Hello book lovers! My October reading has gotten off to a slow start but I am hoping it will pick up and I’ve started reading e-books too! I have Kindle Unlimited and have found that this is a wonderful way to download the first book in a new to me series for free and I am glad I am finally taking advantage of this perk. Now e-books will never replace hardcover books for me but I am finding by using e-books it has cut down my physical TBR.
Before I share what I’m reading with y’all I just want to take a moment to remember the great Dame Angela Lansbury who died last week at the age of 96. For many she is mystery writer and amateur sleuth Jessica Fletcher from the great cozy mystery television show Murder She Wrote and while I love Murder She Wrote and watch the re-runs she was also a six time Tony Award winning actress, an Oscar nominated actress, and she was nominated for multiple Emmy Awards. If you’ve never seen any of her movies I highly suggest Gaslight (1944) which was her big screen debut at 17, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), The Long Hot Summer (1958) and Death on the Nile (1978) her portrayal of Salome Otterbourne is not to be missed. RIP Dame Angela Lansbury and thank you for leaving me with such great memories and times!
Finished Reading:
No Parm No Foul (A Grilled Cheese Mystery) by Linda Reilly
I really enjoyed this second book in Linda Reilly’s Grilled Cheese Mystery Series. Carly Hale finds herself sleuthing again when the Ferris Menard, owner of the local sub shop is found dead in his restaurant and Carly’s boyfriend Ari Mitchell becomes the prime suspect. I enjoyed the clues that were given and just enough red herrings but not to many to take you in a totally crazy direction. I actually did figure out who the killer was which doesn’t always happen.
This book kept me up late as I just couldn’t put it down! Definitely 5 big STARS!
A Poisoned Season (A Lady Emily Ashton Mystery) by Tasha Alexander
This is the second book in Tasha Alexander’s excellent historical mystery series. I love Lady Emily Ashton who is labeled eccentric by the British aristocracy (even her mom) because she is not interested in finding another husband now that her year of mourning is up but pursues her Greek studies and finds herself sleuthing. This series is set towards the end of the 19th Century. In the second book there is a murder, someone is stealing the jewelry and other things of Marie Antionette that is owned by some aristocrats, nasty rumors about her, and a possible con artist who claims to be a descendant of son of Louis XVI & Marie Antionette. Emily is independent and spirited and while she doesn’t completely rebel against all of society’s rules she still remains firm in who she is. I must confess that I get so caught up with Emily I forget I’m reading a mystery but with everything that is going on and throw in dashing Colin Hargraves who is determined to win Emily’s heart and hand in marriage and you just have a really great read full of intrigue and mystery!
5 HUGE STARS!
Currently Reading:
The Deep End (The Country Club Murders) by Julie Mulhern
This is a new to me mystery series that is set in the 1970s however there are currently 15 books in this series. I discovered this mystery series last year listening to a podcast. This is the first cozy mystery I know of that is set in the decade I was born so I definitely wanted to read this series. I got this first book when it was available for free through Kindle Unlimited.
Book Blurb:
Swimming into the lifeless body of her husband’s mistress tends to ruin a woman’s day, but becoming a murder suspect can ruin her whole life.
It’s 1974 and Ellison Russell’s life revolves around her daughter and her art. She’s long since stopped caring about her cheating husband, Henry, and the women with whom he entertains himself. That is, until she becomes a suspect in Madeline Harper’s death. The murder forces Ellison to confront her husband’s proclivities and his crimes — kinky sex, petty cruelties and blackmail.
As the body count approaches par on the seventh hole, Ellison knows she has to catch a killer. But with an interfering mother, an adoring father, a teenage daughter, and a cadre of well-meaning friends demanding her attention, can Ellison find the killer before he finds her?
Mrs. Claus and the Evil Elves (A Mrs. Claus Mystery) by Liz Ireland
I have waited all year for this third book in Liz Ireland’s Mrs. Claus Mystery series and the day has come and I am headed by to Christmas Town!
Book Blurb:
April Claus is getting an early gift for her second Christmas in Santaland. Her dear friend, Claire, is visiting from Oregon, and April hopes to show off her adoptive country at its cozy, glittering best. But when the annual ice sculpture contest is derailed by a kamikaze drone-deer, it’s just the first in a series of un-festive events…
Drone-deer, created by inventor elf Blinky Brightlow, are none too popular with the genuine, flesh-and-hoof kind, who are currently on strike. With no reindeer games to keep them in shape, Nick worries they may get too chunky to pull his sleigh come Christmas. Now Blinky is missing, his girlfriend, Juniper, is under suspicion, and between rogue reindeer and conniving elves, all of Santaland seems to have gone sugarplum-crazy. Add a dash of murder to the mix, and suddenly April is battling not just to clear Juniper’s name, but to save herself from being put on ice — permanently…
Next:
The Pint of No Return (A Sloan Krause Mystery) by Ellie Alexander
I was not a big fan of the first book in this series by Ellie Alexander but I am one who likes to read the second book in the series because the first book is usually establishing the characters and world building plus Ellie Alexander is an author whose books I’ve never read until this year when I read the first book in her extremely popular Bakeshop series which I really enjoyed. Having said that I am hoping that the second book clicks for me. What I do like is that the author sets her book in the real town of Leavenworth, OR and this second book takes place during Oktoberfest.
Book Blurb:
No other festival compares to Oktoberfest in Leavenworth, Washington. The whole town is buzzing with excitement over this year’s activities and eagerly awaiting Nitro’s latest offering Cherrywizen, made with locally sourced cherries. But local brewmaster Sloan Krause is tapped out. Between trying to manage the pub, her pending divorce with Mac, and her mounting feelings for Garrett, she’s fermenting in internal turmoil.
To complicate matters, dreamy movie star Mitchell Morgan and his production crew have arrived in the village to film during the authentic Bavarian brewfest. Mitchell has his eye on Sloan and a taste for Nitro’s Cherrywizen. Sloan escapes his advances for good when she finds Mitchell slumped over the bar. Is this a case of one pint too many, or has Mitchell been murdered by microbrew?
A Sprinkle in Time (A Shake Shop Mystery) by Dana Mentink
Yes that’s right a milkshake mystery is on my Fall TBR because it takes place in fall I mean milkshakes are not just for summer people.
I so enjoyed the first book in this series and I am looking forward to reading this second book in what I hope will be a series with long life.
Book Blurb:
It’s Alpenfest in Upper Sprocket! Yodelers are congregating in the square, tourists flocking to the town, and Trinidad Jones is scooping up some fall flavors at her Shimmy and Shake Shop.
The cherry on the sundae is her upcoming feature in The Scoop magazine. She’s determined to serve up the perfect interview, but it won’t be easy, thanks in part to her meddling Cuban grandfather Papa Luis who has decided to make Sprocket his home for the foreseeable future. Papa Luis has set himself up as a taxi driver in his classic 1951 Buick.
But things take a turn when Papa Luis tells her he’s found a corpse in his trunk. Upon closer investigation, they realize the body has disappeared. With the assistance of Juliette and Bonnie (her sisterhood of exes) and the way too handsome nut farmer Quinn Logan, Trinidad must solve the mystery of the disappearing corpse, before her father is up to his neck in a murderous mess.
Regina the Southernista 