Let Them Eat Stake by Sarah Zettel

#2 Vampire Chef series
Copyright: 2012
Publisher: Signet
Genre: Mystery (cozy)
Pages: 320
Author's Website
My rating: 4/5


Simple Description: 
Charlotte is asked to cater one of the most talked about weddings of the year.  She can't possibly pass it up due to the publicity and the fee, something she really needs to keep her restaurant going.  However the problem is that it's a wedding between a vampire and a powerful witch family. Not just any family but the Maddox family.  She is kinda-sorta dating one of the Maddox's and has another one that hates her.  Not only that one of the family members was killed in her restaurant in book one.

She feels there is something fishy as to why she was picked to cater this wedding after their first chef, Oscar Simmons, walks out on them.  However she isn't sure what it is and she really needs the money.

Things go from bad to worse when Oscar Simmons is found dead.  Was it an accident or was it murder?  Could it have been somebody in the Maddox family?   Charlotte knows her life could be in danger but she just can't help asking questions and trying to figure out what exactly is going on.

My Thoughts:
This is the 2nd in the series and I enjoyed it just as much as the first one.  This is definitely one series that has a lot of potential to be around for a long time, love it!

Charlotte is such a wonderful character. I could see us getting along really well.  She is funny and sarcastic and perfect.  Ok, she's not perfect as everyone has faults, but to me she's such a wonderful character. She really makes the books for me.

I like the paranormal aspect to it, like the vampires and witches, yet it's not over-the-top or dramatic.  It's there, it's important to the story and series, but it's not dramatic.  It's woven in very well with the story and the mystery aspect of it.

I think those of you who like a touch of paranormal and a good cozy mystery would love this series.

oh..and check this out. I was checking out the author's blog and on the page for this book there's a quote from my review of book one. How cool is that?!


Thanks to the publisher for providing this book for review, it took me longer than I had wanted to get to it but I loved it and appreciate the chance to review it.

2012 Cozy Mystery Challenge

Even though life is going to be nuts for me pretty soon I couldn't pass up hosting the cozy mystery challenge again this year.

If you are interested, please visit the dedicated blog for the challenge. I posted the rules and sign-up sheet earlier today.

It's Cozy Mystery Challenge Time!!!!

Hey everyone, it's the day you have all be anxiously awaiting....sign-up for my annual cozy mystery challenge is now available!!!!

The challenge runs April-September and all the details can be found on the dedicated Cozy Mystery Challenge Blog.

I hope to see a lot of you cozy fans there!

The Quick and the Thread by Amanda Lee (aka: Gayle Trent)

#1 Embroidery Mystery
Copyright: 2010 (not released till August 3, 2010)
Publisher: Obsidian
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 313
Author's Website
My rating: 3/5

pst - doesn't the cover make you want to visit that store and give the cute doggy smooches?  No?  Oh..well I do.

Simple Description:
Marcy is an accountant and just not happy with the boring job.  He friend Sadie tells here there is a store front available next to her cafee in the small town of Tallulah Falls, Oregon and Marcy decides to open up an embroidery shop.  The first day the shop is open Marcy has a grand opening party.  The next day, she finds a man dead in her store room.  The man is the prviouse owner of this space and at the party he kept trying to tell Marcy something.  He appeared drunk and gave her the creeps, so she avoided him.  Now, because of this and the fact that he tried to write something on the storeroom wall, she is convinced he was murdered and feels bad she didn't pay more attention to him.

The man's widow accuses Marcy of killing her husband. The partial message the man left points the blame on somebody having to do with Four Square Development.  The Development was shady and 4 people are in jail because of it.  However, it would appear that not everybody involved in the development was caught and somebody feels the need to protect themselves.

Soon, not only does Marcy have to deal with a man having been found dead in her store room, but her shop's landlord is also found dead. Marcy believes the two deaths are linked.  The chief of police thinks both deaths were random and not connected, so of course Marcy digs around to try and flush out the real killer.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts: 
First, let me apologize for reviewing a book that isn't even out yet.  I was contacted by the author to review this book and I gladly accepted since I enjoyed her book, Murder Takes the Cake.  Then, I was sent a copy of this book from the publisher to review. When I went looking for the next book to read this one was fresh in my mind and I grabbed.   Usually when something like this happens, I try to wait until the month the book is published to read it and review it.

