Cozies for Your Quarantine –

Angela23 Comments

This is a time like no other; a time that no one (nearly no one) alive today has experienced before. Depending where you live, you could be deep into this, or it is just starting to hit your area. Michigan has shut down all kindergarten through 12th grade schools, nearly all colleges are doing online classes with campuses and dorms being closed. State and City businesses are closed as well.

I, however, still get to go to work every day. It would take a Presidential order for that to change! 😊 My teenager will be home for the next 3-4 weeks, and I already have a list of things in my mind that she can do around the house once her schoolwork is done. I’m not holding my breath (no pun intended), but hopefully she can help me out!

What doesn’t help is that my 3 local libraries are also closed. I have 3 books checked out right now (a cozy series) that I have to read yet, but I was hoping to get more picked up. I have many different books downloaded on my Nook, so I will be happy to start getting those read instead.

Some of my favorite cozy series are listed below!

Sherry Harris – Sarah Winston Garage Sale Series

Julianna Deering – Drew Farthering Mysteries

Maddie Day (Edith Mawell) – Country Store Mystery Series 

Kelly Lane – Olive Grove Mysteries

Bailey Cates – Magical Bakery Mystery Series

Kylie Logan – Ethnic Eats Mystery Series

What are you reading? Are you quarantined? Sick? Caring for someone who is sick? How are you handling this new Normal we have for at least the next few weeks?

One of My Favorite Series

Angela7 Comments

I have been reading cozy mysteries pretty heavily for the past year, but still pick up another type of book from the library every visit. I seem to always find the best books from just randomly wandering through the aisles and looking at different books that the title or cover grabs my attention.

One of those great finds was the Flavia DeLuce series, written by Alan Bradley. Whenever I find a new series that I adore, I always wish I had found it sooner. But sooner I was reading a different great series I loved and thought the same thing about.

Flavia is an 11 year old girl with two older sisters who love to torment her, a father who is aloof, and a housekeeper whom she seems to adore as much as she dislikes. Her father’s friend, Dogger, seems to be the anchor for Flavia in a family that frustrates her. Dogger is the groundkeeper, chauffeur, and basic man-of-many trades who lives on the estate with the family.

Flavia’s skill with chemistry, and her own extensive lab, has her solving murders in her village that seem to give the police force a run for their money. With Dogger’s help, Flavia seems to stay one step ahead of the police, and the murderers, and each new story builds upon the last, giving you a picture of the dynamics of this broken family, this motherless child, and the friendships she forms from solving mysteries.

There are only two books in the series I have not read yet, and hopefully I can get them from my library soon!

What is the last great read that you discovered?

An Uninvited Ghost – E. J. Copperman

Angela7 Comments

A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery book 2

Another great book in the Haunted Guesthouse Mystery series!

an uninvited ghost cover image

Alison is running her guesthouse in New Jersey, capitalizing on the 2 ghosts who live with her and her daughter Melissa. Alison’s mother can see the ghosts as well; who are Paul and Maxie. Paul was a private investigator before his untimely demise, and he has convinced Alison to take up the occupation herself, in order to help him solve crimes.

Of course she agrees, because what kind of crimes would she need to solve for a ghost? In exchange, Paul and Maxie agree to “perform” twice a day for her guests who are staying there mainly because it is haunted.

Things are going great until Alison does indeed have a mystery to solve; that of a ghost who believes he may have killed someone while he was pulling a prank on them.  Suddenly Alison finds herself in the middle of this strange mystery, because even though the ghost did not kill the person he believed he did, someone else does indeed kill her later, in Alison’s guesthouse.

Alison has to juggle the demands of her two ghosts, her guests, and the cast and crew of a reality tv show who are also staying with her. Although feeling completely overwhelmed, with the help of her family, her ghostly friends, and a reluctant police force, Alison gets it solved!

Night of the Living Deed – E. J. Copperman

Angela3 Comments

A Haunted Guesthouse Mystery book 1

My love of cozies seems to get stronger with each new series I find at my library. This new discovery did not disappoint.

Night of the Living Deed Cover Image

Alison Kerby is trying to begin a new life with her 9 year old daughter, Melissa. She is back in the town she grew up in on the Jersey Shore. She purchased a house to renovate into a guesthouse, not realizing the house had plenty of history to go along with its age.

Particularly the two ghosts; Paul and Maxie. They were murdered in the house the year before, and Paul wants Alison to find out who killed them, and why. It takes a while for Alison to come to terms with the fact that yes, she really can see these ghosts and communicate with them.

