book reviews

Book recommendation: Christmas in Harmony

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 9 Comments

I have only read one of the Harmony books by Phillip Gulley, but I loved it, so I last week I looked to see if there was a Christmas one in the series, and there are two Christmas novellas. I downloaded Christmas in Harmony to my Kindle and breezed through it. It was short, yes, but it was also so charming, sweet, and funny that I couldn’t put it down!

The Harmony series is about Sam Gardner, the pastor of a Quaker Church in the town of Harmony. In the first book, each chapter was essentially its own story, with some connections, but this book was connected a great deal as it relayed the story of troublemaker church member Dale Hinshaw, who decides the church should sponsor a “Progressive Living Nativity” for the Christmas season.

His plan keeps getting more out of hand when he suggests, first, that different parts of the nativity be held on the front lawns of church members, so participants will have to drive around town to get the next part of the story. Then he suggests sponsors for the event.

“This is what came from putting Dale Hinshaw in charge. The birth of Jesus was now compliments of Grant’s Hardware. . . . ‘Why don’t you see if Kivett’s will donate a toy doll,’ I suggested. ‘They look pretty close to the real thing.’ As soon as I said it, I regretted it. I had a vision of Dale painting This Year’s Messiah Compliments of Kivett’s Five and Dime on the other side of the manger.”

The relationship Sam has with his wife comes up more in this cute book and they are so funny together. She’s definitely not a pushover. She tells Sam she will not write his Christmas cards for him this year and also lets him know he’s not very good at gift giving, which is a theme throughout the novella.

He reminds her that when they were first married he bought her a bracelet that turned her wrist green. Instead of understanding that meant the bracelet was cheap, he thinks she’s allergic to jewelry.

There is a hilarious scene in the local store where the female owner tries to steer him toward a gift his wife would like but he’s completely oblivious.

“Racines suggests a silver picture frame to hold a picture of the boys. Levi and Addison don’t think so. ‘She spends a lot more time washing dishes than she does looing at pictures,’ Levi points out. I look down at my sons and beam with pride. That they have mastered the subtleties of gift giving at such a tender age thrills me. Racine sighs and wraps the pot scrubbers.”

There are so many funny moments in this short book but also so many poignant lessons.

“He grew quiet, remembering. You close your eyes in a dead-still room and rewind the tape. Revisit snatches of time. A late summer day with your father on the porch. You are eight years old, he is your world. Spin forward. Taking your daughter by her hand, setting her on Santa’s lap. Sorting through the Christmas trees, searching for perfection. Coming home after midnight from the Christmas Eve service, carrying your little girl up the stairs tucking her in, then staying up to set presents under the tree.”

“Christmas, I tell my wife, is not the time to hold back. It is the bold stroke, the song in the silence the red hat in a gray-suit world.”

I loved so much of this book. The sweet messages about what Christmas is all about is wrapped neatly in a package of humor, lovely prose, and heartwarming narrative.

Bonus points? If you are trying to meet your goal of the year and need a short book — this should be your choice.

This post is part of the Comfy, Cozy Christmas feature hosted by me and Erin at Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. If you have a blog post that you would like to share as part of this annual link-up, please find out more here.

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Book Review: The Tale of Hill Top Farm

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 5 Comments

My feelings about The Tale of Hill Top Farm by Susan Wittig Albert are mixed, and part of that is because I listened to others who had read it and said it was something it actually isn’t.

Many who recommended this book, and even a couple of the descriptions, suggested it was about Beatrix Potter — the children’s book author — acting as an amateur sleuth.

If you read the description on Goodreads, though, which I did not read before I read the book, Beatrix isn’t the sleuth. The pets in town are, however.

Here is that description:

The author of Peter Rabbit and other creature tales, Beatrix Potter is still, after a century, beloved by children and adults the world over. In this first Cottage Tale, Albert introduces Beatrix, an animal lover who has just bought a farm in England’s beautiful Lake District. As Beatrix tries to win over the hearts of her fellow villagers, her animal friends set out to solve a mystery all their own.

