Have Yourself a Fudgy Little Christmas

Title: Have Yourself a Fudgy Little Christmas
Author: Nancy Coco
Published: October 27th 2020 by Kensington Publishing
Format: Paperback, 288 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Candy-Coated Mysteries #8

Once you get past a fluffy anthropomorphized dog and settle into the rhythm of island life, Nancy Coco tells the story of past mistakes, how times were different, and how women have choices now that weren’t available to the women of previous generations. Choices that would not come back to haunt and cause havoc and death.

While preparing for the annual decorating contest on Mackinac Island, Allie McMurphy and her smarter than an average human Bichonpoo stumbles on the body of a woman in the snow. Little did she know this would result in the arrest of one of her closest friends and a story that has laid hidden for 50 years.

With this eighth book in the series, Nancy Coco has created a pleasant ambiance with the place and people that the main characters call home. A home that has been in her family’s blood for decades with a quaint hotel and fudge shop that Allie will never leave, no matter how many bodies Allie and Mal stumble across. *

The Case of the Twisted Truths

Title: The Case of the Twisted Truths
Author: Lucy Banks
Published: October 6th 2020 by Amberjack Publishing
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
Genre: Paranormal Mystery
Series: Dr Ribero's Agency of the Supernatural #4

I could not tell you what it is about this series, but I adore it. The characters are on the whiney annoying side, but there is something about Kester, the son of Ribero, that draws on the reader's heartstrings. Being bullied by everyone around him and not sure of the gifts from his mother, Kester is a weak-kneed fighter that you cannot help but cheer on.

With Dr. Ribero's Agency of the Supernatural down on its luck, which it has been for a while, the team must pull together when the powerful daemon Hrschnie and the Thelemites are determined to use Kester to open the spirit door. Kester has not quite mastered the skill that his mother had conveyed on him, so when he finds himself in the middle of a good versus evil tug of war, and the agency has teamed up with their arch enemy, Kester is in for a battle when it comes to the truth and how deep the lies go.

The ending leaves the future wide open, and though Kester is a ripe old twenty-three years of age, he is just coming into himself, and as he learns more about his mother, he and the reader question all that is around him.

Hot to Trot

Title: Hot to Trot
Author: M.C. Beaton and R.W. Green
Published: November 17, 2020 by Minotaur Books
Format: ebook, Hardcover, 256 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Agatha Raisin #31

With the passing of Marion Chesney, I looked at this book with a bit of apprehension. What will happen with this series, and will her co-author be able to keep the same Agatha feel, but more importantly, will there be more.

As Sir Charles Fraith enters a marriage of convenience, Agatha is unable to help her friend from making the worst decision of his life by marrying the awful Mary Brown-Field and entering a business deal with her insufferable parents. With no way to stop the marriage or save her friend, Agatha finds herself on the sidelines with regret and foreboding. After the final I do’s, Charles escorts Agatha from the masked ball reception when an anguished scream stops them. It appears that Agatha isn’t the only one that disliked the horrible woman.

With a deep dive into the competitive world of international horse shows and behind-the-scenes tomfoolery, Agatha quickly learns that she is in for more than she bargained for when she asks a few too many questions and is about to be thrashed by those who do not like her prying.

There are a few odd moments, and a bit of unnecessary travel, that doesn’t flow as well as it could have, but other than that I think that R. W. Green was able to hold onto the essence of Agatha. It is possible that Agatha may be changing a bit, but I do hope that she will remain her usual feisty self. I still can’t answer my final question as to there being more. The author did some character cleaning up but also left an opportunity for more. Hopefully, that means more for Agatha, more for James, and a world of opportunity for Sir Charles Fraith.

The Kensington Kidnap

Title: The Kensington Kidnap
Author: Katie Gayle
Published: December 2nd 2020 by Bookouture
Format: ebook, 238 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Epiphany Bloom Mysteries #1

Refreshing when you discover a new series where you can’t decide which character you adore more. Usually, the reader is subjected to annoying personalities just so they can find one or two that they like, but not so with this first in a new series book.