Shock number one is learning her daughter can as well.

Shock number 2? The fact that her mother can see them, as well as many, many other ghosts, and her mother and daughter have been hiding this secret from her for a few years.

Can Alison get her guesthouse renovated in time to open, while adjusting to a life with ghosts, and trying to track down a murderer?

This is definitely a page-turner, and a great first book to this cozy series!

You can find the book for sale here: Night of the Living Deed

Learn more about the author here: E. J. Copperman

All Murders Final – Sherry Harris

Angela3 Comments

Sarah Winston Garage Sale Cozy series book 3

ALL MURDERS FINAL mech.indd

As Sarah seeks to expand her garage sale business, she decides to go online with a virtual garage sale to help out her sales during the cold, snowy Winter months. Things seem to be going well, until clients are getting robbed, and Sarah is getting threatened, all while trying to deal with the two men in her life, and the family of mobsters that are renting the apartment next to hers.

Sarah being the one to find the body of the woman whom she had an online argument with the night before puts her in the hot seat, and it will take all of her wits, as well as some help from her friends, and maybe the mobsters, to clear her name and stop a murderer. When someone near-and-dear to her heart is looking like the next victim, Sarah risks it all. But does she make it in time?

Up next: My review of book 4 in the series, A Good Day to Buy.

You can find book three here: All Murders Final – Sherry Harris

The Longest Yard Sale – Sherry Harris

Angela2 Comments

Sarah Winston Garage Sale Cozy series book 2

The Longest Yard Sale book 2

As Sarah finds success setting up, and sometimes running, garage sales for others, she decides to have the Longest Yard Sale in New England. What looks like a successful turnout gets out of control as traffic gets jammed up everywhere, someone is setting fires in different spots all over town, and that dead body found in Sarah’s friend Carol’s Paint and Wine Shop is not the ending to the day that she was hoping for.

Now Sarah has to figure out who the murderer is, what happened to the painting that was stolen from Carol’s shop, and deal with two suitors; her ex-husband and someone from her not-so-distant past. Can she solve the mystery and clear her friends name?

Up next: My review of book 3 in the series, All Murders Final.

You can find this second book here: The Longest Yard Sale – Sherry Harris

The first book is here as well: Tagged For Death – Sherry Harris

Tagged for Death-Sherry Harris

Angela4 Comments

Sarah Winston Garage Sale Cozy series

I managed to read the first four book in this series in about a week, and absolutely loved them!

Tagged for Death cover image

Freshly divorced from her husband, CJ; Sarah now finds herself with plenty of time on her hands since she is no longer an Air Force wife. Her love for garage sales, finding a bargain, and negotiating a deal keep her occupied, and also open the door to a new form of employment; running other’s garage sales.

The cause of their divorce, a now-pregnant 19 year old named Tiffany, has gone missing. Sarah finds a startling discovery of bloody clothes belonging to CJ, (who happens to now be the Ellington Chief of Police), while she is going through some bags of items donated to the thrift shop on the base.

Her initial reaction is to hide them until she can figure out what is going on. Soon enough she has to bring it to CJ’s attention, and now they are both trying to clear his name, and find out what happened to Tiffany. Even though Sarah seems to have a couple people who are not fans of hers, she has her close friends who will stand by her through it all.

Up next: My review of book 2 in the series, The Longest Yard Sale.

You can learn more about Sherry Harris here: Author Sherry Harris

What are you reading right now? I have started on a new cozy series, and will be reviewing that very soon as well!

And The Winners Are…

Angela4 Comments

…Lisa and Janine! I have sent you an email with further instructions so I can get your gifts shipped to you.

I will be having another drawing shortly for ebooks for my international followers, as they were not able to participate in this giveaway…again, very sorry, and I am looking for a way to resolve this issue in the future for printed books!

More to come on the next giveaway, as well as some more book reviews!

Thank you to everyone who participated, as well as Julianna Deering for helping me out with this! This has definitely become my favorite cozy mystery series! I love being able to give these types of gifts to readers 😊

About That Giveaway…

Angela2 Comments

…I have no excuse for my lack of forethought, except for being sucked into a huge black hole of depression and anxiety over the last few weeks.

I did not think ahead about the international shipping issues I would have (even though I went through this shipping something to Hong Kong from my Etsy store…) but I am going to have to make this current drawing for the 2 autographed books strictly US based.

I am so very sorry for my international followers, and I am going to come up with some type of digital giveaway for all of you, whether it be ebooks, and/or gift cards, etc.

Again, I apologize.