And that is what happens in this book. We read about Beatrix getting to know the villagers, trying to overcome a tragedy in her life, and trying to figure out where she is going to live in the village after the farm she’s purchased is already being lived in by the family that runs it. Meanwhile, there has been a possible suspicious death and the theft of a couple of objects and some money and the pets in the village decide to solve the crimes.

I had expected Beatrix to be the main character and for her to do some of the sleuthing. Instead, she is more of a background character when it comes to the mystery, though she does throw in a couple of tips to the other three or four characters from the village who are also subjects of this book. The animals, who talk amongst themselves but aren’t understood by the human characters, solve the crimes while the humans seem to mainly ponder things.

Beatrix actually doesn’t solve anything. In at least one case, the mystery is solved while she is there, but she is simply told what has happened.

And you know what? It just needs to be said. There are too many characters in this book. There were four or five points of view going on with just the humans and several more with rabbits, mice, cats, and a dog.

It was confusing. I couldn’t remember who said what to who because two of the female human characters seemed so similar. If even two characters had been dropped, it would have made things a lot easier to keep track of.

I have to agree with what a reviewer on Goodreads said about the book: “Less of a mystery and more of life in a small town with well-drawn characters and a sentimental fantasy of Beatrix Potter’s life in Sawrey.”

Does it being “less of a mystery and more of a life in a small town” make it a bad book?

No, but having too many characters and too much background information about characters that never coincided with the overall plot, did make it a less of an enjoyable read for me.

Even with not being a fan of all of the POVs and with it not being as much of an enjoyable read as I hoped, I am willing and interested in reading another book in the series.

Book Review and Nancy Drew November: The mystery of the fire dragon

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 8 Comments

The first book I read for Nancy Drew November was The Mystery of The Fire Dragon. The cover of this one caught my attention a while ago, so I was excited when I was able to get a copy of it and start it.

This one takes Nancy and her friends (Bess Marvin and George Fayne) first to New York City and then Hong Kong, to investigate the disappearance of a young Chinese-American woman named Chi-Che Soong.

Chi Che’s grandfather, Mr. Soong, doesn’t know his granddaughter is missing. He thinks she’s gone on a trip with friends, so he buries himself in writing a manuscript about – actually I don’t remember what the manuscript about, but I think it was about Chinese artifacts or something.

Chi-Che worked at a bookstore of antique books when she disappeared. Nancy wants to help her aunt Eloise, Mr. Soong’s neighbor, find out what happened.

At the same time, her lawyer father, Carson Drew, is preparing for a trip to Hong Kong and wants to take Nancy along.  He sends her to New York to help his sister first though because he won’t be leaving for a week. I often wonder, by the way, where Carson Drew is going to investigate cases because sometimes the books don’t say. I always imagine he’s actually the lawyer for the CIA or something and is on big spy cases. I find it weird he often sends Nancy to solve cases on her own while he goes to investigate something else. She is often sent into very dangerous situations with just herself and her friends and this one is no different.

Anyhow, as soon as Nancy and her friends arrive at Aunt Eloise’s someone sets a large firecracker off in the apartment building hallway. Nancy and her friends try to find who did it but are unable to.

While at her aunt’s, Nancy notices how much her friend George Fayne, looks like the photos of Chi Che. She decides it will be a good idea to have George dress as her and then take her to the college campus and see if anyone thinks she is Chi Che and acts suspicious.

They will eventually meet one of Chi Che’s friends who is confused when she thinks Chi Che is on campus because Chi Che also told her she was traveling. The friend, Lili Allis, will work with Nancy and her friends by taking a job at the bookstore where Chi Che used to work.

Nancy is knocked out at least once in every book and this one is no different when she gets hit in the head with a flowerpot that falls out of a three-story window during this one. Ouch.

A friend, who studied Nancy Drew books in college told me that the Stratemeyer Syndicate only allowed for one knock out per character and only for a certain number of minutes. That absolutely cracked me up. I don’t care what the rule was, Nancy Drew definitely had some major brain damage from all the hits she took to her head over the years.

