Night of the Living Deed by E.J. Copperman

#1 Haunted Guesthouse Mystery
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime (Penguin)
Genre: mystery
Pages: 325
Challenges: thriller and suspense
Author's Website
My rating: 3.5/5

Simple Description: 
Alison Kerby has recently bought a 100 year old house in a small town on the Jersey Shore.  She has moved in with her 9 year old daughter and has plans to renovate it and then open it as a guest house.   While working   on the house one day Alison hits her head and has a concussion.  When she comes to, she can see ghosts.  To be more exact, she can see two ghosts that haunt her house.   At first she thinks she's imaging it but after several days the ghosts won't go away and they are talking to her.

The ghosts are the two people who were found dead in her house almost a year ago.  One, Maxie, was the owner and the other, Paul, was a private investigator helping Maxie with some threats she was getting.  They want Alison to figure out who murdered them, even though the cops say it was suicide, and Maxie won't stop sabotaging the remodeling until Alison agree's to it.  When Alison starts getting threatening messages herself, she finally agree's to look into their murder with Paul's help.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I actually thought this was a great book in a new series.  I loved that it was different from other cozies out there.  Alison doesn't readily snoop and investigate a murder, she really doesn't want to but finally agree's in order to get the ghosts to leave her alone.  This was both different and refreshing for a main character in a cozy series.

I also liked how Alison tried to deal with these two ghosts when others were around.  She didn't want to tell people she could see ghosts because she didn't want them to think she was off her rockers.  There were several instances where this was fun and I liked how she handled it.

There were some issues with this book, things I hope are maybe just part of a first book jitters and won't be in the 2nd book in the series.  I wish I had been able to bookmark some examples so I could show you, but I didn't.  The main character did things like constantly remind the reader that she doesn't cook.  Ok..I got it once, I don't need to be reminded of this several times.  There were also times when the main character would just talk/think something that I didn't think had any relevance to the story itself.  Maybe it was supposed to make her seem like your average person, but it just annoyed me a bit.  Now, I have to be honest and say that my emotions/moods are going up and down lately.  So it could also be that I was in a different mood when reading this one.  I think we all know that sometimes our moods effect how well we like or don't like a book sometimes.    It could be that things that annoyed me a bit while reading this are things that haven't annoyed me in the past and won't annoy me in the future.

I can honestly say, though, that I did really enjoy this book and you can bet I'll read the 2nd in the series.
I really like the idea of this one.  I like the idea of the two ghosts who can't leave the property but want to know what happened to them.   I was wondering how that would work towards future books in the series and it's revealed to us in the end.   I definitely recommend this one to others, especially if you already like a good cozy mystery.



 Thanks to the publisher for providing this book in hopes of a review.

Left to Die by Lisa Jackson

#1 - Selena Alvarez and Regina Pescoli
Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Zebra
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 386
Challenges: TBR challenge, Thriller and Suspense
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5

Simple Description: 
In a small town in Montana, the unthinkable has happened, there is a serial killer on the loose.  He is targeting woman.  The police can't find any kind of link between the woman, other than that the were driving the mountain roads at the wrong time.  The killer shoots the woman's car tire and they crash. Then he rescues them and it appears he nurses them back to health for awhile before he ties them to a tree to die in the cold.

Regan Pescoli and Serena Alvarez are the lead homicide detectives on this case.  They go over and over the clues but can't seem to get a step ahead of the killer.  They know about what his time line is, but that's about it.  They have no way to stop him because they don't know where he takes the victims after the car accidents. Plus, due to the snow they keep getting, they usually don't find the cars until after the women are found.

Jillian Rivers was driving to her ex-husbands house when she heard a gun shot and then lost control of her car.  She had recently received some disturbing news, it appeared that her first husband, who was presumed dead, might still be alive.  She wants some answers.   However her car crashes and MacGregor happens to find her and takes her to his cabin and tries to help her get better.  However Jillian doesn't think she can trust him because before she left her house she read an article about a serial killer in this area, is she the latest victim?  What, if anything, does this have to do with her first husband possibly being alive?

