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Engaging Fall Cozy Mystery-A Perfect Bind by Dorothy St. James-Review

About The Book

Librarian Tru Beckett, ardent defender of the printed word, is about to find out that keeping murder checked out of her beloved library is much harder than she thought…

Tru Beckett succeeded in building a secret book room in her now bookless library, where book lovers from lovely Cypress, South Carolina, can rejoice in the printed word. Now she’s working hard to maintain the little library downstairs while keeping her “real job” upstairs in the bookless technology center. The last thing she needs is a mysterious vandal who seems intent on breaking into her secret book-filled sanctuary and creating chaos. The nasty interloper doesn’t steal anything, but brutalizes the books, damaging them and knocking them off shelves.

A patron of the secret book room tells Tru that there have been creepy goings-on at the library for years, especially in the basement where the secret book room is located. He’s heard rumors of a poltergeist that haunts the library, determined to scare off readers. Tru is certain it’s hogwash, but she’s at a loss to think of who might be vandalizing the beautiful books she fought so hard to protect. And when a dead body shows up right behind the library, Tru is certain that it’s not a ghost but a cold-blooded killer that she and her trusty tabby Dewey Decimal will need to uncover.

My Review

A Perfect Bind is the second book in the Beloved Bookroom Mystery series and my first read in this series. This author’s books are fabulous, once you start you just can’t stop. You have to keep reading til the end to see how it’s all going to play out.
Southern librarian Tru Beckett though young, is the old fashioned type and is appalled at the library she works at in Cypress, South Carolina going bookless. (Say what?) To attract more technological businesses to the town the library goes bookless using digital books and technological resources which ultimately annoys many of it’s patrons especially the older folks.
Librarian Tru “rescues” some of the books destined for the dump and sets up a secret basement book area where patrons can still check out physical books.
The main librarian is strict and by the book but she “doesn’t” know about this secret book area.
Tru’s library cat Dewey is such a big help in her library area but of course she has to sneak him in. Though she works upstairs in the technological area Tru prefers her time with the “real” books, now just not to get caught.
When her special book room is vandalized more than once with her books being tossed about and destroyed it’s more than this poor librarian’s heart can understand.
Add to that when a body is discovered outside the library the creepy going-on’s in the library start piling up. Could it possibly be that poltergeist some of the old timers are talking about.
Sleuthing librarian Tru and her smart tabby Dewey are on the case of uncovering who could have caused the trouble and why. Very engaging book. Fast paced cozy, I really enjoyed it.

Pub Date 28 Sep 2021
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Old books among the autumn leaves under soft sunlight.

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About The Author

Mystery author Dorothy St. James was born in New York but raised in South Carolina. For the past 20+ years, she made her home on an artsy island community in South Carolina with her husband. Though writing has always been a passion for her, she pursued an undergraduate degree in Wildlife Biology and a graduate degree in Public Administration and Urban Planning. She put her educational experience to use, having worked in all branches and all levels of government including local, regional, state, and federal. She even spent time during college working for a non-profit environmental watchdog organization.

Switching from government service and community planning to fiction writing wasn’t as big of a change as some might think. Her government work was all about the stories of the people and the places where they live. As an urban planner, Dorothy loved telling the stories of the people she met. And from that, her desire to tell the tales that were so alive in her heart grew until she could not ignore it any longer. In 2001, she took a leap of faith and pursued her dream of writing fiction full-time.

* Dorothy St. James is the alter-ego of award-winning multi-published author, Dorothy McFalls. She enjoys writing in several different genres. Her works have been nominated for many awards including: Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, Reviewers International Organization Award, National Reader’s Choice Award, CataRomance Reviewers’ Choice Award, and The Romance Reviews Today Perfect 10! Award. Reviewers have called her work: “amazing”, “perfect”, “filled with emotion”, and “lined with danger.”

Books in this series

Do you have a favorite cozy mystery author? Will you be reading this book?

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A Good Dog’s Guide to Murder by Krista Davis-Review

About The Book

The great Gingerbread Dog & Cat House competition has come to Wagtail, along with another murder to solve for Holly and her supersmart Jack Russell terrier Trixie in the New York Times bestselling Paws & Claws series by Krista Davis!

Visitors are arriving in droves to spend Thanksgiving in the mountains of pet-friendly Wagtail, Virginia. Many of them are bringing dog and cat gingerbread houses to enter in the contest that will be held in the new convention center. Wagtail resident Orly Biffle bequeathed the land to the town in his will, provided that they not cut down the grand old oak tree on the property. Orly’s children are mighty miffed that they didn’t inherit the prime piece of property overlooking the lake.
 