Eventually, Nancy’s investigation leads her to Hong Kong to search for the missing girl and find out if she found out about a crime that was going on in New York.

Two boons to her having to travel to Hong Kong for this case is that she will travel with her dad and that she will be able to meet up with her boyfriend Ned Nickerson who is studying at a college in Hong Kong. So many coincidences in this one — like Ned going to college there and when Mr. Soong’s brother is actually the ex-police chief in Shanghai so Nancy can meet up with him when she travels to Hong Kong.

I really enjoyed the history in this one. It was released in 1961 and mentions a lot of history about Hong Kong and China which I believe is accurate, though I didn’t look all of it up to double check. What I did look up is when China received control of Hong Kong again after British rule. In this book, the island is still controlled by Great Britain and the people have a great deal of freedom. The control of island went back to China in 1997, though I thought it was much later.

While Hong Kong was able to remain mainly separate from China even after control was handed back, the People’s Republic of China has begun to assert more control in the last five years.

The relationship between Ned and Nancy is cute with Ned always excited when her sleuthing stops and they can spend time together.

Some of the history was dropped while Nancy and Ned were spending time together. At one point they take in a Chinese opera and then visit a houseboat restaurant in a village called Aberdeen, which I thought was odd since it sounded Scottish.

I did look this up online and there is a real Aberdeen on the southwest side of the Island of Hong Kong. It is a fishing village and features a floating village and floating restaurants. It turns out the town is named after the former UK Prime Minister, George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, which explains the name.

There is a scene where Ned and Nancy visit the floating village and unlike other books that don’t focus as much on descriptions, there is a more lengthy description of the village and the lights and how beautiful it all is. This makes me think that whomever the ghost writer for this book was, had visited Hong Kong at some point.

There are some rather “odd” sections in this book, such as when Grandpa Soong asks George and Bess if they believe in transference.

“They both admitted that they did. Then Grandpa Soong said” There are men in this world who are more dangerous than fire dragons. I am sure my Chi Che is being held by one or more of them and really was calling out in her thoughts to me and Miss Drew for help.”

Mmmmmkaaaay.

I also  didn’t understand the end of the book and why Chi Che was found where she was (maybe I’ve read too many darker mysteries and figured that in reality the ‘bad guys’ would have just killed her) but it was still an intriguing mystery with a lot of interesting characters.

I seem to like the books where Nancy travels out of the country or away from River Heights more than those that take place in River Heights. I think that is because the books away from River Heights feel more rounded or flushed out due to the addition of historical elements.

Another one of my favorites, before this one, was The Case of The Whistling Bagpipes, which took Nancy to Scotland.

I know a lot of my blog followers have not read Nancy Drew before but if you have read this one, let me know in the comments.

I enjoyed what Avery from True Drew Podcast had to say about this episode too. You can find that here.

Book recommendation: Murder, She Wrote Gin and Daggers

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 6 Comments

I’ve recently started reading the Murder, She Wrote books, based on the TV show, of course.

There are currently a couple of authors writing the books, but I believe the original person to write them was Donald Bain. I like the books of his in this series that I have read so far which is exactly two. Ha! I am currently reading my third by him.

My husband bought me a copy of the first book in the series — Gin and Daggers —  after I read Killer in the Kitchen and it was better than I expected.

This one doesn’t take place in Cabot Cove but takes us straight to England where Jessica has traveled to visit with good friend of hers – a famous mystery writer. Think Agatha Christie level.

The woman —  Marjorie Ainsworth  — isn’t in great health, though, and some are speculating she could pass away. That’s not all they’re speculating. She’s just released a new book and some staying at the mansion for the celebration don’t believe she even wrote it because of her declining health. Marjorie Ainsworth

It isn’t her declining health that leads to her death, though. It’s murder. Now Jessica must figure out who among the guests at her mansion killed her while avoiding being blamed herself.

