Favorite Quotes:

 

Hayley’s sigh held all the tragedy of the world, and the weight of her chosen career path– a choice that she sounded like she might regret at this precise moment.

…not one to mince her words. Or swallow them. Or even think about them too much. She was one to let them run freely out of her mouth and into the world, unchecked.

Henny Penny was the Houdini of chickens, and perhaps the Einstein of chickens, too. She mysteriously managed to get out of the coop often…

The Guide Dog School dropout had been the terror of Berrywick and surrounds. Chasing geese, stealing ice creams and biscuits from small children, threatening to topple the elderly.

Chaplin tended to be entitled and supercilious, but Julia had never seen or heard him hiss at anyone. Was this some kind of sign? Was Chaplin some kind of savant cat who could detect evil the same way as those people who could find water with twigs?

My Review:

 

I adore this clever pair of authors known as Katie Gayle, they keep me guessing in a must amusing and entertaining manner with their wry wit. Their comical descriptions seem to jump off the page and effortlessly play across my gray matter like a movie reel. Their murder mysteries are well-honed, easy to follow, smartly paced, well-nuanced, and authentic. I hope they keep Julia Bird going into perpetuity as I will never tire of her meddling and quirky fellow villagers, despite their unusual propensity for bloody murder.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Leona’s face crumpled and she just cracked open, like an egg revealing rotten insides. Everything came spilling out all at once and it was messy and upsetting.

She feels like a feather in a storm, whisked back to the past then hurled into imagined future horrors.

Poppy’s magic trick is to divorce herself from the reality of it. Treat the bits she can remember like a bad movie she once watched.

Linda’s fear had infected Saffy on a cellular level. It was always with her, the gift that just kept giving. It was with her now.

Fear is so completely a part of who she is and what she does now, she suspects she might not know how to function without it.

My Review:

 

This one had a lot going on with several tense and active plot lines that kept me guessing. I couldn’t help but think of the adage that being paranoid doesn’t mean people aren’t out to get you. Most of the characters were deeply flawed and varying levels of annoying, yet I was concerned for them and my curiosity was well engaged and busy devising and discarding my own theories. I had it partially correct, but I never could have conjured the total package.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

 

He was in his seventies now and still had an eye for the ladies, including Ally when she first arrived in Locharran. Age might have withered him (Ally had declined to find out), but it certainly hadn’t dulled the roguish twinkle in his eye.

 

My Review:

 

Book two was even more fun to read than the first installment, as the old biddy/village gossip mill was in hyperdrive for this one. I continued to enjoy Ms. MacDonald’s smooth storytelling and entertaining prose. Her humorous descriptions danced through my gray matter with ease and kept an amused smirk on my face. We got a two-fer for murder mysteries with this one, and both were well-nuanced and smartly paced.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Mrs Frost had acquired a very grand accent– compared to her husband anyway– and spoke with the proverbial mouthful of marbles.

Queenie was the elder– and the boss. She’d acquired a permanent stoop, due to years of stretching across the counter in order to catch every word that any customer might utter, in any part of the shop, no matter how quietly. She was therefore well informed on everyone and everything and, if she ran out of gossip, she was a dab hand at making some up.

Ally had only seen the Reverend Donald Scott from a distance: a tall, gangly, angular man who, she’d been told, had enormous feet. ‘Ye’ll see them comin’ round the corner long before ye see the rest of him,’ Murdo had informed her.

‘How did you deal with it?’ ‘I lifted up his kilt, had a look and said, “Not up to my standard, I’m afraid”! He didn’t hang around to argue!’

My Review:

 

An absolutely delightful kickoff to a new series and my introduction to the skillful craft of Dee MacDonald. As truly a Scottish name as I’ve ever heard, so well prepared to write cozy mysteries based in bonny Scotland, a land from which many of my ancient ancestors have sprung. I adored her artfully contrived village of amusingly authentic characters, each one more quirky than the next. I enjoyed them so much, I’ve got the next book locked and loaded on my beloved Kindle.

The BRAND NEW deliciously dark thriller from Sarah Bonner, author of How to Slay at Work You’d kill for a holiday like this one…

Chloe has spent months planning the murder of her husband, Scott. Everything is ready, but first she must create the perfect alibi to avoid any suggestion of her involvement in his death. And what better way to avoid suspicion than playing the loved-up wife on an extravagant holiday with their extended families?

