioned in most of the books, besides Everly and Amelia's friendship, are Amelia's Little Libraries that are scattered around town and all decorated differently....you can take or put a book in so you can enjoy as well as others.

Also mentioned in most of the books is the online news site called the Town Charmer which in the beginning Everly was opposed to because for a while she was the center of attention on the site and not in a flattering way.  She eventually comes around to the site and you will see her going to it more and more.  And lastly it is believed that the Swan women are cursed in love and that if they do fall in love and get married, their husband dies or will die at an early age....so the women are cursed in love !!

Okay now that you are familiar with the similarities in the books, I will talk about the other thing that is in all of the books......murder !!

 In Closely Harbored Secrets, the fifith book in this series, it is Halloween time Everly is helping her great-aunts with the annual Ghost Walk.  The Ghost Walk is just that....they have people dressed up around town and Aunt Clara takes people along a path through the island telling stories and stopping at designated places.  Unfortunately at one of the scheduled stops the woman playing the character of Mourning Mable misses her cue and when Everly goes to check on her, she finds her dead.  Upon further checking the deceased, Dixie  Wetherill, had started to write Everly's name in the dirt.....but as to why is unclear because the two women did not know each other.  It is soon rumored that Everly was the murderer and that is why Dixie started to write her name.  Whatever the reason it is not going to go over well with Detective Grady Hays as he hates when Everly gets involved in his cases and knows that she will do anything in her power to clear her name or anyone else that is wrongly accused.

As I've said I love this series and everything about it and know that readers will enjoy it as well.  I cannot stress enough for you to go grab your copies and get lost in Charm for a while.  You will love hanging out with Everly at Sun, Sand and Tea, with her great-aunts at Bee Loved or at Charming Reads with Amelia and her father.  And also in this book Aunt Fran is riunning for Mayor along with an old classmate of Everly's who was kind of a bully to her, and Grady's mother-in-law who was big in Washington.....you will want to see who wins !!

Partners in Lime (Seaside Café Mystery #6) by Bree Baker 

Everly will have to go against the tide to crack this case!

It all seems to be smooth sailing for Everly Swan. The island of Charm, North Carolina is hosting tons of fun summer events, her iced tea shop is a hit, and best of all, she's finally dating the handsome Detective Grady Hays. But their romantic bubble bursts when tragedy strikes: a surf-pro is found murdered on the beach, killed with a theater prop.

Grady follows the evidence, all of which points to Matt, Everly's friend and one-time fling. As Grady does his job, so does Everly—her unofficial chef-turned-sleuth-job, that is. She's determined to clear her friend's name but the arrival of a fancy new teashop and The Town Charmer, a gossip blog determined to rock the boat, complicates things. As Everly tries to keep rumors at bay and investigate the murder (and her new tea rival), the killer leaves a message in the sand...

Partners in Lime, the sixth book in Bree Baker's critically acclaimed Seaside Café Mystery series, is sure to make waves among fans of cozy mysteries!

"A smart and likable protagonist, a vividly rendered setting, a suitably twisty plot, and some colorful supporting characters are the ingredients for a concoction as appealing as any of Everly Swan's specialty sweet teas."—Livia J. Washburn, national bestselling author, for Live and Let Chai.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Partners in Lime is the most emotional book in the Seaside Cafe Mystery series by Bree Baker.  It is the sixth book in the series and if you've read the previous five I'm sure you will agree when you get to the end of this one.

Partners in Lime, like the previous books, follows main character Everly Swan as she runs her iced tea shop, Sun, Sand, and Tea, on the beach in Charm, North Carolina.  Even though she has all she can handle running the shop and spending time with her great-aunts Fran and Clara as well as her best friend Amelia but now FINALLY she and the sexy Detective Grady Hays have decided to stop fighting thier feelings and have begun to offically date !!!  Goosebumps !!