One thing I’ve noticed about these Murder, She Wrote books is they take their time getting to the mystery. This gives the reader time to get to know the characters and really feel like they are invested in the story before the crime occurs. A lot of more modern mysteries rush right into the crime without letting the reader create an attachment to the potential victim and the possible suspects. Some readers like this and some find it boring and tedious. Whether I like it or not depends on what mood I am in. For this book, and the other Murder, She Wrote books I have read, I have not minded.

I like how these books make Jessica even more real than the show – in this one she cries over her friend passing away and when she remembers her late husband. She seems more vulnerable in the books than on the show.

The world of Jessica Fletcher is more in depth and real in the books, in other words,  unlike the surface level portrayal from the show. Jessica’s close connection to Dr. Seth Hazlitt is also more pronounced in the books. Though a romance isn’t suggested, it is clear that she and Seth are very close.

This is very clear in this book where Jessica is accused of Marjorie’s murder and Seth hears about it back in Cabot Cove and hops a plane with Sheriff Mort Metzger to bring a bit of Cabot Cove to London.

There are a number of suspects in this one and while the story does drag at times and it gets a bit convoluted at the end, it held my interest and was a solid mystery. I wouldn’t say I would read this one again and again but I enjoyed it as fun, and well-written (prose wise) book.

One thing I find interesting about these books is how well Bain writes a female character. He isn’t perfect at it, but he does write Jessica as someone who is strong and bold, but also connected with her feelings more.

The bottom line on books based on shows is that they are never amazing literature but they are a good escape and some (usually clean) fun. What these books with Donald Bain have going for them is an extra cozy feel and solid writing.

Have you read any of the Murder, She Wrote books? If so, which one? If not, would you ever try one?

Book recommendation: A Fatal Harvest

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 7 Comments

A Fatal Harvest is an Amish Inn Mystery. This series is written by a few different authors but this particular book was written by Rachael O. Phillips. So far I have enjoyed the books she writes in the series the most.

The series focuses on Liz Eckhardt, the owner of an Amish Inn called the Old Mansion Inn, in Indiana. This is Amish country and Liz has many connections to the Amish community, mainly through her mother. If you want to know more about that you’ll need to read the first book in the series, Secrets of the Amish Diary.

Liz’s friends, Sadie and Mary Ann and Naomi, form a group called “The Material Girls” and they knit and sew together. The women in the group also occasionally help Liz who always seems to get herself involved in a mystery. Liz’s group of friends also includes the inn’s resident bulldog, Beans, who Liz inherited when she bought the inn.

In this book, one of Liz’s guests is murdered at a community Halloween party in a corn maze and Liz not only wants to find out why he was murdered but who he really was.

Things get even more complicated when a mysterious and handsome man arrives, threatening Liz’s budding romance with town mayor, Jackson.

I enjoyed the coziness of this one because mixed in with the mysteries in this book were heartwarming and fun moments between Liz and her friends. This book was a slowed down mystery with some parts that didn’t have anything to do with the mystery but were instead like a leisurely and relaxing walk through Liz’s life with her friends.

I didn’t feel those brief detours took away from the mystery or the book overall, but instead made the book even more cozy. I felt as if I was getting to know the characters on a deeper level which I welcomed. I have about twelve more books to read in this series and I hope we find out even more about the personal lives of Liz’s friends as we continue.

An aside about the physical book — I love that each of the books produced by Annie’s Fiction are hardcover and include their own bookmark. It makes it easier to mark my place without having to find a bookmark!

Sadly, when I went to the website for Annie’s Fiction, I learned that the site is down so the company may have folded. Luckily, you can still find copies of many of their books on various sites online, especially used book sites.

Have you read any of the books in this series?

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Book review: The Antique Hunters Guide To Murder

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 7 Comments

Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago that she thought I had mentioned somewhere that I was going to read The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder. I had not but it looked interesting to me so she suggested we do a buddy read. I’ve never done a buddy read so I said I could try it with her.

Having someone to talk to about the book and bounce ideas off of about what was going to happen next was fun.

