This second installment in the haunted mansion mystery series was even better than the first! I hope there isn’t a long wait for the next book????
Avery Morgan seems to have a good handle on running the Portage Path Woman’s Club, and Clemmie Bow, resident ghost, is enjoying having a friend. The local theater troupe is doing a play at the club, and everyone is excited. Until Bob Hanover is killed, that is. Avery gets another surprise when her Aunt shows up to stay. Clemmie is not thrilled to have a psychic staying with her, especially one who asks a lot of questions. As Avery gets closer to the officer in charge, she has her own questions she wants answers to. There are plenty of suspects with motive to not want Bob around any longer. Can Avery figure it out in time?
Which cozy mysteries are you reading right now? I am in search of a new series!
Hello to all my fellow readers, and welcome back! Well; welcome back to me, since I have not posted in forever. Sometimes life, family, and work have other plans of how one will spend their time! I will save that to post on my Parenthood and Other Horror Stories Blog!
As I normally do on my trips to the bookstore, I head for the cozy mystery section and look for a new series that I have not read yet, with a couple books in it to get started with. Currently there are only 2 books in this series, but I am hoping for more.
Avery Morgan is the new manager of the Portage Path Women’s Club (PPWC). She is also the only person who can see Clemmie Bow, the ghost that lives in the basement, a victim of an accidental shooting almost 100 years ago. As unnerved as Avery is at first at communicating with a ghost, Clemmie is excited to have a new friend she can communicate with.
A fire that damages one of the rooms in the house seems to be something much more than an accidental fire due to someone smoking in the room. With Clemmie’s help, Avery now has to figure out who killed the President of the club, and what the fire has to do with it. There are a few people who had good reason to want to be gone of Muriel, and there is more that one person who would rather Avery not be in Portage Path at all. Could she be the next victim?
I really enjoyed the first book in this new series, and plan on starting the second book, and hopefully finishing it as well, this weekend.
What books have you been reading lately? Do you have a favorite cozy series or author?
Cam Flaherty is hosting her first community dinner at the farm for all the members of her farm share program, as well as getting ready for the Fall Festival. What she hadn’t planned on was the murder of Irene Burr, a local businesswoman who had done her due diligence to get under the skin of more than one Westbury resident.
Her personal life brings Cam some comfort and she begins dating Jake, the chef at The Market restaurant. But can she focus on her farm and relationship, and leave the detective work to the police? Will Cam find out who the killer is before she becomes a victim herself?
This is another fun read from the Local Foods Mystery series, and the characters from the first book are enough to keep you wanting more of their stories.
I try not to give away spoilers, which can sometimes be hard when reviewing cozy mysteries. This is a great series, with vibrant descriptions of not only the characters, but of the town as well. You will see yourself walking the town (or biking, as Cam so often does) of Westbury, Massachusetts as you read through this story!
… of my being laid off (for 4 weeks to start) got off to a great start. These past 3 days? Not so much. I have gotten a lot of leaves raked, been cooking and cleaning, and crocheting. I have been trying to do something constructive every day and it is just too much.
I now have requests for 10 pairs of slippers. Don’t mind the scar and veins, breaking your ankle in 3 places can wreck a foot
My anxiety has been on fire since Wednesday, and our new Michigan orders have even the most basic things being restricted.
I have a duck pen and coop to get built, but the weather and my aching body are not cooperating these last couple of days. Snow? Really???
I have a stack of books to read, some from the library and some I bought last month. I have instead been binge watching Midsomer Murders for the past week when I am not outside.
I think not being able to celebrate Easter with my family and church is bothering me more than I realize right now. I am assuming when my youngest daughter and I are eating dinner Sunday it will hit me like a brick to the face.
I know so many others have it so much worse than I do, and I am trying to focus on how fortunate I am to keep my spirits up. And this too shall pass.
I am about to watch The Passion of the Christ. If that can’t fix my attitude, nothing will.
I hope you are all coping with whatever level of quarantine you are under right now, and staying healthy and happy!
I would love to hear what you are doing to feel good, and even what is getting you down right now!
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!
Another great book in the Haunted Guesthouse Mystery series!
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!
My love of cozies seems to get stronger with each new series I find at my library. This new discovery did not disappoint.
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!
Wow! Just Wow! What a page turner this story is! This was another random find as I was strolling through the aisles in my library, and I grabbed this book and the second book in the series. As I normally do, I looked it up online to find out exactly how many books are in this series.
I was hesitant to even start this book (series) as not only did I find there are 4 books, but all of the reviews lead me to believe that the fourth book did not wrap up any of the stories, and that at least one more book was meant to be/needed to be written.
Did I want to start a series that was not going to be wrapped up all nice and neat at the last book available? Not really. But it is about Biblical history, prophecy, and the coming end times, all of which fascinate me. So I got comfortable in my bed, or I should say my two cats got comfortable on me in my bed, and I opened the book.
Benjamin and Franklin; my reading partners and all-around naughty boys.
Michael Murphy is a Professor, as well as Biblical Archaeologist. Thanks to a nemesis who is more than willing to have Murphy (as he is called) risk his life to get his hands on these historical treasures, this latest test involves the book of Daniel, and an object that is not only priceless, but will also help Murphy in his quest to prove the Bible is historically true.
This book is one you will not be able to put down; or at least I couldn’t as I read it in a day. The twists and turns will have your heart not only racing, but also breaking, and celebrating all at the same time. There is a group of people who have set out to make all Evangelical Christians look like fanatics willing to do anything, and I mean anything, to get their point across to the public. Who would devise such a plan, and why? And why is this small group of people so powerful that they are able to get a few individuals to do their bidding, no questions asked?
I cannot wait to start book 2, The Secret on Ararat, and hope I do not regret reading this series which does not end all wrapped up nice and clean with a bow on it.
I am almost finished with the sixth, and currently last, book in the Drew Farthering Mystery series. I posted book reviews on the first two books, then quickly read the 3rd and 4th books so I could get them back to my library. I bought the 5th and 6th books in eBook versions for my Nook, and am truly sad that I am almost done with the 6th installment, and there are no more books to read. Hopefully this is not truly the end of Drew, Madeline, Nick, and Carrie and their wonderful adventures.
I am hoping to be holding a drawing for the first book in this series very soon, so stay tuned!
Book 2 in the Drew Farthering Mystery series was everything I hoped it would be, and so much more! It’s the Summer of 1932, and if Drew was planning on a quiet go of it so he could spend time with Ms. Madeline Parker, he was mistaken. Add in Madeline’s dear Aunt Ruth, and Drew has definitely got his hands full.
I absolutely love this cover!
The first murder happens to be the Farthering family solicitor whom Drew had a meeting with. The hatpin and Shakespearian note stuck in his chest has Drew, Madeline, and Nick scrambling to figure out what the meaning, and motive might be. As the bodies start stacking up in what the townspeople begin calling the Hatpin Murders, Drew is doing his best to win over Aunt Ruth, before she manages to get Madeline on a plane and take her from Drew forever.
The twists and turns in the story will keep you turning pages until the killer is revealed. This story was a great follow-up to the first book, Rules of Murder. I am halfway through book number 3, and these books are definitely going to be added to my home library!
booksandopinions.com 