Tag Archives: Karin Kaufman

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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Leave a comment with the first line of the book closest to you, and then click on the image below to visit more First Line Friday participants!

Stacked books with text: "First Line Friday"
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Review: Crossed by Death, by A.C.F. Bookens

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Crossed by Death, by ACF Bookens, Stitches in Crime series book 1

Crossed by Death, by A.C.F. Bookens (Andilit, 2021)

Paisley Sutton’s historical writing career went out the window when she became a single mom of a toddler too active to allow the necessary research time. Now she provides for herself and two-year-old Sawyer by salvaging vintage items from abandoned buildings and reselling them online.

Exploring a long-closed rural gas station was not supposed to end with her finding a dead body. Nor was meeting the town sheriff supposed to unfold into a potential for romance.

I enjoyed following Paisley’s research as she tries to untangle generational secrets that might explain not only the present-day murder but the long-ago one that closed the gas station.

Cozy mystery fans will find a few familiar staples: a well-stocked yarn store is a key setting (although Paisley herself prefers cross-stitch), there’s an interesting pet (a Maine Coon cat) and plenty of food references, along with the law enforcement romantic hero. Her salvage career is interesting, and the mystery is an engaging puzzle to follow.

I like Paisley’s accepting way with people and her desire to contribute to their lives. Her mama-bear determination to provide for and protect her son create a strong reader connection. The book does a great job of showing white characters (including Paisley) interacting with Black characters with no prejudice but also with no sense of “hey, look at us being non-racist.” It’s just natural, as it should be, with a few regretful references to past segregation.

Crossed by Death is book 1 in the Stitches in Crime mystery series. A.C.F. Bookens has a few other cozy mystery series as well, one of which is a free download on her site: acfbookens.com. Fans of Karin Kaufman’s Juniper Grove series will want to give this author a try, and vice versa.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

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Review: Chasing Angels, by Karin Kaufman

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Chasing Angels, by Karin Kaufman (2020)

Layered characters, vivid descriptions, twists and surprises, and solid Biblical truth in a spiritual warfare novel with some fully criminal humans as well. This book satisfied me as a reader and as a writer. Karin Kaufman started this new series off with a winner.

Teagan Doyle is chasing angels, desperate to find hope. Instead, she and her boss/mentor John Bergland (Berg) find demons. Sometimes. Often their paranormal investigations turn up wobbly pipes and other natural explanations for the things that freak out their clients.

But not this time. Their current case involves a former church whose new owners want to renovate into a bed and breakfast. Renovations have turned up a body walled up in the basement. The owners report flickering electricity, cold drafts, moving objects… and not one natural cause in sight.

Teagan and Berg don’t believe in ghosts and refuse to work with mediums or spiritists. They believe the God of the Bible. And in angels, both holy and fallen.

Part of what makes this book shine is their unlikely but perfect pairing. Teagan’s past is a string of unhappy endings, including washing out of police academy, infertility, and a cheating ex-husband. Berg is in his seventies, a retired minister, his movement restricted by severe arthritis.

The way Teagan describes Berg is how I feel about them both:

“I caught his past and his personality in snippets, quilting them together over time to form my idea of who he was.” [Kindle location 465]

Other favourite lines:

“If you cash in your chips because you think God can’t use a sinner, you don’t know your Bible.” [Kindle location 2870]

“You get to ask forgiveness for your serious lapse in judgement, believe God when he says he forgives, and then move on and do your job.” [Kindle location 2876]

Told from Teagan’s point of view, the writing is taut with a bit of a noir feel. I like the mix of human and supernatural villains, and I didn’t find it too scary (I did stick to reading during daylight!).

Despite being Christian fiction, the book has some minor profanity. If that’s an issue for you, be warned going in. I found it jarring but not enough to put me off the story. This is one series I hope to follow to the end.

Chasing Angels is book 1 in the Teagan Doyle Mystery Series. Book 2, Call of Chaos, will pick up right on its heels.

Karin Kaufman writes in a wide spectrum of fiction, from intense novels like this and the Anna Denning series to lighter-hearted cozy mysteries like the Juniper Grove series and Smithwell Fairies series to 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: Dying to Remember, by Karin Kaufman

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Dying to Remember, A Smithwell Fairies Cozy Mystery by Karen KaufmanDying to Remember (Smithwell Fairies Cozy Mystery #1), by Karin Kaufman (2018)

Smithwell, Maine. An ordinary town in an ordinary New England state. On her 50th birthday, newly-widowed Kate Brewer is feeling her ordinariness and wishing there was something – just a little bit – more to life.

