Devil May Care by Elizabeth Peters

I love the cover description of this book. Accurate but misleading... in the best possible way. Not unlike Elizabeth Peters. Who created a fun book. Not necessarily haute literature but definitely worth a read nevertheless; it ages remarkably well and the narrator is fantastic.
Ellie is on her way up to house sit for her rich, eccentric aunt. Also in the car, her asshat fiance, Henry. The vivid description of Henry's thoughts perfectly describe his character. He starts out seeming like an all-American and, well, we also see the flip side of getting that dream. 
We get great descriptions of all of the characters but not as much insight as we get into both Henry and Ellie. We learn that Ellie's aunt is going on vacation and Ellie is staying to watch the many, many animals. Except that she also sees something else. Of the six prominent families in the area, Ellie sees ghosts related to five of them. And starts wondering why. Thankfully, the lawnboy, and a descendant of one of the families, Donald, is there  to help.

Three and a half stars
This book came out in 1977
Audible book
Opinions are my own

Legend in Green Velvet by Elizabeth Peters

I have been ripping through audiobooks of Elizabeth Peters' standalones. Most of them hold up really well with humor and awesome, feminist heroines. This is not one of the better ones but it did have the rampant history involved and echoes of the other books that have held up better to the inevitable tramp of time.
We are following along with Susan, an archeological student who has gotten the lifelong opportunity of being able to go on a Pictish dig in Scotland. She's just arrived in the country when she meets a busker/doomsday prophet/revolutionary who gives her a coded note and then ends up dead. Luckily, she runs into Jamie Erskine, a laird who takes her under his wing. And it's a good thing they are together because someone is looking for a treasure and they are not above framing Susan and Jamie for murder in order to get what they want.
The sexism of the time that Peters usually avoids is pervasive in this book (though not as bad as the Jackal's Head which I couldn't even finish) I did enjoy Grace Conlin as the narrator. Two and a half stars rounded up.

Three stars

This book came out March 1st, 1976

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Slight Mourning by Catherine Aird

Usually the admonition is not to have thirteen people sit down to dinner because one will die. In this case, it was only twelve but one is still dead. In fact, the host was killed by a large overdose of drugs. Then another guest, the amiable but fat (like seriously, her weight is mentioned a LOT) Mrs. Marchmont is killed as well. It is up to Inspector Sloan to come in and figure out what is going on.  
There were a lot of characters and it was sometimes hard to keep track of who was who. And, to be honest, the solution seemed to come a little bit out of nowhere, even with the explanation at the end. But I still enjoyed the character development as well as the ride to get to the end.

Three stars

Follows His Burial Too

Followed by Parting Breath

This book came out in 1975

Ebook borrowed from Audible

Opinions are my own

Mystery at the Masquerade (, #3) by Josh Lanyon

Ellery Page is settling into his new home town and running the local bookstore. He might be a little disappointed that the romance he thought he had going with Police Chief Jack Carson seems to have cooled into a friendship but this small town has been welcoming. He's got a Scrabble night, a book club, and an invitation to the yearly Marauder's Masquerade. The party is thrown by a local founding family who still wield a lot of influence and money, the Bloodworths. There is mother, Marguerite, her younger (and philandering) husband Brett, and son Julian.
Not sure why he was invited, Ellery soon discovers that Julian has a massive crush on him, based on Ellery's past as a movie star. Ellery is bemused by his overtures but not as amused when the two stumble across a body in the family crypt. When Julian is arrested for the crime, Ellery is conscripted to help find the truth.
I hadn't read the other two books in this series but didn't feel like I had missed very much. The mystery in this story is given some short shrift with a B plot feeling a little underdeveloped. The flow of the story was also sometimes stilted but this was overall a light story with engaging characters (I was invested in Jellery (is that a thing?) from their first scene together.

Three stars

Follows Secret at Skull House

This book came out February 28th, 2021

ARC kindly provided by JustJoshin Publishing, Inc. and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Death by Intermission by Alexis Morgan

I hadn't read any of the other books in this series but I didn't feel that I needed to. There was a lot of information in this book (some of it was said repeatedly) so we got a good idea of most things without needing to have read the rest of the series. Abby was maybe a little foolhardy but she did communicate with the police a lot so at least it wasn't that. The end was a little bit "I figured it out because now you're trying to kill me!" but overall a good book.
Abby is really starting to settle into her newly adopted town even being one of the organizers of the outdoor movie and picnic nights. Yes, she's stumbled over some dead bodies in the past but she's made it through and even has a good friendship (possibly more) with her tenant. Too bad there's another dead body found in the woods during the clean up. And it's really, really too bad that her mother's new boyfriend has been implicated.

Three stars

Follows Death by Auction

This book came out January 26th, 2021

Borrowed as ebook from CloudLibrary

Opinions are my own

Blitzen's Fated Mate by R.E. Butler

I had heard about this book on the Smart Bitches Trashy books website. They gave it an F+ for just pure nutsiness and I loved the review. 
Honestly, I don't think Elyse's review can be beat so the TL;DR is that the shifter in the "Blitzen position" falls out of the sky and meets his fated mate who he more or less immediately starts boning.

Two and a half stars

Followed by Dasher's Fated Mate

This book came out February 29th, 2016

Kindle book

Opinions are my own

Hope at Christmas by Nancy Naigle

Sydney Ragsdale is grateful that she has her grandparents old house to retreat to after her divorce. It is cold and drafty but full of good memories. She has a job that will start in a few weeks and she hopes that her daughter, Ray Anne, will be happy there. Sydney is especially excited to have a part-time job at the local bookstore run by Bea. 
Kevin "Mac" MacAlea loves Hopewell. It's the reason he moved back here to be a teacher at the high school as well as a baseball coach. He's raising his son on his own after the boy's mother just walked out. So far, he's not feeling like he's missing anything. But he does see Sydney and figures he can always help a new neighbor learn to love his town too. 
There was a Big Incident at the end which seemed a little overwrought to me but otherwise was a good book. I also wished we had gotten to see a little bit more of Sydney and Mac's relationship since the book ended more or less at the beginning of a relationship.

Three stars

This book came out October 10th, 2017

Hard copy I didn't keep

Opinions are my own