mystery books

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?

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 mystery/cozy mystery book series with men as the protagonist

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 18 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s prompt was:  Genre freebie (Pick any genre you’d like and build a list around it. You can even narrow the topic if you’d like, such as: thrillers with unreliable narrators, fantasy romance with fae characters, or historical romance with suspense elements.)

My choice was 10 mystery/cozy mystery book series with men as the protagonist (as shown by this post title *wink*)

Because it is such an obvious choice, I am not going to include Sherlock Holmes in this list, even though it would have taken up a spot that I didn’t have to fill with another series. There are a lot of series which could be added to this list, but I added ones I’m either familiar with because I or my husband read them, or ones that I have read and enjoyed.

  1. The Cat Who Mysteries by Lilian Jackson Braun (29 books)

This is one of my favorite cozy mystery series, if not my favorite. James Macintosh Qwilleran, or simply Qwill, is the protagonist. He is a newspaper reporter in the big city in the first two or three books and later he is a newspaper columnist who has inherited a large sum of money from a woman he barely knows and is living in the small town of Pickax, which is “north of everywhere.”

He is helped in his mysteries by his two Siamese cats — Koko and YumYum.

I’ve read almost all of these books and, yes, there are a couple duds, but the series is a comfort read to me.

2. The Walt Longmire series by Craig Johnson (21 primary books and several novellas)

This series is about the sheriff of Wyoming’s Absaroka County and the various cases he has to solve. Yes, the show Longmire is based on the series. Walt’s sidekick is Henry Standing Bear, and his deputies are Victoria “Vic” Moretti and Santiago Saizarbitoria.

I’ve read five or six in this series and have enjoyed them, but they do get a bit repetitive after a bit. Book series are supposed to be a bit predictable, though. It is what makes us feel familiar with them and makes the books become “comfort reads” even if the topic is heavy.

One thing you come to expect from a Walt Longmire Mystery is that there is going to be a fairly gruesome murder, Walt is going to have to go on a long journey (often in the snow) where he will probably see his Native American spirit guides, Henry is going to be both a support and a smart mouth that provides the comic relief, and Vic is going to figure out how to make complete sentences using only the words “the” and the f-word. So, no, these are not “clean” books. But the writing is really great.

3. Detective Daniel Hawthorne series by Anthony Horowitz (5 books)

In this series, screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz has inserted himself in the mystery. He solves crimes with a complex and unlikable retired police detective turned private investigator named Daniel Hawthorne. Mixed up in the mysteries of each book is the mystery of who Hawthorne is and why he left the police force.

I’ve read two of the books in this series and plan to read the rest.

4. The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries by Dorothy Sayers (15 books)

This series is about an aristocrat from England who seems to have nothing better to do with his time than solve mysteries. Lots of tongue in cheek humor mixed in with a ton of satire.

(Have read one and enjoyed it and plan to read more)

5. The Hercule Poirot Mysteries by Agatha Christie (34 books)

One of the most famous mystery series with a male protagonist. Hercule Poirot is a private detective from Belgium living in England. His trusty sidekick is Arthur Hastings.

I have read four or five and enjoyed them. Will read more.

6. The Hamish MacBeth series by M.C. Beaton  (36 books)

This is a series about a police investigator in the fictional Scottish Highland village of Lochdubh. There was a show based on the series but it is much, much different. For one, Hamish is a ginger in the books and has dark brown hair in the show, but a lot of the characters are different in general.

I do think Hamish sleeps around a bit in both, though.

I have read one and it wasn’t amazing writing (I’ve never thought Beaton’s writing that good but it gets the job done to deliver the story) but for some reason I still fell for Hamish and will be reading more. I have one on my physical bookshelf right now.)

7. The Albert Campion Mysteries by Margery Allingham (21 books)

According to the site, booksinorder.com, “Author Allingham has introduced the central character in this series in the form of a suave sleuth named Albert Campion. Along with the novels of this crime fiction series, the character is also seen in a few short stories, which are also written by author Allingham. It is believed that author Allingham has created the Albert Campion’s character as a parody to the character of Lord Peter Wimsey created by author Dorothy L. Sayers. But, she eventually went on to develop a unique personality of Albert Campion.”

I haven’t read any yet but have one in my Kindle and can’t wait to try it.

8. The Perry Mason Mysteries by Erle Stanley Gardner (82 books!! In this series)

This series follows the investigations of attorney Perry Mason. Yes, they are the basis for the TV show from the 60s and 90s and yes, they are a lot different than the show.

I have read two Perry Mason Mysteries and enjoyed them both. I plan to read more and looks like I have a lot to choose from.

