Tag Archives: cozy mystery

Review: Knight Brew, by Heather Day Gilbert

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Knight Brew, by Heather Day Gilbert (WoodHaven Press, 2024)

The annual Renaissance Faire is on, and Macy Hatfield and her brother, Bo, are onsite in full costume, running a booth for the Barks & Beans Café. She’s a Viking, and he’s a kilt-wearing Scot.

The fairground hosts knights, fairies, and all kinds of mediaeval characters. Macy’s looking forward to taking in the attractions with her boyfriend, Titan—until they witness a fatal jousting match.

The dead “knight” had more enemies than friends, which will make it hard to find his killer. While the protective men in her life want to keep Macy from investigating, she can’t help trying to find a few clues for the police. After all, she’s a friendly person and people talk to her. What could possibly go wrong?

At the same time, she’s dealing with unexpected conflict among the café staff—and the possibility that one of them may be accused of the murder.   

There’s at least one point in this story that could be terrifying. For Macy it is, but I appreciate how the author maintains the lighter tone readers expect from the series. It happens, it’s over fast, and I didn’t have to worry about it affecting my sleep later.

The Barks & Beans mystery series wins on a number of levels: engaging characters with developing relationships, small-town coffee shop, non-graphic crimes, and plenty of dogs. My favourite supporting role character is definitely Coal.

Knight Brew is book 9 in the series. You could start here and not feel lost, but you may prefer to start at the beginning (No Filter) and read all the way through.

Award-winning author Heather Day Gilbert writes clean cozy mysteries, romantic and psychological suspense, and Viking historicals. For more about the author, visit heatherdaygilbert.com. Signing up for her newsletter will get you a free Barks and Beans ebook, House Blend.

[Book provided by the publisher with no obligation to write a review. My opinions are my own.]

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Review: A Collection of Lies, by Connie Berry

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Book cover: a stately English country home, drifting mist, and mossy rocks.

A Collection of Lies, by Connie Berry (Crooked Lane Books, 2024)

An antique dress, purportedly worn by a murderess in years past. Some simple historical research in wintry Devon. What could possibly go wrong?

American antiques expert Kate Hamilton and her new husband, English Detective Inspector Tom Mallory, chose to spend part of their honeymoon attempting to authenticate a bloodstained old dress for a village museum’s crime exhibit.

Their last mystery nearly killed them… and left them arriving bruised and late to their own wedding. Kate fervently hopes this assignment will be safe, academic, and successful—and that Tom will decide to leave the police force and its dangers to take on the role of a private investigator.

It took me a few chapters to get into this one, but the village, the characters, and the food drew me in. I’ve enjoyed the Kate Hamilton mystery series (well worth starting with book 1, A Dream of Death).

Kate is clever, brave, and kind. She’s knowledgeable about antiques and possesses an indefinable instinct that occasionally reacts to the presence of a significant artifact—in the case of the dress, with the impression of a kneeling woman and the phrase, “So much blood!” Not the sort of thing she can share with her facts-oriented police officer husband.

First there’s a near-miss shooting. And ongoing threats. Then there’s a murder. Can this possibly relate to an old dress, or is something else afoot? Clues are scarce, lies are abundant, and everyone seems to have something to hide.

All in all, another fun installment in the Kate Hamilton mystery series (A Collection of Lies is book 5). I hope there are more to come.

To learn about author Connie Berry and her work, visit connieberry.com.

[Review copy from the public library.]

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Review: A Quiet Life in the Country, by T. E. Kinsey

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Book cover. A stately British manor house, silhouettes of Lady Hardcastle and her maid. Title: A Quiet Life in the Country, a Lady Hardcastle mystery, by T. E. Kinsey.

A Quiet Life in the Country, by T. E. Kinsey (Thomas & Mercer, 2016)

From the back cover:

Lady Emily Hardcastle is an eccentric widow with a secret past. Florence Armstrong, her maid and confidante, is an expert in martial arts. The year is 1908 and they’ve just moved from London to the country, hoping for a quiet life.

