My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Fascinating how even the most undomesticated female turns into Martha Stewart once she has a baby.

All you need to start a religion in this country is three founding members, a mission statement, and a bank account. Can you believe that?

“I’d hate to have to take matters into my own hands.” Edith sounded like she would be thrilled to take matters into her own hands.

In Orlov’s experience, there were three kids of untrustworthy women: the pushy ones, the sneaky ones, and the pushy, sneaky ones. The pushy, sneaky ones were the worst.

“Love, lust, loathing, and loot,” said Tandie. “The Four Ls of Murder.”

My Review:

I’m a late bloomer with this series, and I may have been a bit daft to jump in at book seven, but the story had strong legs and was more than able to stand alone. This wily author provided brief glimpses of their backstories, which tantalized and piqued my interest to pick up the previous installments. The writing style held an interesting balance of the sleuthing required to solve an unusual murder, holiday preparations, colorful characters, amusing observations, and an eccentric fringe religious group tossed in for an extra twist.

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I looked him up and down. There was something about him that made me uneasy. Perhaps it was that he had dressed like a cartoon spy? He even had a furled copy of the Daily Telegraph under his arm. I wondered whether, if he opened it up, there’d be holes cut in the pages for his eyes.

It just goes to show that you should never underestimate the elderly. They were all young once, and you never knew what their back story might be.

To my relief, Mrs Shepherd laughed and laughed, as if I’d made a hilarious joke. ‘Oh, good Lord, I’m not ill. I’m not sick in any way, praise be. Living in the refrigerators that pass for vicarages for thirty years has hardened me against physical illness. Any germs that cling on to me when I’m out and about leap off and run the minute I enter my front door, driven by their instincts for self-preservation.’

Suki’s method is always at risk of Chinese Whispers distorting the message in the process. That’s one reason why Suki’s gossip is always such fun– it’s a heady blend of fact and fiction, and not to be taken seriously without a fact check.

I defy anyone walking into a police station not to feel a little nervous, as if they’re about to be rumbled for some inadvertent misdemeanour.

My Review:

This was an entertaining and amusing tale, and I also learned 2 new things from perusing this fun little missive. I had never heard of a Wendy house, but Mr. Google has informed me that it is what the British call a children’s playhouse, and was named after Wendy Darling from Peter Pan. How precious is that? I also learned about the elaborate Japanese collectable art of netsuke, something I didn’t expect to happen from reading a British cozy mystery, but there you have it. And my mother always chided me for reading fiction, saying it was a waste of time.

The writing style is well-polished, humorous, easy to follow, and comfortably engaging. I enjoyed the author’s wry wit and colorful descriptions, which conjured vivid images in my mind’s eye. I will be watching for future installments of this lively series.

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

Everyone’s life looks fun on social media; that’s the sorcery of it. Your soul may be slowly decaying, but there’s a filter for that.

I like my friends, and we keep each other entertained. But lately, I feel like more of a lone wolf— or maybe I’m just running with the wrong pack.

I roll down the windows to let in the last gasp of summer. There is a particular richness to early September, when the sunlight is broad and lazy.

Time is a vapor, impossible to measure.

They say that hearing is the last sense to go. I want to say something profound before it’s too late, but there is no script for this moment. All I can think to say is, “Thank you,” so I say it over and over. Thank you. Thank you. “Thank you for loving me, Dad,” I say one last time. “I know you don’t remember me, but I remember you. I always will.”

It just wasn’t what I expected— marriage, motherhood. And at some point, I realized I only had one life. So why shouldn’t it be the one I actually want?

Though I have said it many times, only now do I fully believe it to be true: a good oracle shows you what you already know.

My Review:

This emotive tale was stunningly perceptive and squeezed my cold heart, put hot rocks in my throat, and stung my eyes on more than one occasion. Tory Henwood Hoen has mad skills and serious word voodoo. I fell into a poignant and cunningly created vortex and remained engaged, and on the hook, despite the somewhat disconcerting tightening I occasionally noted in my chest. She achieved an impossibly delicate balance between amusing wry wit and thought-provoking insights that slowed my reading to consider and savor. Her well-crafted characters were remarkably human, realistically flawed, and drew me in like a magnet. I covet her skills and am now a devoted acolyte.

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

The Internet is the private investigator’s mean streets of old. Our nickname of gumshoe is outdated. We should be called creepers or googlers or dark web surfers.

I don’t want to kill Sammy Sykes. It’s something I feel I have to do. Like getting a crown at the dentist. Or talking to the other parents at Evelyn’s school.

It’s amazing how polite even the most despicable people can be when they want something.

The subconscious is my favorite of the consciences. That part of our brains where the real work gets done. Where our little voice comes from, as if the subconscious is a separate person. A wiser person. More observant. More sensitive. But a bit secretive— it doesn’t always want to tell us what it knows.