But when she encounters a fairy, she’s terrified. Fairies don’t exist outside of folklore. Is she losing her mind?

When a neighbour is killed, Kate and her best friend, Emily, are sure it’s linked to a previous murder in the town. Not trusting the police, they start investigating on their own. The fairy, Minette, insists on helping Kate while keeping her presence hidden from everyone else.

I enjoyed the mystery, the characters, and the descriptions of the people – including the fairy – and their small town. I also thought it was a neat touch that Minette sees herself as created by God (years ago) and sent by Him (now) to help Kate with this investigation. Kate, a church-goer, rejects the idea that God would send anyone – especially a fairy – to do anything in her life. I’m curious to see how Kate and Minette’s relationship will develop over the series, and if Emily will ever meet Minette.

Tea and chocolate aficionados will find other details to appreciate in the book. It’s a quick read, at 129 pages. Book 2, A Fatal Fall, is coming soon.

Karin Kaufman is the author of the Juniper Grove mystery series and the Anna Denning mysteries. Dying to Remember is book 1 in her new Smithwell Fairies Cozy Mystery series. I’m looking forward to reading more. For more about the author and her books, visit karinkaufman.com.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

Review: Death of a Scavenger, by Karin Kaufman

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Death of a Scavenger, by Karin KaufmanDeath of a Scavenger, by Karin Kaufman (2017)

Juniper Grove, Colorado, is a small town, but newcomer Rachel Stowe is about to find her second dead body, only a month after the first one turned up in her back yard.

At least this one’s on someone else’s property.

In the middle of the town’s annual Halloween scavenger hunt (complete with fake corpse) a second, real corpse is found – and it’s hard to find anyone other than Rachel who doesn’t have a motive.

Again, Rachel and her friends Julia and Holly team up to solve the mystery. It’s not that Rachel thinks Police Chief Gilroy is incompetent. Far from it. She’s just afraid he’s looking in the wrong places.

Death of a Scavenger is book two in the Juniper Grove mystery series, and it’s good to spend more time with these characters… and to vicariously enjoy the cream puffs from Holly’s bakery.

My favourite addition to the cast of characters is Gina, a grey-dreadlocked lady with mobility issues who lives in a brightly-painted house.

Clues and diversions abound, along with more conflict with the ever-patient Chief Gilroy, and again Rachel plays a key part in solving the mystery.

The Juniper Grove novels are short, quick reads. They’re clean and not too intense – perfect for those times when you don’t want anything too heavy. That said, the characters always leave you with something to think about, even if it’s just the challenge to be kinder to someone who’s marginalized like Gina.

Karin Kaufman is also the author of the Anna Denning mystery series. Death of a Scavenger is the second in the Juniper Grove mystery series. For more about the author and her books, visit karinkaufman.com.

[Review copy from my personal library.]

Review: Death of a Dead Man, by Karin Kaufman

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Death of a Dead Man, Juniper Grove Mysteries book 1, by Karin KaufmanDeath of a Dead Man, by Karin Kaufman (2017)

Colorado native Rachel Stowe has fled a stressful job in Boston to return to her home state, specifically to the endearing small town of Juniper Grove, where the few square blocks that make up downtown are a four-minute drive from her home. She can live simply and write more mystery novels.

Rachel is single, in her forties, and has a fondness for casual attire and cream puffs. I like her a lot.

She doesn’t have it all together, but she’s made some good friends here and she’s not one to back down from a challenge. Like helping clear her neighbour Julia’s name from the local paper’s mud-slinging.

Julia’s husband has finally been declared legally dead after he robbed a bank and went missing seven years ago. Most people think he drowned with his partner. But some, like the paper’s editor, suggest Julia knows something about the missing money.

When the dead man turns up freshly-dead in Rachel’s back yard, she’s more motivated than ever to find the truth.

This is the start of a fun series. The books are short, the delivery is snappy, and there’s even an attractive police chief that Rachel butts heads with so regularly that you just know there’s a relationship coming here eventually.

An abundance of clues and details kept me guessing until the end. I’ll definitely be reading more of this series.

My favourite line, which both describes Julia and says something about Rachel herself:

Most of the time Julia had a grandmotherly air about her, and I liked that, but every now and then she transformed into someone you did not want to mess with. I liked that too. [Page 27]

Karin Kaufman is also the author of the Anna Denning mystery series. Death of a Dead Man is the first in the Juniper Grove mystery series. For more about the author and her books, visit karinkaufman.com.

[Review copy from my personal library.]