With the subtitle, “A Lady Hardcastle Mystery,” we know the quiet life won’t materialize as intended. Emily and Flo quickly find a body and insert themselves into the investigation.

They’re a fun pair of protagonists (the narration is from Flo’s point of view) with some definitely atypical behaviours and conventions. Although they try to maintain proper employer-employee conventions in public, in private they eat together and banter like the good, long-term friends they are. And this may have been intended as retirement, but we learn near the end of the book that Lady H is only around 40. Flo is likely a little younger.

This is a gently-paced, light-hearted look at historical British country life of the period, with the refreshing take that these two characters bring it.

It’s always a treat to discover a new series to follow, and I expect to read one of the Lady Hardcastle mysteries every so often until I catch up. I think they’re on book 11 now (plus there’s a bonus book 3.5).

T. E. Kinsey is the British author of two series of historical mysteries, the Lady Hardcastle Mysteries (1908) and the Dizzy Heights Mysteries (1925). For more about him and his work, visit tekinsey.uk. And if you visit this page on his site, tekinsey.uk/about.html, you’ll find brief bios not only of the author himself but of Lady Hardcastle and Flo. Well worth the read—then go pick up book 1 in the series 😊

[Review copy from the public library.]

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Review: Crafting Deception, by Barbara Emodi

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Crafting Deception, by Barbara Emodi (C&T Publishing, 2023)

“Help me.” The words, spoken to Valerie Rankin as a man she trusts is arrested for murder, leave her wanting to help without knowing how. Circumstantial evidence and a criminal past make Rankin’s General Store employee Duck MacDonald the prime suspect in a murder.

In the small fictional town of Gasper’s Cove, on Nova Scotia’s Atlantic Coast, everybody knows everybody’s secrets… or so they think. Yet past generations’ rumrunning and other illegal acts have influenced the present. Suddenly it seems to Val that strangers and friends alike are on the search for hidden treasure. And nobody’s concerned about clearing Duck’s name.

Author Barbara Emodi has a keen sense of descriptive details that bring the town and its characters to life. As an example, chapter 12’s scene at a fundraiser with “church-basement, made-by-the-women’s auxiliary sandwiches” will have Atlantic Canadians of a certain age nodding and remembering. She also includes a fair sprinkling of humour.

Protagonist Val is a sewing instructor and an empty-nest single mother. Her way of solving a mystery is to jump to a series of wild (and wrong) conclusions, embarrass herself by insisting the police should act on what she says, be proven wrong, and try again. Until she accidentally stops the killer and solves the case. She’s persistent, determined, and she genuinely cares for the people in her community.

She’s also a character I need to take in small doses. By hyper-focusing on her current stress or idea, she misses social cues and responds inappropriately. Like the brisk brush-off to a date invitation from a man she likes. Or like dashing off to confront her son in person when he sends a text asking for a bit of space.

Book 1 in the series is Crafting for Murder. As well as her Gasper’s Cove mysteries, Barbara Emodi has written instructional books on sewing. To learn about the author and her work, visit babsemodi.com.

[Review copy from the public library.]

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3 Fun Mysteries Set in Nova Scotia

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Out of the many mysteries set in Nova Scotia, here are three I’d suggest you try (in alphabetical order):

Book cover with crafting supplies, dressmaker's form, and a large dog.

Crafting for Murder, by Barbara Emodi

Secrets and schemes and small-town murder. Read my review.

Book cover with small yacht and crime scene tape.

Murder in Hum Harbour, by Jayne E. Self

Mystery and romance in a small coastal town. Read my review.

Book cover with ocean waves, trees, locket.

Oak Island Revenge, by Cynthia d’Entremont

Coming of age in the 1950s. Small-town secrets–with rumours of treasure. Read my review.

Hmm… sensing a “small coastal town” theme here… and that’s what I write in my Green Dory Inn mysteries too. I’d better go on record as stating that Nova Scotia is more than just a string of villages along the Atlantic coast! We have a city, Halifax (current population 423,000), as well as a number of large towns and inland agriculture.