This book takes place in England and is about Freya Lockwood who used to be an antique hunter. I wasn’t sure what the term “antique hunter” meant until I got into the book. It turns out it isn’t only about finding antiques that are worth something and can be sold in a store. Antique hunting is also about finding stolen antiques and returning them to their rightful owners.

What I knew from the beginning was that a man named Arthur Crockleford had died and it upset her. It is actually suggested in the prologue of the book that Arthur was murdered.

We will spend most of the book trying to figure out not only why but who.

Freya and Arthur haven’t talked in almost 20 years and we will learn more about that as we read too.

Freya’s aunt Carole, who cared for Freya when her parents died, introduced Freya to Arthur and was also good friends with him. After Freya and Arthur’s falling out, Freya married and had a child, who is now grown.

From the book description: Joining forces with her eccentric Aunt Carole, Freya follows clues to an old manor house for an advertised antiques enthusiast’s weekend. But not all is as it seems. It’s clear to Freya that the antiques are all just poor reproductions, and her fellow guests are secretive and menacing. What is going on at this estate and how was Arthur involved? More importantly, can Freya and Carole discover the truth before the killer strikes again?”

Arthur leaves behind a series of journals for Freya that he calls the Antique Hunter’s Guide.

My thoughts:

This book was … okay for me. It wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read. It wasn’t the best. Overall, though, it was a fun escape – at least until about 60 percent when things got a bit confusing for me and sort of fell apart in my opinion. That totally could have been just a me thing, though. Maybe my brain wasn’t clicking as well with the second half as it did  the first.

The book was clean and free of swearing and graphic descriptions so I would consider it a cozy mystery.

The one big thing this book had going for it was the characters. They were interesting and I got attached to them, though I was attached more to Carole than Freya.

The mystery is decent too, but the characters are interesting and fun to learn about.

Freya’s aunt Carole is a highlight of the book for me. She was eccentric, funny, and always on the brink of either blowing their investigation or getting them deeper in trouble. She was there to add some humor to the book it seems and I liked that.

Freya is getting her life back and finding the woman she used to be in this book, but don’t worry, if you forget that fact, the author will tell you about 50 more times before the book ends. She will also remind you that Freya has a scar on her hand about 50 times. I’m joking a bit, but those two things were repeated a bit too much for my liking. I got the point the first three times we were told Freya wanted her old life back. Though I thought we were told this too much I liked that Freya worked toward finding her former passion for antique hunting.

Here are a couple of quotes I highlighted as I read:

“This plate is different than before, but it’s still precious,” said Arthur. “Most of us have been broken in one way or another. We don’t need to hide the scars, for they make us who we are. This bread was mended with real gold.”

“I saw for the first time that I was me again — that person hadn’t left me; I’d just dived into the safety of my London home and become shrouded with the world of being a wife and mother.”

“Your journals are called the Antique Hunter’s Guide. But my hunting hasn’t been as straightforward — your guide led me on quite an adventure.”

“You can be so dramatic. He offered tea, and murderers don’t offer tea, do they darling?” Carole tutted at me.

“Carole appeared at my side and rubbed my arms like she used to do after we’d come in from a long, cold winter’s walk. “I want to show you what I meant about the vases. Come.” She handed back my phone and led me away from the darkness, just as she had always done.”

Erin mentioned when we were talking that she thought this book was a good introduction to a series and I think she’s right. There was a lot in it and a couple storylines going on, including a possible romance, but in the end they all converged, luckily.

I will warn you that this book switches from a few points of view to introduce us to each suspect or to Aunt Carole. The tense changes when the POV changes so we go from mainly first person for Freya to third person for everyone else. I thought Miller did this well so the changes didn’t bother me like it has in some other books I’ve tried in the past.

There is one more book in the series that is out — The Antique Hunter’s Death on the Red Sea. The third book, The Antique Hunter’s Murder At The Castle is scheduled for release in March of 2026.

