Ghost of a Chance

Title: Ghost of a Chance
Author: Matthew Costello, Neil Richards
Published: August 24th 2015 by Bastei Entertainment
Format: Kindle, 115 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Cherringham #19

First Sentence: Basil Whistletwaite parked his ancient Volvo Estate in the staff car park of The Bell Hotel, and turned off the engine.

Blurb: Every Halloween, the supposedly haunted Bell Hotel hosts its famous 'Ghost-Hunters Dinner', complete with scary stories, spooky apparitions and things that go bump in the night. But this year's event ends in a terrifying accident, and suddenly everyone wonders. Is there a real ghost loose in the hotel? Jack and Sarah are convinced that the culprit must be human: who would want bad things to happen at the classic hotel? But soon they're forced to confront their own superstitions as they find themselves on the trail of an unsolved Victorian murder.

My Opinion: An entertaining ghost story with an ending that is a first for Jack and Sarah. Not going to spoil it for you but let’s say that Sarah is pleasantly amazed when Jack can still surprise her.

Nineteen shorts in, and I still love this series. They are a great break from larger books and a pleasant way to spend a few hours without making a heavier commitment, for those times when your mind is wandering, and you can’t focus on anything but a short story.

Potions and Pastries

Title: Potions and Pastries
Author: Bailey Cates
Published: November 7th 2017 by Berkley
Format: Kindle Edition, 304 pages
Genre: Paranormal
Series: Magical Bakery Mystery #7

First Sentence: The bleat of a boat horn drifted from the river to mingle with the sounds of the Savannah waterfront.

Blurb: It’s been exactly two years since Katie and her aunt and uncle opened the Honeybee Bakery, where they serve delicious—and bespelled—treats to the good people of Savannah. After a dinner celebrating the bakery’s anniversary, they all take a stroll along the waterfront and meet Aunt Lucy’s friend Orla, a colorful character who has been telling the fortunes of locals and tourists alike for years.

The next day, Orla meets with what seems like a terrible accident, but Katie’s witchy intuition tells her it was something more sinister. Together with her trustworthy coven and her firefighter boyfriend, she’ll race to find out what happened to the unfortunate fortune-teller before the piping hot trail goes cold.

My Opinion: The ending was a little too creepy for me. Other than that, it was a pleasant visit with the friends and family who make the Honeybee Bakery in Savannah, Georgia, their home away from home.

What begins with the death of fortune teller Orla has the ladies befuddled since odd things are happening and their past experiences haven’t prepared them for anything like it before. Between the ladies of the coven, they cover the usual light witchery stuff that helps people, but this seems to go beyond their fixing of broken hearts and setting misunderstandings right.

This is still a hit-or-miss series for me. Though I was creeped out by the ending, overall, it was a hit for me, and soon I will be picking up the next book in the series, Cookies and Clairvoyance.

An Extravagant Death

Title: An Extravagant Death
Author: Charles Finch
Published: February 16th 2021 by Minotaur Books
Format: Hardcover, 288 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery
Series: Charles Lenox #11

First Sentence: It was a sunny, icy late morning in February of 1878, and a solitary figure, lost in thought, strode along one of the pale paths winding through St. James’s Park in London.

Blurb: London, 1878. With faith in Scotland Yard shattered after a damning corruption investigation, Charles Lenox's detective agency is rapidly expanding. The gentleman sleuth has all the work he can handle, two children, and an intriguing new murder case.

But when a letter arrives with an unexpected invitation, he's unable to resist the call of an old, unfulfilled yearning: to travel to America. Arriving in New York, he begins to receive introductions into both its old Knickerbocker society and its new robber baron splendor. Then, a shock: the suicide of the season's most beautiful debutante, who has thrown herself from a cliff. Or was it a suicide? Her closest friend doesn't think so, and Lenox, sacrificing his plans, travels to the family's magnificent Newport mansion in the guise of an idle English gentleman. What ensues is a fiendsh game of cat and mouse.