9. The Father Brown Mysteries by G.K. Chesterton (52 short stories compiled into 5 books)

I read one of the short stories and listened to another and enjoyed them both and hope to read more. This series of short stories is about a Catholic priest who is also an amateur sleuth. Yes, the shows are based on the short stories.

10. The Nero Wolfe Mysteries by Rex Stout (48 books)

I have not read any of the books in this series so I don’t know as much about it, but my husband has and enjoys them. They are about a detective named Nero Wolfe and are narrated Wolfe’s confidential assistant Archie Goodwin. 

I did not choose my series based on this list, but here is a full list of some other suggestions of mysteries with male protagonists:
https://cozymystery.com/themes/other-themes/male-sleuth/

Have you read any of these books? Or maybe watched the shows based on them? What did you think of them or the characters?

A review of Whose Body? By Dorothy Sayers

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 12 Comments

Whose Body? was my first book by Dorothy Sayers, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I might when I first started it. Ironically, the book was also Dorothy’s debut book, written in 1923.

As I got into the book there were some references to ethnicities that I thought were a bit inappropriate but when I found out that Sayers wrote this series, featuring Sir Peter Whimsy, with satire in mind, I hoped that the references were meant to show the incorrect attitudes of the characters and not show what Sayers really thought about Jews.

One article I read said that her goal was to poke some fun at the upper crust and their attitudes about Jewish people but other articles disagreed. Some literary critics said they weren’t really sure what Sayers thought about Jews but that she did perpetuate quite a few stereotypes while also appearing to paint Jews in a positive light.

Before we get into all that, though, let’s talk a bit about the plot of the book.

Lord Wimsey is a nobleman who has developed an interest in solving murders and mysteries as a hobby. At first, he seems rather stuck up and proper, but as the book continues, there is much more to Peter Wimsey than meets the eye.

Thipps is an architect who finds a body in his bathtub wearing nothing but a pair of glasses. He looks to Lord Wimsey to help him solve this murder before he contacts the police.

Wimsey agrees to privately investigate the matter but still suggests the police be called. An Inspector Sugg shows up and believes the body may belong to famous financier Sir Reuben Levy, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances the night before.

His disappearance is being led by Inspector Charles Parker, who Wimsey knows.

The body in the bath does somewhat resemble Reuben, but not exactly and soon it’s clear the body isn’t his and the two cases probably are not connected. Despite the lack of connection, Wimsey joins Parker in his investigation.

Wimsey’s connections to other wealthy people will help Parker in his investigation, he decides. Together with Wimsey’s manservant Mervyn Bunter, who he just calls Bunter, the three work to find the identity of the one man and to find out if Reuben was, in fact, murdered.

Like any mystery with a lighter flair there are red herrings and complex twists and turns aimed at confusing the reader and delaying the revelation of the true killer

Eventually Wimsey and Parker visit a teaching hospital near Thipps’s flat to see if one of the students had been trying to play a practical joke on Thipps.

Evidence later given at an inquest by Sir Julian Freke, who runs the teaching college, reveals that no bodies were missing from his dissecting room, which leads Wimsey to believe he is on the wrong trail.

I enjoyed the twists and turns of this one and I especially enjoyed Wimsey’s tricks, verbal sparrings with suspects, and how he seemed to mock his own class throughout much of the book.

His character was created by Sayers during a time when she was low on money and prospects. She’d also had a few failed love affairs, according to historians.

Of her creation of Wimsey, Sayers said, “Lord Peter’s large income… I deliberately gave him… After all it cost me nothing and at the time I was particularly hard up and it gave me pleasure to spend his fortune for him. When I was dissatisfied with my single unfurnished room I took a luxurious flat for him in Piccadilly. When my cheap rug got a hole in it, I ordered him an Aubusson carpet. When I had no money to pay my bus fare I presented him with a Daimler double-six, upholstered in a style of sober magnificence, and when I felt dull I let him drive it. I can heartily recommend this inexpensive way of furnishing to all who are discontented with their incomes. It relieves the mind and does no harm to anybody.”.

In their 1989 review of crime novels, the US writers Barzun and Taylor called the book “a stunning first novel that disclosed the advent of a new star in the firmament, and one of the first magnitude. The episode of the bum in the bathtub, the character (and the name) of Sir Julian Freke, the detection, and the possibilities in Peter Wimsey are so many signs of genius about to erupt. Peter alone suffers from fatuousness overdone, a period fault that Sayers soon blotted out”

Going back to the antisemitism that seems to be in this book — and from what I read, other Sayers books: this was prevalent in books written by British crime writers, especially those who came from upper class families. There was a deep-seeded distrust and dislike of Jews among the rich of Britain. We can see this most clearly in Agatha Christie’s novels where, to me, it is clear she wasn’t a big fan of Jewish people and often made them the villains of her novels.