Ok..now about my thoughts.  One of the things that interested me about this cozy is that Marcy has a dog named Angus. Angus is an Irish Wolfhound.  If you have followed my blog for awhile, you know I love big dogs. I've never had an Irish Wolfhound but because of their size I know what the breed is and would love to see one in person.  So, right away the dog has my interest. haha!  I'm sure we've all read books due to something even more insignificant than that right?   Secondly, I've done some very detail oriented cross-stitch projects in my time.  I haven't done any in a long time, but still have all my supplies and kits.  So the idea of an embroidery store has my interest. I know I could get lost in one.

Now, I kinda feel about this book almost the same way I feel about the other book I read by this author.  I thought it was good, but for some reason the writing makes me feel like the author is new at this and needs more polishing.  This doesn't mean I didn't like it, just means it's something I notice and keeps me from liking it more than I did.  This is the first in a series, so I also have to keep in mind that we are getting to know the characters and getting a feel for the town and the character interactions.

 I do like several of the characters.  I feel Marcy and Sadie have a good friendship, even if they do seem to bicker more than I would expect.  I'm interested to see how their relationship grows in future books.  I like that there are two possible love interests for Marcy.  One owns the Brew Crew across the street, the other is a cop.  It will be fun to see how those two play out in future books too.

Overall, I did like the book.  I thought it was a good cozy and I do recommend it to cozy mystery fans.  I'll be keeping my eye out for future books in this series.




 Thanks to the author, Gayle Trent,  and Megan, from Penguin, for providing this book for review.

Tressed to Kill by Lila Dare

#1 Southern Beauty Shop Mystery Series
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 292
Challenges: Cozy Mystery
Author's Website
My rating: 3.5/5

Simple Description: 
Grace Terhune is a stylist at her mother's beauty Salon (run out of her Mom's house).  Things normally go along smoothly, that is until Constance DuBois shows up.  She needs her hair colored before the town meeting that day.  Her blond highlights come out orange (her fault and not the stylest) she threatens to have the shop shut down.  Grace and her Mom find Constance, dead, after the town meeting that day.  All fingers point to the Terhune's because everyone in the small town of St. Elizabeth's knows Constance threatened their shop.

Grace can't just sit back and let her Mom be a suspect for this murder though.  She decides to do some inestigating on her own.  It doesn't help when Grace's ex-husband finds the murder weapon in her Mom's house.   The good thing is that Special Agent Dillon is on the case and he believes the Terhune's are being set up.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts: 
It was a little slow going for me at first.  I liked Grace right away but I think some of the writing was throwing me off.  Sometimes it seemed like sentences didn't make sense or something.  I'm still not sure if it was done to seem like how Grace would talk/think or not though.  Either way, once I got into the book a bit more I didn't notice it bothering me.   I couldn't help but love the woman who are all part of Grace's close group and who work at the salon and want to help find the real killer.  Grace, her Mom Violetta, and Althea are great characters.   This is only the first in the series, but there's a lot of promise for this one and I can't wait to read about these three woman again.

There's one part where a water moccasin is put in Grace's apt and when she notices she says "Ye Gods!"  I just want you all to know that if it had been me, the words coming out of my mouth would not have been appropriate for publication. lol!  My heart went pitter patter just reading about the snake.

psst - don't you just love the cover of the book?  I like the little quote or whatever you call it on the cover too. It says "Bad hair can be murder".

 Thanks to Megan with Berkley for providing this book for review.

A Timely Vision by Joyce and Jim Lavene

#1 in the  Missing Pieces Mystery series
Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 292
Challenges: Cozy Mystery Challenge
Author's Website


Simple Description: 
Duck, North Carolina is a small town.   Sure there are a lot of tourists during the summer months, even even then the crime rate is pretty darn low.  However the residents get a wake-up call when one of the elderly woman who call the town home is missing, and then found dead.

Dae ODonnell is the major of Duck.  She also happens to find the dead body, something she hopes never happens again.  Dae has a special gift, she can find things.  If you are thinking of something you lost, when she touches your hand she can see where it's at so you can find it.   This is the first time she ever found a dead body though.