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
Overall, I enjoyed this book and because the book does stop with a cliffhanger, I'll be reading the next one in August.   It's very interesting because we go back and forth between the detectives investigating the case, the serial killer, and Jillian Rivers.  Throughout the book we don't know who the serial killer is, we don't know if it's the man who has Jillian or not.  We are given glimpses of him through the other stories, but his identity is never revealed.  In fact, at the end of this book we still don't know who he is.

While this book did take me awhile to read it, it did move pretty well.  There always seemed to be something that was going on, some new twist.

I think part of what kept me from reading it faster and possibly liking it more than I did were the two detectives.  Alvarez and Pescoli are main characters in this book and important to the story, but I didn't connect with either one of them.  We know that Alvarez has some secret about her past and while we finally are told part of it, I really don't think that's the whole story.  Pescoli is made to seem as somewhat of a wild and loose single Mom.  I just didn't think the characters were that strong or appealed to the reader much.  I'm hoping with the second book we are able to connect to them more.  I'm assuming we will finally learn the secret Alvarez is carrying around with her.


This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

Secondhand Spirits by Juliet Blackwell

#1 A Witchcraft Mystery
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Obsidian
Genre: mystery
Pages: 313
Challenges: Thriller and Suspense
Author's Website
My rating: 4.5/5

Simple Description:
Lily is a witch.  She was born a witch, she isn't one of those who was interested in it and became a Wiccan (or another type).  Most of her adult life she's kinda been running from it, she knows she's different and doesn't feel like she fits in.  She decided that wasn't the life she wanted and she moved to San Francisco and opened a vintage clothing store.  She is trying to be normal, as normal as a witch can be anyway.

Somehow the local witch coven found out she was in town..  Aidan Rhodes seems to be the head of the local coven and pays her a visit, giving her a familiar.  The familiar is a gargoyle that Lily names Oscar, and he changes into a pig whenever people are around.    Lily doesn't plan to keep Oscar or to get to know Aidan, that is until a young girl disappears outside her house.  This happening right after Lily and a nice old lady hear the screams of La Llorona. La Llorona is a myth in the hispanic culture.  La Llorona is a demon in the water who kills children.   Lily finds out that children have been disappearing over the years from this area and while some might not think it's La Llorona, Lily knows that it is.   How is this nice old lady involved though?
To make things even more interesting let's introduce sexy myth buster Max Carmichael that somehow gets involved in what Lily is doing, even though he doesn't believe in any of it.


Now what you really want to know....my thoughts: 
I worry that my description doesn't do this book justice.  Let me just tell you that I loved this book.  I think it's a refreshing addition to the cozy mystery genre.  I love paranormal books, so this one has been on my radar for awhile and I knew I had to give it a try.  I'm so glad I was able to get a copy of it.  I loved that I didn't so much feel like Lily was looking for a murderer but rather was trying to figure out how to get rid of a demon before more people get hurt. I loved that Lily wanted to rescue this child even though she just met her. I loved that it was different.  Yes..different.  I love cozy mysteries, but we have to admit that they usually do follow a pattern and sometimes we need something different.  That is just what this book is.  It's different because what Lily is doing is all supernatural, the murderer isn't a human that she's trying to find so the cops will get off her back, but rather Lily knows who the murderer is..or rather what it is right away, and wants to get rid of it but in the process she must admit what she is to those she considers friends and ask for help from some new acquaintances.

I fell in love with Lily right away...and of course most of the other characters too.  The 2nd book in this series was published last month (I think..I could be confused) and I can't wait to get to it.

This is definitely a book that I recommend to others.  I had trouble putting this one down, I just wanted to read it all in one sitting.  If the second is just as good as the first, I can see it becoming a favorite series of mine.


 Thanks to Megan with Penguin for providing this book in hopes I would review it.

