Deadlock Catherine Coulter

An old foe rises from the shadows when Marsia Gay decides that she wants revenge on Savich for putting her in jail. She has an intricate plan that includes sending puzzle pieces to him at the FBI. One of the agents in another unit recognizes the puzzle pieces as a small town she used to live in and is immediately borrowed and sent to the town.
Also happening in this book, Rebekah Manvers, wife of a Congressman, is invited to a seance. There, the mystical Zoltan tries to convince her that her grandfather wants her to remember an old poem and dig up a treasure that Rebekah never believed was real.
The book was incredibly twisty and turny with plot points that are just nuts. However, if you've read other books in the FBI series, you know what to expect. You can possibly even predict a large portion of the ending just based on the way characters are described. But that doesn't mean that the book is any less fun.

Three and a half stars
Follows Labyrinth

Followed by Vortex
This book comes out July 28th
ARC kindly provided by Gallery Books and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Murder by Dianne Freeman

Frances may have just gotten engaged but she doesn't want to announce it until her sister's wedding has occurred. But her sister, Lily, and Lily's fiance have news that puts the wedding in jeopardy. Frances's fiance (unknown to anyone but herself) steps in and offers his brother's country house. Having it at the estate means that the wedding can now be a full-on house party. Something that should satisfy even Lily and Frances's social-climbing mother.
But all is not well with the guests. There are accidents happening to everyone, both the guests and the staff. And Lily seems to be overly enamored of her fiance's friend rather than focusing on her fiance. When the friend ends up murdered, it's up to Frances to help save not only the wedding, but her sister as well.

Three and a half stars
This book comes out July 28th
Follows A Lady's Guide to Gossip and Murder

Followed by A Fiancée's Guide to First Wives and Murder
ARC kindly provided by Kensington and NetGalley
Opinions are my own

The Devil's Bones by Carolyn Haines

For regular Haines readers, I don't think you will be disappointed. The main mystery was really intriguing but fell apart a bit at the end when an old enemy (rather awkwardly added to the story) shows up again. Characters' story arcs are moved along and the writing is just as good as always.
Sarah Booth is visiting a new B&B in a nearby town to celebrate Tinkie's new pregnancy. The B&B is near the Palestinian Gardens, a 20-acre piece of property that is set up to be a miniature version of the Holy Lands and Tinkie wants to attend the sunrise Easter service. Too bad their exploration of the gardens is marred by the discovery of the local ambulance chaser. And, as can be expected from a mystery story, there is more than one person who wanted him dead with the lead suspect being the handsome bachelor of the town.

Three stars
This book comes out July 27th
Follows Game of Bones

Followed by A Garland of Bones
ARC kindly provided by Macmillan and Edelweiss
Opinions are my own

The Inheritor's Powder by Sandra Hempel

I can't remember where I heard about this book but it looked interesting. And it sort of was. It's a microhistory about arsenic and how forensic science was formed to determine whether someone had been poisoned. The whole story is framed around the poisonings of the Bodle family.
The beginning started off well with a narrative history of when the Bodle family became ill. The story was interesting and it was a nice introduction to the topic. But the middle got bogged down a bit as the science part was introduced and the pacing of the story changed and then the switching back and forth between the story of the family and the story of the science kept up the different pacing.

Three stars

This book came out November 3rd, 2014

Borrowed this from the library

Opinions are my own

Paradise Cove by Jenny Holiday

Being a female doctor is tough. It's a hard world to break into and then there are all of the hours you have to work. That doesn't really make it conducive to having a relationship. Even if you're dating another doctor. Especially if you walk in the door and find said other doctor screwing a resident on your couch. Even more disheartening is realizing that the past few years of your life have been directed by your ex.

Dr. Nora Walsh is dealing with ALL of that. She sees a notice that there is an opening for a small town doctor in Paradise Cove and she decides to take the position but her plan is just to stay for two years, pay off her student debt and save for a house that she can share with her sister. She's not looking for a forever home or a forever love.

For his part, Jake Ramsey is barely even looking for someone to grunt in the general of. He lost his infant son to the flu and his marriage imploded soon after. He barely even wants to talk to the friends he's had since childhood. His life is all about helping out around town and that's what leads him to be one of the first people to meet Nora. They share a pretty intense experience and then... start hanging out. Nora gives him sympathy but not too much and not too little. She's the Baby Bear of sympathy. 

From the beginning, I was really hoping that a particular plot line wouldn't pop up. But it did. While Holiday is an entertaining writer and I am very much looking forward to Maya and Law's story, the end of this book was just a little to fraught to feel like there was a concrete resolution.

This book comes out July 28th

Follows Mermaid Inn

Followed by Sandcastle Beach

ARC kindly provided by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Witch Hunt by Cate Conte

When the book opens, Violet Mooney is having an ominous feeling, like this just isn't going to be a good day. But her yoga class goes well and the coffee shop visit with her best friend is helping until Carla Fernandez stalks in and accuses her of planning a seance. Violet feels blindsided. And an interaction with an unusual woman at her store doesn't help. The woman claims that she wants a reading but her aura doesn't match the statement. Her day goes sideways when she finds out that Carla has been murdered and Violet's own scarf was found nearby. At the police station, her life goes off the rails when her mother, missing for twenty-seven years, shows up with a sister, Zoe, that Violet knew nothing about.
This is a first book so there are some things that are a little thin like the development of Carla's character, the developing relationship with Carla and her mother as well as her sister, and all of the other people in town that are being set up to be in further books in the series. But overall, a cute book.

Three stars
This book came out June 30th, 2020

Followed by Witch Trial
Book borrowed from library
Opinions are my own

Death Metal by Nova Nelson

Nora is still figuring out what it means to be a Fifth Wind witch. While hanging on the porch with her crush, a possible romantic moment is interrupted by a ghost who's death has been called a suicide but she knows she was murdered. And now Nora thinks so too. So she's off on another mystery.

It seemed like there was an equal amount of time spent on the mystery and the will they/won't they with Tanner and Nora. Dear God there was so much back and forth in Nora's mind about Tanner. I'm going to read the next book in the series but I'm really hoping that it's not going to be more of that because it just makes Nora seem supremely wishy-washy and that is not the character we're seeing in the rest of the book.

Three stars
Follows Crossing Over Easy
Followed by Third Knock the Charm

This book came out June 19th, 2018

Borrowed as an audiobook from the library

Opinions are my own