The murdered woman's sister, Mildred, is the prime suspect and is taken into custody.  Dae knows Mildred didn't do it and she sets out to prove this.  She has the help of a new town resident, Kevin, who used to work for the FBI.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
I think this is a good start to the series.  I can't say I absolutely loved the book, but I did like it.  I did like the characters that I believe the authors want you to like, and some annoyed me, but again I think the authors wanted that.    There's definitely a bit of mystery to Kevin, stuff that happened when he was an FBI agent that I'm sure will come up in future stories. Ok, let me back track for a minute,  I do have to admit that while I liked Dae..something about her did annoy me a bit, but I can't put my finger on what exactly it was.

I do recommend this one to cozy mystery fans.  It was an enjoyable first novel and there is growth for the characters and the town, I'm sure I'll be reading the next in the series when it comes out.



Thanks to Megan with Berkley Prime Crime for providing this book in hopes I would review it.

Death Perception by Victoria Laurie

Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Signet
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 336
Challenges: Cozy Mystery
Author's Website 


Simple Description:
This adventure takes Abby and Dutch to Vegas. Dutch gets a call that his cousin, a man he grew up with and considers a brother, has been kidnapped.  Chase was working security and was in charge of protecting a very rich man in Vegas.  Both have gone missing.  Dutch asks Abby to fly to Vegas with him and use her 6th sense to help locate Chase.   Things go from bad to worse when Dutch's rental car is found - and it's totaled.  A strange girl is found holding his cell phone but when she wakes up she has amnesia.  Dutch is missing.  Then Dutch's FBI boss comes in town to help find Dutch but Abby knows he is trying to steer people in the opposite direction.  Dutch was investigating his boss for murder after all.   With the help of her sister, Cat, and her friend, Candace, Abby tries to find Dutch before he dies.   This is not as easy as it might seem, since the FBI is after Abby.

Now what you really want to know....my thoughts:
Absolutely loved this one!  I think this is my favorite Abby Cooper story so far, and that's saying something since this is one of my favorite series.   Candace is a character full of surprises.  The story itself is full of surprises and goofy.  Vegas was the perfect location for this one, so many off the wall fun stuff happened that would have been out of place anywhere but in Vegas.

I would give this one a 4.5 out of 5 stars.


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.

Farm Fresh Murder by Paige Shelton

Copyright: 2010
Publisher: Berkley Prime crime
Genre:  Mystery
Pages:  281
Challenges:  Cozy Mystery, New Author
New-to-me Author:  yes
Author's Website 

Simple Description:
Becca is running late, as usual, for the local farmer's market where she sells jelly.  When she arrives she finds more activity than usual, the type of activity involving the police.   A new seller to this farmer's market was found dead, murdered.   Becca's friend, Abner, found the body and is currently mia and the police's top suspect.  Becca doesn't think Abner is the murderer, but he is acting funny.  Becca decides that she'll do some investigating on her own, even though everyone warns her not to.

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

I thought this was a good start to a new series.  You can't help liking Becca, even though she is very blunt about asking questions and not very smooth at it.  You know she has the best intentions, even though sometimes you question her choices.

I couldn't help but love the setting.  The story mostly takes place at different farms and farmer's markets. I think I'm not alone when I say that I can't help wish I worked on a farm (even though I know that in real life I would probably go nuts) and therefore reading about it appeals to me.

I think there's a lot of room for Becca to grow and for the series to turn into a great one.  I definitely plan to read the 2nd in the series, whenever it's published.


Thanks to Meghan with Penguin for providing this book for review.

Bundle of Trouble by Diana Orgain

#1 in the Maternal Instincts Mystery series
Copyright: 2009
Publisher:  Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Mystery
Pages:  296
Challenges: Cozy Mystery
New-to-me Author: yes
Author's Website 


 Simple Description: 
Kate and her husband Jeff receive a call from the local medical examiner's office.  Do they know where Jeff's brother, Charlie, is?  Because they have a dead body that was found in the water close to were Charlie's bags were found.   If this news wasn't enough to get them upset, Kate happens to go into labor right after the call is received.  Luckily, they have a healthy baby girl and they find out the body does not belong to Charlie.