Unfortunately there is another murder and Everly cannot help but get involved with the main suspect is Matt Darning.  Matt is an EMT and has patched up Everly on more occasions than he should and also they went out on one date until Everly and Grady admitted thier feelings.  Luckily Everly and Matt stayed friends so when she finds out that Matt is the suspect in s surfers murder, she knows she has to help him.....even if she continually gets the stink eye from Grady.

While Everly begins her investigation, against Grady's wishes of course, she realizes that Matt is being set up and the list of people that could be doing it is long....especially when Everly uncovers a few secrets from Matt's past that she knew nothing about !!

I cannot help but sound like a broken record when talking about the Seaside Cafe Mystery series....there is so much to draw readers in and you are going to want to move to Charm as soon as possible ....if you could.  And Partners in Lime will have your emotions going when you get towards the end of the story and see what direction Baker is taking Evely and Grady....but can it be a happily ever after when the Swan family has a love curse against the women ????   You will have to read on to see and that is exactly what I plan on doing.  I am picking up Pleading the Fish and continuing on with the story.....bittersweet as it is the last of this amazing series.  Sadly all good things must come to an end.....

Pleading the Fish (Seaside Café Mystery #7) by Bree Baker 

In the seventh and final book of Bree Baker's critically acclaimed Seaside Café Mystery series, Pleading the Fish, Everly Swan's wedding plans are upended by a dead body. She'll have to run her teashop, find a dress, and catch a murderer all before she can walk down the aisle!

Café owner and amateur sleuth Everly Swan, like every Swan woman before her, is cursed in love. The only problem? Her fiancé Detective Grady Hayes has something to say about it—he doesn't believe in magic and is determined to prove the curse wrong so they can spend their lives together. Everly wishes it could be so simple!

It feels like a sign when a historian looking into Swan history is found dead in an antique wishing well, and Everly fears the curse is spreading. Grady takes the case, looking to find justice and prove the curse wrong, while Everly does a bit of investigating on her own. Big change is coming for Everly and her friends, but with mysterious strangers lurking about and someone leaving increasingly threatening messages for the happy couple, Everly's not sure she'll get her happily-ever-after!  (Summary via Goodreads)

Reading Pleading the Fish, the seventh and final book, in the Seaside Cafe Mystery series by Bree Baker was bittersweet to me.  After having read the entire series and to get to the last book knowing it is the last book, was quite emotional to me.  When you read a series you come to love the characters, the town and everything else involved, even the murders in a way......and Baker makes it very easy to fall for everything and everyone in the seaside town of Charm, North Carolina.

In Pleading the Fish Everly and Grady are getting ready for their big day.....yes Everly is going to marry Grady even though she thinks her family is cursed and should not marry.  It is well known and documented that the men who get involved and marry a Swan woman will die an early death.  So before they walk down the aisle, Everly has her team, herself, Grady, and her great-aunts Clara and Fran, researching the curse.  She has also hired the island's top researcher and historian, Susan Thames, to look into her family's history.  Unfortunately before Everly can take possession of the file Susan had been working on, Susan is found dead at the bottom of a well on the grounds of the historic Northrop Manor during a fish fry dinner.

Grady knows that Everly is going to look into Susan's death even though he tries to persuade her not too.  Everyone knows that she cannot stay out of his investigations even knowing he "is good at what he does".  But Grady has been teaching her self defense moves so she will be fine if she comes across the killer.....

I cannot emphasis enough that you should read this series !!  You will love the characters, the town, the jobs introduced, the stories behind the characters, the boardwalk, Everly's activity bracelet, Maggie the cat, Lou the seagull, Charming Reads, Sun, Sand and Tea, Bee Loved and any other shops mentioned,  the relationships and even the murders.......  

Ugh I am so upset that my time in Charm is over but I hope you will start yours or continue on your journey with whichever book you are on.  I must say that author Bree Baker is an amazing story teller.  I really felt like I was sitting on the deck at Sun, Sand, Tea hanging out with Lou......

