Not the Killing Type

Title: Not the Killing Type
Author: Lorna Barrett
Published: July 2nd 2013 by Berkley Prime Crime
Format: Hardcover, 309 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Booktown Mystery #8

Once again, another series that I don’t know why I continue other than the appeal of a town centered around books. There is something blasé about this series. A feeling that the author has grown tired of her characters and just can’t get up enough steam to turn the tide and return this series to what it had been.

As Chamber of Commerce elections come to Stoneham, New Hampshire, things take a curious turn when Angelica, Tricia’s sister, throws her name onto the ballot for new leadership of Booktown. Turns out it isn’t just Angelica, but also Stan Berry, who wants to see change. Unfortunately, Stan is found dead before the voting can commence, and it is up to Tricia to clear both her sister’s name and to find out who wanted Stan out of the picture.

Lorna Barrett lobs in some long-winded escapades, but in the end, the reasoning comes out of nowhere. There was no build-up or the usual clues, just boom and we’re done.

Not my favorite, and if it was the first book in the series, I would not continue.

Here Comes the Body

Title: Here Comes the Body
Author: Maria DiRico
Published: February 25th 2020 by Kensington
Format: eBook, 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: A Catering Hall Mystery #1

Whenever an author uses a pseudonym, no matter how good the book is, I feel let down. What I thought was a freshman effort from an unknown author turns out to be not her first rodeo afterall.

Disappointed, but at the same time, delighted in a new premise and series that has a bevy of wonderful characters and a setting that isn’t overused. Yes, it is New York, but cozies don’t usually come with their own “Family” connections. “Connections” that have Mia both using and running from her family “ties” and trying to encompass all the qualities that her mother, father, and Nonna have given her.

When bodies start piling up at Belle View, a local catering and party venue, Mia must separate her love for her father from the fact that people want to shut them down by spreading horrible lies about a man who is trying to walk away from his past so he can create a new future for his daughter. Easier said than done, and when you have Nonna, and her army of women on 46th Street, Astoria, as both back up and antagonists, Mia is left with no choice but to fight for the truth, no matter where it leads.

Maria DiRico, or is it Ellen Bryon, introduces her readers to a gaggle of delightful character that will appeal to a wide audience. There are many stories still to be told and I look forward to hearing each and every one of their stories.

Murder by the Book

Title: Murder by the Book
Author: Lauren Elliott
Published: October 30th 2018 by Kensington
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages
Genre: Cozyy Mystery
Series: A Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery #1

I don’t know what is going on with cozy mysteries anymore. The newer series tend to have a whiney main character, and a homogenization of every other character, from every other book, that you have read.

Yada, yada, yada, leaves the big city for ancestral home, yada, yada, yada, opens a small business, yada, yada, yada, local is killed and a new friend is blamed. Suddenly the new resident turns into a super sleuth and in the meantime not only solves the crime of the century but in doing so, wins the hearts of the locals and possibly a new boyfriend. Yawn.

By the time that you get to the end, you honestly will not remember what you have read because it is identical to thirty other books in this genre. Not a keeper or a series that I will be continuing.

The Inside Ring

Title: The Inside Ring
Author: Mike Lawson
Published: June 27th 2006 by Anchor
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages
Genre: Political Thriller
Series: Joe DeMarco #1

Before you give up on this book, keep in mind that in the first chapter, Michael Lawson introduces too many characters which all sound like the same person. Rarely do I have to make a character sheet, but I did find that without this simple sheet of paper the Secretary of State (Banks), the Director of Homeland Security (Donnelly), and the Speaker of the House (Mahoney) would have forever been the same person and I would have wall banged this book by chapter 5 without giving them a second thought.

The only reason that I stayed with it was because of Emma. She is one of those characters that is both a delight and an enigma. A woman with a past but also consumed by her present which keeps her up all night and chasing after beautiful cello players.

Joe DeMarco, a lawyer and fixer for the Speak of the House, is called in when an attempt is made on the president’s life. Unfortunately for DeMarco, all the pieces aren’t fitting together as well as the men of power are hoping, and with his father’s past about to be exposed, and his career on the line, DeMarco finds himself in the middle of a swamp in search of a sniper and psycho.

As the book comes to its climactic conclusion, hold on tight. There are gruesome scenes, giant exhales, retaliations, and a general feeling of don’t put me through that again and when can I get my hands on the next book.

Death with a Dark Red Rose

Title: Death with a Dark Red Rose
Author: Julia Buckley
Published: February 25th 2020 by Berkley
Format: eBook, 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: A Writer's Apprentice Mystery #5

Sorry Julia Buckley, but you lost me with this title. By the time I finished the book, I could not see how the title matched what you had written.

What begins with a new company building an eye-sore of a structure is pristine Blue Lake, quickly jumps to Lena’s best friend Belinda missing and detective Doug going into panic mode not knowing where she is. This is where the whole red rose begins and ends. Which isn’t much considering there is an easy answer and minimal reference to it again.

This is a fling it on the wall and see if it sticks plotting session where Julia Buckley is throwing everything she has, and some that she doesn’t, in hopes of keeping the reader engaged in a straight from Scooby-doo episode where the big bad guy is unmasked and the world is saved by the bumbling, and in the end, a nice meal was prepared for all.

If the author is going with the” oh gosh, gee golly” approach, she has hit her mark. If she is wanting to engage her readers with gothic suspense, she will need to up her game with darker twists and a bit more foreboding.

All the Little Liars

Title: All the Little Liars
Author: Charlaine Harris
Published: October 4th 2016 by Minotaur Books
Format: Hardcover, 229 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Aurora Teagarden #9

Somehow, I managed to read this series out of order, but now that I am finished, I still can’t believe the innocent and naïve Aurora Teagarden came out of the same author who wrote the Sookie Stackhouse series. Yes, Charlaine Harris did try to her best to make Aurora politically correct and open-minded, but she still came across as an “oh, gosh, gee, golly” kind of character with a matching twinset and practical shoes.

All the Little Liars focuses on the missing half brother of Aurora. Fifteen-year-old Phillip had come to live with Aurora and Robin when his home life went out of control and his parents are more tied up in their own lives, and drama, then they are with raising their son. Now Phillip, and three of his new friends, are missing, and morning sickness ridden Aurora, is determined to find him and not get drawn into the drama which has shown up at her door in the guise of her father.

Family dynamics seem to the at the heart of this book. Aurora and Robin with the impending birth of their child, Phillip and his parents, the families of the missing children, the family of the person responsible for the kidnapping, and even the families coming to terms with what they have found out about their own children.

There are many stutters and starts with this book, and by the end, the story is neatly tied up with a happily ever after feel. Now if only Charlaine Harris could add a little Sookie spice to Aurora’s life.