But meeting Casey the way I did reminds me of the gifts that life offers. Tiny miracles that can grow into the keystones of one’s life. We’re surrounded by them. It’s just a matter of choosing the right ones and nurturing them to their potential.

My Review:

I have been remiss in my reading research, as for shame, this was my first time to pick up a Matt Goldman missive. But I plan to rectify my sloth and make reading his clever arrangements of words a regular habit. His characters were strong and thoughtfully constructed, while also vulnerable and endearingly flawed. I enjoyed the odyssey of their storyline development while this wily scribbler perceptively peeled back the layers to their gooey center. The man has mad skills and exceptional word voodoo.

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Favorite Quotes:

Dude, I’m wetter than a soccer mom at a Magic Mike show out here. Can I go get into something that isn’t actively growing moss?

But I’ll tell you one thing: the past is an easy place to get lost in. It’s tempting, isn’t it? Hazy and imperfectly remembered so we can fill it in as we see fit. Spend too much time there, though, and you miss out on everything happening right now, and everything that could happen in the future.

He strolled up to the front door with the confidence of a well-costumed kid on Halloween, secure in the knowledge of a full candy bar waiting on the other side. He gave the door a knock, paused for less than three seconds, and then plowed his way inside.

His voice was what Nora imagined it would sound like if dust could speak.

It’s like this weight. Being afraid. It’s like I carry it around on my back, and, Charlie, it’s so heavy. Like if I don’t stay one step ahead of life, it’s going to catch up and take everything from me.

My Review:

This was a fun and ingeniously creative read, filled to the brim with equal measures of snarky humor and perceptive angst. I’m now highly coveting book one in the series as I’m curious how it started. The writing was a tight balance of tension and clever wry wit, and hosted a cast of highly peculiar characters and oddly intriguing storylines that managed to keep me engaged and eager for new clues. My paltry theories were well off the mark. I love it when that happens.

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Oh, your yard? It’s lovely,” I joke. “Who’s your landscaper? Beetlejuice?”

I feel like I’m seeing colors I forgot light could make.

Fate isn’t some invisible, incomprehensible force hurtling you into pain and frustration. Fate is just a puzzle you don’t have all the pieces to yet. With enough time, enough information, the picture starts to make sense.

I wonder if when people leave our lives, they eventually become nothing but the gifts they gave us.

The sound of our tires on the concrete feels small in the silent world outside.

There are forces stronger than the laws of nature. I’m determined to be one of them.

My pulse thuds in my jaw. I feel like I can taste my own heartbeat.

Sometimes fear is the ghost of love. The shadow drawn by the enormity of what it means to care for someone.

My Review:

This was angstier than I’m generally comfortable with, but it was so insightfully written, creatively conceived, and intricately detailed that I have to give it props and a 5-star rating. The main characters are both a bit of a hot mess, but lovable and worthy individuals who completed each other. Their ghosts were just as intriguing and haunted them for different reasons and in unique ways. The writing style was seamless and penned in my favorite dual POV with well-timed lashings of snarky wit and clever humor.

Wrapping presents and singing at midnight mass on a frosty night… Lady Swift is determined to enjoy Christmas at home this year, until another body turns up!

Winter 1925. Eleanor and Hugh are decking the halls for their first married Christmas together when butler Clifford arrives with a mysterious telegram. A lucrative case awaits their new detective agency… but in the most remote county in England. The note insists they must be there by midnight to accept the job.

After a snowy journey, they arrive at the tiny hamlet of Yorelow to find their client, Osmund Unwin, dead in the churchyard as midnight mass ends. They realise they are now in the absurd situation of having to solve the murder of their client, who they never met, to solve a case they know nothing about and officially never accepted!

There is very little festive goodwill to go around, as it seems half the village had a grudge against the rich man. Was it one of the Frisham sisters, owners of the tavern and rumoured to be in a love triangle with Unwin? Or perhaps his maid, who never had a nice thing to say about him?

When another body is found in the ruins of the castle overlooking the town, Eleanor is baffled. Clearly, there’s more to this nightmare before Christmas than the gang first thought…

A totally unputdownable historical murder mystery set in an English village at Christmas, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey, and Catherine Coles!

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

 

You’re a rummy sort of fancy lady, if you don’t mind me saying.

‘Very, if infuriatingly, astute of you.’ ‘Thank you. Although, feel free to leave out the infuriating part next time.’

We chased that red herring for a long time before we realised it smelt just a little too fishy to be true.

My Review:

 

Team Verity Bright has gifted us with another enjoyably amusing yet brain-teasing cozy mystery. I will never tire of these lively and lovable characters. Their storylines and witty banter are engaging, fun, easy to follow, and smartly written in the vernacular of their time. I’ve devoured the entire series and found each Verity Bright mystery to be cleverly unpredictable, sharply honed, and pleasantly entertaining, leaving me primed for more of the same.

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