The bottom line for me is that this is a fun read, something to pick up when you need an escape from the world. Don’t expect it to blow you away, but do expect to be sufficiently entertained.

You can view Erin’s thoughts here.

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Book review/recommendation: Dave Barry Isn’t Taking This Sitting Down

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 5 Comments

Title: Dave Barry Isn’t Taking This Sitting Down

Author: Dave Barry

Genre: Comedy/Humor

Description:

Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry is a pretty amiable guy. But lately, he’s been getting a little worked up. What could make a mild-mannered man of words so hot under the collar? Well, a lot of things–like bad public art, Internet millionaires, SUVs, Regis Philbin . . . and even bigger problems, like

• The slower-than-deceased-livestock left-lane drivers who apparently believe that the right lane is sacred and must never come in direct contact with tires
• The parent-misery quotient of last-minute school science fair projects
• Day trading and other careers that never require you to take off your bathrobe
• The plague of the low-flow toilets, which is so bad that even in Miami, where you can buy drugs just by opening your front door and yelling “Hey! I want some crack,” you can’t even sell your first born to get a normal-flushing toilet

Dave Barry is not taking any of this sitting down. He’s going to stand up for the rights of all Americans against ridiculously named specialty “–chino” coffees and the IRS. Just as soon as he gets the darn toilet flushed.

My impressions:

Dave Barry’s columns are hilarious and keep me laughing when I probably would otherwise be crying. I had a weird summer with a lot of up and down emotions so this book, with its bite-sized chapters, (which are made up of column reproductions from his years at the Miami Herald) were just what I needed. I read two or three columns a night and tried not to laugh too loud so I didn’t wake up anyone else in the family.

I love Dave’s sense of humor. The sarcasm and quick whit and play on words. Even the puns. This book was written in 2000 and still holds up with so many topics and thoughts that many of us still (sometimes sadly) can relate to.

What I also liked about this book is that it was clean, with only an occasional off-color comment or joke. There is no swearing other than a hell or damn from time to time.

I have never read Dave’s fiction books so I can’t comment on if those are clean or not. I will let you know if I ever read one. My husband has read them and always seems to laugh through them, so I guess they are funny at least.

Some of Dave’s non-fiction comedy books focus on one specific topic, like computers, ,but the topics in this book include everything from politics to regulations on toilets, always managing to make the topic light and giggle-inducing.

Some quotes I liked from this one:

“Like many members of the uncultured, Cheez-It-consuming public, I am not good at grasping modern art. I’m the type of person who will stand in front of a certified modern masterpiece painting that looks, to the layperson, like a big black square, and quietly think: “Maybe the actual painting is on the other side.”

“The public should enjoy what the experts have decided the public should enjoy. That’s the system we use in this country, and we’re going to stick with it.”

One that hits home for me, a former newspaper reporter whose husband is still in the business: “Here in the newspaper business, we have definitely caught Internet Fever. In the old days we used to — get this! — actually charge money for our newspapers. Ha ha! What an old-fashioned, low 0tech, non-digital concept! Nowadays all of the hip modern newspapers spend millions of dollars operating Web sites where we give away the entire newspaper for fee. Sometimes we run advertisements in the regular newspaper, urging our remaining paying customers to go to our Web sites instead. “Stop giving us money!” is the shrewd marketing thrust of these ads. Why do we do this? Because all of the other newspapers are doing it! If all the other newsapes stuck pencils up their noses, we’d do that, too! This is called “market penetration.””

(Aside: It’s been fun to see newspapers try to shut the barn door after they already opened it on the Web site payments. Most people are fighting it and I can’t blame them. After so many years of getting everything for free, it’s quite a shock to be told you now have to pay for it.)

It was fun here to discover he’d worked at a newspaper I’ve heard of and is in my state: “I myself developed the coffee habit in my early 20s,, when, as a “cub” reporter for the Daily Local News in West Chester, Pennsylvania, I had to stay awake while writing phenomenally boring stories about municipal government. I got my coffee from a vending machine that also sold hot chocolate and chicken-noodle soup; all three liquids squired out of a single tube, and they tasted pretty much the same. But I came to need that coffee, and even today I can do nothing useful before I’ve had several cups. (I can’t do anything useful afterward, either; that’s why I’m a columnist.)”

