Color Me Murder

Title: Color Me Murder
Author: Krista Davis
Published: February 27th 2018
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: Pen & Ink #1

Since I am a fan of the Domestic Diva series by Krista Davis, I was curious when I saw that she has a new offering that is not animal obsessed (Paws and Claws series). I know, people love their pets, but occasionally cozy mystery writers take the animal part of the genre too far.

From the beginning, I had a hard time getting past the old-fashioned names of lead characters Florrie and shop worker Helen, since the names tend to make the characters sound older than they are. When their actual ages were mentioned, I had to stop and re-read the previous pages to come at them from a different angle.

For the last five years, twenty-eight year old Florrie Fox has managed Color Me Read, a bookstore, in the heart of Georgetown, for the absentminded Professor Maxwell. When she is not answering customer’s queries, she spends her time doodling adult coloring books and still answering to her overprotective parents.

With the offer of housing in the professor’s carriage house, only two blocks from the store, Florrie jumps at the chance to live in the community that she loves. Little did she know that by accepting she was stepping into a family drama and now with “Delbert the awful” dead in the store and the professor accused of his murder, Florrie and a curious band of Maxwell devotees gang together to solve the case before Professor Maxwell is sent away for good.

The story is simple and the characters interesting, but for a first in a series, there were too many to keep track of. I hope that in future installments, Krista Davis will separate Goldblum and Bankhouse a little more, create more conflict with Detective-Sergeant Zielony, and expand upon Maxwell’s kidnapped, and presumed deceased daughter, since everyone can see that there has to be more to that story.

By the Book

Title: By the Book
Author: Julia Sonneborn
Published: February 6th 2018 by Gallery Books
Format: eBook, Paperback, 384 pages
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

This is such a girl book -- full of love, loss, and redemption. About how at one point in your life you can overthink what you want, over read the advice that others have given you, and it is not until years later, that you realize that your destiny had always been standing there right in front of you.

Apparently, this is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, which I have not read, so I cannot go on at length comparing the two, but I can tell you that the lead character, Anne Corey, is a teacher and lover of 19th century women’s novels and Persuasion is her favorite. Thus setting up the tale of how Anne comes face to face with her college boyfriend after a 13-year break and then realizes that he is her new boss at Fairfax College. A small liberal arts college in California that is surprisingly similar to one of the Claremont Colleges.

With a threat of publish-or-perish hanging over her head, Anne is desperate to find a company that will take her manuscript to print before her deadline runs out, but this is only one of the dramas that are causing her to drink too much. Her best friend Larry has found himself in a relationship with a married actor that is becoming a household name in a funky movie based on Jane Eyre, a visiting author is making his rounds through campus and honesty is not his forte. Yet not all has befallen Anne when she receives a shocking call and must rush to the hospital for a final goodbye.

Like all women’s fiction, there is your usual happily ever after and a giant exhale when all is said and done. You realize that there are certain characters that you are going to miss and certain characters that you will continue to role your eyes at since they fit the overused stereotype, but that is ok, you needed a weekend book that took your away and then left you with a smile.

This Fallen Prey

Title: This Fallen Prey
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Published: February 6th 2018 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 368 pages
Genre: Suspense / Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Casey Duncan / Rockton #3

I will continue to say that the Casey Duncan series is underappreciated and deserves to have a larger following than it does. From the first chapter to the last of each book the reader has no idea where they are going. The stories turn back on themselves and since Kelley Armstrong has no qualms in killing off characters, in the end, you will have no idea who will be left standing and whom will make a sudden reappearance to throw your whole supposition off.

With enough money and the right contacts, a person can secrete themselves in Rockton, an untraceable and remote northern community designed as a sanctuary for victims to heal or to hide. With a three-person police force that is compelled to help, protect and to save, they are not prepared for what touches down on their airstrip. A bound and gagged Oliver Brady is dumped into their laps with a tidy sum and no other information. It is not until the gag comes off does the team realize that they are in trouble and there is no way to return their prisoner to the town down south where he belongs.

With an apparent poisoning and secured housing not available, Brady takes off into the forest filled with first settlers, hostiles, grizzlies, and apparently a sniper. The nagging question is – how did he get away? Does he have an ally within Rockton? A person that believes his farfetched story of being framed for his stepfather’s actions. Because Casey and Sheriff Dalton either are gluttons for punishment or have an unnatural need to protect people that do not deserve it, they trudge into the forest to rescue Brady from his own foolishness.

As I said, this story twists upon itself. Who exactly is the sniper aiming at since everyone in the search party is either shot at or killed and Armstrong slowly eliminates the possible leaving only the improbably and yet that doesn’t make much sense until it does. As Kelley Armstrong said,” It’s a puzzle of configuration, and each piece in it has two sides – guilt or innocence – and the meaning changes depending on which side I place up.” This is a perfect description of this book. “Two way of looking at everything, leading to two ways of investigating”.

By the end, your mind is swimming. This is a town where societally rules do not apply, but who needed to die? Did outside forces initiate this or did the town clean up a bad situation? Will Casey relent and let a top surgeon in to help one of their own if that means her own secrets can be revealed? Once again, I am not sure where Kelley Armstrong will go with Rockton, but this town and its inhabitants are nothing short of fascinating.

The Case of the Deadly Doppelganger

Title: The Case of the Deadly Doppelganger
Author: Lucy Banks
Published: February 6th 2018 by Amberjack Publishing
Format: eBook, Paperback, 328 pages
Genre: Supernatural YA
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Dr Ribero's Agency of the Supernatural #2

After reading the first book in this series, “The Case of the Green-Dressed Ghost”, I was confused as to which genre this series belonged. I am glad to see that book two has slightly upped the game and though it is an easy read and in the upper reaches of young adult, I would no longer say that its audience is strictly YA.

Kester Lanner, and his talent as a door opener, is continuing to finding his way around his father’s agency and with funds almost non-existent, the group must take on a job with a rival agency to investigate why the seniors of Lyme Regis are dying peculiar deaths. Deaths that involve the victims crying out that they could see themselves right before they were “fetched”.

With four deaths in the last six months, Dr. Ribero’s agency must team with Larry Higgins, a sworn enemy, to solve this case of the “dopel meaning double and ganger meaning walker” before any more residents meet up with their spirit twin. It appears that the Ancient History Club should have just left things alone, yet they could not and because of this, their numbers are swiftly dwindling, leaving Dr. Ribero's Agency of the Supernatural to sort out this mess before the Ministry of the Supernatural shuts them down.

This series still wants to dip its toe in the “Harry Potter” realm with the School of Supernatural Further Education which reads more like an online university than Hogwarts, but the theory is the same where you can earn a BA in Spirit Intervention and Business Studies which according to his father will come in handy when Kester takes over the family, which really isn’t his family’s, business.