Tied Up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh, Wanda McCaddon

Agatha Troy is on site, painting a picture of Hilary Bill-Tasman ahead of the holiday season. His family and friends and the local villagers are getting ready for the upcoming Christmas season. There is an eccentric group of people joining them at the manor, Halberds, and that includes the servants who are all reformed murderers. There is Hilary's fiancee, a beautiful woman but maybe not much more than her elegance to add to the depth. Also attending are his (honorary) uncle Bert who likes to keep his low-origins accent on full display even though he has made his fortune as well as Hilary's aunt and uncle, Mrs. and Colonel Forrester, the latter of whom is very deaf and the former who has a tendency of not only talking loud but repeating herself. 

Troy is bemused by the servants and amused by the family. On the night of the big celebration, Forrester has a spell and is unable to play the druid around whom the festivities revolve. The Forrester's manservant, Moult, steps in but then disappears. Hilary works to make sure that Roderick Alleyn is the one called in to the case. What the heck, his wife is already on site.

I liked this one and a lot had to do with the narrator. There are a few red herrings but the clues are fairly obvious and the murderer is easy to guess. This is the best of the Troy/Alleyn relationship though the clues are a bit heavy-handed at points.

Four stars

This book came out in 1972

Follows When in Rome

Followed by Black as He's Painted

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Charms & Witchdemeanors by Amanda M. Lee

Once again, it's something in Aunt Tillie's past that is coming to haunt Bay Winchester. This time, Patty Grimes has been poisoned and Mrs. Little has called in the FBI. Normally, that would be fine because Bay would get to see her boyfriend, Landon, but this time a new FBI agent, Noah Grimes, is sent as well. And Noah seems bound and determined to put Tillie behind bars.

Unfortunately, that means that Bay and her cousins are going to have to prove Tillie's innocence. That becomes a problem when more of Mrs. Little's friends start dying.

An interesting story, this one involves Edith, the ghost from the newspaper office. Did all of the pieces fit together neatly? Maybe, maybe not but this is a fun series and they don't really need to in order to enjoy the books.

Four stars

This book came out 

Follows Life's a Witch

Followed by The Trouble with Witches

Borrowed from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

No Words by Meg Cabot

Jo Wright thought that she had had a moment with Will Price but she discovered she was wrong when the best-selling author dissed her (also best-selling) children's series. Now the man responsible for her writer's block is her numero uno enemy. So why would she want to go down to the Keys, more specifically to Little Bridge Island which is close to the man's own private island? Well, a ten thousand dollar writer's speaking fee does help. Plus, it doesn't look like the man himself will be there so she should be safe.

Except that, when she gets to the island, she realizes that the man will be there. In fact, he arrives at the airport at the same time she does. And is greeted by a young woman while she is greeted by a very pregnant librarian (Molly from book 2 in the series.) At first, Jo wants to avoid all of the activities involved with the book festival but her friend Bernie convinces her that it is wiser to attend rather than to let Will drive her off. And, interestingly, in her first interaction with the man, he apologizes (!) Jo is thrown off her game but the more they interact, the more her creative juices start flowing.

Is there a lot of depth in this novel? Actually, a lot in regards to writers (e.g. a discussion on feminist characters in children's literature) but maybe not in Will and Jo's relationship. Is the book still delightful? Oh most definitely. I am so excited that Cabot is starting to recapture the fun and the sense of what is going on in the contemporary world that was a part of the "Boy" series. 

Four stars

This book came out October 12th, 2021

Follows No Offense

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Murder List by Julie Garwood

Regan Madison is a part of the Hamilton family, as in Hamilton hotels. She has a soft heart and a drop-dead-gorgeous exterior. She also has a stalker. While she doesn't recognize it at first, when the realization hits (via a rather graphic photograph of a murdered man that is emailed to her,) she lets the Chicago police know immediately.

