Flowers for the Judge by Margery Allingham

In London, there is a family publishing firm, Barnabas.  There are a number of people working there including cousins: Mike (who always just misses the next big thing,  Ritchie (handsome but intelligent) and Paul (a known liar and bragger who is currently missing but no one seems concerned.There are also some other assorted family members: John (irascible), Miss Curly (seems to know the people she works with rather well), Gina (Paul's American wife) as well as one or two others. Peter Riggett who becomes a witness for the court though he knows more than he was telling. 

One of the cousins is found dead in a locked room. The problem is that the body has been dead for several days; he was not in the room the night before. And it is that point that gets one of the other cousins arrested for murder. It will be up to Campion to solve the mystery. 

This was a well crafted story that was a little convoluted but highly enjoyable. 

Four stars

This book came out February 1, 1936

Follows Death of a Ghost

Followed by The Case of the Late Pig

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible

Opinions are my own

Big Nate: Nailed It! by Lincoln Peirce

Another fantastic book in the Big Nate series. We get to see all of our favorites as they have new adventures. Spitsy has some hiccups in his path to love with Pickles (who turns out to be a decent chess player.) Francis and Teddy continue to be his best friends.  Sherman has a little time outside of his cage. Mrs. Czerwicki continues to monitor the detention room. 

Nate struggles with love when Todd Dunfy has a girlfriend. He also looks for a good luck charm but it quickly goes away. We also get a series of strips where Nate discusses his rather unique hair-style.

Four stars

This book comes out February 28, 2022

Follows Release the Hounds

Followed by Move It or Lose It

ARC kindly provided by Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Body Politic by Catherine Aird

When Peter Corbishley, member of Parliament is heckled during the opening speeches of a battle reenactment, "Why don't you drop dead?" He doesn't but one of his constituents, Allen Shaw, does. The man had asked him for help because he was scared that his mineral company employer is going to force him to go back to a country that wants to kill him after he accidentally killed a pedestrian.

This was another quick listen that was sometimes convoluted to follow but may have been easier if I had read it with my eyes.

Three stars
This book came out in 1990

Follows A Dead Liberty

Followed by A Going Concern

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium Plus

Opinions are my own

Seashells, Spells & Caramels by Erin Johnson

Imogen's scrimped, saved, and lived as simply as possible in order to save up for her dream. She was adopted and has always felt like she was on the outside of life but an unexpected order from her boss for a wedding cake that goes over better than she ever thought gives her just enough money for the bakery she's always dreamed of. 

At the wedding, two people make some very odd remarks about her cake. There are a wink and a nod that Imogen doesn't understand. One of the guests even hands her a flier about a cooking contest. Imogen is confused but she decides to bake for the contest, getting to the point of wrapping her contribution in the flier, just as the instructions say. It's just too bad that her house catches file that night and she is left with nothing. Except that her submission seems to have made it in because she gets instructions on how to get to the baking contest. She is again confused as to how she is able to get there but it looks like Imogen actually has some magic and the baking contest is to become the next chef of a magical world. It seems the last chef died under mysterious circumstances but we don't learn much about that in this story. Instead, the focus is on world-building (which is really well done; enough revealed that we know what is going on but not too much of an info dump) and on the baking contest. 

A really nice start to a new series. 

Four stars

This book came out October 29, 2017

Followed by Black Arts, Tarts & Gypsy Carts

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

I thought I had heard about this book from NPR Best Books but it wasn't on this year's list so It may have been a podcast. The layout of the book is incredible. The first person narrator writes and self-publishes books on how to write books. He starts with laying out the rules from the Golden Age of Detectives and then follows them... to the letter but not necessarily the law.So we see not only the full story of the book but the building blocks as well. And details are deftly woven throughout the book like, "x won't happen for 6 more chapters" or " you won't find out about x until Chapter 27." The ending was a bit fantastical and there were definitely some plot holes but I really enjoyed this book. I have the ebook on reserve to see if the experience of  reading it in print is different from the audiobook. 

Ernest Cunningham, our first person narrator, is meeting his family for a reunion. As it happens in most good mystery stories, everyone there is hiding something. Chapters unfold and we learn that, indeed, everyone in his family has killed someone. We start with Ernie's brother and move on from there as the story moves in and out and all around fulfilling it's own self-prophecies about mystery novels. 

Four and a half stars

This book came out March 29, 2022

Followed by Everyone on this Train is a Suspect

Audiobook borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread January 2024

Sinfully Delicious by Amanda M. Lee

When she was younger, Stormy Morgan wrote a thinly veiled version of her hometown Shadow Hills. It hit the best seller list and Stormy hit the road. She achieved her dream of getting out of town but left her serious boyfriend behind. Now she's back in shame (her second book tanked) and it feels a lot like high school. She's back working at the family diner, she's hanging out with a lot of her same friends, and she's still feeling attraction for the now-sheriff. But he's with someone else. 

Stormy does get to spend some time with her ex when she stumbles across the body of a dead man. Yes, the man was hated by most in town but her grandfather is the one who had an argument with him recently. And her grandfather is the one dodging an interview with the police.

This was an okay story but not the usual level that we get from Lee. The characters are a little thin, the relationship of our protagonist and her ex overlaps with the relationship he's in during most of the book and the magic, have I not mentioned it yet? It's because it's barely there. I'll stick with the next book in this series but may be sticking with the witches of the midwest (which are reference in this book several times.)

Three stars

This book came out April 11, 2020

Followed by Caffeinated Calamity

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns

I liked the cover of this book and figured I should give it a try. I wasn't really paying attention to the story until they mentioned the border of Indiana and Michigan where I grew up. Instantly, I started paying more attention - I know this town!

That wasn't what kept me reading though, instead it's getting to watch Maddy slowly figure out how to be an adult standing on her own two feet. 

As we get to know her, it seems that Maddy has always been cossetted and protected by her colonel father. After her ex dumped her basically at the altar, Maddy is ready for a change. Inheriting her aunt's bakery in New Bison makes for an opportunity to get out of town. Once there, she finds out that she's also inherited a large English mastiff named Baby. But there is also a mystery. It seems Maddy's Aunt Olivia was somewhat expecting that she may die and she's left behind the clues for Maddy to follow. 

The characters are fun. The mystery is maybe a little thin and there are some threads left hanging but I overall enjoyed the book.

Four stars
This book came out August 30, 2022

Followed by Murder is a Piece of Cake

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own