Fall in the House of Usherette (Usherette Mysteries Book 2) by Matt Ferraz

Over a hundred witnesses. They all saw who pulled the trigger … but nobody knows who the murderer is.
Colorado, 1961. T. T. Tottenham is a third-rate horror filmmaker who uses theatrical gimmicks to make each screening a unique experience. Katrina Stevens, chief usherette and owner of the Palladium Film Theater, decides to hire Tottenham when ticket sales are low. Tottenham arrives at the little town of Emberview with his partner Sidney Masters and promises to save Katrina’s business.
Then one of Tottenham’s tricks goes wrong, leaving a dead body in the aisle in the middle of a movie. A murder hadn’t been enough to close down the Palladium three years ago, but will it be this time? Once again Katrina has to solve a mystery to keep her beloved film theater open.  (Summary via Amazon)

Fall in the House of Usherette by Matt Ferraz is the second book in the Usherette Mystery series and you can read it after you've read the first book, Murder for Reel, or you can read it as a stand alone book.  If you are reading it as a stand alone, Ferraz provides information from the first book in the beginning so that you are missing nothing.

In Fall in the House of Usherette readers are hanging out at the Palladium Film Theater with owner and usherette Katrina Stevens.  The year is 1961 and Katrina is trying with all her might to keep the theater open but sales are down and she doesn't know what to do.  Luckily her boyfriend Alex is there to help.  He read an article about a man T. T. Tottenham who travels around and goes to movie theaters and shows horror movies and has some gimmicks and tricks up his sleeve to entertain the audience.  Katrina reaches out to Tottenham and hires him to come to town and help her save the theater.

Unfortunately during one of the movies a stunt involving Alex goes very wrong and Tottenham is shot dead !!  As if things couldn't get any worse for Alex and Katrina but they do.....when the deceased is fingerprinted and identified, they learn that it isn't Tottenham but his assistant Sydney Masters.  And to add more confusion to the situation the person they thought was Sydney is missing !!!

Katrina takes it upon herself to look into the murder to save her business as well as prove Alex's innocence.  Luckily Katrina knows Detective Stockwell from the previous owner's murder so working with him won't be difficult.

Readers will love Fall in the House of Usherette !!!  Once you start reading you will find it very difficult to stop reading until you get to the end.  And when things start to get dicey, you will want to continue reading so that you can find out what is going on in Emberview Colorado.....  Ferraz will take the readers on a very twisty rollercoaster ride that you will not want to get off of.

Review by Missi M.

   

Tidal Wave (Aloha Lagoon Mysteries #17) by Beth Prentice

Samantha Reynolds' life in Aloha Lagoon has just become perfect. Her boyfriend Casey has asked her to marry him, and with Casey’s family in town for a few weeks, it's the perfect opportunity to throw a surprise wedding! The only problem is that on such short notice their wedding planner can only do so much. Especially when their resort is already overbooked with a reality TV personality and his entourage. While Sam has her doubts about pulling this off when she meets the combative last-minute caterer her planner hired, she swaps her flip flops for stilettos and makes her way down the aisle anyway.

Only before she can say "I Do," the caterer is found dead—face down in their wedding cake!

Suddenly things go from marriage to murder, and Sam is at the center of it all. With the police looking at her wedding planner as the number one suspect, Casey’s mother shouting about bad omens and doing her best to convince Casey to go home to England, Sam knows that if she’s going to tie the knot with the man of her dreams, she must find the real killer and prove them all wrong.

But can she find a murderer, convince Casey that his mother is wrong, and plan a whole new wedding before the truth catches up with them all? Or will Sam be the next victim? This may not be the happily ever after she was expecting...   (Summary via Goodreads)

The Aloha Lagoon Mystery series is one of my favorite series to get lost in.  The series is written by multiple authors with each book written by one author and the story is about a cast of characters and the thing that links all of the books is that they all take place on the Kauai coast of Hawaii and center around the Aloha Lagoon Resort.

In the seventeenth book Tidal Wave by Beth Prentice main character Sam Reynolds, who is a surf instructor for the resort is about to marry her bartender boyfriend Casey.  They have planned a surprise wedding, their families think that they are there to celebrate their engagement but the two lovebirds have other plans.  Seeing as Casey's entire family is visiting from Austrialia, they have decided to get married while everyone is there.  Unfortunately right before they are about to begin the caterer is found dead on their wedding cake and their wedding planner who Sam is friends with, is arrested for the murder.