Assigned to Regan's case as a punishment for leaving the squad, Alec Buchanan figures at least it's better than answering phones for his last three weeks. What he doesn't expect is to fall in love with this woman. Or that he may have to put his life on the line to protect her. 

I remember liking this book more when it first came out. It is getting pretty dated (one character asks if everyone has started carrying cell phones), and Regan is a little TSTL but still a readable book.

Three stars

This book came out August, 2004

Follows Killjoy

Followed by Slow Burn

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Love, Accidentally by Jaime Clevenger; Aurora Rey

Amelia Stone is not having a great day. She's moving in with a woman she just met, Veronica, and Veronica isn't even in town to help her move. That's okay, she'll make it work. Until a dump truck hits her moving rental and Amelia ends up in the hospital with all number of injuries. Sure, the EMT is cute but her whole world is now upside down. 

Finn Douglas was burned by love, spent a lot of time playing the field, and now is just sort of stagnant. Her EMT partner teases her pretty incessantly. Especially after Finn seems so smitten with Amelia. And then Finn takes charge of Amelia's cat. When she tries to return the cat, Finn meets Amelia's grandmother and they immediately strike up a friendship. Amelia notices this especially since it is in such contrast to how Veronica and her grandmother interact. Eventually, Amelia realizes that Veronica isn't the woman for her but Finn is leery of being a rebound. 

This is a fun love story though there is a lot of drama at the end that wasn't necessarily needed and the relationship does move fairly quickly. 

Four stars

This book come out November 16th, 2021

ARC kindly provided by Bella Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Killer Content by Olivia Blacke

I'm not sure about this series yet but I've got the second one queued up from the library so I finished it and I'm glad I stuck with it because I almost put it down after the first chapter. It was a really big info dump. But it could be an interesting series. 

Odessa Dean is living the high life in New York. Or, sort of. She's housesitting and cat sitting for her aunt who has a VERY nice apartment. But she's also working at a bookstore/cafe and learning about NYC. Before she came to the big city, she lived in the bayou. And boy was that different. (I did appreciate that the drawl wasn't "spelled out".)

One of Dessa's coworkers leaves work one day but then ends up dead. And Dessa starts to investigate because she listens to a lot of true-crime podcasts (cue internal eye roll). Granted, the detective in charge doesn't actually believe it was a murder but Dessa is more on the end of clueless detective and I do really more enjoy the professional but I liked that this was a unique take on a contemporary cozy.

Three stars

This book came out February 2nd, 2021

Followed by No Memes of Escape

Borowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Guild Boss by Jayne Castle

The Vortex saga continues... on another planet in the future. This time, the Jones family is brought in through Gabriel. He's a special sort of Hunter, one who is after a specific person in the book's beginning, Lucy Bell. It seems like she wandered away drunk from a wedding and got lost in the underground tunnels. Her family has put out a big bounty for her and Gabriel is the one to notice that there is a dust bunny showing up to get a free pizza every night. He follows the bunny, Otto, and finds the girl.

BUT, that is just the beginning of the story. Lucy objects to the fact that everyone blames her; in fact, she was drugged. But that's not what makes a good story and she loses her clientele. And she blames Gabriel for that fact because... he left? I guess fiction doesn't have to make sense but this seemed odd for a character who otherwise was fairly level-headed.

Gabriel does come back though. He needs someone with Lucy's particular set of talents and he knows what she can do underground. Plus, he just wants to see her again.

There is a lot going on in this story which, even though it's number 14 in a series, seems to be setting up some new storylines. With all of Krentz's books lately, the endings seem to go on and on as in, you think this is the end of the book but then there's another chapter. And another. I also wish we had seen more interactions with Lucy's family. However, Gabriel and Lucy were both great characters and I liked seeing how their relationship went from rescuer/rescued to equal partners. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out November 16th, 2021

Ghost Hunters #14

Follows Illusion Town

Followed by Sweetwater and the Witch

ARC kindly provided by Berkley and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Audible May 2024