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.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

They aren’t allowed into the forest. That’s been made very clear. It’s dangerous and untamed Alaskan wilderness, filled with grizzlies and wolves and killers. Okay, no one said “killers” but they all know Alaska is where serial killers run when they need to escape the police.

Penny has never been what anyone would call outdoorsy— she once rolled in poison ivy to get sent home from summer camp…

I don’t have autism. I’m just an unfeeling bitch.

My Review:

This was my introduction to the scribblings of Kelley Armstrong and I now count myself a fan. The storylines held a persistent tension of arduous physical demands with lurking danger and impending doom, yet with welcome threads of snarky humor and wit cleverly woven through.

While this is the initial installment of a new series, the characters have been carried over from a previous one. Despite not having read the previous tales, I wasn’t hampered by my lack of awareness of their history as the author did an excellent job of filling in the requisite information. I have the next two installments locked and loaded on my Kindle and am immediately diving into the next book.

Death By Trauma
(Josiah Reynolds Mystery #21)
by Abigail Keam

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

“The invitation said formal attire, Franklin. That means getting dressed up.” “I am dressed up.” “Yeah, but not like Elton John.”

I did the Vulcan salute. “As a bonafide Trekkie, I swear.”

I had outdone myself in crossing the line! A girl scout I was not.

I feel it is a dog-eat-dog world, and I’m wearing milkbone underwear.

My Review:

Ms. Keam has provided us with another unsolvable mystery that could only be solved by the clever yet somewhat cranky Josiah. I do enjoy her amusing conundrums. The storylines are easy to follow and engaging with characters who are realistically flawed while simultaneously and authentically compelling. And I always come away with some interesting tidbits about beekeeping and bluegrass country along the way.

Favorite Quotes:

She had babysat Jeanie’s two-year-old twins a couple of months before, and had aged a decade in four hours.

I think this is officially the worst meet up we have ever had, including that time we went to the park in the rain and a tramp peed in my bag.

The more Jeanie looked at the castle, the more crumbling it appeared to be. It was like her body since having kids– neglected, sagging, mouldering quietly away unnoticed, the bottom of the priority list.

‘Back off!’ Jeanie could feel blood in her mouth. ‘Whoever the hell you are, you have two pissed-off and starving midlife women in here with you, so just give up now, okay?’

My Review:

This was a well-plotted mystery that seemed unsolvable, even for the ever-intrepid trio of the Bad Girls Detective Agency. The little pea in my brain certainly was not getting anywhere from spinning in place with the odd events occurring and the dearth of clues collected, and the general tone felt more tense than cozy. However, Ms. Marsh’s signature wit and lashings of amusing humor kept it from being too angsty. It was a long, cold, and tiresome night on empty stomachs for the group as they navigated irksome people and kept stumbling upon bodies.