Witty, complex, and tender, An Extravagant Death is Charles Finch's triumphant return to the main storyline of his beloved Charles Lenox series--a devilish mystery, a social drama, and an unforgettable first trip for an Englishman coming to America. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: Never thought it would happen, but I am finally caught up with the Charles Lenox series. This has been a long time coming since I put Finch books down for months at a time before I have the patience to pick them back up again. His books can be entertaining, informative, and horribly over descriptive at the same time, to the point where I don’t care about the room decor or social custom nuances and want to get back to the murder investigation.

The who-done-it part of the book surprised me. I’m not sure if it had to do with my distraction with the book centered in America instead of England or the usual cast of characters being few and far between, but this book felt different.

I can’t believe I am saying this, but I am looking forward to seeing where Charles Lenox will go next.

One Night on the Island

Title: One Night on the Island
Author: Josie Silver
Published: February 15th 2022 by Ballantine Books
Format: Kindle, Paperback, 368 pages
Genre: Romance / Women's Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

First Sentence: Finding my flamingo. You genuinely want to send me to a remote island to marry myself?”

Blurb: Spending her thirtieth birthday alone is the last thing that dating columnist Cleo wanted, but she is going on a self-coupling quasi-sabbatical--at the insistence of her boss--in the name of re-energizing herself and adding a new perspective to her column. The remote Irish island she's booked is a far cry from London, but at least it's a chance to hunker down in a luxury cabin and indulge in some quiet, solitary self-care while she figures out her next steps in her love life and her career.

Mac is also looking forward to some time to himself. With his life in Boston deteriorating in ways he can't bring himself to acknowledge, his soul searching has brought him to the same Irish island in search of his roots and some clarity. Unfortunately, a mix-up with the bookings means both solitude seekers have reserved the same one-bedroom hideaway on exactly the same dates.

Instantly at odds with each other, Cleo and Mac don't know how they're going to manage until the next weekly ferry arrives. But as the days go by, they no longer seem to mind each other's company quite as much as they thought they would...

Written with Josie Silver's signature warmth, charm and insights into the human heart, One Night on the Island explores the meaning of home, the joys of escape and how the things we think we want are never the things we really need.

My Opinion: I’m still not sure why the book is titled “One Night” unless it was because Cleo considered leaving after one night; since the story encompasses more than one night or one moment. What takes place happens over months, and for some, that feels like a lifetime in the making.

I am not usually a fan of romances, but I have read Josie Silver’s last three books (One Day in December, The Two Lives of Lydia Bird, and this one, One Night on the Island), and she is turning into an author I watch out for. Her approach to romance and women’s fiction, with a bit of humor thrown in, appeals to skeptics like me. Very little is over the top, and the characters come across as believable even though a few of the scenarios take a little getting used to.

There were a few points where I thought the author could have ended, but the chapters kept on coming where neat bows were put in place without leaving it up to the reader to jump to the wrong conclusion.

Good luck to Josie Silver, and I look forward to her next book.

The Deepest of Secrets

Title: The Deepest of Secrets
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Published: February 15th 2022 by Minotaur Books
Format: Kindle, Hardcover, 352 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Rockton #7

First Sentence: It's July in the Yukon, a gorgeous night that's perfect for a campfire.

Blurb: It’s not always easy to live in the hidden town of Rockton, something Detective Casey Duncan knows firsthand. Tucked away in the Yukon wilderness, the community survives—and thrives—because the residents' many secrets stay just that—secret.

But what happens when these secrets start to come out? Overnight, no one is safe. It’s not a question of if your secret will come out—but when.

Casey and her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, need to find the culprit while protecting those who have been thrust into the spotlight. For a place built on privacy and new beginnings, Rockton isn’t handling these revelations very well. People are turning on one another, and when one of the loudest complainers turns up barely alive, it's clear that their trickster is actually a murderer.

The threat of exposure is reaching its breaking point, and no one knows what’s going to happen next.

My Opinion: I love Mathias, April, and Cypher. Though the Deepest of Secrets is not based on them, their appearance brings in just the right amount of humor to a series that I don’t want to end.

You will laugh, then reread what made you laugh, and then laugh again. Then you will cry. Maybe only a single tear, but if you have invested in this series, the realization it is coming to an end will grasp you with a bit of melancholy for this town of misfits and the people who are trying to hold it together.

The Rockton Series contained some of my favorite characters of all time, and knowing there will not be another book leaves me with no more words.

