Spring by Janis McCurry and Lynn Mapp

I hadn't read any of The Matchmaker Chronicles before but the premise always sounded like a good one and I thought the cover of this was really cute. Even though this is book four, I didn't feel lost about characters even without an info dump. I was even a little disappointed that it seemed like this was the end of the series.

Matchmakers Maggie and Rina are flummoxed. They've been asked to help Christie find a husband... but not for love. Instead, she wants to get her hands on shares of a medical supply company that her uncle is threatening to sell off but she wants to keep it in the family (as well as make sure that their employees still have a job).

The man she's decided to match herself with is one of Rina's sons who needs the money to develop a gaming theater which sounds REALLY cool. 

Both Christie and Aaron were very mature and I really wish that there had been a little more conversation between the two of them but were some other stories competing for page space. Maggie has her own B plot with a man named Joe who is a world traveler but seems to be settling down. It was nice to see. There was also a side plot of a waitress meeting a wealthy man who is hiding who he is that would have been nice as its own book.

Three stars

This book came out March 18th, 2021

Follows Winter

ARC kindly provided by Mapp & McCurry LLC and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Truth About Lies by Aja Raden

This is an incredibly readable nonfiction book that looks at the lies people tell and why we believe them. Raden discusses several stories that actually overlap with another book on lies that I read recently but comes at them differently. The stories themselves are interwoven with information about why it is so easy to believe them, even when we see proof of "the truth" right in front of our own eyes. And more startling, even when people come out and SAY that they've been lying, people will refuse to believe it.

Four Stars

This book comes out May 11th, 2021
ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Hen of the Baskervilles by Donna Andrews

Caerphilly has started a local Un-Fair to help fill the gap left by the local State Fair (and to fill their city coffers). Part of the fair is also in Clay County. So is the dead man. At least partially. While he wasn't a prime specimen (never helping his wife; now cheating on her), it wasn't necessary to kill the man. Unless he was somehow connected to the thefts and vandalism that are threatening to close the fair. And then there's the added aggravation of the Clay County deputy who is dead set on sticking his nose into every aspect of the case.

Good thing Meg Langslow is on hand to help figure out exactly what was going on.

Three and a half stars

Follows Some Like it Hawk

Followed by Duck the Halls

This book came out July 16, 2013

Audiobook borrowed from Libby 

Opinions are my own

Reread August 2023

Some Like It Hawk by Donna Andrews

The town of Caerphilly is in trouble. The ex-mayor has mortgaged the town to the hilt and taken off with all of their money. One town clerk, Phineas Throckmortion, has managed to barricade himself in the basement of the courthouse for almost a year and a half (with the help of a secret tunnel and several townsfolk.) 

However, a vice-president of the Evil Lender has just been found dead in that same basement and it seems like Phineas is the only man who could have done the job.

Three stars

This book came out June 17th, 2012

Follows The Real Macaw

Followed by Hen of the Baskervilles 

Audiobook borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread August 2023

The Father Hunt by Rex Stout

Lilly Rowan is a good friend of Archie's. One day, her secretary, Amy, asks Archie if he (not Nero) can help track down her father, a man whose name she never knew. Archie demurs, saying he only works for Nero and that Nero is very expensive. Well, Amy comes up with the money to pay Nero's salary and the boys are off on a case that tracks back twenty years and overlaps with the death of Amy's mother.
A good Nero Wolfe book. 

Three stars

Follows Death of a Doxy

Followed by Death of a Dude

This book came out May 28th, 1968

Audiobook borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

A wealthy man has died. Since he was ill for so very long, no one thinks much of it. Except his youngest sister, who declares at the reading of his will that he was murdered. Still, no one thinks much of it until the sister herself is murdered. It is then that everything is turned topsy-turvy and it's up to Poirot to come in and untangle this web and figure out what really happened and why.

The solution to this one ends up being a little convoluted but it is a really good story with characters that you start to care about.

Three and a half stars

Follows Mrs. McGinty's Dead

Followed by Hickory Dickory Dock

This book came out in March 1953

Hard copy borrowed from library

Opinions are my own

Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn

Daisy Dalrymple is breaking the barriers of the 1920s by striking out on her own (rather than marrying) and becoming a reporter/photographer (though, don't tell her editor because he doesn't believe women can take pictures.) Her first assignment takes her to Wentwater Court where the tensions are running somewhat high between the family as the father has remarried. His three children are having trouble getting used to their stepmother, especially since she is only a year older than her oldest stepson. To make matters worse, Lord Stephen Astwick has been invited to their house right after the Christmas holiday and he is making decided advances toward the stepmother while the daughter of the house seems to be obsessed with him. Lord Astwick all seems to be an oily snake. So it should not be a surprise that he ends up dead. Daisy and one of her old acquaintances are the one to find him floating in a hole where ice used to be.
Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher is called in and immediately appreciates the help that Daisy is able to give him. She is levelheaded and insightful, able to provide a clear picture of everyone at the party as well as seeing things in her photographs that aren't necessarily available to the naked eye. 
This was a nice start to a cozy series. Daisy seems smarter than the average amateur; not rushing into danger, sharing her evidence with the professional. I think I've read this series before and eventually she grated on my nerves but I can't remember why so I'm going to continue listening.

Three and a half stars

Followed by The Winter Garden Mystery

This book came out in 1994

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Premium

Opinions are my own