Bookmarked For Death by Lorna barrett

#2 A Booktown Mystery
Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime/Penguin
Genre: mystery
Pages: 286
Challenges: Thriller and Suspense, TBR, Series Challenge
Author's Website
My rating: 3.5/5

Simple Description:
It's been several months since Haven't Got a Clue owner Tricia Miles found a dead body.   She really didn't anticipate finding another one, nor did she want to.  However she has local author and best seller Zoe Carter at the store for a signing and Zoe ends up dead, in the bathroom at Tricia's store.

The local sheriff doesn't like Tricia and because of this Tricia feels she needs to get involved and investigate on her own, so she can prove her innocents and get her store opened again.

At first the author's niece seems to be the prime suspect.  She was rude and didn't seem to really care about her Aunt.  However when Tricia finds out that the niece doesn't get any of the author's money, she doesn't believe there is a motive.  While investigating the murder Tricia does talk to several local residents who know Zoe when she was younger, before she was famous.   The info they tell Tricia makes her realize there is one person who would want the author dead, but who that person is becomes the real mystery.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts: 
It took me awhile to get into this book, which is weird since the murder happens right away.  I'm not sure why it took awhile for me to get into the swing of it either.  Overall I ended up enjoying the story though. I love the town, who wouldn't with a handful of genre specific bookstores!  I like Tricia and her two co-workers too.   Maybe one reason it took me while to really get into it is because I don't like Tricia's sister.  Her sister can be a very nice person and has Tricia's back, if you will, but over all she's just annoying.   I would love to see this character toned down or made to be nicer..something.  

Overall, this is a good cozy mystery, one I think a lot of cozy fans will like.  I, personally, plan to continue with the series.

This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

Split Second by David Baldacci

#1 in the King and Maxwell series
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 404
Challenges: Thriller and Suspense
Author's Website
My rating: 4.5/5 stars

Simple Description: 
King is a lawyer in a small town.  He likes his life, his 2nd life.  He was a secret service agent but the politician he was guarding was killed on his watch, that ended his career, his first life.  Things once again change for him when he finds a dead body in his law office.  To make matters interesting, the dead body belonged to one of his employees who just happens to be part of the witness protection program.  Soon he has government agencies all over his town and his life.  It soon appears that somebody is out to get him though, because his gun is the murder weapon.

Maxwell is a secret service agent.  The politician she was guarding was kidnapped on her watch and her career is about to go down the drain.  Her gun and badge are taken away from her while the matter is being investigated. She becomes interested in King and when she reviews footage of what ended his career, she thinks something is fishy and the whole story wasn't told.   She decides to talk to King, in person.

In the meantime, another person who was with the secrete service but is now on her own, contacts King and asks him to help hr find the kidnapped Politician.  She's being paid to find him and offers King part of the loot when the guy is found.

Soon all three of them are involved in tracking down the kidnappers and well as the murders.  They think it's the same person (or persons) doing all of it.  Their lives are endangered too.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts: 
This is the first book I have read by this author.  While I know a lot of people like his work and recommend it to me, I just never really wanted to read his novels.  A couple of friends and I finally decided to buddy read one and selected this one.  I'm so glad I finally read this! I absolutely loved this book!  It was fast paced, it kept my interest, and it kept me guessing.  There were several things going on in this book and it was fun to see how they might tie in with each other.   I loved how we get info from the bad guys perspective, yet we never know who the bad guys are because their names are never used.  It was fun to keep guessing and find out who they were right along with King and Maxwell.  I have to admit, I didn't' figure out how it was till I was told.

I hear that this isn't one of the author's better works, so I'm really excited to read more by him since I loved this one so much.


This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay

Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 215
Challenges: Thriller and Suspense, Buy 1 book and read it, Cozy Mystery
New-to-me Author: Yes
Author's Website

Simple Description: 
Melanie, Angie, and Tate have been friends since the 6th grade.  They didn't think anything would come between us, then Tate got engaged to a royal, um..well...not a nice person.  Melanie and Angie have tried to like his fiancée but she's just too much.  Then Tate and his fiancée decide to have Melanie provide all the cupcakes for the 500 guests invited to the wedding.  Melanie is cool with this, she does own Fairy Tale Cupcakes, but she doesn't like how the fiancée wants 5 new flavors and copyright to those flavors.