Sayres views of Jews are complex, muddled and confusing, wrote Amy Schwartz of Moment Magazine. Sayers was once in an affair with a Jewish man who broke her heart and worked with many. She didn’t shy away from writing characters who married and had children with Jews, even if they weren’t.

She still used many stereotypes, including that they were greedy, or at least good with money, but did she feel that way about Jews herself? There is a ton of evidence that suggests she didn’t and as one commentor on Schwartz’s article writes: “Isn’t it possible that writers reflect in their fiction the world that they observe, rather than create themselves over and over again? The character is not the author.”

In other words, it is very possible that Sayers was writing the characters and how they thought and believed, not saying she believed the same things.

You can read more about Schwartz’s views on Sayers views on Jews and how that played into her writing here: https://momentmag.com/curious-case-dorothy-l-sayers-jew-wasnt/?srsltid=AfmBOorDo1MUIdcqPBbz0ejgOITsXaQDv7KccGFdTytZwsxuDb7VaiKu

Despite not being sure what Sayers thought of Jews and being a bit uncomfortable with the comments of some characters about them, I did enjoy the book and Sayers writing style. I enjoyed that she writes more descriptively than Christie and therefore helps the reader feel closer to the characters and more involved with the story.

The complexity of this story was just enough to keep me puzzled until very close to the end and even when I knew who the guilty party was, I thoroughly enjoyed Wimsey’s verbal banter with the “villain.”

Have you ever read this book or any of Sayers books?

*Note: If I review Sayers books in the future, I don’t plan to comment on her views of Jews every time. Many writers portrayed people of various minorities in a negative light throughout the years. It doesn’t make it right, but it happened often. Sometimes the writers believed those things about the minorities but sometimes they were showing the true feelings of the characters they were writing for the sake of the story. It’s impossible to determine what a writer’s actual intentions were in most cases. I hate to throw out entire books simply because I don’t know the actual heart and mind of the authors since they are all dead now. Instead, I will try to focus on the stories as a whole.

Book Review/Recommendation: The Body in the Library

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 15 Comments

The Body in the Library (A Miss Marple Mystery) by Agatha Christie

Description:

It’s seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing an evening dress and heavy makeup, which is now smeared across her cheeks. But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry?

The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple into their home to investigate. Amid rumors of scandal, she baits a clever trap to catch a ruthless killer.

My impressions:

The Body In the Library is a very interesting and complex mystery that kept me turning the pages.

Part of the Miss Marple series by Agatha Christie, the book tells the story of a high society family who wakes up to find the dead body of a young woman they don’t know in their library.

The wife, Mrs. Dolly Bantry, is quite thrilled with the discovery and contacts her friend Jane Marple to help investigate, even though Col. Melchett and Inspector Slack, as well as Superintendent Harper are on the case.

“What I feel is that if one has got to have a murder actually happening in one’s house, one might as well enjoy it, if you know what I mean,” Dolly tells Miss Marple.

Despite Mrs. Bantry’s fascination with it all, this is a serious crime and how serious it is becomes more apparent as the days go on. How it is going to affect her husband is becoming more clear as well. The town gossip starts up immediately. A dead body in the library of Col. Arthur Bantry? Well, well. Maybe the old man was a bit of a pervert having an affair and things went wrong, eh?

Miss Marple doesn’t think so, but she keeps her ideas mostly to herself. In the mean time Melchett, Slack, and Harper are busy questioning potential suspects and their points of view carry us through most of the story. Harper, does, however, suggest that Miss Marple be consulted.

He tells Melchett at one point, “Downstairs in the lounge, by the third pillar from the left, there sits an old lady with a sweet, placid, spinsterish face and a mind that has plumbed the depths of human iniquity and taken it all as in the day’s work….where crime is concerned, she’s the goods.”

The inspector laughs this off but as the book goes on we realize that Miss Marple enjoys being underestimated and has been formulating her idea of who is guilty all along. She even steps in for a little sly sleuthing herself, pretending to simply be a concerned neighbor. She has experience in these things because of all the “goings on” in the little village she lives in, she says, and likes to use references to those situations to draw conclusions about the current mystery.

I enjoyed the twists and turns of this one, things I didn’t see coming. I had the mystery possibly solved before the end, but that didn’t take away from the enjoyment of hearing Miss Marple explain how she’d decided who the guilty party was.

Like in Murder in the Vicarage, my first Miss Marple read last year, I wanted there to be more Miss Marple in this book because she is so fun. At the same time I like how she is always a more subtle character who the investigating officers always have to consult, whether they want to or not.

Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

Five hodge-podge mini-book reviews

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 9 Comments

I haven’t had much time to sit and write up full book reviews lately so I thought I’d share five mini-book reviews today.

Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood

Description:

Judith (our favorite skinny-dipping, whiskey-sipping, crossword puzzle author), along with Becks the vicar’s wife, and Susie the dogwalker find themselves in a head-scratching, utterly clever country house, locked-room murder mystery. 

Holiday festivities are now January doldrums when Judith gets a call―Sir Peter Bailey, a prominent Marlovian is inviting notable citizens to his house the day before his wedding to celebrate. 

Judith decides to go―after all, it’s a few houses up the Thames and free champagne, for sure. During the party, a loud crash inside stops the festivities. The groom-to-be has been crushed to death in his study. The door was locked from the inside so the police say suicide, obviously. 

My Review:

This was the second book in the Marlow Murder Club series. I did not enjoy it as much as the first book. This one was all over the place and very repetitive. I rolled my eyes way too often. I still love the characters but why the suspects were suspects was repeated and twisted around so many times it simply became obnoxious. We really needed another story to sort of break up the monotony of them running around in circles in this one. There was one side story related to the vicar’s wife Becks, but it came in way too late in the book and didn’t break up the way he kept saying, “We don’t know who killed him! Here is all our evidence….again.”

The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Description:

The Hound of the Baskervilles is the third of the four crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in The Strand Magazine from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set in 1889 largely on Dartmoor in Devon in England’s West Country and tells the story of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound of supernatural origin. Holmes and Watson investigate the case. This was the first appearance of Holmes since his apparent death in “The Final Problem”, and the success of The Hound of the Baskervilles led to the character’s eventual revival.

One of the most famous stories ever written, in 2003, the book was listed as number 128 of 200 on the BBC’s The Big Read poll of the UK’s “best-loved novel”. In 1999, a poll of “Sherlockians” ranked it as the best of the four Holmes novels.

My review:

I really expected to like this a lot more than I did. Conan Doyle is a classic crime writer – the father of the detective/crime novel so it has to be great, right?

Sadly, this book really dragged for me and my son who read it with  me for his British Literature class. Maybe it was because Sherlock wasn’t even in half of it. During that half it was Watson writing letters to Sherlock to tell him what had happened. There were way too many conversations about what might have happened and very little action for me. I also couldn’t stand the “lord of the manor”, Henry Baskerville. I would guess Conan Doyle was making him obnoxious because he was an American and the British like to  make sure Americans know what they think about us. So maybe I wasn’t supposed to like him, which worked well because I didn’t.

I didn’t hate the book, but it was not one I would necessarily rush to read again anytime soon. I’d really like to read the short stories and the other three novels instead and then go back to this one later on to see if I like it any better.

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

Description:

Fourteen-year-old Johnny Tremain, an apprentice silversmith with a bright future ahead of him, injures his hand in a tragic accident, forcing him to look for other work. In his new job as a horse-boy, riding for the patriotic newspaper, the Boston Observer, and as a messenger for the Sons of Liberty, he encounters John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Dr. Joseph Warren. Soon Johnny is involved in the pivotal events shaping the American Revolution from the Boston Tea Party to the first shots fired at Lexington. Powerful illustrations by American artist Michael McCurdy, bring to life Esther Forbes’ quintessential novel of the American Revolution.

My review:

I read this one with Little Miss for English/History. The book is broken into sections with six chapters in each section, so we read a couple of the chapters each day for a few months.

I ended up really like this one even though the older writing style and the subject was a little difficult at times. There were some chapters where I skipped some of the more descriptive paragraphs to get to the point and move forward, but overall, this book was very well done, very educational, and had me crying more than once with the real life lessons within its pages.

Tooth and Claw by Craig Johnson

Description:

Tooth and Claw follows Walt and Henry up to Alaska as they look for work after they both returned from serving in Vietnam. While working for an oil company in the bitter cold of winter, they soon encounter a ferocious polar bear who seems hell-bent on their destruction. But it’s not too long until they realize the danger does not lurk outside in the frozen Alaskan tundra, but with their co-workers who are after priceless treasure and will stop at nothing to get it.

Fans of Longmire will thrill to this pulse-pounding and bone-chilling novel of extreme adventure that adds another indelible chapter to the great story of Walt Longmire.

My review:

I really enjoyed this novella. I’m a fan of the Walt Longmire Mystery books, with the exception of Hell is Empty, which I hated. I haven’t read one of the books since that one, which was early in 2024. I love Johnson’s writing, though, so I knew I couldn’t stay away for long. When I needed a short book to finish out the year, I remembered my husband had just won this one in a Goodreads giveaway. It is a story separate from the other books so I knew there wouldn’t be any spoilers.

I read it around Christmas, which is usually reserved for cozy books, not books where a man-eating, monster Polar Bear is terrorizing scientists in the arctic, but I could not put this book down. It was constant action, and I enjoyed it. I might even read another one of the full-length novels soon.