The bad news is that somehow Charlie is involved with the murdered man.  When Kate picks up the bags from the medical examiner's office she runs into an old highschool friend, Michelle.  Unfortunately Michelle was married to the murdered man and she feels that her life is in danger as well.    Then Michelle turns up dead, some think it's suicide but Kate knows it was murder.   Can she find the murder and clear Charlie's name? At the same time..can she find a job that will allow her to work from home because she really doesn't want to leave her new baby girl and head back to work.  Could she possible become a private investigator?  Hmmm...maybe she could get paid for digging into this current murder.

 Now what you really want to know....my thoughts: 
I thought this was a fun cozy mystery and is definitely one that I think cozy mystery fans will enjoy.  While I can't relate to the joys (and struggles!) of being a new Mom, I'm sure many of you can relate with what she is going through and how she has to return to work but doesn't want to leave her baby girl.  I think this could be a fun part of the book for most mothers.  For me, it was a bit hard at times but that's due to me not being a Mom yet and going through some personal struggles on that front (which I don't want to bother you all with on a book blog).  I don't think it has anything to do with the actually story, so it shouldn't be something that will turn people off. I mention it only because in a way it did effect how much I enjoyed the book but I also knew it would be a factor when I started to read it.  I probably could get away with not even mentioning that in the review, but at the same time I want to be fully honest with my readers (even though I'm not going to go into the total personal side of why).

Back to the story!

I think Kate is a really fun character. I loved her relationship with her husband, Jeff.  You can't help liking Kate's Mom too (who likes to knit things for the baby..even if the colors aren't always that great).

Kate doesn't always ask the right questions when doing the investigation and finds out info by accident, but that's to be expected since she has never done any of this.  I liked that she was disappointed with how she didn't always get info when she thought she would and felt she messed up interviews sometimes.  To me this just made her situation as an armature detective more real.  I also  think the author had a good mixture of Kate doing the investigating and Kate doing Mom/Baby stuff.

I already have the 2nd book in the series and do plan to read it.  I'm not sure if I'll get to it right away but hopefully I will be the end of the cozy mystery series.   This one, the first, is definitely a good start to a new (to me!) cozy mystery series.


Oh..and I don't have my rating images all figured out yet or anything on my side bar, but if I was going to rate it, it would be 4 out of 5 stars.


 This book is part of my collection and was given to me by my friend Nancy with Bookfoolery and Babble.  I believe she got the copy to review and after she read it she sent it to me because she knows I'm a cozy mystery fan.  Thanks again for the book Nancy!

Cozy Mystery Challenge 2010

I've finally gotten my list together for my own challenge. It only took me about 10 days, nothing like procrastination.

It was a hard list to create actually.  I wanted to try and not double up on any of the books but then when I realized how many books for challenges I needed to read, I quickly decided it was ok to double up on one or two.

Sprinkle with Murder by Jenn McKinlay
Devil May Ride by Wendy Roberts
Death Perception by Victoria Laurie
Murder by the Slice by Livia J. Washburn
A Flicker of a Doubt by Tim Myers
A Vintage Murder by Michelle Scott

As usual, when dealing with lovely me, I give myself the right to make changes to that list as I see necessary.

The Cozy Mystery Challenge Blog can be found here.

Cozy Mystery Challenge - Thanks and wrap-up

Thank you to all who participated in my cozy mystery challenge! From all of your wrap-up posts it sounds like you enjoyed it and the challenge was a hit. Woohoo!

The following have completed the challenge and will be getting their bookmarks mailed within the next couple of weeks. (at least..these are the ones who finished and completed the form...if your name isn't on this list..please complete the form and also either leave a comment or send me an email so I know and can get the bookmark mailed)

Congratulations to:

Diane M.

Karen G.

Yvonne H.

Dorte J.

Gina F.

Carol P.

Janel G.

Candace L.

Stacy S.

Katie G.

Lynda D.

Pamela S.

Ana T.

Now...to those who participated and would like to do this challenge again, I definitely plan to do it agian next year. In fact..I already created a dedicated blog for it. I do have a question for you.

would you like this challenge to:

A) Be the same as it was this year - read 6 books between April - September or

B) Read 6 books but have the challenge go from January - September to give you more time.