A luxury villa on the Greek island of Mykonos should provide the ultimate setting for her week of make-believe married bliss. But as the sun sets on their first evening in paradise, the cracks in Chloe’s plan begin to show. Family rivalries bubble to the surface. Scott’s sister, Tori, begins to ask awkward questions, suggesting she might know more about Chloe’s plans than she should. Then there’s the villa concierge, Grace, who is watching her guests’ every moves.

As tensions rise, can Chloe manage to keep her murderous intentions hidden? And can she stop herself from adding a few more people to the body count along the way?

Fans of Katy Brent, Bella Mackie and Julie Mae Cohen won’t be able to resist this twisty, darkly funny crime thriller.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

My mother has lived every one of her fifty-two years on this planet in the shadow of catastrophe, always thinking of the worst possible case scenario and making sure we’re all aware of it.

These rich women are all the same: they need someone to tell them what to do or they’d never actually achieve anything, but they still want to feel superior to the mere minions who serve them.

It’s very easy to unalive wealthy men– they are so prone to an early death.

My Review:

 

I do loves me some clever snark and this book was laced together with the same delectable and sharply honed wit I reveled in with this nimble wordsmith’s previous offering of How to Slay at Work. The storylines were active, well-paced, and unpredictable. As in most families, many of the characters were various shades of vile. No one was at all trustworthy or as they seemed on the surface. I adored it and look forward to this crafty scribbler’s next slay.

It’s been quite a few moons since I had an addition to my Brit Words and Phrases List but I found a fun one with hollibobs – which is what we Americans call a vacay.

 

Haven’s Rock is a sanctuary town hidden deep in the Yukon for those who need to disappear from the regular world. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are starting a family now that they’ve settled into their life here. As Casey nears the end of her pregnancy, she lets nothing, including her worried husband, stop her from investigating what happens in the forbidden forest outside the town of Haven’s Rock.

When one of the town’s residents is drugged and wanders too close to the edge of town, she’s dragged into the woods kicking and screaming. She’s saved in the nick of time, but the women of the town are alarmed. Casey and Eric investigate the assault just as a snowstorm hits Haven’s Rock, covering the forest. It’s there they find a frozen body, naked in the snow. With mixed accounts of the woman’s last movements, the two begin to question who they can trust–and who they can’t–in their seemingly safe haven.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Haven’s Rock has no sex trade. Unless you count Gunnar, but he’s free, so there’s no “trade” involved.

You ever get the feeling we have some skewed ideas of what constitutes ‘nice people’?

“Well, at least we’re both remaining calm about this. Despite the fact there is a raging storm outside. I just hope we’re not in shock and are going to freak out in five minutes.” “You’re in shock. I’m in denial. Whole different land.”

Are you looking for me to play profiler, Casey? It is a game for fools and Hollywood detectives.

He’s a card-carrying member of a white nationalist group. Okay, maybe they don’t have cards, but they should— preferably stapled to their foreheads.

My Review:

 

The author hit a new level with this installment. There was more of everything – story threads, character development, levity, and personal issues tossed into the mix. At the same time, the small community was rocked by an apparent gruesome and sadistic serial killer living among them. I’m hoping there are many more of these to come.

Haven’s Rock is a well-hidden town surrounded by forest. And it’s supposed to be, being that it’s a refuge for those who need to disappear. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton already feel at home in their new town, which reminds them of where they first met in Rockton. And while they know how to navigate the woods and its various dangers, other residents don’t. Which is why people aren’t allowed to wander off alone.

When Max, the town’s youngest resident—taught to track animals by Eric—fears a bear is stalking a hiking party, alarms are raised. Even stranger, the ten-year-old swears the bear had human eyes. Casey and Eric know the dangers a bear can present, so they’re taking it seriously. But odd occurrences are happening all around them, and when a dead body turns up, they’re not sure what they’re up against.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

“Doing better” really isn’t Mathias’s thing. He was a criminal psychiatrist who killed criminals in creatively appropriate ways. He’s not a textbook serial killer, driven to murder. He just doesn’t mind killing when he thinks it’s warranted. He’s also a good psychiatrist and a really good butcher, so we let him join us in Haven’s Rock. And because no one dared tell him no.

The coffee maker is the kind of fancy home espresso setup that has me wondering just how many solar panels I’d need for it and how wrong it would be to use that much power to give me the perfect cup of coffee.

My Review:

 

Another seemingly unsolvable murder mystery in the secret frozen Yukon forest encampment of Haven Rock. I’ve become addicted to this oddly compelling series and am lamenting that I only have one more installment on my Kindle to devour. The various storylines are taut with tension with occasional well-placed and highly appreciated hits of levity to keep me from ruining my manicure.