The Christmas Swap by Melody Carlson

Description:

All Emma Daley wants this holiday season is a white Christmas. But the young teacher and struggling musician sure can’t find that in sunny Arizona. Luckily, there’s someone living in a perfect mountain home in the Colorado Rockies looking to make a vacation trade this year.

West Prescott is an in-demand songwriter and talented musician who put his own singing career on hold to write songs for celebrity acts to perform. When his mother convinces him to do a vacation trade for Christmas, he never imagined one of the houseguests would be so sweet–or so strikingly pretty. Naturally, he decides to stick around, and, to get better acquainted, he poses as the house’s caretaker. But when Emma’s friend Gillian discovers his true identity and sets her sights on him, things get . . . messy.

My review:

 I really liked Carlson’s book, A Quilt for Christmas, and thought this would be similarly heartwarming and well-written. It was not. This book was a very cheesy romance that would not end. I feel so bad saying this but it was such a short book I had no time to connect to the characters and in the end I really didn’t care if I did or didn’t. These ridiculous romances where people meet and three days later are in love and changing their lives around for each other drive me nuts. I had no idea that was what was going to happen in this book. It’s like the two books were written by two different people. Every author has hit or miss books, though, and every reader is different in their likes and dislikes so while this book was not for me it might be the perfect light read for someone else. I won’t give up on trying Carlson’s books, but I will be a bit more careful and read the descriptions better from now on.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them if you did?

Book Review/Recommendation: The Mystery At Lilac Inn

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 6 Comments

(*note: I honestly thought I had already posted this review on my blog months ago, but I couldn’t find it so I am posting it for the first or second time. One or the other.)

The Mystery at Lilac Inn by Carolyn Keene is the fourth book in the Nancy Drew series, which debuted in the 1930s.

For this book, Nancy becomes wrapped up at a mystery at an inn recently purchased by a friend, but she is also caught off guard when her own house is ransacked and her credit plate stolen. She later learns someone is impersonating her and running up her credit or stealing from people.

When diamonds disappear from her friend’s inn she decides she needs to find out who stole the diamonds as well as who is impersonating her. Are the two cases connected? She hopes to find out.

As usual, there is some ridiculous developments and tactics used to solve the mystery (such as her being sent off with her father’s blessing to explore a lake with a man they barely know and then go after known criminals on her own without any back up), but it wouldn’t be a Nancy Drew book if there wasn’t. These books were written in a different time and for young kids so they were full of non-stop action, no matter how giggle inducing that non-stop action was.

This book was later rewritten to remove some of the more derogatory connotations toward certain races. It was released again in 1961 after those changes were made under Keene’s name, which is, of course, a pseudonym. The Nancy Drew books, like The Hardy Boys books were written by several different authors over the years.

Normally I don’t like the idea of old books being changed because someone is offended but in this case it was needed, even if the stereotypes weren’t as bad as some classic books.

I did not like this book as much as the first book in the series, The Secret of the Old Clock. The plot was okay but does not hold us as well as others in the series, in my opinion.

Have you read this one? What did you think?

Fiction Friday: Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree (cozy mystery) excerpt

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 4 Comments

It feels like forever since I released a Gladwynn book but here I am about to release the third book in the series – Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree.

The book will be released in early 2025 and today I thought I’d share an excerpt to wet your appetite for the next installment.

If you have not read either of the first two books, no worries, this excerpt won’t provide any spoilers for you.

If you would like to read the other two books in the series you can find them here (they are on sale this weekend for Black Friday and Cyber Monday!):

Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing:

Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage

If you would like to be an ARC reader for this third book, you can sign up here: https://forms.gle/utLujLm6QamozPKJ8

And now your sneak peek of the next book!

“Who caters this event is a decision to be made by the board, Richard, not you.”

Gladwynn Grant tried her best to focus on the task at hand – setting up food for a taste testing for the Harksdale Chamber of Commerce’s fundraiser – but the sharpness of the woman’s tone startled her, causing her to turn around quickly.

Gladwynn had offered to help her friend Abbie Mendoza for the afternoon, with them both hoping that Brewed Awakening, Gladwynn’s favorite coffee shop and Abbie’s place of employment, would be able to land the catering job for the upcoming event.

Neither of them had expected a verbal argument to break out between two of the board members before the tasting had even begun. Gladwynn cast Abbie a questioning look and received a brief wince and shrug in return.

An awkward hush fell over the small gathering in the sunroom at the Harksdale Country Club. Gladwynn turned away again, deciding to keep her back to the drama and instead focus on the job of setting out homemade eclairs on silver trays.

A man’s voice, deep and clearly irritated, responded to the woman’s comment. “That’s all well and good but the board isn’t making the decisions it needs to and this event is right around the corner.”

