Hello to all my cozy mystery lovers and fellow book lovers! I hope this second week of April is going well for everyone. It looks like April is going to be a great reading month for me and possibly better than March.
I must admit I was struggling at the beginning of the month trying to figure out what I wanted to read for the month of April. While many of my favorite book bloggers, Book Tubers, Bookstagrammers, and those I follow on Facebook were creating Spring/Easter TBRs I just wasn’t feeling this particular TBR. Then inspiration struck and I decided to create a TBR in honor of the upcoming coronation of King Charles III so for this month and next month my TBR will be full of cozy mysteries set in the United Kingdom and I have plenty of cozy mysteries that are set in England but I plan to add some set in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Wales and Northern Ireland is going to be a little tricky because I am not familiar with any cozies set in these countries so if you have any suggestions please drop them in the comments.
Until Next Time!
Finished Reading:
So I kicked off the month reading Buried in a Bog (A County Cork Mystery #1)by Shelia Connolly which was a wrap up my St. Patrick’s Day TBR for March, a great way to kick off April and the inspiration for my new TBR for April and May! I gave this book 4 huge stars! Maura Donovan is in Ireland after the death of her beloved grandmother who made her promise to visit her hometown of Leap, Ireland. I found this cozy with little mystery. There was a murder but I felt it was secondary to the story and the real story was about Maura trying to find her place in the world after the death of her grandmother. Maura is pretty much an orphan with the death of her grandmother her father died when she was a child and her mother abandoned her. In Ireland Maura connects with one of her grand’s childhood friend and starts to learn about her grandmother’s life in Ireland. She finds family and she inherits a pub and home! This was such a great book!
The next book I read was The Thursday Murder Club (Thursday Murder Club Mystery #1) by Richard Osman. I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about this first book in this series and it will be coming to a movie theater near you soon but I think it would work better as a television series. This was the first mystery I’ve read with multiple points of view from each person in the book. Trigger warning there is a suicide the book. The Thursday Murder Club is made up of 4 retirees in there 70s set in a luxury retirement village. It took me a while to really get into the story I was about quarter into the book before the story grabbed me and I was able to connect with Elizabeth, Joyce, Ron, Ibrahim and the police officers but once I got into the plot I was hooked and couldn’t put it down. I liked that they weren’t just sitting in a nursing home waiting to die but were very active and alert seniors who were still forces to be reckoned with. If you are a fan of Midsommer Murders and other British mysteries you are going to love The Thursday Murder Club.
Currently Reading:
I am finally reading Her Royal Spyness (A Royal Spyness Mystery #1) by Rhys Bowen this is a very popular cozy mystery series and it has been on my to buy list forever! There are currently 17 books in this very popular series and I can understand why! This book is set in the 1930s and our amateur sleuth is Lady Georgiana (Georgie to friends) 34th in line to the British throne and completely broke! So far I am hooked and it is hard to put this book down! I was up until almost 1:00AM and again if not for work I would have probably read into the wee hours. Georgie is so much fun and while trying to make her way as a penniless aristocrat by trying to find a job that will not bring scandal to the family especially making sure Her Majesty doesn’t find out and trying to avoid being married off to a dull Romanian prince she is now being called on my the Queen to spy on her son the Prince of Wales. A murder hasn’t happened yet but when it does I can’t wait to see how Georgie finds the murderer.
I’ve put Murder Takes a Selfie by Shannon Symonds on the back burner but I do plan to go back to it and hopefully finish reading it this month.
Up Next:
Looking forward to reading the first book in Agatha Frost’s Peridale Cafe cozy mystery series Pancakes and Corpses and the second book in her Clare’s Candle Cozy mystery series Black Cherry Betrayal although if I’m honest I really want to read the second books in Rhys Bowen’s Royal Spyness series and Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series but I am still under the illusion that I can shrink my TBR and not add to it.
Regina the Southernista 