Even though Sam had promised Casey that she would not look into any more murders, she is kinda known for getting in the middle, she knows that she has to look into this case....mainly because Casey's mother does not think they should get married and sees this as an omen to that.

Sadly as Sam and her best friend Alani begin their investigate they realize that the list of suspects is long and when they find some evidence that they believe is proof of blackmail, the list gets more complicated.

Readers will love getting lost in the Aloha Lagoon Mystery series and reading about all the different characters, their lives and how they get in the middle of murder investigations.  Tidal Wave is the fourth book in this series written by Beth Prentice and by now you will be in love with Sam, Casey and the rest of their friends and families.  You will love how the books have some overlapping qualities and reading about such a lovely place, even with murders, you cannot help but fall in love !!!  I highly recommend this series ....you will love the resort !!!

Check out the series here : 

https://www.gemmahallidaypublishing.com/aloha-lagoon-mysteries

Review by Missi M.

Backdrop Dead: A Magnolia Showboat Mystery by Cynthia Thomason

In 1898, librarian Gwen Barlow's life is predictable, if not adventurous. That changes when her mother's eccentric brother bequeaths the family the Magnolia Palace, a shiny new showboat complete with actors, crew, and a mountain of debt. Gwen, her mother, and younger brother leave Apple Creek, Ohio, for the "sinful center of America," the Mississippi River, where Gwen assumes management of their inheritance complete with temperamental actors, a river town of quirky characters and a sheriff who insists the former owner of the showboat, Eli Willoughby, was murdered. The culprit must be found before Gwen and her troupe can leave Hickory Bend, Missouri, and turn the showboat into a profit-making venture. She first must find a captain for the ill-fated riverboat. She trusts her intuition and hires handsome Carson Stockwell who comes with a vast knowledge of the river and a reputation that makes her question her decision. Determined to find the murderer and save her showboat family, Gwen embarks on a journey of discovery that proves more suspenseful than the Magnolia's own melodrama.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Backdrop Dead is the first book in the Magnolia Showboat Mystery series by Cynthia Thomason and readers will fall in love !!

Backdrop Dead is set in 1898, a much simpler time but there is nothing simple for main character Gwen Barlow.  Gwen, along with her mother and brother, lives in Apple Creek, Ohio.  Gwen is a librarian and quite enjoys her job.  Everything changes when a lawyer from Hickory Bend, Missouri visits her mother and informs her that her recently deceased brother, Eli, has left her everything he owns....which is a magnificient showboat that he had built and planned to travel along the Mississippi River entertaining towns along the way.  So Gwen, her mother and her brother Preston pack up and head to Hickory Bend to see what awaits them on the showboat.....Eli's Magnolia Palace.

Upon arrival to Eli's Magnolia Palace they find out that not only did they inherit the boat but there are workers and actors on board waiting to see what will become of them.  Gwen also soon learns that no one has been paid in weeks and there is hardly any food left to feed everyone.  And to make matters worst, the local law, Constable O'Toole rules Eli's death murder and insists that the Magnolia Palace stay right where it is until his murder is solved.

Gwen takes it upon herself to look into Uncle Eli's death as she gets to know the people who Uncle Eli hired to run and perform on the showboat.  Unfortunately as she gets to know everyone including some of the townfolk, her list of suspects grows.  As she continues to investigate something else happens that adds to Gwen's troubles.

Readers will love everything about Backdrop Dead.  Reading a story set back in time when crimes where solved completely differently than modern times, especially without technology, is an interesting change for readers.  Readers will fall in love with Gwen, her family and everyone aboard the showboat and the storyline of running a showboat on the Mississippi River will entertain readers from the moment you begin reading.  I thoroughly enjoyed Backdrop Dead and look forward to what Thomason does in the next book.

Review by Missi M.