When Melanie shows up at the fiancee's clothes shop to go over the cupcakes, she finds her dead and with a cupcake in hand.  This makes Melanie a prime suspect.

Melanie knows she didn't do it, Tate is a suspect and she knows he didn't do it.  However the fiance's rich parents are pressing the police to take action and a rival baker in the area appears to be helping the community label Melanie as a cupcake murderer.     Of course Melanie has only one option, see if she can figure out who really murdered the evil fiancée.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts: 
Wow - what a fun cozy mystery!  I just adored this one, one of my favorites so far this year, hands down.  I loved all the main/re-occurring characters.  I can't help being drawn to this story because it's about a cupcake bakery either.  I love to bake and I love cupcakes (honestly..who doesn't?).     I also liked how Melanie was looking into the murder, but wasn't always running around. I mean, she did, but not like you see in a lot of other mysteries/cozies.  A lot of the story was about Melanie and the relationships with her friends, family, and  a future love interest.

Obviously, I highly recommend this book.  This is an excellent start to a new cozy series, I know I can't wait for the 2nd to be published.


This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

Dark Summer by Iris Johansen

Copyright: 2008
Publisher: St. Martins
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 357
Challenges: Thriller and Suspense
New-to-me Author:
Author's Website



Simple Description:
Devon Brady is working a search and rescue operation with her dog Gracy when she meets Jude Marrok and treats his dog, Ned.   Marrok disappears and leaves Ned in her care.  This annoys her and she is tempted to keep Ned instead of giving him back to his owner.  Little does she know that by making her keep Ned in her care, Marrrok but Devon in a lot of danger.   It seems Marrok and his dog are being hunted by some rich old white guy.   This guy will stop at nothing to get his hands on the dogs.  

Devon is soon a part of this fight.  She tries to keep those she loves from being hurt but also believes the white guy needs to be stopped.  Of course, it wouldn't be a romantic suspense if there wasn't some attraction between Marrok and Devon.  

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
This book took a bit of time to really get into it.  I don't know if it was the way it was started or something else, but it seemed like I had come into the middle of a series.  I checked and it's a stand-alone book though. So for me, I had to get past that before I could really get into the book. I'm glad I did though. I really enjoyed this one.  It kept my interest and I wanted to know what would happen.  I loved Devon and while Marrok can be a pain, you can't help liking him too.  Of course, I'm a dog lover and so I loved how the dogs played a big part in this book too.


This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

Ghouls Just Haunt to Have Fun by Victoria Laurie

Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Obsidian
Genre:Mystery
Pages: 310
Challenges: Thriller and Suspense. TBR
Author's Website



Simple Description:
M.J. isn't too pleased with Gillie when he tells her they are headed to San Francisco, in a couple of hours, to be on a tv show.  Things get worse when they arrive and meet the other guests, two of which are as fake as can be.  However the 4th guest, Heath, is a true medium.  Their stay at The Duke, the most Haunted hotel in San Francisco, starts off with a bang, with a woman who appears to have jumped to her death but her ghosts lets M.J. know that wasn't the case.

Things go from bad to worse when a dagger is placed on the table for M.J. and Heath to investigate and the evil inside it actually physically hurts the two mediums.

Soon M.J. and Heath are trying to deal with one nasty demon and one nasty murderer.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I loved it.  I love this series.  It's just a fun cozy mystery.  If you like reading paranormal mysteries, I think you'll enjoy this one.  M.J. is hard on Gillie sometimes, but Gillie sometimes deserves it.  Either way, you can't help loving both of them.  This is definitely a series I would consider a must read for cozy mystery fans or paranormal mystery fans in general.


