Deck the Halls With Fudge

Title: Deck the Halls with Fudge
Author: Nancy Coco
Published: October 31st 2017 by Kensington
Format: eBook, 101 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: A Candy Coated Mystery #5.5

I am so used to the narrator of this series being Allie that Francis being the storyteller caught me off guard. Newly married and settling into a quiet evening at home, Frances and Douglas Devaney are enjoying the view from their cottage window when they see a body bounced out of a horse drawn sleigh. Rushing to the rescue, Warren Engle is found dead with neither the sleigh nor horses to be found.

Unfortunately, this was no accident and now Frances takes it upon herself to solve the mystery surrounding the death of the stepson of one of her dear friends. Much like her employer Allie of the McMurphy Hotel and Fudge Shop in previous books, Frances finds herself both central to the investigation and in the middle of a few precarious situations. Seems that old Warren was quite the shady fellow and with several people on the island being ruined by him, Francis knows that she and the women from the senior citizen network can narrow down a suspect faster than the police chief and still get the Christmas tree up on time.

I usually complain about short novellas that do not move the story forward but I have always found Frances and Douglas to be adorable and was glad to see an investigation from their perspective. The story is charming and funny in just the right places and the perfect book to settling in with this winter season. ***Put Review Here***

Delivering Death

Title: Delivering Death
Author: Julie Kramer
Published: January 7th 2014 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Format: Hardcover, 304 pages
Genre: Mystery
Series: Riley Spartz #6

I am not sure how I feel about this being the last Riley Spartz book. This series has been a love hate relationship for me. I tend to become invested in series, and cannot walk away, even if I do not like them and yet I am saddened when they end. I know, it makes no sense, but now I can leave knowing that I have finished what Julie Kramer had started.

As an investigative reporter, Riley Spartz has had her share of interesting stories, but when an envelope shows up on her desk with human teeth, her research goes into over drive and darn near gets her killed. This is all in addition to the on goings at the Mall of America where two very different stories are playing out and both will involve Riley running into her ex-fiancé Nick Garnett. There is also a piece of artwork won at auction that has hidden messages, a man in prison is impersonating another, and all of this will be leading Riley down a dangerous path.

Where the teeth came from is a bit twisty, and by the end of the book, seemed like an “oops, guess I need to get back to that” moment, yet the author seems to have pulled the impossible together with only a few, “oh, ok” moments.

There is a great deal going on in this book and Julie Kramer has to pull it all together by the end so Riley can have her chance at the happily ever after that she has been after since book number one where you learned of the death of her first husband. Will I miss Riley – that is hard to say, but I am glad that the series ended where it did.

Home in Carolina

Title: Home in Carolina
Author: Sherryl Woods
Published: March 30th 2010 by MIRA
Format: Paperback, 384 pages
Genre: Women's Fiction / Romance
Series: Sweet Magnolias #5

I do not know why twenty-something women are portrayed as whiney self-centered teenagers, but that is what you get with Annie Sullivan. Back home in Serenity, South Carolina, Annie is working at the corner spa as a personal trainer when she hears that high school boyfriend Tyler Townsend is back home recuperating from shoulder surgery. This is where you have to let go of reality since a major league ball player would never be permitted to go for rehab with a personal trainer in a small town, that is what highly trained physical therapists are for, but then again Sherryl Woods is known to cut a few corners for the sake of a romance.

Three years prior, naughty boy Tyler had a one-night stand with a baseball groupie and he is the father of a baby that was dropped off at his hotel room door. Annie will not tolerate this sort of betrayal and is just one of the factors that pushed her to an eating disorder. Now three years down the road, with Tyler and his son back in town, all the old feelings and disorders are rearing their ugly heads as the town of Serenity sits back and waits see how this plays out.

What is encouraging about this book is the new generation of Sweet Magnolia’s. Annie, Sarah, and Raylene, grew up together and though they do not want to become their mother’s that just might be the direction that they are heading with a slightly younger spin and new complications.

Though there are annoying parts of this series, I do find myself coming back from time to time to see what these ladies are up to. Seems that very little changes -- they can dominate a town and their husbands, but at the same time remain sweet southern ladies.

The Whispering Room

Title: The Whispering Room
Author: Dean Koontz
Published: November 21st 2017 by Bantam
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 512 pages
Genre: Thriller
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Jane Hawk #2

You have to both love and hate the wordsmith that is Dean Koontz. He is a firm believer in the style of “why use two words when you can use six” and always throw in ‘like’ (approximately 400 times) so the reader understands that you are about to over describe the underside of a rock. Granted, it is not that bad, but after a while, you would not be surprised if it was mentioned.

As a sequel to ‘The Silent Corner’, Jane Hawk continues on the course of eliminating the people and institution that caused not only her husband’s suicide but also the deaths of 8,400 persons per year that that an algorithm has decided are leading people away from an ideal society.

Not sure how many books are planned for this series, but the second outing reminded me of the lull in a stand-alone where you are not quite sure in which direction the characters are going and they are doing their best to regroup before a thunderous conclusion. Jane Hawk spends most of the book jaunting back and forth across the country with multiple costume changes and near the end the author decides that it is a good time to mention characters from the first book. Thankfully, a wizened traveling companion for Jane was added that livened thing up a bit, and here is to hoping he will reappear further down the line since he was the only highlight of the book.

Yes, you will have to read the first book to understand the second, but if it were not for the first, you would not want to read the second. Hope that made sense since book two is a major let down and hopefully, Dean Koontz and his editors will be able to get this series back on track and someone will earn their paycheck by word searching “like” and tossing most of them out.