A Midnight Puzzle by Gigi Pandian

Tempest Raj finally figures out the mystery of her mother's death in this book. It's not particularly fairly clued and I wish we had gotten to know the twists a little bit more (trying to be cryptic here...) but I enjoyed the ride.

Tempest has bought the old Whispering Creek Theater, the one where her mother disappeared from. She should be rejoicing but she is worrying about Julian Rhodes. Her family did some construction on his house and now he's suing them. So when she gets a phone call to meet him at the theater at midnight, she is less than ecstatic. When she arrives, Julian is dead. Apparently dead from a contraption that stabbed him through the heart. A note, in her handwriting, is on the door. 

We see more of Tempest and quite a bit from her mentor in this book. 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out March 19, 2024

Secret Staircase Mystery #3

Follows The Raven Thief

Followed by The Library Game

ARC provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano

Vero and Finlay ended the last book missing someone important to them missing and they want to get that person back. To that end, they are heading to Atlantic City. They say it's for a girls' trip but somehow Finlay's children, mother, and ex-husband all end up coming along. 

They get to Atlantic City and meet the loan shark, but it all goes downhill from there. They're unable to make a deal and then the loan shark ends up dead. But how are they supposed to handle this situation? Especially when Finlay's sister and boyfriend show up on the scene.

These books are so well plotted with all of the pieces fitting together nicely and the ending come to a nice knot but still with a bit of a cliffhanger. There is always some disbelief of suspension that goes just a little too far for me but an overall nice read. Definitely read the other books in this series first. 

Four stars

This book comes out March 5, 2024

Follows Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun

Followed by Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian

Tempest Raj is settling back into working for her family's construction company. They've just finished a basement for the newly single Lavinia. She's ready to banish the spirit of her ex-husband, Corbin Colt, the famous mystery writer. He's still alive... at least he is at the beginning of the book. 

Lavinia hires Tempest's friend (?) Sanjay to hold a seance. She invites her book club as well as Tempest. Tempest's grandfather also comes along. It is during the seance that a body lands on the table. But... they are in a locked room. Interestingly, the person the police look at as having the most motive is Tempest's grandfather. So it will be up to her to solve the mystery and get her grandfather out of jail before he can cause any more trouble. 

Four stars

This book came out

Follows Under Lock & Skeleton Key

Followed by A Midnight Puzzle

Borrowed as hard copy from library

Opinions are my own

Murdle by G. T. Karber

This is a really interesting idea, turning a number of logic puzzles into a series of short mysteries. And the logic puzzles are already built into the book which is wonderful, if you have the print book. 

Four stars (printed book)

This book comes out June 13, 2023

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Take the Lead by Alexis Daria

This book is a re-release but feels incredibly fresh. 

Gina Morales is one of the experts on a television dance program. She has been on the show for awhile but has never won. She needs to come out on top so that she can stay on the show. Hopefully she gets matched up with someone famous. Well, he sort of is.

Stone Nielsen became famous when his family with eight siblings was scouted for a reality show when they lived in the wilderness. He hates it. But he needs the money to help pay for his mom's surgery so... more reality television. 

While their show handler feels different, Gina does NOT want to have a showmance. First, she wants to be taken seriously as a dancer and second, she doesn't want to perpetuate the myth of Latinas being oversexed. But she is fiercely attracted to Stone and they start a romance behind the scene.

What happens if their personal time together becomes public? How will the chips fall?

A little too much of a big misunderstanding at the end, just too much drama but overall a fantastic book.

Four stars

This book comes out February 14, 2023

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Bones of Holly by Carolyn Haines

Sarah Booth is Bay St. Louis, MS getting ready for the holiday season. While shopping, they come across Janet Malone and Sandra O'Day throwing merchandise at each other in a book store. And this is right after Sarah Booth has told Tinkie that the two are going to be part of the panel of judges for the town library's Christmas tree contest. Even though the two write in different genres (Malone does sexy thrillers and O'Day does nonfictions), they have a well-known feud that is front and center that has been going on since the nineties. 

On the night that Sandra is throwing a big party, she and her assistant, Daryl, go missing. Janet hires Sarah Booth and Tinky to find out what is going on. Is their disappearance linked to the feud with Janet or to the house that Sarah has recently bought? After all, it was built by Al Capone and there is a rumored treasure somewhere on the grounds. 

The overall story was fine but felt a little flat compared to some other books in the series. We get to see all of our favorite friends 

Three and a half stars

This book comes out October 11, 2022

Follows Lady of Bones

Followed by Tell-Tale Bones

ARC kindly provided by St Martin's Press and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Lady of Bones Carolyn Haines

A blast from the past arrives on Sarah Booth's doorstep when Frankie, a friend of her mother, comes to ask for help finding her daughter. Christa is a journalism student who is trying to find her roommate, Britta. They were both looking into a cult that promises the Fountain of Youth. 

In order to find out where the two women went, Sarah Booth will have to travel to New Orleans. Luckily, she can bring Coleman along with her and he will investigate as well. 