Overall, I think the book and the town ended in the only way possible. I want to believe that Kelley Armstrong will surprise us with another book, just to let us know how everyone is doing, but I won’t hold out hope since all good things must come to an end.

Hot and Sour Suspects

Title: Hot and Sour Suspects
Author: Vivien Chien
Published: January 25th 2022 by St. Martin's Press
Format: Kindle, Paperback, 320 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 Noodle Shop Mystery #8

First Sentence: "You young folks and your weird dating concepts," my father, William Lee, said with an amused smirk.

Blurb: When Lana Lee’s best friend, Megan Riley, asks her to help host a speed dating contest at Ho-Lee Noodle House, she doesn’t see the harm in lending a hand. The night goes better than anticipated, and both Lana and Megan are beyond thrilled with the results. But before they can break out the champagne, Rina Su, fellow Asia Village shop owner and speed dating participant, calls to inform Lana that the date she’s just matched with has been murdered. Under suspicion of foul play, Rina enlists Lana’s help in finding out what really happened that night.

Without hesitation, Lana begins to dig into the man in question. To her dismay, she quickly finds that Rina’s date has a rather unsavory past. There’s a long line of slighted women, angry neighbors, and perturbed co-workers—all of whom seem to have a motive.

As Lana continues to spiral down the treacherous path of scorned lovers and mistreated acquaintances, she can’t help but dwell on how quickly an innocent evening filled with hope and positivity could turn so sour. When the media gets in on the case, Lana must rush to find the killer before more dates turn deadly. (Goodreads)

My Opinion: From the beginning, I thought I had this one figured out, but I was off by a hair but technically on the right track. As for the subplot of Anna May, not sure it was necessary since it didn't go anywhere, but we will see if it is a preamble for something to come.

For me, I wish there were more of the Mahjong Matrons. I love those ladies and still feel there could be a complete book centered around them. Maybe something along the line of the movie Rear Window where Lana is unable to leave the restaurant or her apartment, and she sends these delightful ladies out to do her dirty work, I mean investigations. Then again, I’m not an author and Vivien Chien does an amazing job with the world she has created.

The author’s notes at the end are heartbreaking, and I hope that Vivien has a complete healing and will once again bring us into the happenings at Asia Village Shopping Plaza.

Blind Descent

Title: Blind Descent
Author: Nevada Barr
Published: September 3, 2009 by Berkley
Format: Hardcover, 341 pages
Genre: Suspense
Series: Anna Pigeon #6

First Sentence: Anna hadn’t seen so much dashing about and popping in and out of doors since the French farce went out of fashion.

Blurb: In Blind Descent Park Ranger Anna Pigeon's courage is put to a test when she learns that a woman seriously injured while exploring a cave next door to New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns is a friend who has requested Pigeon's help in getting her out. "A chilling image filled Anna's mind: herself crouched and whimpering, fear pouring like poison through her limbs, shutting down her brain as the cave closed in around her." Pushing aside her fears, Pigeon takes the plunge, leading readers through a truly harrowing series of tight squeezes. Nevada Barr is so good at involving us in Anna's terror that when she finally resurfaces, we share her "unadulterated joy. Even the dirt smelled alive... When she saw her first stars, she croaked out her delight from tired lungs." Above ground, Anna quickly gets involved in two possibly linked murders and becomes a rifleman's target. As we share the progress of her investigation, a sneaky suspicion starts to grow of possible suspects within the small community of spelunkers and National Park Service bureaucrats. Barr couldn't possibly ask Anna to go back underground again, could she? When it happens, of course, it seems inevitable--and just as frightening as the first time. (Goodreads)

My Opinion: I am sure I developed claustrophobia while reading this book. If the idea of going 700 feet underground into the Lechuguilla cave of New Mexico's Carlsbad Cavern Park, wiggling through tight spaces, having stalactites dangling inches from my face, and having to pack in and pack out your waste, tells me caving, even if it is to rescue a fellow park ranger, is not a choice I would willingly make.

Anna Pidgeon seems to get herself into the most precarious positions, and Blind Descent is no exception. If it wasn’t for the fact that Frieda Dierkz asked for Anna specifically, I couldn’t see why she would be needed, but then again, Anna always seems to have the right skills no matter where she is called.