Sally Solari is busy juggling work at her family’s Italian restaurant, Solari’s, and helping Javier plan the autumn menu for the restaurant she’s just inherited, Gauguin. Complicating this already hectic schedule, Sally joins her ex-boyfriend Eric’s chorus, which is performing a newly discovered version of her favorite composition: the Mozart Requiem. But then, at the first rehearsal, a tenor falls to his death on the church courtyard--and his soprano girlfriend is sure it wasn’t an accident.
Now Sally's back on another murder case mixed in with a dash of revenge, a pinch of peril, and a suspicious stack of sheet music. And while tensions in the chorus heat up, so does the kitchen at Gauguin--set aflame right as Sally starts getting too close to the truth. Can Sally catch the killer before she’s burnt to a crisp, or will the case grow as cold as yesterday’s leftovers?
In a stew of suspects and restaurateurs, trouble boils over in the second in Leslie Karst’s tasty and tantalizing Sally Solari mystery series, A Measure of Murder. (Summary via Goodreads)
A Measure of Murder by Leslie Karst is NOT your regular kind of cozy. In A Measure of Murder when a member of the chorus is found dead in the courtyard having fallen from a second story window it is ruled an accident by the police. Sally doesn't believe it and neither does the girlfriend of the deceased because she asks Sally to look into it.
In most cozy mystery series a person dies, the police start an investigation, as well as a friend or aquaintance of the deceased who knows very little about "police work". The amateur sleuth usually gets themselves in too deep but at the same time solves the case.
However that is far from the case in this book. As soon as Sally saw the way the deceased was laying after falling out of the second floor window she knew he didn't just fall. Unfortunately when she mentioned this to the detective in charge of the case he had ruled it accidental and considered the case closed.
Even though Sally has just joined the chorus it didn't stop her from getting to know the others in the group as well as try to get information about the deceased.
As you read A Measure of Murder you may find yourself more stressed over everything that Sally is doing....just joining the chorus while juggling time between two restaurants as well as training her replacement at her father's restaurant and learning the ropes at the one she recently inheritated.
And boy when you get to the end of the story and find how who committed the crime, you will be super shocked ! ! I was completely wrong which is a good thing because I would have put an innocent person behind bars.......
Review by Missi S.
Can down-to-earth Cassie Hall prove her skills when she lands a plum concierge job at the upscale Parkstone? After discovering the dead body of a professional golfer, and resident millionaire, Kip Ace in the crabapple tree courtyard, Cassie finds the residents’ demands are the least of her worries.
With less than a day to catch the killer Cassie must sort through the residents’ motives which have piled up quicker than rent checks on the 1st of the month. Soon, mysterious power outages, a missing lease, and a wine cellar mystery are par for the course.
Everything is off-kilter with the building on 24-hour lock-down. Can Cassie find the holes in the residents’ stories before it’s too late? (Summary via Goodreads)
A murder that takes place and is solved within 24 hours is amazing ! ! And the fact that the police didn't solve it is even better !! And when it's the girlfriend of the police detective that solves the case...well even better ! !
Cassie, who works the front desk of a very upscale residence, is late to work and while doing her rounds comes across a body in the courtyard. And when she gets closer and finds out its one of the tenants in the building she is shocked !! Kip Ace is a professional golfer and an idol of Cassie's....or at least he was before he ended up dead in the courtyard.
While Cassie's boyfriend homicide detective Eric and crew are interviewing all of the residents during a mandatory 24-hour lock-in Cassie tries to keep the peace with everyone while secretly doing her own investigating. And when she finds out she is the top suspect and her job in in jeopardy she steps up her game !!!
The Courtyard Corpse by Sherry Lodge is the first book in her Cassie Hall Concierge Mystery series and is a great book to start a series with. Lodge doesn't beat around the bush, or in this case the crabapple tree, with the murder. She captivates you instantly !! You get to meet a handful of the colorful residents in this posh posh apartment complex while hanging out in the luxurious lobby.
I, for one, cannot wait for the next book to see what more we can find out about the characters and see what case Cassie can help Eric solve.