We get glimpses of many of the usual side characters (CeCe, Tinkie, Maylin) but they don't feature as heavily as usual. Jitty was a little much in this book but I think regular readers will enjoy this book. 

Four stars

This book comes out June 14, 2022

Follows Garland of Bones

Followed by Bones of Holly

ARC kindly provided by St Martin's Press and Edelweiss

Opinions are my own

Under Lock & Skeleton Key by Gigi Pandian

Five years ago, Tempest's mother disappeared during a magical illusion involving water. Their family's magic tricks usually involve water and it has been true that, for the last five generations, the oldest child has died under mysterious circumstances. It is known as the Raj family curse. Lately her life hasn't been so good because her last magic trick went wrong and now life is even worse because her body double (don't call her an assistant), Cassidy, has been found dead, hidden behind a wall in the house her father's construction crew is managing. 

There is a lot going on this story and I really liked the writing but the mystery just got a little too convoluted for me. 

Three and a half stars

This book come out March 22nd, 2022

Follows the The Raven Thief

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Not the Witch You Wed by April Asher, April Hunt

Violet Maxwell is in town for her sister's Witch Bond Announcement weekend celebration (engagement party). Not just her sister, one of her triplet sisters. So when she tries to bow out of some of the celebration with slightly younger sister Olive and they are then caught by Rose, she does feel some guilt. And that compounds the guilt she feels by not picking up her grandmother's place as the Prima Witch. Luckily, Violet was born a dud. No magic whatsoever. She still decides to go skiing with her sisters, even though she's not very good. In fact, she encounters Lincoln Thorne as she's laying in the snow after having fallen over while standing in place (it's not that hard to do, really...) While she doesn't recognize him, he sure as heck recognizes her. He's happy to see her and his Wolf (Lincoln's the Alpha of NAP, the North American Pack) is even more so because he's had a lot of downs in his life recently. He's trying to make it so that all shifters are on more equal footing but there is one particular man, Rose's fiance in fact, who is trying to undo all of his work. He also has a limited time before his thirty-third birthday. If he doesn't have a mate by then, he either has to step down from the Supernatural Council or accept a mate chosen by the Elders. He's also trying to dissolve the Elders but that's a whole other story. He's not quite resigned to fate but the chance of finding a partner who satisfies both he AND his animal are practically nil. 

Through mistakes and a lot of accidental relationship building, Violet and and Lincoln do end up together.  

There is a LOT of world building and so the first couple of chapters really do read like an info dump and that doesn't really even out but I still enjoyed the read. I'm tracking some of the characters for my own benefit because... there are a lot. 

Adrian -- Lincoln's friend, lion shifter

Vi's best friends -- Bax, Guardian Angel -- Harper, succubus coworker at Potion's Up, magic themed bar, Vi brewmaster, virgin, host of radio show Sexy Talk with Savannah They also work together at the Kid Command Center (B&GC for supes?)

Four stars

This book came out February 8, 2022

Followed by Not Your Ex's Hexes

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones

Jones's series often deal with heavy issues but with whacky twists and truly unusual situations. This book is no different. The wackiness is maybe starting to veer a little too far for me but I still highly enjoyed the character building in this book as well as the overarching story. Auri could have been a little quieter but we keep being told that Sunshine was a handful as a child and therefore deserves a child who is just as wild. Though maybe not quite so death-defying. 

Sunny just needs one day off. But she's not going to get it in this book. She is now counting on both hands the number of people who claim to have killed Brick Ravinder, the man who kidnapped Sunshine when she was a teen. Even his brother, in a prison in Arizona, is getting in on the action. And in the middle of all this, she might be developing some feelings for her best friend. Well, she's at least considering it.

Of course, her daughter Auri isn't sitting quietly by either. She's been cleaning out her granparents' attic and discovered a ream of old newspaper articles referring to mysterious disappearances in town. And Auri thinks she knows who is behind it...

Four stars

This book comes out July 27th, 2021

Follows a Bad Day for Sunshine

Followed by A Good Day for a Hangover

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver

Electra McDonnell knows that her upbringing wasn't exactly traditional. Raised by her uncle with her three male cousins, she is nearly the last one left at home since the boys have gone off or are soon leaving to fight in WWII. So she and her uncle are carrying on the family business. It's just too bad that their latest job has them caught for thievery. Except that very handsome man, Major Gabriel Ramsey, offers them a way out of jail. Electra will have to help him retrieve a set of blueprints that will help them win the war. She's not expecting to stumble across a dead body. Nor can she believe the deeper plot that she is being drawn into.

This was a good start to a mystery series. Electra is coming into her own as women's roles are changing rapidly. I do like the Amory Ames series a little bit better but mostly because I dislike the love triangle trope so very much and Weaver is definitely teasing it here.