 

A Book Signing To Die For (Cozy Mysteries To Die For #1) by Judy Moore

Beck O’Rourke and her grandmother own Beach Reads bookstore and coffee shop, a gathering place for locals and tourists, a block off the ocean in Manatee Beach, Florida.

They live above the bookstore with Beck’s feisty younger sister, Lizzie, a lifeguard. Beck is excited to host the country’s bestselling cozy mystery writer for a book signing event until a member of the audience turns up dead later that night.

Afterward, Beck decides to pursue her lifelong dream of being a detective to try to catch the killer. The amateur sleuth finds several suspects, but the murderer isn’t happy about her interference.

Neither is the town’s handsome new police detective who has a history with Beck.   (Summary via Goodreads)

As soon as you start reading A Book Signing To Die For by Judy Moore you will feel like you were swept away to the little beach town in Manatee Beach, Florida.  A Book Signing To Die For is the first book in her Cozy Mysteries to Die For series and you will be in love !!!

In A Book Signing To Die For main character Beck O'Rourke and her grandmother are getting reading for an author book signing in their bookstore Beach Reads and there are a lot of people who are excited.   Unfortunately a woman, Peggy, who is there on vacation with her son, Joe, and daughter-in-law Lisa ends up dead behind the jewelry store next door.  Another shock is when the detective assigned to the case ends up being an old college classmate of Beck's and they have some awkward history.

Beck cannot help but feel guilty that someone who had attended an event at her bookstore ended up dead afterwards and feels even worse seeing as she convinced her to come to the event after meeting her in the afternoon of the event.  Beck takes it upon herself to look into Peggy's past to try to piece together why she was killed.....especially after the police seem to be going in a totally different direction.

Readers will love A Book Signing To Die For and everything in it.  Once you start reading it you will feel like you are right there along side Beck hanging out in Beach Reads and running around Manatee Beach.  A Book Signing To Die For is the perfect start to a very captivating story that you will want to jump into the book and never leave !!!

Review by Missi M.

Front Page Murder (A Homefront News Mystery #1) by Joyce St. Anthony

In this World War II-era historical mystery series debut by Joyce St. Anthony, small-town editor Irene Ingram has a nose for news and an eye for clues.

Irene Ingram has written for her father’s newspaper, the Progress Herald, ever since she could grasp a pencil. Now she’s editor in chief, which doesn’t sit well with the men in the newsroom. But proving her journalistic bona fides is the least of Irene’s worries when crime reporter Moe Bauer, on the heels of a hot tip, turns up dead at the foot of his cellar stairs.

An accident? That’s what Police Chief Walt Turner thinks, and Irene is inclined to agree until she finds the note Moe discreetly left on her desk. He was on to a big story, he wrote. The robbery she’d assigned him to cover at Markowicz Hardware turned out to be something far more devious. A Jewish store owner in a small, provincial town, Sam Markowicz received a terrifying message from a stranger. Moe suspected that Sam is being threatened not only for who he is…but for what he knows.

Tenacious Irene senses there’s more to the Markowicz story, which she is all but certain led to Moe’s murder. When she’s not filling up column inches with the usual small-town fare—locals in uniform, victory gardens, and scrap drives—she and her best friend, scrappy secretary Peggy Reardon, search for clues. If they can find the killer, it’ll be a scoop to stop the presses. But if they can’t, Irene and Peggy may face an all-too-literal deadline.  (Summary via Goodreads)

Front Page Murder is the first book in the Homefront News Mystery series by Joyce St. Anthony and it sets the stage beautifully for readers.

In Front Page Murders the story is set in the early 1940's after Pearl Harbor was attacked and America went to join the war.  Main character Irene Ingram is hit hard when American's started going to help fight the war when her fiance Bill, who was a police officer and her father who ran the local newspaper, the Progess Herald went to help fight in the war.  Her father went as a correspondent to cover the war and Bill went to do whatever he was assigned.  With her father leaving he puts Irene in charge of the newspaper making her the editor in chief.  Seeing as everyone is doing what they can to help out with the changes, Irene takes her job quite seriously......even if some of the male employees think othewise.

