Till Death Do Us Port

Title: Till Death Do Us Port
Author: Kate Lansing
Published: March 7, 2023 by Berkley
Format: Kindle, 304 Pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Colorado Wine Mystery #4

First Sentence: There are as many types of goodbyes as there are varietals of grapes.

Blurb: t's June in Boulder, Colorado, and wedding season is in full swing. Parker Valentine is excited to attend the wedding of her favorite cousin, Emma, where in addition to celebrating the happy couple, she'll also be providing the refreshments for the reception from her winery. But when the fussy wedding planner is found dead midway through the ceremony, Parker knows that to get the weekend back on track, she'll need to unveil a murderer.

Unfortunately, there's no shortage of high tension and hot tempers during a wedding, so Parker has a long list of potential suspects. Even worse, her entire family has fixated on the state of Parker's relationship with her boyfriend, Reid. If Parker can manage to impress her relatives with her wine skills and dodge unwanted pointed personal questions, solving a murder will be the icing on the cake. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: With this series, I expect Kate Lansing to give wine making and tasting lessons, but she does seem to break off into tangents of transportation, rock wall climbing, Parker’s relationship issues, Parker’s fear of driving because her aunt died in a car accident, the awesome public transportation options in Boulder, etc. Too many times, I wanted to snap my fingers in front of her face to get back on the subject at hand --that being the murder of a wedding planner.

When it came down to the actual who done it, I realized that I didn’t care. It took way too long to get there and the book lost my attention about a third of the way in. Now I must decide if any future books in this series will be worth my time.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Title: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Author: Gail Honeyman
Published: May 9, 2017, by Penguin
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Genre: Fiction

First Sentence: When people ask me what I do—taxi drivers, hairdressers—I tell them I work in an office.

Blurb: Meet Eleanor Oliphant: she struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding unnecessary human contact, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen, the three rescue one another from the lives of isolation that they had been living. Ultimately, it is Raymond’s big heart that will help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one. If she does, she'll learn that she, too, is capable of finding friendship—and even love—after all.(GoodReads)

My Opinion: Not sure what it was at first since I couldn’t get into this book. Then I finally caught on to Eleanor’s humor. Once there, I was right with her. Yet, the waves kept coming. Her hopes, her dreams, her devastation, and then, unexpectedly, the conclusion. I didn’t see it coming. Now, all I see is her courage.

I know Eleanor is only a character in a book, but Gail Honeyman made her real. So real that Eleanor will stay with me for a while, and one day I will reread Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine to see what I missed since the ending blindsided me.

City Under One Roof

Title: City Under One Roof
Author: Iris Yamashita
Published: January 10, 2023 by Berkley Books
Format: 304 pages, Hardcover
Genre: Police Procedural

First Sentence: "And when did you find the body"-Officer Neworth paused for a moment before adding-"parts? When did you find the body parts?"

Blurb: When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, Cara Kennedy is on the case. A detective from Anchorage, she has her own motives for investigating the possible murder in this isolated place, which can be accessed only by a tunnel.

After a blizzard causes the tunnel to close indefinitely, Cara is stuck among the odd and suspicious residents of the town—all 205 of whom live in the same high-rise building and are as icy as the weather. Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski, but before long the investigation is upended by fearsome gang members from a nearby native village.

Haunted by her past, Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town has something to hide. Will she be able to unravel their secrets before she unravels?" (GoodReads)

My Opinion: I loved the twist at the end. Not sure if that will be the entrance point for another book, but it did leave the reader with an important question unanswered.

Davidson Condo’s draws inspiration from the Begich Towers in Whittier, Alaska. A building where the city is literally under one roof. The DaveCo is the place where everyone reinvents themselves. A safe place for women to hide out and be watched over, even if they feel they are being spied on. Every person has a secret and everyone is memorable.

When the reports of a foot and hand washing up on shore and a police detective who is out on medical disability collide, curious events begin to unravel. It doesn’t help that a storm has closed off the only access to town, but that adds another creepy layer when you realize no one is telling the truth and bad people are out there seeking revenge.

A Sinister Revenge

Title: A Sinister Revenge
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Published: March 7, 2023 by Berkley
Format: 336 pages, Hardcover
Genre: Historical Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Veronica Speedwell Mystery #8

First Sentence: You must not go into the forest at night," the innkeeper warned, his voice trembling with fear. "Something dangerous walks there in the darkness."

Blurb: Veronica must find and stop a devious killer when a group of old friends is targeted for death in this new adventure from the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

Veronica’s natural-historian beau, Stoker, has been away in Bavaria for months and their relationship is at an impasse. But when Veronica shows up before him with his brother, Tiberius, Lord Templeton-Vane, he is lured back home by an intriguing job offer: preparing an iguanodon for a very special dinner party.

Tiberius has received a cryptic message—along with the obituaries of two recently deceased members of his old group of friends, the Seven Sinners—that he too should get his affairs in order. Realizing he is in grave danger but not knowing why, he plans a reunion party for the remaining Sinners at his family estate to lure the killer out while Veronica and Stoker investigate.

As the guests arrive and settle in, the evening’s events turn deadly. More clues come to light, leading Veronica, Stoker, and Tiberius to uncover a shared past among the Sinners that has led to the fatal present. But the truth might be far more sinister than what they were prepared for. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: Unfortunately, the first half of the book is sluggish, with only a couple of sparks, and the story did not capture my full attention until the final third. The humor and bickering, which I adore, makes the book more enjoyable than the previous two, which seemed to be missing those key elements. Veronica’s swooning over Stoker still has me rolling my eyes. For a woman who claims she is strong and independent, she does a bit too much melting at the sight of him.

I continue to recommend this series solely due to the humor and banter. Now we must hope Deanna Raybourn will return Veronica to the strong character she first introduced. That and more Merryweather -- I enjoyed him.

Secret Santa

Title: Secret Santa
Author: Matthew Costello and Neil Richards
Published: October 18, 2016
Format: Kindle, 102 Pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Series: Cherringham #25

First Sentence: Bill Vokes stepped onto the balcony of the village hall and looked out at the festive scene.

Blurb: Bill Vokes has played Santa at the children's Christmas show for years. But with the show just hours away, he vanishes with no explanation. The whole village is baffled. Did something bad happen to loveable Bill: upstanding citizen, churchgoer, life and soul of the party and the holiday season?

Jack and Sarah are on the case - and soon discover there are secrets about this Santa that no one could have imagined. (GoodReads)

My Opinion: Well, that was disappointing. When ‘A Death in the Family’ #24 in the series ended with Jack rushing to a hospital in the states to get to his injured daughter, I was sure ‘Secret Santa’ would begin there or at least mention the situation. Other than a fleeting comment about winter and Christmas, there was no more mention of her.

Unfortunately, this is one of the Cherringham’s where a week later you will have forgotten the plot. All I can remember is the usual friendship between Jack, Sarah, and Grace, Sarah’s assistant, who finally gets involved in an investigation and reveals Bill’s past and why he disappeared. I did enjoy Grace and hope she makes more of an appearance in future novellas.