Epiphany (Pip) Bloom tends to get into awkward situations, the kind that can happen to anyone if anyone would involve arms dealers and things going up in flames. Pip is once again down on her luck, and with her mother cutting her off from the finance train, Pip must scrounge for another job to pay for rent and cat food. When a temporary file clerk position opens at a local private investigation agency, Pip paints on her best smile and opens the door to this next in a long line of failed jobs. Instead of the job that she was expecting, she is mistaken for a missing persons expert.

Before she knows it, Pip has found herself a seat at the table, and with her expert knowledge of the celebrity gossip pages, she is the perfect, according to her, fit to find the missing son of an Angelina/Gwyneth actress currently preparing for a movie role in England. As Pip digs into the case and takes on her daft sister’s blog persona, she encounters oddball characters and possible love interests. A twisted tale of green activists, pro-plastic activists, a cult-ish retreat, a boxer, chemical engineer, and anything else offbeat and wacky that the writing team of Katie Gayle can think up.

It all sounds absurd, but it works. The authors have created endearing characters, and besides, who could not love a central character who has set her mother’s ring tone as the Flight of the Valkyries.

On Borrowed Crime

Title: On Borrowed Crime
Author: Kate Young
Published: October 6th 2020 by Crooked Lane Books
Format: ebook, Hardcover, 311 pgs
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Jane Doe Book Club Mystery #1

Refreshing when the killer isn’t obvious from the beginning. When a character is introduced, a little bit from the past is shown, but you end up dismissing them only to realize how wrong you were. So very wrong.

Every small town, like Sweet Mountain, Georgia, needs its form of entertainment, so why not the Jane Doe’s, a book club that loves discussing sleuthing, true crime, and the newest crime novels. They just weren’t ready when a creepy who-done-it landed in their very own backyard. Or front porch in the case of Lyla Moody, when a suitcase containing the body of Carol, one of the Jane Does, is dumped.

Lyla’s day job is working for her uncle’s private investigative firm, a position perfect for this crime fixated woman and her friends. Her parents would prefer that she settle down with a nice husband and children, but Lyla has other plans. Plans that involve meddling, saving a friend, and proving the local constabulary wrong.

The first in the Jane Doe Book Club Mystery series by the same author that brings readers the Marygene Brown Mystery series, will have readers eagerly anticipating the next, in what I hope is many more to come.

Fishing for Trouble

Title: Fishing for Trouble
Author: Elizabeth Logan
Published: November 24th 2020 by Berkley Books
Format: eBook, Paperback, 304 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Alaskan Diner Mystery #2

This book would have been better served by removing the unnecessary fluff and replacing it with an engaging secondary plot. The straight line from beginning to end was tedious, and with a large cast of characters, you would think Elizabeth Logan could have come up with something else, other than her parents, that was going on in the periphery.

Still trying to get her feet underneath her as the new owner of the Bear Claw Dinner in Elkview, Alaska, Charlie Cooke wasn’t expecting a customer to fall unconscious. Now with rumors circulating that it was her food that did the poor guy in, all Charlie can think of is her mom, the woman who had started the diner but is now enjoying some time away somewhere in San Diego. Without her there, it is up to Charlie to save the reputation of her restaurant by jumping in to answer the questions surrounding the young man’s death. With Trooper Cody Graham away most of the time at a seminar, of course, the local diner owner and newspaper columnist, Christ Doucette, must save the day but first, there is a cat to entertain and a diner that seems to run on its own with a handful of trusted employees.

The one redeeming quality of this book is the hidden talents of Chris. Out of nowhere, he suddenly has the skillset of both a spy and an assassin. Hopefully, Elizabeth Logan will shift her attention in this direction and leave Charlie to her online shopping, snack packs, and jerky making.

Aunty Lee's Delights

Title: Aunty Lee's Delights
Author: Ovidia Yu
Published: September 17th 2013 by William Morrow
Format: Paperback, 264 pages
Genre: Mystery
Series: Singaporean Mystery #1

Don’t mess with an Aunty, especially one that has lived a few years, has a curious mind, and an innate intuition.