 The bottom line is that if you need a good laugh, this is a good Dave Barry book to choose. I can’t vouch for all of his books, but this one is a good choice.

Book Review: But First, Murder by Bee Littlefield

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 5 Comments

“Whoa slow down the Orient Express, Sherlock. You think you’re going to investigate a possible murder?” It’s one thing for me to bat around that idea in my own private brain or to make a few innocent lists in a new notebook. For my very normal and sensible little sister to make such a suggestion — out loud — is just bizarre.”

But  First, Murder by Bee Littlefield

Book Title: But First, Murder

Author: Bee Littlefield

Genre: Cozy mystery

Description:

After years of slinging lattes, Betti Bryant is taking ownership of her life. She doesn’t need new friends or book club invitations to distract her from finding her way forward. And the unresolved situation with a guy she kissed a few weeks ago might as well stay unresolved.

But there’s one distraction she is not prepared for: finding a murder victim on her way to work one frigid December morning.

Suspicion falls on Betti’s roommate, Callista, who happens to be holding a baseball bat over the victim’s body when the police drive up. Almost totally sure Callista is innocent, Betti buys a new notebook, digs out her scrapbooking supplies, and makes the cutest murder board ever.

Now, on top of holding down a job (or two) and figuring out her entire future, she’s committed to finding the real killer before any more lives are ruined—including her own.

My thoughts:

I was excited to get back into Betti’s world, after reading book one in this series, and see what Betti and her friends have been up to. I won’t share too much of what happened at the end of the last book, Clueless in the Coffee Station, in case you haven’t read it yet, but let’s just say Betti was trying some new things out at the end of the last book. The description above mentions that, of course.

In this book she’s in the middle of those changes (though still working part time at the coffee shop) when she stumbles onto a dead body outside her roommate’s new studio.

Of course, she needs to find out who killed him because she is sure the police will suspect her roommate.

On top of the mystery, in which her sister, Elsea, joins her in investigating this time around, there is a possible romance between her and a co-worker, Nico, and a new partnership with a local reporter.

Betti is a very quirky character and cracks me up. I don’t know if I would make some of the decisions she makes when it comes to not going to the police, but if she rushed right to the police there wouldn’t be a story, right?

Betti is introverted and indecisive like me and I think that is why I am drawn to her. She is also very funny, which I am not, but like to think I am.

I enjoyed the addition of her sister to this book. She was in the last book but wasn’t as heavily involved in the investigation as she was in this one.

Bee has left us with some questions at the end of this book which I hope means more stories with Betti and her family and friends.

I highlight a lot in my Kindle with Bee’s books because I love her use of words.

“The younger man comes into the café, leaving the argument behind with the snow he wipes onto the welcome mat.”

Isn’t that a cool line?

Or how about:

“Then I scream. Not one of those piercing shrieks from horror movies or playgrounds, but a goofy, uncontrolled yelp. The boy of a man, as iced over as the trees, is splayed out near an empty flower box, under the same window through which I glimpsed Callista dancing last night.”

Or:

“I found a dead man on my way to work this morning. I say it in my mind, over and over, but I can’t say it out loud. Not here, not with tea steeping and Christmas lights blinking and Chopin on the radio. When customers ask me how I’m doing I say, “Great, thanks!”

And:

“I’m going to go home and have a hard conversation with my roommate Then I’ll take a hot shower and fill my new notebook with thoughts on everything except the poor man who definitely accidentally froze to death last night.”

And one more:

“Whoa slow down the Orient Express, Sherlock. You think you’re going to investigate a possible murder?” It’s one thing for me to bat around that idea in my own private brain or to make a few innocent lists in a new notebook. For my very normal and sensible little sister to make such a suggestion — out loud — is just bizarre.”