To learn more about Lodge and her books, visit her website at https://sherrylodge.com/
Review by Missi S
Jaycee Sullivan thought it was just another typical day when her pastry chef sister, Jax, asked her to help deliver chocolates to a local winery. However, the discovery of a dead body was anything but typical for Jaycee. Then when the new detective in town, Mike Connors, demands Jaycee keep her nose out of the investigation, she decides she has no choice but to take matters into her own hands. After all, her sister’s baking reputation is on the line and the killer is still on the loose. With the help of Gramps, a retired Army colonel, her mom, and Tillie, a former trapeze artist and contortionist, Jaycee is on a mission to snag the killer before her sister’s reputation is forever tainted. (Summary via Goodreads)
OMG ! ! ! A bookstore with a bar... A bookstore with a bar with drinks and desserts that go together... One sister runs the bookstore/bar and the other makes the desserts..... Sign me up ! ! !
Not only do the sisters work together but their Gramps works with them also !!! And they have a dog.....in the store !!! Add a hunky detective, wineries and a contortionist throw a murder in the mix and you have a GREAT book to read !!
We met Jenna St. James with her Ryli Sinclair mysteries series. Those books had the elderly great-aunt helping Ryli follow leads. Now with her Sullivan Sisters mystery series we have Gramps along for the ride !! Maybe down the road the 2 series will collide and a book will be born....How FUN would that be ?!? But alas, I am getting ahead of myself.
Murder on the Vine has everything you are looking for in a new series of cozies and it is so much fun reading. While Jaycee tries to solve the murder of the manager of the winery her sister Jax just got hired to make chocolates for, she has to dodge the hunky detective running the show. Taking her mother and new neighbor the contortionist Tillie around to other wineries to poke around doesn't provide the answers she is looking for....it only gets the ladies drunk and sillier.
I could tell you a lot more of whats in the book but in doing so it would be giving it all away and that wouldn't be fun. I will say this..... You will LOVE the Sullivan family, the bookstore/bar, the story, the mystery and the romance...... and the desserts !!!
I, for one, cannot wait for the next book in this series. Come on its a bar and a bookstore......
Review by Missi S.
Valentine Beaumont is a beautician with a problem. Not only has she got a meddling mother, a wacky staff, and a dying business, but now she’s got a dead client who was strangled while awaiting her facial.
With business the way it is, combing through this mystery may be the only way to save her salon. Until a second murder, an explosion, a kidnapping, death threats, and the hard-nosed Detective Romero complicate things. But Valentine will do anything to untangle the crime. That’s if she can keep her tools of the trade in her bag, keep herself alive, and avoid falling for the tough detective.
In the end, how hard can that be? (Summary via Goodreads)
Murder, Curlers and Cream by Arlene McFarlane is the first book in her Valentine Beaumont Mystery series and it really gets you going !!!
I fell instantly in love with Valentine, her outfits, her employees and her life. She owns a beauty salon which has a mortgage payment coming due and one of the regular clients is found dead.....strangled by a cord while waiting in one of the treatment rooms.
Even though her sister is on the police force, Valentine is not going to sit quietly looking pretty waiting for the police to find the killer. Even when she buts heads with the sexy Detective working the case, she will do whatever it takes to solve the murder and get life back into her salon.
Murder, Curlers and Cream is full of interesting people that as you read you will wonder who did it and why ? Sure Portia wasn't a very nice woman but did she deserve to be murdered ? And in Valentine's shop ???
Put your beauty magazine down and pick this book up !! You will want to keep up with Valentine and Detective Romero.......
Review by Missi S.
Summer Prescott Books is proud to present the last book in the highly acclaimed Darling Deli Series: Grilled Rye Murder - Book 16 in The Darling Deli Series.
With her wedding just over the horizon, Moira Darling is running around gettin last-minute preparations taken care of. Thanks to the help of a pair of new employees, things at the deli are going more smoothly than ever, and she is just beginning to think she can relax, when she stumbles upon a colleague’s brutal murder. As if things couldn’t get any worse, she becomes a suspect in the crime and is jailed, putting quite the crimp in her wedding plans.
After getting bailed out of jail, by an anonymous person, Moira finds herself with two mysteries to solve. Who killed her friend, and who paid her expensive bail? Is it possible that they are the same person? Experience the joys and pain in this thrilling and action-packed last book of The Darling Deli Series, as Moira faces her toughest challenges yet. (Summary via Goodreads)
I am very sad to see these characters go but it has been a heck of a ride. You just never knew what Moira and the gang were going to get into.