“We’re here to make a decision today, aren’t we?”

“Yes, with a business I didn’t even recommend.”

Another deep voice: “Richard, don’t be rude to our guests. We are hosting tastings with the businesses you recommended as well.”

“And those businesses can offer us much more than this mom-and-pop coffee shop ever could,” Richard spat.

“It’s actually just a mom coffee shop now.” Abbie offered. A quick glance from Gladwynn showed that Abbie, with her red-blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, was timidly smiling. “Marylou’s husband passed away four years ago.”

Gladwynn turned in time to see the man, who must be Richard, whipping his head around to look at Abbie, staring her down with wide, dark brown eyes as if he wasn’t sure who she was or why she had been speaking to him.

Gladwynn coughed gently. “I don’t want to interrupt, but we do have some samples set up here for you all so if nothing else comes of this meeting today, at least you can enjoy some refreshments.”

The woman who had introduced herself earlier as Beatrice Baxter, the director of the chamber, lifted her chin and turned away from Richard. Her previously tense expression relaxed, and a forced smile replaced it. “Yes, of course. Thank you so much. We can continue our conversation later,” she shot Richard a quick look that Gladwynn could only describe as a warning, “In private.”

A small huff came from Richard as he pulled his shoulders back sharply and straightened them into a tense posture. Beatrice walked quickly past him to the front of the room.

Serving food samples to potential clients wasn’t Gladwynn’s regular job or forte. Her regular job was as a newspaper reporter for the Brookstone Beacon – the newspaper of the small town she now lived in. She was here on this day as a favor to Abbie after Abbie’s co-worker had come down with a cold.

The owner of Brewed Awakening, Marylou Landry, had stayed behind to watch the shop. She’d been nervous about even applying to cater for the event since Harksdale’s residents were usually accustomed to more fine dining than what Brewed Awakening – a laid back, down to earth café and coffee shop – offered.

Harksdale was a small village made up mainly of expensive cabins, inns, and resorts. Located near state game lands, it was nestled in the middle of trees and hills in the proverbial middle of nowhere. Many of its wealthy residents traveled from more urban areas and cities and then lived in Harksdale only on weekends or during the summer.

For more than 100 years Harksdale had been known by locals as a haven to the more “well-to-do folks”.

Gladwynn offered her broadest smile to each person as they approached the table. Glancing to her right she saw Abbie doing the same, though a little more tentatively. Richard’s outburst and biting comment about Brewed Awakening had clearly shaken her.

Gladwynn knew that landing the catering job would be a huge boon to Marylou.  She also knew that Abbie wanted to do the best she could for her beloved employer. Gladwynn couldn’t blame her. Brewed Awakening had become one of her favorite places to visit since she’d moved to Brookstone to live with her grandmother almost a year and a half ago. A cozy, down-to-earth coffee shop with a  bookstore attached to it? Yes, please, and thank you.

There were seven board members, and five volunteers present at the event, but Beatrice has explained it would be the board who would make the final decision on who would cater the event. The volunteers were simply there for input.

Conversations blended together among the people in the room, creating a soft hum.

Gladwynn noticed Richard and Beatrice sat as far away from each other as possible. Richard was scowling more and more with each bite he took.

Richard had arrived late, after the introductions of the other board members had been made, his face flushed. By then, Abbie had been detailing what food the group would be sampling and offering each of the attendants’ sheets to not only show the menu but to allow them to mark down any potential substitutes they might want later.

It was during the final set up that Richard had begun the aggressive conversation with Beatrice.  Gladwynn hadn’t heard his question or comment, only Beatrice’s response.

Book review/recommendation: The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 4 Comments

The Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes turned out to be one of my favorite Nancy Drew books that I have read so far. I really enjoyed the Scottish history woven into the story.

Description:

Warnings not to go to Scotland can’t stop Nancy Drew from setting out on a thrill-packed mystery adventure. Undaunted by the vicious threats, the young detective – with her father and her two close friends – goes to visit her great-grandmother at an imposing estate in the Scottish Highlands, and to solve the mystery of a missing family heirloom.

And there is another mystery to be solved: the fate of flocks of stolen sheep.
Baffling clues challenge Nancy’s powers of deduction: a note written in the ancient Gaelic language, a deserted houseboat on Loch Lomond, a sinister red-bearded stranger in Edinburgh, eerie whistling noises in the Highlands. Startling discoveries in an old castle and in the ruins of a prehistoric fortress, lead Nancy closer to finding the solution to both mysteries.

My thoughts:

When Nancy travels to Scotland with her father, Drew, and her friends George and Bess, she’s already being pursued by someone who knows she is coming. Someone has already tried to run her off the road and she already knows someone has stolen an heirloom from her great-grandmother, Lady Douglas, that was meant to be given as a gift to her.