Not much gets past Aunty Lee, an owner of a small café in Singapore. She always has her finger in the goings-on, and when a body washes up on Sentosa Beach, she sets her snooping in action. As she prepares for a wine and dine evening for her son’s newest adventure, her mind is whirring. This is when the book becomes an Agatha Christie novel. What does this odd grouping of people have in common? Why here, why this night, and who is the mastermind that created the outcome that would soon have Aunty Lee putting the pieces together while the local police struggle to keep up.

I’m not sure that this is a series that I will continue. The whole feel of the book was choppy and occasionally far-flung. Yes, there were a few characters that I would like to see again, but not enough that I would want to struggle through the uneven passages that made up much of the book.

For Whom the Book Tolls

Title: For Whom the Book Tolls
Author: Laura Gail Black
Published: August 11th 2020 by Crooked Lane Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 264 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: An Antique Bookshop Mystery #1

Jenna Quinn is desperate for a new start. After having been accused of a couple of crimes, and then acquitted, Jenna needs a do-over. She hasn’t seen her Uncle Paul since her teen years, but he has always kept a scrapbook of her goings-on. He has now reached out to her and offered her a landing spot at his bookshop in Hokes Folly. The morning after her arrival, she finds Paul Baxter’s body at the bottom of the stairs. She couldn’t speak to him the prior evening due to her late arrival, but now finds herself accused of murdering the man that she was just about to reacquaint with; a man that had offered her a lifeline and a second chance.

With one officer assuming that she is a murderer, a second that wants to follow the clues, a neighbor that has befriended her, and a pair of Hoke spinsters that are decedents of the man that built the town tag-teaming her, Jenna must solve a murder, clear her name, and decided if this town is where she wants to stay or if a man, who has suddenly appeared and wanted Jenna’s inheritance, is her uncle’s long lost son and is the rightful owner of the bookshop and a mystery find that her uncle kept hidden, or if he too, has ulterior motives. I know, a long-winded sentence, but that is what is facing Jenna with no time to spare or to even breath.

A great start to a series that will have readers coming back for more. With a steady pace that doesn’t let out too much too soon or lagging parts where you wish the author would get on with it already, For Whom the Book Tolls adds the right splash to a cozy mystery market that needs new blood and an author that can keep the attention of her audience.

20th Victim

Title: 20th Victim
Author: James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Published: March 5th 2020 by Century
Format: Hardcover, 432 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Women's Murder Club #20

The Women’s Murder Club brings a bonded group of women together where each has a story to tell, but what this writing team put Claire through was unnecessary. Still not sure why, unless they are basing her off someone that has gone through the same experience, but there was something superficial about the whole thing.

As perfect kill shots are taking down drug deals across the country, Lindsay and her SFPD team are trying to link the murders and how they relate to an online game. And that is where the problem lies - the general public does not think that this is a problem. Yet murder is still murder, and the police department is responsible for tracking down the killer(s), all the while Cindy, and her police band radio, is chasing the story while fending off a news reporter that is determined to take her down. Yuki has a periphery role in this book, involving the prosecution of a desperate boy who has managed to get himself entangled with a drug dealer, but her heart is not in it. She needs to come up with a way to let him walk away.

Then the authors need to find a place for Joe Molinari. He is no longer part of the FBI, and cannot help Lindsay, so what is second best? That would be a call from a friend in Napa who suspects his father's death was at the hands of a doctor and is asking Joe for help to prove it. There are numerous webs woven to distract the reader away from Claire, and lets Lindsay deal with her shooters while giving Joe a role to play.

As with all Patterson books, there are continuity issues and lightweight storylines that are all tied up with a neat bow allowing the reader to walk away with a just dessert feel. The 20th Victim is a beach read that is easy to pick up and put down without feeling that you need to reread a chapter or two to get back into the feel. No heavy lifting is required, and since Patterson and Paetro rehash who everyone is, there is no need to start at the beginning of this series.