Anyhow, I clearly enjoy Bee’s writing style. It’s first person, present tense, which I usually do not enjoy in books, but when Bee writes it, I enjoy it. I also enjoy Bee’s characters and how well-developed and 3-D they are. They are believable, raw and real. Bee’s books are also a good, light read, with a smidgen of heavy, but not enough to make her books dark mystery or thriller. Her books are definitely cozy mysteries with a good balance of cozy and mystery.

Hopefully, all my rambling will convince you to give the book a try.

Book Review: The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady by Sharon J. Mondragon

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 7 Comments

Description:

Margaret, Rose, Jane, and Fran had a good thing meet every week in the quiet of their peaceful chapel and knit prayer shawls. No muss, just ministry. That is, until their pastor boots them out of the church in his last-ditch effort to revive the dwindling congregation.

Uptight Margaret isn’t having it. Knitting prayer shawls where people can watch is the most ridiculous idea she’s ever heard of, and she’s heard plenty. Prayer belongs in the church, not out among the heathen masses. How are they supposed to knit holiness into these shawls if they’re constantly distracted by the public? But with no choice, the others embrace the challenge. They pack their knitting bags and drag Margaret–grumbling the whole way–to the mall with them. She can’t wait to prove them all wrong when it fails miserably, and show the pastor that she always knows best.

Without the familiar mold the group has been stuck in, their own losses, pain, and struggles rise to the surface. And the people and situations they encounter every time they try to sit quietly and knit are taking them a lot further out of their comfort zone than they ever imagined. Can they find the courage to tackle the increasing number of knotty issues they learn about in the community–or will the tangle be too much to unravel?

Sharon Mondragon’s debut is warm and delightful, full of real laughter, grief, and personality. It beautifully illustrates the power of women across generations to reach people for Christ.

My thoughts:

This book was not something I “normally” read, but yet it was. I read a lot of mystery books, but even I need a break from the mysteries sometimes and enjoy a book that is going to make me think about my faith without bashing me over the head. I also don’t mind books that bash me over the head a little bit with my faith so…yeah…sometimes you need a lighter one though.

This book had it all – humor, lovable characters, meaningful moments, thoughtful passages, characters grappling with long-held emotional pain, and people finding a new awareness of God in their lives. It was realistic and raw without being inappropriate or salacious.

Some of the members like the idea of leaving the chapel and going into public, but at least one, Margaret, completely balks. The idea of the group is to knit quietly and pray over the shawls and the people who will receive them, she says.

Going out into the community, though, becomes an outreach for more than members of the public. Soon, the knitting group members are being ministered to as well. New friendships are formed, old hurts are healed, and the church is beginning to grow with new members. More importantly, some of the biggest objectors to moving the group out of the church are learning about themselves and coming closer to the God they said they wanted to serve.

I absolutely loved the members of the knitting club that is the center of this book. They immediately felt like friends. Out of all of them, I could actually relate to Margaret the mos,t even though she was the most “grumpy” out of the women. I don’t know that I am grumpy (others might disagree) but I am a control freak who doesn’t like change for a variety of reasons.
There were some tough subjects in this book, and I don’t usually don’t like that in my books, but I kept going because I felt there would be some resolutions and comforts that were needed for the characters and the reader(s). The characters were also so lovable and, in most cases, sweet. I became very invested in their lives.

I will leave it to you to find out the meaning of the title and who the dragon lady really is.

 Trigger warning: There is discussion of cancer and death in this book. It is handled very respectfully without going into graphic detail, but it could be difficult for some readers.

I listened to the majority of this one on Audible and enjoyed the narrator, Christina Moore.

I finished the last few chapters in a paperback, which I bought because I felt like I might want to loan it out to people in the future. This is the second book I read by Sharon (the first being Grandma Ruth Doesn’t Go To Funerals, which had a totally different feel to it) and I am certain I will be reading more. I really enjoy how her writing pulls you write into the story and makes you love her characters right from the start.

Genre: Christian fiction

Release date: 2024