Unfortunately before Irene can get use to all the changes one of her reporters, Moe, doesn't show up for work and no one knows where he is.  She learns that he didn't go out to cover the story she assigned him so she has to do it herself.  She eventually goes to Moe's house to find out what is going on and finds him dead at the bottom of his cellar stairs.  Her future father-in-law just happens to be the Chief of Police and when he checks out the scene, he determines it to be an accident.  Shortly after Irene comes across something in Moe's desk that suggests that it wasn't an accident.  This leads Irene down a dark path that no one could have imagined.

And when some other things happen around town and at a local factory that is building parts for the war, Irene doesn't know what to think.  Then when she finds out the woman her mother has recently allow to board at their house is keeping a big secret, Irene is more confused than ever !!

Readers will love this story !!  It is always a nice change to read stories set back in time when things were much easier and technology wasn't as big as it is nowadays.  It is always interesting to read about how things were done back then and especially how a crime was investigated and solved.  And readers will enjoy the story that St. Anthony has written.....she will have you turning pages as fast as your eyes can read the words.

I highly recommend reading Front Page Murder and I personally cannot wait until the next book to see where the story will take Irene......

Review by Missi M.

Night of the Were-Cat (A Cat Groomer Mystery Book 6) by Eileen Watkins

Cassie McGlone’s Comfy Cats grooming service can turn a scruffy stray into a glamorous Cat-dashian. But with a drug-peddling killer at loose in her picturesque hometown of Chadwick, New Jersey, she’ll need to comb through some dangerous suspects to avert a catastrophe . . .

To an animal lover like Cassie, all cats are beautiful . . . though some may be more photogenic than others. When a customer brings in Quentin, a Maine Coon who looks more wolf than feline, it gives Cassie an idea. The owner of Chadwick’s retro movie theater wants to promote an upcoming werewolf movie marathon—how about a werewolf lookalike contest for pets?

Things are getting hairy around Chadwick in other ways too. A thief targets the clinic where Cassie’s veterinarian boyfriend Mark works, making off with anesthetics. Soon after, a young woman dies in a related drug incident. Wanting to help the police, Cassie and her good friend, Dawn, go undercover on the singles scene to investigate a suspected “party drug” ring, getting Mark’s protective hackles up. But the villain may be a wolf in sheep’s clothing—someone Cassie knows and trusts. And if her sleuthing skills aren’t up to scratch, the culprit may slink away to kill again . . .  (Summary via Amazon)

Night of the Were-Cat by Eileen Watkins will have you holding your breathe and on the edge of your seat.  Night of the Were-Cat is the sixth book in her Cat Groomer Mystery series and it will have the hair on the back of your neck standing up !!

The Cat Groomer Mystery series follows main character Cassie as she runs her cat groomer and boarding business, dates a local veterinarian, hangs with her best friend Dawn, and gets in the middle of a murder investigation.  And in Night of the Were-Cat she gets too close to the killer for anyone's comfort !!

In the Night of the Were-Cat it is almost Halloween and everyone is excited for a new venture....the local movie theater has a new owner and he wants to bring more business to the theater so he is running old Halloween movies and when a cat that looks like a werewolf is brought into Cassie's Comfy Cats, Cassie gets the idea to run a werewolf lookalike contest for all animals non-canine.  Seeing as the town is already doing a dog parade it only seemed fair.

Little did Cassie know that Mark's veterinarian clinic was going to be robbed of medicines and someone was going to overdose on those drugs and Cassie was going to get in deep in the investigation......but everyone should have guessed that seeing as that is exactly what she does and seeing as someone very close to her is affected, it should have come as no surprise.

The Cat Groomer Mystery series has so much that readers will love.  Once you start reading you become an instant fan and want to return to Cassie's Comfy Cats and Chadwick, New Jersey as often as you can.  And a little thing called murder only adds to the appeal.....you will want to make sure the case is solved and everyone involved gets justice.

Review by Missi M.