Leave a comment and let me know!

Cozy Mystery Challenge - finished form

********Sticky Post - to remain at top******

Did you complete the cozy mystery challenge? If so please fill out this form! If you didn't complete the challenge yet and just want to report the book you have finished for the challenge, please keep scrolling.

If you remember, I promised to send each person who completed the challenge a handmade bookmark. So I am asking you to fill out this form so I can get your full name and mailing address. I promise that nobody else will see this information. If you would prefer to email it to me, that's ok too.

****Bookmarks are created!!!! Yeah!!!!! ****

I updated the form, there is now a question where you are asked to list your bookmark selection in order of most favorite to least favorite. There are 4 to choose from. Please keep in mind that I have a limited number of each one, so you might not get your favorite or second favorite, but you will get one. Each bookmark is just number 1-4.

****To view the bookmarks, click HERE. ****

psst - click on each bookmark for a bigger view

Please also let me know if you would like me to put ribbon on the bookmark. If so, I'll just punch a hole, attach an eyelet, and attach some ribbon that I think goes with the bookmark.

pssst - this is a new form that I'm testing - so if you have problems please bring it to my attention.

Cozy Mystery Challenge

*****sticky post - will remain at top - new posts below*****

Click HERE to see a list of books read in May for the cozy mystery challenge.
If the reader linked it to a review, you will be able to click on the title to then see their review.

As before, it's not required that you fill out the form for the book(s) you read, but it's fun to see what everyone reads.

Please use the form below to enter the book you read for the cozy mystery challenge. Last time there was an issue where it seemed to just take awhile after you hit submit, try refreshing the page and then you can see if it took by clicking here. If it didn't take, try again or just leave a comment or email me and I'll enter it.

Cozy Mystery challenge - coming to an end

It's sad...it's exciting....it's almost the end of my Cozy Mystery Challenge!

I just wanted to send a quick not to remind everybody that you have until the 30th to finish your books - so if you haven't finished the challenge yet - get to it!

After the 30th I'll start mailing out the bookmarks to those who were able to successfully complete the challenge.

Blessed is the Busybody by Emilie Richards

Copyright: 2005
Publisher: Berkley Prime crime
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 262
Challenges: Cozy Mystery challenge
New-to-me author? Yes
Author's website

Simple Description
Aggie and Ed recently moved to a small town in Ohio. Ed is a minister in this small town and while most people like him, there is one lady who doesn't. This is Gelsey. She is an older lady, with lots of money. At first she seemed to like Ed but then suddenly she changed feelings and won't stop at anything to have him removed from his position and forced to leave town with his family.

Then, on the morning that Gelsey and the other society women are supposed to come over to the parish house, somebody deposits a dead body on the front step. Gelsey and the society women find the corpse. Ed is immediately a suspect and Aggie starts asking questions to try and clear his name. Even when the detective tells Aggie that Ed isn't a suspect, she still askes around – because by now she is just plum interested.

Things get worse when Gelsey herself is found dead, and Ed finds her. Now Aggie really wants to know what is going on. Mix in a bit of mystery surrounding Gelsey's past and the first murder victim and you find yourself a fun cozy mystery.

Now what you really want to know…my thoughts:
This is the first in a cozy mystery series. It's also the first book I have read by the author. I thought it was a very good start to a new series. First I want to touch on the subject that the main characters are a Minster and Minster's wife. Not sure if this would turn some of you away or not. Personally, I'm not overly religious. I tend not to read a lot of books that are labeled as Christian Lit or that have a religious theme though. However, it didn't bother me in this book. I thought it was actually a fun twist on Cozy's, it's not one that I've had before (Ie..it's not a baking mystery or a hobby mystery, etc). I think the author used just enough of the minister aspect to be able to call it a "ministry is murder" series but not enough to turn people away. I really liked Aggie, thought she was a great character. I liked Ed as well, even though he isn't in it as much. They had a great relationship. I think there is definitely room for the series to grow, but it's a great start as the first one.

Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Leave me a comment to let me know and I'll link it below.

Sorry, no linked reviews yet.

Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by……Kris

The Missing Ink by Karen E. Olson

Copyright: 2009

Publisher: Obsidian

Genre: Mystery

Pages: 299

Challenges: Cozy Mystery Challenge

New-to-me author? yes

Author's Website

Simple Description:

Brett Kavanaugh moved to Vegas and opened her own tattoo shop. Things seem to be going well until the police come knocking on her door. It appears that she was the last to see a person before that person disappeared. The woman was to wed the son in a rich family and now she can't be found.

Brett is curious as to what happened to this girl and even though her brother is a cop in Vegas, she decides to dig around a little. Even if she wanted to stop, I dont' think she could. Not when a local tattoo artist is wanted for questioning and decides to hide out and only contact Brett when he has something interested or wants to ask her for some clues.

Brett has an exciting couple of days. She is being watched by a big tattooed man, she ends up at an Elvis karaoke bar, and she meets an englishman who might be a lady's man..but he is oh so sexy and she can't resist him.

Now what you really want to know…my thoughts:

This is the first in a new cozy mystery series by the author and I do have to say that I think it is very, very promising. I do like tattoo's so I admit that because she is a tattoo artist that was the main thing that drew me to this book. Oh, and the cover art..Love it! But...the story itself was really really good. Brett was a great character and the type of "person" I think I would get along with in real life. I definitely recommend this book to others and can't wait for the 2nd in the series to be published.

Cream Puff Murder by Joanne Fluke

Copyright: 2009
Publisher: Kensington Books
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 310
Challenges: Cozy Mystery Challenge
New-to-me author? no
Author's website

Simple Description
Hannah is forced to diet and start working out at Heavenly Bodies when she realizes the dress her Mom ordered for her doesn't fit. She needs the dress for her Mom's book launch party in two weeks, and unable to order a new dress. Lucky for Hannah, her sister Andrea works out at Heavenly Bodies and is able to get her a pass and sign her up for the same class she does. After Andrea and Hannah work out one morning, they head to the jacuzzi to relax. Hannah gets there first and notices that it's a mess. When she starts to get into the Jacuzzi she realizes somebody left their clothes in there. However when she goes to get them out…she realizes the clothes are attached to a person…and the person has been murdered. The murdered lady is Ronnie, somebody that is not very popular with the ladies. Ronnie was a big flirt and didn't care if the men were married or not.

Even worse is the fact that Bill, Mike, and Lonnie are pulled from the investigation because they were involved with Ronnie. Uh-oh! Hannah and her sisters are not happy. To make matters worse, they are the top three detectives. So they secretly ask that Hannah investigate the murder and use others to pass notes to her on how she should investigate the issue.

Now what you really want to know…my thoughts:
I thought this was a great addition to the series! I did read a review by Violette over at The Mystery Bookshelf and she didn't like this book very much but this was also the first book she has read in the series. I kept that in mind while I was reading the book and I can see why she didn't like it. If you haven't read this series before, then you don't have a lot of the background info. You don't understand why Hannah is basically dating Norman and Mike. You don't really get the relationship between everyone. You don't understand why Hannah was asked to help investigate. But for those of us who have been reading this series and know this info..the book is really good. Sure, the murder doesn't happen until you reach around 100 pages, but because I love the characters so much, I just don't care. I honestly think I would still read this series even if the author decided not to make them mysteries anymore. I do wish that Hannah would pick between Norman and Mike and it seems like maybe the author will be making that happen soon. It also seems like Norman is proving to be the better of the two, which I like because I think Norman is the best pick. Sorry Mike, you might be hot, but Norman is a better guy (in my opinion anyway).




Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Leave me a comment to let me know and I'll link it below.


The Mystery Bookshelf

Pudgy Penguin Perusals

Lesa's Book Criques

Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by……Kris

Design for Murder by Carolyn G. Hart

Copyright: 1988
Publisher: Bantam Books
Genre: Mystery, 2^nd in the Death on Demand series
Pages: 217
Challenges: TBR challenge (alternate list), Cozy Mystery Challenge
New-to-me author? No
Author's website

Simple Description
Annie Laurence is asked to host the mystery night at the Chastain, SC house tours. She needs to come up with the mystery – basically the who, with what, where, and why. It sounds like incredible fun! However, and there is always a "however", one of the board members really doesn't want this to happen. Corinne Webster is a prominent member of Chastain, one of the wealthiest, and also a total, well, you know what word I want to use. It seems that nobody likes her. She is constantly doing things just to make people mad, or at least that's what it seems like. When Corinne is found dead on the opening night of the mystery night, Annie quickly becomes a suspect. The murder weapon also happened to be the very same murder weapon that Annie had set-up for the mystery nights. Since only one other person is suspected of being the killer, and he is also an outsider, Annie and her fiancé, Max, decide to try and clear her name.