Holly notices that Trixie and Twinkletoes, her calico kitty, are fixated on the big oak tree. Trixie barks at it as though she thinks it’s a corpse! Just as contestants are spicing up their sweet gingerbread creations, the majestic tree drops an enormous limb. The mayor declares that the tree is dangerous and must come down. When a bulldozer churns up some roots, the tree falls over on its own accord revealing a body inside the trunk! Initially, everyone suspects this unsavory trick was Orly’s doing. But it soon becomes clear that someone is trying to keep the truth under wraps. Trixie and Twinkletoes now have to help Holly sniff out some suspects and leash a conniving killer.

My Review

This is the eighth book in the Paws and Claws mystery series.
The resident’s of Wagtail,Virginia love pets and many of the visitors to this mountainous town are bringing dog and cat gingerbread houses to be judged in the contest at the new convention center.
Cookies,cookies,cookies. Want a cookie? There are cookies galore being baked in Wagtail this Thanksgiving holiday for the great Gingerbread Dog & Cat House competition but you better make sure your cookie doesn’t have poison in it.
There is another mystery for Holly and her supersmart Jack Russell terrier Trixie to solve. We also get an insight into Trixie’s almost human way of thinking and what she wishes us humans knew. Now that is one smart dog. I’ll have to say my favorite characters are Holly’s, dog Trixie and cat Twinkletoes.
When a dying tree just has to come down a body is found inside encased in concrete.
Holly and Officer Dave do some sleuthing, going through the list of town’s folk who have disappeared and were not heard from again. The accusations begin and the suspect list continues to grow as the story goes on. Surprising ending. This series is great and I look forward to the next in the series.

Pub Date: 06 Sep 2022
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

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About the Author

New York Times Bestselling author Krista Davis grew up devouring Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and Agatha Christie and still loves a good mystery. Krista writes three mystery series.

The Domestic Diva Mysteries are set in Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia. Sophie Winston loves to entertain her friends but she keeps things simple. When it comes to murder, though, this domestic diva knows how to dig up dirt. Recipes and entertaining tips included!

The Paws & Claws Mysteries take place on Wagtail Mountain, Virginia, the premier vacation destination for people who want to travel with their pets. Holly Miller and her German Oma run the family inn in Wagtail, which caters to dogs and cats. Holly’s Jack Russell Terrier, Trixie, and her long-haired calico kitty, Twinkletoes, use their superior noses to sniff out trouble.

In the Pen & Ink series, protagonist Florrie Fox runs a bookstore in Georgetown, Washington, DC by day and is an adult coloring book artist by night. The front and back covers of the Pen & Ink books can be colored!

Like her domestic diva, Sophie Winston, Krista enjoys cooking (okay, eating!) and entertaining, but she’d just as soon leave the cleaning to someone else. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia with an assortment of cats and dogs.

What makes you want to read A Good Dog’s Guide to Murder? Have you read any books by this author? Let me know in the comments.

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Can’t Wait Wednesday

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. 

This week I am looking forward to reading A Book Club To Die for by Dorothy St. James. I have read a few other books in this series and enjoyed them so I’m sure this will be a hit as well.

Pub Date 01 Nov 2022 

About The Book

When a member of an exclusive book club is checked out, spunky librarian Trudell Becket must sort fact from fiction to solve the murder.

The Cypress Arete Society is one of the town’s oldest and most exclusive clubs. When assistant librarian Trudell Becket is invited to speak to the group about the library, its modernization, and her efforts to bring printed books to the reading public, her friend Flossie invites herself along. Flossie has been on the book club’s waiting list for five years, and she’s determined to find out why she’s never received an invitation to join. 

But not long after Tru and Flossie arrive for the meeting, they’re shocked to find the club’s president, Rebecca White, dead in the kitchen. Rebecca was a former TV actress and local celebrity, but was not known for being patient or pleasant. She’d been particularly unkind to the book club’s host for the evening, who also happens to be the mother of Detective Jace Bailey, Tru’s boyfriend. And Rebecca had made it clear that she didn’t think Flossie was book club material.

With her boyfriend and one of her best friends wrapped up in a murder, Tru has to work fast to figure out who cut Rebecca’s story short before the killer takes another victim out of circulation….

Have you read any in this series?

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The Winter Orphans by Kristin Beck-Review

About The Book

A poignant and ultimately triumphant novel based on the incredible true story of children who braved the formidable danger of guarded, wintry mountain passes in France to escape the Nazis, from the acclaimed author of Courage, My Love.