Especially this final book in the series! Moira is planning her perfect wedding when things just don't go as planned. But come on ladies what wedding goes on without a hiccup:)
Seems someone has it out for Moira to the point where they are setting her up for murder! She has even been arrested!!!
Will she be able to get out of jail and clear her name to say I DO???
Exciting end to the series and a must read.
Review by Penny M.
Yoga instructor Kate Davidson’s life takes a chaotic turn once she agrees to not only be the doula for her pregnant best friend, but also play foster mother to two puppies. The chaos only gets worse when Kate finds the dead body of a philandering fertility doctor and Rachel, one of her yoga students, fleeing the scene.
Kate is convinced her student is innocent, and she sets out to find the real killer before her testimony condemns Rachel to a life behind bars. But her hands are full with caring for three dogs, teaching yoga classes, and gaining an unexpected crime-solving partner. If she’s not careful, Kate’s next yoga pose may be a fatal one. (Summary via Goodreads)
Usually people say that the first sentence was all it took for them to be engrossed in the book..... And that is usually what I would say. However in A Fatal Twist by Tracy Weber it was the LAST sentence. After I read the last sentence and closed the book, I sat back and said "Yeah it's like that." Everything came together and I was left with a calming feeling.
A Fatal Twist is the fourth book in the Downward Dog Mystery series and if you have read the first three, I think you will agree with me. Yes there is a murder, yes Kate gets herself in the middle of it, yes Michael gets upset with her, yes Kate figures it out ..... But there is a lot more going on, Tracy Weber takes it a bit further with the story by allowing the reader to get to know more of the people in Kate's life. You will learn more about Kate's best friend Rene and her husband Sam as they get ready to welcome twins into the world. Also Tiffany, Michael's employee and Kate overcome their issues and become friends.
You will continue to experience the bond between Kate and Bella and the LOVE that is there. If one of the reasons that you like this series is because of that aspect, don't worry it is there and there are puppies ! !
If I were to use one word to describe how I felt while reading A Fatal Twist and what I got out of the book, I would say ......
HOPE.
Review by Missi S.
From USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bruns comes the next sinfully delicious Cookies & Chance Mystery...
Just when things appear to be going well for baker and sometime sleuth, Sally Muccio, life turns up the heat again.
It’s summertime, and the living is easy for the Muccio clan. Sal’s wedding to her beloved fiancé is rapidly approaching, Mom’s won a beauty contest, and sister Gianna is now a licensed public defender. But when the bakery Sal’s worked so hard for goes up in smoke—along with her dreams!—she’s not sure how much more she can stand. Even worse, the man found dead in the bakery’s back room is none other than Gianna’s latest client, Bernardo Napoli.
The dough really hits the fan for Sal and Josie when they’re forced to temporarily relocate their bakery to the crazy Muccio home. Trouble is quickly stirred up as the best friend team must now contend with Sal’s father and his new mortuary business “undertakings,” a middle aged mother parading around customers in bikinis, and an Italian family hell bent on revenge. For Sal, several questions demand answers. Where has Gianna disappeared to? What role did she play in Bernardo’s death? What secret is Sal’s fiancé hiding from her? Sal is determined to find answers...before she gets burned once again! (Summary via Goodreads)
Even though you know that the bakery burns down, it still doesn't make it any easier when you read it. At least for me .... I have read all of the books in the Cookies & Chance Mystery series and I feel like I know the family. Even though the Muccio family is crazy they are a believeable crazy. I can actually see them as neighbors and being a customer of the bakery.
Catherine Bruns has an amazing talent.....her writing of the story takes you there !! You will feel like you are standing in the middle of the bakery, or what is left of the bakery, you can feel the emotion Sally has when she has a breakdown over the bakery, and you will absolutely catch your breath over ANYTHING Mike does for her. You will long for a friendship like Sal and Josie have, you will be thankful you have the parents that you have....or you may wish your parents were a little like Sal's parents, and you will completely love Grandma Rosa.
When you are looking for a book to read or a new author to follow, I highly recommend Catherine Bruns and the Cookies & Chance Mystery series. When you read a book, you want a connection, a feeling of belonging and a reason to stay. That is what will happen when you read this series. I can promise you that you will find a place for you at the dining room table with the girls enjoying coffee and some of Grandma Rosa's cooking or maybe a fortune cookie. Just be careful with the fortune and don't freak out because of the coffin in the living room..... It's all just part of the charm of the family.
Review by Missi S.