Why did I read this book?
I had read the first book in the series and remember liking it enough to read more in the series, it just took me awhile to actually do that.

What I liked most:
I liked Annie and Max. They work very well together and seem like a great couple. It was fun seeing how they responded to things. I also love that while there was a real murder investigation going on, there is also a fake one. Annie gives you clues on each character and information on the fake one, but not the answer. So if you wanted to you could probably try and solve that one too. She does reveal the murderer to the fake murder at the end.

Was there something I didn't like?
The book appears to pick up almost right where the other book ends. Which is rather confusing since I read the first one in 2006, almost 3 years ago. I know Max and Annie are arguing over something, but had no idea what until I got further along in the story. So that was rather annoying. The other thing is that Annie is always dropping names of mystery authors and characters. Well…while mysteries are my favorite genre I don't read the entire genre and most of the time I had no idea who she was talking about. Haha! I don't think this ruined the book for me, it just made me think either the character or the author was a bit stuck-up because they were always name dropping. Yet..at the same time, since Annie is a mystery bookstore owner – it would make sense that she is familiar with most of the authors and characters.

Do I recommend the book?
Even though there were some things in the book that annoyed me, I do plan to read more in the series and I do recommend this series to others. I think it's a fun cozy mystery.




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Sorry, no linked reviews yet.



Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by……Kris

Murder is Binding by Lorna Barrett

Copyright: 2008
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Genre: Mystery
Pages: 271
Challenges: Read-your-own-books, 1^st in a series, Cozy mystery
New-to-me author? yes
Author's website

Simple Description
Tricia Miles is new to the town of Stoneham in New Hampshire. She operates a mystery bookstore by the name of Haven't Got a Clue. Things are going well until she finds out that her sister is unexpectedly in town. She loves her sister, but the two of them never really got along very well. Then, when her sister insists on seeing the shop, they find that the bookstore next to Tricia's, The Cookery, has a fire. When Tricia goes inside to try and put it out she finds the owner, dead. The local sheriff believes that Tricia killed the woman. To make matters worse a rare book was stolen from the Cookery and is found in Tricia's store. Tricia thinks that Bob, the man who owns the stores and they all pay rent to, is the killer. However Angelica, Tricia's sister, doesn't believe that to be true. Soon the clues point to a guy who is running for a local government position. Tricia goes to the Sheriff with the information she has, but that doesn't work out so well, it just makes the sheriff more determined to put Tricia behind bars. Meanwhile Angelica thinks it's the dead woman's sister who is behind the murder.

Why did I read this book?
I love cozy mysteries and my friend Barbara, who passed away earlier this year, really enjoyed this book and thought I would too.

What I liked most:
You know, it didn't always feel like I was reading a mystery and I liked that. There was a lot going on with Tricia and her employees and her sister. That's what made this book so enjoyable for me. Yeah, I do love a mystery, so I did love that aspect of it, but I also loved the interaction between the characters and all the stuff that was going on. I loved that the story flowed so well and kept my interest.

Was there something I didn't like?
Not really – I was very happy with this book.

Do I recommend the book?
Absolutly! If you like cozy mysteries – I think this is a book for you. If you don't read a ton of mysteries but once in awhile you like a light one, I bet you would like this one too. The second in the series was published earlier this year and I can't wait to read it. I feel like this is a series that I will soon say I enjoy reading as much as I love the Joanne Fluke series.

Oh..and the sister loves to cook and I'm happy to report that there are recipes for some of the dishes in the back of the book. I'm personally interested in trying a couple of them.

This book has also been reviewed by:
Kittling Books

Bibliophile by the Sea

The Book Resort

Have you reviewed this book on your blog? Leave me a comment to let me know and I'll link it below.



Happy Reading and thanks for stopping by……Kris