Once in Scotland, the attacks against her continue and it doesn’t help that Bess has sent her name into an international magazine, which announces that she is a famous detective. Now everyone in the small Scottish town they are going to visit knows who she is.

This news has someone on the edge because they are attempting to run her off roads like they did in River Heights, following her, and then pushing George down a hill to throw Nancy off their scent.

As usual, Carson Drew is off on other business and barely has a clue that Nancy is traveling the Scottish countryside alone with her friends while trying to track down sheep thieves and whomever has stolen her great-grandmother’s heirloom and her inheritance – a diamond encrusted brooch.

The diamond encrusted brooch was worn by Lady Douglas one night when she walked around the lake on her property and then disappeared when she went back the next day to take it off her shawl. Now she is worried about who could have stolen it and Nancy only makes her feel worse by suggesting it could be someone who works for her.

What was fun about this book was all the interesting, down-to-earth characters that Nancy and her friends meet during their journey. They aren’t only on a sleuthing mission, but are taken on a series of excursions to local landmarks where they learn about local and Scottish history. While they learn we, the readers, learn too.

I don’t know if it is because this is one of the later books or simply because of the subject matter but this book seemed more intricate, complex, and well-written than other installments of the series that I have read so far.

Have you read this one? What did you think about it?

Top Ten Tuesday: The Top 10 Mystery Books I Read in 2024

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 20 Comments

|| Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. ||


Today’s theme: Thankful/Thanksgiving Freebie

Since today can either be “thankful” or we can choose our own theme (this is how I am interpreting it at least), I decided to share the top ten mysteries I read in 2024. This list, of course, could change if I read another great one in December, but, for now, this is my list.

  1. Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice to Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

This was a funny, sweet, and just plain ole’ fun mystery.

Description: Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady—ah, lady of a certain age—who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to.

Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing—a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn’t know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer.

What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police?

2. The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts by Lilian Jackson Braun

Description: Jim Qwilleran and his cats Koko and Yum Yum try to solve a haunting mystery in a historic farmhouse in this New York Times bestseller in the Cat Who series.

When Mrs. Cobb heard unearthly noises in the antique-filled farmhouse, she called Jim Qwilleran for help. But he was too late. It looked as if his kindly ex-housekeeper had been frightened to death—but by whom? Or what? Now Qwilleran’s moved into the historic farmhouse with his two cat companions—and Koko the Siamese is spooked. Is it a figment of feline imagination—or the clue to a murder in Moose County? And does Qwilleran have a ghost of a chance of solving this haunting mystery?

I offered a review of this book, my favorite in the series, here: https://lisahoweler.com/2024/05/06/book-recommendation-the-cat-who-talked-to-ghosts/

3. The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz

Description:

Death, deception, and a detective with quite a lot to hide stalk the pages of Anthony Horowitz’s brilliant murder mystery, the second in the bestselling series starring Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne.

“You shouldn’t be here. It’s too late . . . “

These, heard over the phone, were the last recorded words of successful celebrity-divorce lawyer Richard Pryce, found bludgeoned to death in his bachelor pad with a bottle of wine—a 1982 Chateau Lafite worth £3,000, to be precise.

Odd, considering he didn’t drink. Why this bottle? And why those words? And why was a three-digit number painted on the wall by the killer? And, most importantly, which of the man’s many, many enemies did the deed?

Baffled, the police are forced to bring in Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, the author Anthony, who’s really getting rather good at this murder investigation business.

But as Hawthorne takes on the case with characteristic relish, it becomes clear that he, too, has secrets to hide. As our reluctant narrator becomes ever more embroiled in the case, he realizes that these secrets must be exposed—even at the risk of death . . .

4. Clueless At the Coffee Station by Bee Littlefield

Description: Betti Bryant knows she’s not supposed to be a barista five years after graduating from college, but her life is actually super adorable—except for the part where she has to endure her ex-boyfriend’s musical rendition of their breakup at the coffee shop’s Open Mic Night every Friday.

When an entire local art collection is stolen from the cafe during his performance, Betti sees her chance to persuade her panicked boss to cancel Open Mic Night, at least until the crime is solved. Instead, he announces plans to sell the beloved cafe to a real estate developer, who will demolish it. Betti believes her boss will change his mind once justice is served. So, armed with a list of drink orders from the night of the crime and the sleuthiest outfit she can find at the thrift store, she sets out to investigate the theft herself.

If she fails, she’s promised her sister she’ll accept whatever non-adorable entry-level corporate job she can get, abandoning her ideals about finding her own path in life. The Coffee Station will close forever.