Come see what we’re all about at the Nova Scotia tourism site, then maybe plan a visit! Or at least you’ll be better able to picture the settings when you read our fiction.

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Review: Shade Grown, by Heather Day Gilbert

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Book cover: Shade Grown: The Barks & Beans Cafe Mystery Series, Book 8. By Heather Day Gilbert. Image features a Great Dane and some houses.

Shade Grown, by Heather Day Gilbert (WoodHaven Press, 2023)

A peaceful garden tour turns to trouble when Macy Hatfield finds the body of a reclusive movie star among the hostas. Warned by her brother Bo, the town’s new mayor, to leave investigating to the police, Macy can’t resist helping the dead man’s sister find answers.

As always, the story includes scenes in the Hatfields’ coffee shop with the rescue dog section as well as the friendly West Virginia small town setting. The mysteries are good puzzles, and it’s fun to watch the characters’ relationships unfold. I appreciate both the clean nature of the content and the light tone. Yes, someone was murdered and crime abounds, and yes, Macy may end up in danger, but there’s no thriller-level intensity to make us afraid to turn the page.

Shade Grown is book 8 in the Barks and Beans Café series. It will appeal to lovers of clean cozy mysteries set in small towns, to coffee- and dog-lovers, and to gardening enthusiasts.

A reader new to the series could start with this book and find all they needed to understand the characters and this story, but this is a fun series and worth reading from the beginning. While each story is complete in itself, relationships grow and change over the course of the series.

Heather Day Gilbert writes contemporary mysteries and Viking historicals. For more about the author and her work, visit heatherdaygilbert.com.

[Review copy provided by the author with no obligation to write a review.]

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Review: Crafting for Murder, by Barbara Emodi

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Crafting for Murder, by Barbara Emodi (C & T Publishing, 2023)

Secrets and schemes and small-town murder.

Empty-nester Valerie Rankin has returned to the tight-knit—and tiny—community of Gasper’s Cove on Nova Scotia’s Atlantic coast. She’s housesitting for her vacationing aunt and teaching sewing classes and trying to set up a crafter’s co-op to boost tourism.

But home isn’t the stable, unchanging place she remembers. Suddenly, she’s trying to save the family store and investigate a murder. The locals she’s known all her life aren’t who she thinks they are. At least one is a killer.

I really enjoyed this book and will definitely read the next one. The town feels like a character in its own right, and I like how ordinary Valerie and her rescue dog, Toby, are. The mystery is solid, but it’s the interpersonal relationships that unfold that make the story stick with me.

This isn’t one of those stories where the amateur sleuth has a knack for quietly finding and piecing together the clues. Valerie is impulsive, she jumps to conclusions, and she antagonizes a lot of people in her quest for justice.

One of the people she accuses says, “Maybe you should slow down on trying to figure people out and maybe notice who they are more.” [p. 157]

In short, Valerie’s a lot like most of us would be in her situation. And she has a good heart. She may be going about this the wrong way, but she’s sure it’s for the right reasons.

Crafting for Murder is sure to appeal to fans of small-town cozy mysteries. You don’t have to be a crafter or a Nova Scotian to engage with this story, but if you are you’ll feel an extra connection.

As well as her mysteries, Barbara Emodi has written instructional books on sewing. To learn about the author and her work, visit babsemodi.com. Book 2 in the Gasper’s Cove Mysteries series, Crafting Deception, is scheduled for release in December 2023.

[Review copy from the public library.]

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TWO Christmas Fiction Pre-orders!

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Pre-order Deadly Burden in time for Christmas. Text details include $2.99 USD pricing ends Dec. 6
For curated buy links, click the image or visit https://books2read.com/deadly-burden.

Pre-order pricing ends on release date, December 6, at which time the paperback version will also be available.

What’s Deadly Burden about? Here’s a teaser:

When a shocking death strikes her close-knit circle, can Landon discover who wanted the town busybody dead? Was the dead woman silenced to protect a secret? Or because of one she wouldn’t tell? And how can a dyslexic trauma survivor find clues the professionals miss? With a storm closing in and no leads in sight, Landon’s first Christmas at the Green Dory Inn is shaping up to be anything but merry and bright.

