Tailspin

Title: Tailspin
Author: Sandra Brown
Published: August 7th 2018 by Grand Central Publishing
Format: Hardcover, 432 pages
Genre: Suspense

I was disappointed with the slow superficial feel of the book and was ready to put it down on numerous occasions that is until the last 100 or so pages ramped this ho-hum novel into a page-turner that kept me reading later than I had intended.

You are going to learn more about flying and reckless pilots than may interest you, but the descriptions go a long way in understanding Rye Mallett and why he agreed to take a small black box to a remote airstrip, in the middle of a storm, to meet a doctor. What he did not take into account was others might not want this package to arrive and if it is necessary to try to blind a pilot with a laser and crash his plane, well then, it is just something that had to happen.

It turns out Dr. Brynn O’Neal has her own reasons why no one but she can receive this package. She is not going to let some “freight dog” get in her way and if she literally has to fight her way out from under him, she will do whatever is necessary to get this bio-medical package to those in the most need.

Neither trusts the other and as the full story of research drugs, testing, US regulations, and unscrupulous people in power all converge, it is a countdown to whether all Rye and Brynn have gone through will be worth it to save just one life.

Suffer the Children

Title: Suffer the Children
Author: Lisa Black
Published: August 28th 2018 by Kensington
Format: eBook, 320 pages
Genre: Suspense
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Gardiner and Renner #5

Infinitely better than her last book with the usual Lisa Black style of deep research on her main subject and wrapping it around a murder and subterfuge.

Things are about to be blown wide open within the Cleveland juvenile detention system when hard to handle teenager Rachel Donahue is found dead and no one can tell if it is murder or a death by misadventure. No finger points in any one direction and it is not until the deaths and near deaths pile up that Maggie Gardiner and Jack Renner realize there is a murderer within these locked doors and if they do not find the perpetrator soon, more children will die in accidents which are really a cover-up for a judge and jury of one.

In this unputdownable novel, Maggie and Jack rush to save the children others have thrown away. They are in a fight for not only the children, but for their own secrets which are quickly disintegrating around them and mere steeps ahead of Maggie’s ex-husband who thinks he has final solved the mystery that is holding Maggie and Jack together.

Sentenced to Death

Title: Sentenced to Death
Author: Lorna Barrett
Published: June 7th 2011 by Berkley
Format: Paperback, 327 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Booktown Mystery #5

The whole time I was reading this book, I kept going back to the question-- if everyone else could get out of the gazebo, how was it that Deborah just stood there?

Tricia Miles owner of Haven’t Got a Clue of Stoneham, New Hampshire is still reeling from the sudden death of friend Deborah Black, when a plane suddenly falls from the sky and kills her in the middle of her Founder’s Day speech in the town square.

While most of Stoneham thinks it was a freak accident, Tricia’s spidey sense goes into overdrive, especially when Deborah’s not so grieving husband cannot sell off her gift shop fast enough. What is going on with him and more importantly, what does the new real estate company, Nigela Racita Associates, and their sudden interest in Booktown, mean to the shop owners.

This series has a familiar theme that is played out over the cozy genre. The small businesses, the pets, the friends and family all coming together. What makes it slightly different is that the antagonist is not always obvious from the start. You might have an inkling, but there are a couple of rabbit holes before the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

Forever Fudge

Title: Forever Fudge
Author: Nancy Coco
Published: September 25th 2018 by Kensington Publishing Corporation)
Format: eBook, Paperback, 352 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Candy-Coated #6

Once again one of those cozy series which you find yourself in the middle of, not quite sure why, but one that seems to find its way back to your reading list each time a new book appears.

Ticking off all of the usual cozy mystery requirements, the reader follows the life of Allie McMurphy as she continues to build on the hotel and fudge business left to her by her grandfather on Mackinac Island. As the season is winding down, she once again comes across a dead body and, this time, a note addressed to her with a chess move. Not a usual player, the reference is lost on her, but with the help of the ladies at the senior center, she sharpeners her talent but not before more bodies appear with more moves and as the moves progress a definite pattern evolves. The only question is will she understand who is behind this spree before more people die.