5. Murder in An Irish Village by Carlene O’Connor

Description:

In the small village of Kilbane, County Cork, Ireland, Naomi’s Bistro has always been a warm and welcoming spot to visit with neighbors, enjoy some brown bread and tea, and get the local gossip. Nowadays twenty-two-year-old Siobhán O’Sullivan runs the family bistro named for her mother, along with her five siblings, after the death of their parents in a car crash almost a year ago.

It’s been a rough year for the O’Sullivans, but it’s about to get rougher. One morning, as they’re opening the bistro, they discover a man seated at a table, dressed in a suit as if for his own funeral, a pair of hot pink barber scissors protruding from his chest.

With the local garda suspecting the O’Sullivans and their business in danger of being shunned—murder tends to spoil the appetite—it’s up to feisty redheaded Siobhán to solve the crime and save her beloved brood.

6. Move Your Blooming Corpse by D.E. Ireland

Description:

t’s early summer in 1913 London. So Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins are off to the races for Royal Ascot Week in this re-release of the second installment in a mystery series inspired by the characters of ‘My Fair Lady’ and ‘Pygmalion’. Professor Higgins and former Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle take center stage once again as they plunge headlong into the world of Edwardian horse racing, adulterous aristocrats, and the women’s suffrage movement.

Eliza Doolittle has joined Professor Higgins’ household as a fellow phonetics teacher. However, their lessons are put on hold when they attend this year’s Ascot race. An event more exciting than usual because Eliza’s father, Alfred Doolittle, is now part owner of a racehorse called the Donegal Dancer. But disaster soon unfolds on the track and in the stables, where someone has been killed with a pitchfork. Even worse, the victim was one of the co-owners of the Donegal Dancer! The initial assumption is that the murderer was a jealous lover or spouse . . . until two weeks later when festivities at the Henley Royal Regatta take a deadly turn.

Eliza and Higgins now suspect the murderer is making an appearance every time the owners of the Donegal Dancer get together. To prevent her father from becoming the next target, Eliza joins forces with Higgins to track down the murderer. But is the killer a notorious escaped madman, or someone who wants sole ownership of the prizewinning horse?

With the next horse race fast approaching, Eliza and Higgins fear they may not be able to protect her father until the end of the tumultuous racing season. If so, then no one will cross the finish line alive.

7. How To Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

Description:

It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.

In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?

As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.

8. The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J. Benoit

Description:

A woman helps set up a community garden in the Berkshires, only to find a body in one of the plots on opening day.

After life threw Maggie Walker a few curveballs, she’s happy to be back in the small, Berkshires town where she spent so much time as a child. Marlowe holds many memories for her, and now it also offers a fresh start. Maggie has always loved gardening, so it’s only natural to sign on to help Violet Bloom set up a community garden.

When opening day arrives, Violet is nowhere to be found, and the gardeners are restless. Things go from bad to worse when Maggie finds a boot buried in one of the plots… and there’s a body attached to it. Suddenly, the police are looking for a killer and they keep asking questions about Violet. Maggie doesn’t believe her friend could do this, and she’s going to dig up the dirt needed to prove it.

9. The Case of the Whistling Bagpipes by Carolyn Keene

Description:

Warnings not to go to Scotland can’t stop Nancy Drew from setting out on a thrill-packed mystery adventure. Undaunted by the vicious threats, the young detective – with her father and her two close friends – goes to visit her great-grandmother at an imposing estate in the Scottish Highlands, and to solve the mystery of a missing family heirloom.

And there is another mystery to be solved: the fate of flocks of stolen sheep.
Baffling clues challenge Nancy’s powers of deduction: a note written in the ancient Gaelic language, a deserted houseboat on Loch Lomond, a sinister red-bearded stranger in Edinburgh, eerie whistling noises in the Highlands. Startling discoveries in an old castle and in the ruins of a prehistoric fortress, lead Nancy closer to finding the solution to both mysteries.

10. The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood

Description: A delightfully clever new mystery from creator of BBC One’s hilarious murder mystery series Death in Paradise

Meet Judith: a seventy-seven-year-old whiskey drinking, crossword puzzle author living her best life in a dilapidated mansion on the outskirts of Marlow.

Nothing ever happens here. That is, until Judith hears her neighbor shot while skinny-dipping in the Thames. The local police don’t believe her story. It’s an open and shut case, of course. Ha! Stefan can’t be left for dead like that.

Judith investigates and picks up a crew of sidekicks: Suzie the dogwalker and Becks the vicar’s wife. Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club.

When another body turns up, they realize they have a real-life serial killer on their hands. And the puzzle they set out to solve has become a trap from which they might never escape…

Robert Thorogood, has turned the Christie-mystery on its head with this ever-so-sly cozy perfect for readers who love Richard Osmond’s Thursday Murder Club and An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good.

Have you read any of the books on this list? What were your impressions of them?