[Find the full back cover synopsis on my Deadly Burden page.]

And another Christmas mystery, releasing on the same day:

Cover art: Murder by Eggnog, a Kelsie Butler Mystery

Murder by Eggnog, A Kelsie Butler Mystery, Book 2 by Karin Kaufman.

Join Kelsie Butler and her friends as they investigate a sinister murder in an independent living home. With evidence in short supply, can they solve the case before it’s too late?

You can pre-order Murder by Eggnog on Amazon. Find my review of book 1, Outline for Murder, here.

So… two engaging Christmas reads. Release date for both books will be December 6. Treat yourself to some early Christmas reads–order now!

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Review: Outline for Murder, by Karin Kaufman

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Book cover: Outline for Murder, a Kelsie Butler Mystery, by Karin Kaufman

Outline for Murder, by Karin Kaufman (Winter Tree Books, 2023)

“Meet Kelsie Butler. Coffee addict. Dog lover. Mystery buff.” She’s also a recent widow in a small Colorado town, with some good friends who’ll help her solve this mystery.

Outline for Murder is a classic locked-room whodunit—or in this case “locked-store.” Kelsie has partnered with her friend Gwen to stage a mystery party in Gwen’s café. The only problem is, one of the players turns up dead—in a manner very similar to the script Kelsie wrote for the event.

Kelsie is an appealing character, and I enjoyed the friendship dynamic as she, Gwen, and Angela (plus rescue dog Stella) teamed up to solve the case. And the food… I do enjoy a mystery with vicariously tasty treats.

Outline for Murder is book 1 in the new Kelsie Butler series. Book 2, Murder by Eggnog, is next. These short reads are clean and entertaining.

Karin Kaufman writes cozy mysteries and suspenseful novels for adults as well as the Geraldine Woolkins children’s books. For more about the author and her work, visit karinkaufman.com.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

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Review: Counterfeit Corpse, by Karin Kaufman

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I’m joining the First Line Friday link-up again, hosted by Carrie at Reading is My Superpower. Today’s book is Counterfeit Corpse, by Karin Kaufman.

First Line:

Minette lifted like a rocket from the kitchen table and hovered inches from my face.

Counterfeit Corpse, by Karin Kaufman (Winter Tree Press, 2023)

I don’t know if this is the best book in the Smithwell Fairies Cozy Mystery series (it’s # 6) or if it’s just the long wait since the previous one released, but I really enjoyed being back in the fictional town of Smithwell, Maine, with Kate Brewer (human widow) and her fairy sidekick Minette. They make a great mystery-solving team, along with Kate’s next-door neighbour Emily and her possibly-a-spy-but-we-don’t-know-for-sure husband. Plus a little off the record help from local Detective Rancourt.

What do you do when the wrong body turns up? A woman’s husband is missing—a man mysteriously connected with Kate’s late husband Michael—but the guy in the morgue is not him. Despite having the missing man’s ID in his shoe.

The police think Daniel ran off for a fling. But why would he leave clues only his wife could follow?

Kate, Emily, and Minette know the longer a person is missing, the greater the danger. If the police won’t investigate, it’s down to them.

These are clean cozy mysteries with enjoyable characters. There’s some progression within the series but you could start with this book and not be confused. Then go back and start with book 1, Dying to Remember, because the whole series is worth reading.

I enjoy the descriptions: characters, food, and especially scenery. In Counterfeit Corpse, the images of small-town Maine give readers a vicarious autumn getaway.

Favourite line:

She puckered her lips as though she were about to spew bits of sheriff all over my kitchen floor. [The missing man’s wife, talking about the sheriff’s lack of concern. Chapter 1, at the 3% mark on my Kindle app.]

Karin Kaufman writes cozy mysteries (the Juniper Grove and Smithwell Fairies series), suspenseful mysteries (the Anna Denning and Teagan Doyle series), as well as the Geraldine Woolkins children’s series. For more about the author and her work, visit karinkaufman.com.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

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