There is more going on with Allie then the murders, which should be enough, but this girl needs to make a decision between the two men in her life, a television series filming on the island, and how she will continue to run her business through the winter months with her best friend leaving town and taking with her a revenue stream that is needed to keep business coming in so she can expand the venue for the upcoming summer season.

The Testament of Harold's Wife

Title: The Testament of Harold's Wife
Author: Lynne Hugo
Published: September 25th 2018 by Kensington Publishing Corporation
Format: eBook, Paperback, 304 pages
Genre: Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

The character of Louisa grew on me page after page and when Lynne Hugo had me laughing a loud with her revelations about glitter Jesus, I knew I had found a new book to share.

In bits and pieces, Louisa tells the story of her husband Harold and his mission to make the man that had killed their grandson Cody pay for his lies. The driver claimed and he never saw Cody when he swerved to avoid a deer that had bolted in front of his vehicle. Harold could not live with this explanation and vowed to seek revenge. As Harold begins his plotting, life took another turn and Harold kills himself instead. Louisa, the good wife that she is, takes up the mantle and vows to finish what her husband started.

With a revenge plot, you would not expect an author to throw in humor, but with an aging body, a son who has found God and started a church to deal with his own grief, and a bumbling sheriff out to woo Louisa, there is no end to what a woman has to go through to make a selfish man pay for destroying her life.

My only problem with the book was the unrealistic ending. Granted, many aspects of the book itself were unrealistic, but the ending was rushed and other than the great cosmic karma ending, it felt hurried and not complete.

Santa Puppy

Title: Santa Puppy
Author: Lynn Cahoon
Published: November 6th 2018 by Lyrical Press
Format: eBook, Novella
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Tourist Trap #9.75

With a slight chill in the air, of course I am ready for holiday books.

Even though this book started a bit uneven with too many short choppy sentences, the novella or was it a short story, eventually slowed to a good pace and got to the point without too much added fluff. Granted, it took me longer than it should to draw the characters together, but once there, the tears flowed.

Jill Gardener has a fondness for both man and beast so when the two come together with the death of a homeless man and the dog he has left behind, Jill and the ghost of Christmas future, go into overdrive to find a new home for an abandoned pup and to find the woman whom dead man, Thomas Raleigh, had been looking for since he returned from the war.

This story will leave a soft spot in your heart and a couple of tears on your cheek. You do not need to know the full background of this series to enjoy the book

Agatha Raisin and the Dead Ringer

Title: Agatha Raisin and the Dead Ringer
Author: M C Beaton
Published: October 2nd 2018 by Minotaur Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 272 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 #29

As the series continues, the books are getting worse. The latest, the Dead Ringer, is so jumbled and incoherent in parts, I wondered if they went to publication with chapter notes and not with a completed project. Some parts, subject matter, and wording will definitely offend those who have been reading this series for the simplicity and will make others wonder what Marian Chesney (MC Beaton) is thinking with the direction the books are taking.

There are parts of this book which are familiar, as if the author pulled subject matter from previous books and tried a new spin. Weren’t bell ringers, with Agatha being one, used in a previous book? Maybe it was the television series. Which will put on a completely different rant since the books and the series have very little in common.

With the handsome Bishop heading to Thirk Magna, the Dupin twins are beside themselves with anticipation. The bells must be perfect but no less flawless than their appeal to the man himself. With stress high and bickering amongst the ringers, threats and insults thrown, one of the twins is dead. With this being an Agatha Raisin, soon more dead bodies show up and it is not until Agatha herself is left for dead that the clues come together. Of course, it is not only a body count type of book; Agatha once again is drawn between the men in her life and her fear of becoming a lonely and depressed old maid. Why does she do this to herself in each book? It is becoming quite redundant, but during the epilogue, there is a curious twist. A new character. A new obsession. Let us hope the next book will have the appeal the earlier books in the series held.