This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

The Last to Know by Wendy Corsi Staub

Copyright: 2001
Publisher: Zebra Fiction
Genre: Mytery
Pages: 462
Challenges: Thriller and Suspense
Author's Website



Simple Description:
Townsend Heights, NY seems like the perfect little town, a throw back to times when you could leave your doors unlocked and walk down the street to the town square for dinner and shopping. This quickly changes with the disappearance of Jane Kendall, part of the wealthiest family in Townsend Heights. Not soon after Jane dissappears, another Mom in the town is found killed. This has several of the other Mom's and Dad's freaked out about their safety. As we get more involved with each of the different families and characters we find that most of them have secrets. Could one of their secret's be that they are a killer?

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:

This story is told from the view points of several characters. Sometimes this can last several pages, sometimes shorter than that. The author doesn't start a new chapter when she switches characters either. This isn't something I normally like and I admit that it took me awhile to be comfortable with it in this book. But..it totally works for this one. It moves the story right along. It's good to get the view from so many different characters, I think it's part of what makes this such a good book. You have the homely older sister to wonderful Jane, the sister who secretly loves Jane's husband. You have Tisha, mother to three, who is stressed and having trouble coping with her husband being gone all the time due to work. You have Fletch, a man's man and could he be a cheating lady's man as well? There are more characters too, those are just a sampling.

I've only read one other book by this author, it was a YA book and I wasn't too thrilled with it. This is the first adult book/mystery that I've read by he author and I loved it! It kept me guessing till the very end. I read this as a buddy read with several others and I know at least one person figured out who did it early on, but I didn't. I knew who I wanted it to be, thought it would be a good twist in the story, but that's not who it ended up being.

I'll definitely read more adult mysteries by this author and I think several of my readers would like this author too.

This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

The Witche's Grave by Shirley Damsgaard

Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Avon

Genre: Mystery
Pages: 262
Challenges: Reliquiae Challenge, Thriller and Suspense, TBR
Author's Website



Simple Description:
Ophelia has been having dreams, rather good dreams if I may say. She's been dreaming about a man that she has a connection with. When she is at a function at a local winery and meets the mans he's been dreaming about, it feels like a true connection and they have known each other for ages. He feels the connection too. They take a walk and when they stop, Stephen is shot.

Bill, the local sheriff, thinks that Ophelia was the target. Ophelia dismisses this until she is shot at while in her backyard. Abby and Ophelia send Tink to stay with their relatives while they try and figure out what is going on.

Ophelia thinks this is all due to the latest book that Stephen is writing, and she decides to take a trip to St. Louis (my town...woohoo!) to talk to his assistant. When she does find the assistant, she is in the hospital because she's been mugged.

To make the matters more interesting, Ophelia keeps having dreams where she is a French model living in Paris during WWII. She "lives" this ladies life and learns how she tried to help those who were hunted by the Jews. Abby thinks this is Ophelia in a pas life, but Ophelia doesn't really think so. Ophelia believes it has ties to what is going on in present day, but not sure how it comes together.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
What can I say, this is one of my favorite cozy series. I love the paranormal aspect to it (did I mention that Ophelia and Abby are modern witches? Don't worry..no spell casting..more just being in-tune with nature and energy). I love Ophelia because she's so uncertain with her life and things going on, yet still trying to make the most of it. I think she grew in this one and I cant' wait to see how she grows in the next one.

I definitely recommend this book/series to others. This is the 6th, and of course I recommend starting with #1.

This book is part of my collection and was either bought or given to me.

Thriller and Suspense Challenge 2010

This is the first year I'll be joining this challenge. I love mysteries so hopefully I won't have any trouble completing this one.

The Thriller and Suspense Challenge is being hosted by Book Chick City, the challenge post is HERE.

The goal is to read 12 thrillers in 2010, the challenge runs the entire year (Jan - Dec). You can read any of the sub-genre's of thriller.

I'm not going to list books upfront, even though I'll create a tentative list in the word doc where I keep track of my challenges. I have mysteries set for other challenges so I'll be using them for this one as well...but not sure what I will read to complete the challenge.