Three and a half stars

This book comes out May 25th, 2021

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Independent Bones by Carolyn Haines

Sarah Booth is back again. Her partner in their investigative agency, Tinkie is about to give birth and there's a professor of Greek studies with a decidedly feminist bent in town who is stirring up... everyone. At a talk that Alala Diakos is giving, the local prototypical wife abuser calls her out and it causes a scene. Then Sarah Booth finds a gun that was pointed at Alala while she was speaking. But the professor is not the one to die, instead, she becomes the prime suspect in the abuser's murder. It doesn't help that she's been linked to at least two other murders where the man was similarly of the mind that women belonged in the kitchen. 

Sarah Booth will have to be careful because it seems that there is a group getting together who aren't afraid to use any means possible to make sure that their idealized vision of history becomes everyone else's present. And she is setting herself right in their sights.

I think these books have always been a little preachy but this one is even more so. It's a topic that I agree with but was fairly heavy-handed. I am happy that Tinkie had her baby and look forward to seeing how this changes (or maybe doesn't) the dynamic between our protagonist and one of her best friends.

 

Three stars

This book comes out May 18, 2021

Follows Garland of Bones

Followed by Lady of Bones

ARC kindly provided by St Martin's Press and Edelweiss

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

A Garland of Bones by Carolyn Haines

It's Christmas and Sarah Booth is off on a trip with her friends. They are going to Columbus, MS to stay in a B&B and participate in a series of Christmas activities. Columbus seems very much like her own hometown with it's gossip and cliques. However, someone seems to have a grudge against this particular group with little accidents adding up to big mischief. An electrocution, some cement being dumped in a car, a fall down the stairs... as things escalate, it seems obvious that someone is going to die if the perpetrator is not stopped. 

Sarah Booth is not impressed by this group. It is filled with people only concerned with their own pleasures and images. But one of them offers the Delaney Investigators a big check if they can figure out what is going on.

This story was a little confusing with betrayals on betrayals and there were a few things that were repeated a little too many times but this was overall a fun story that I think regular Sarah Booth Delaney readers will enjoy.

Three stars
This book came out today
Follows The Devil's Bones

Followed by Independent Bones
ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own 

A Deception at Thornecrest by Ashley Weaver

Hugely pregnant, Amory Ames is just ready to give birth. She is suffering through the planning of the local festival. She does not need a young woman showing up claiming that Amory's husband Milo is also her husband. Even despite their rocky past, Amory is willing to wait until Milo can be reached before she passes judgment. And it's a good thing that she does because it turns out that Milo is, indeed, innocent. It's actually a shadowy figure from his father's past is the person who provides the explanation.

Unfortunately, that is not the end of their troubles when a local stable boy is killed at the festival and more than one person declares that it must be murder.

The mystery in this one was maybe a little disappointing but it needed to be set up that way to introduce a new character. I don't believe that most Amory Ames fans will be disappointed.

Three and a half stars

Follows A Dangerous Engagement

This book comes out September 9th 

ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

In the Shadow of Vesuvius by Tasha Alexander

The book opens with a body. Emily and her husband Colin have traveled to Pompeii with their friend Ivy and they are the ones to discover that one of the bodes is from rather more recent times than nearly 1800 years ago. Their friend Jeremy also shows up as does someone from Colin's past, someone who will change the course of Emily's life.
Regular readers of the series will probably enjoy the book; we get alternating stories between Emily and a woman from before Vesuvius erupted. We also have the normal sort of mystery that you would expect from a Lady Emily story though the surprise that changes Emily's life will definitely be a sticking point for some readers (as it was for me.)

Three stories
This book came out January 7th
ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own.

A Dangerous Engagement by Ashley Weaver

Amory and Milo have crossed the Atlantic to attend her friend’s wedding. Tabitha Alden was a schoolmate of Amory’s but she returned to New York after her mother’s death. Her father lost a lot of money in the stock market crash but he seems to have recouped his investments, at least if the car that picks up Amory and Milo is anything to go by.
They get to Mr. Alden’s house and meet the rest of the wedding party: Tabitha’s fiancé Tom who seems to have no past beyond four or five years ago; Jemma Petrie, a friend of Tabitha’s and the only other bridesmaid; Rudy Elliot, a friend of Tom’s who is in marketing, most recently for a salad dresssing, his father was one of the men who committed suicide after the crash; and Grant Palmer, a confident man who is rumored to be in with the mob. In a quiet moment, Tabitha confesses to Amory that she believes that Grant is trying to lure her father into the mob business. When Amory overhears the two men talking, it seems they know each other better than they pretend.
Amory also witnesses Tom fighting with Grant; it seems Tom doesn’t want his past to come up again. But that could be for any reason, really. Perhaps he thinks his Midwestern past won’t fly with the high social group that is the circle Tabitha moves in.
And with Grant being the most unpleasant person in this book, it isn't hard to believe that he’s the one who ends up dead, shot several times outside the Alden house. Milo and Amory are dragged into the underworld.
Another great book in the series.

Four stars
Follows An Act of Villainy
Followed by A Deception at Thornecrest
ARC kindly provided by St. Martin's Press and NetGalley
Opinions are my own