In a remote corner of France, Jewish refugee Ella Rosenthal has finally reached safety. It has been three years since she and her little sister, Hanni, left their parents to flee Nazi Germany, and they have been pursued and adrift in the chaos of war ever since. Now they shelter among one hundred other young refugees in a derelict castle overseen by the Swiss Red Cross.

Swiss volunteers Rösli Näf and Anne-Marie Piguet uphold a common mission: to protect children in peril. Rösli, a stubborn and resourceful nurse, directs the colony of Château de la Hille, and has created a thriving community against all odds. Anne-Marie, raised by Swiss foresters, becomes both caretaker and friend to the children, and she vows to do whatever is necessary to keep them safe.

However, when Germany invades southern France, safeguarding Jewish refugees becomes impossible. Château de la Hille faces unrelenting danger, and Rösli and Anne-Marie realize that the only way to protect the eldest of their charges is to smuggle them out of France. Relying on Rösli’s fierce will and Anne-Marie’s knowledge of secret mountain paths, they plot escape routes through vast Nazi-occupied territory to the distant border. Amid staggering risk, Ella and Hanni embark on a journey that, if successful, could change the course of their lives and grant them a future.

416 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2022 by Berkley Books

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My Review

How far would you go to to ensure the children are safe? As far as you need to. This incredible work of fiction is based upon “the incredible true story of children who braved the formidable danger of guarded, wintry mountain passes in France to escape the Nazis, from the acclaimed author of Courage, My Love.”
A multi main character novel of women who’s stories blend together in harmonious good.
One is a Jewish refugee who along with her young sister are sheltering in a derelict castle overseen by the Swiss Red Cross. Living in fear, having not seen their parents in over three years the sisters do their best to assimilate with the other children refugees. Having been warned the Nazi’s are on the way for the of age children the older sister and her boyfriend want to take the youngest sister with them as they go on a perilous journey over a mountain right as the harsh winter is ready to start. You can feel the pain and tension these characters are going through as the Nazi’s are right on their tail with bullets flying. Running in the dark all night stumbling along, the descriptions are so vivid you can imagine yourself there with these characters.
The other women are just as important as they do whatever is necessary in the unrelenting face of danger to care for and shelter these children putting their own lives at risk. These courageous women take risks that though they jeopardize their own lives if they succeed it will mean a bright future for them.
Very highly recommended!

Pub Date 13 Sep 2022
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

About The Author

Kristin Beck first learned about World War II from her grandmother, who served as a Canadian army nurse, fell in love with an American soldier in Belgium, and married him shortly after VE Day. Kristin thus grew up hearing stories about the war, and has been captivated by the often unsung roles of women in history ever since. A former teacher, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Washington and a Master’s in Teaching from Western Washington University. Kristin lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and children.

Is this a book you would pick up to read? What interests you about it?

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Take My Hand Blog Tour

My Review

A dual timeline taking place in 1973 and 2016, Take My Hand by author Dolen Perkins-Valdez explores the U.S. government’s forceful involvement in involuntary sterilization of mostly poor,disadvantaged,illiterate women of color.
Loosely based on a case in Alabama in 1973 involving children ages 12 and 14 years of age whose illiterate family signed the consent form for this procedure to take place after being lied to about what the paper said that they were signing.
The story is told through the eye’s of a nurse who was involved in the lives of the children and their family beyond typical nurse duties. This gave me a sense of hope and gladness.
The story hurt my heart and made me cry at the injustice done to these children just because they were poor and of color and the government though this would be in their best interest.
A woman’s reproductive choices are her own to make and no one has a right to make them for her no matter her circumstances or age.
In the author’s research she discovered this wasn’t the only case like this, that there were many cases across the country of forced sterilization. This sadly is relevant today as women in California prisons and immigrants coming into our country have had this procedure done to them.
Based on facts this book is one that moved me and will stay with me for a long time. I recommend it to you, it will open your eyes and educate you.

Published April 12,2022.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

Take My Hand Hardcover edition -published April 12,2022- Author Dolen Perkins-Valdez 368 pages -Publisher Berkley

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TAKE MY HAND (Berkley Hardcover; April 12, 2022) reckons with the forced sterilization of Black women, inspired by true events in the 1970s American South, for readers of An American Marriage by Tayari Jones and The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.  

Dolen was inspired to write TAKE MY HAND by a 1973 lawsuit on behalf of Minnie Lee and Alice Relf. The Relf sisters were only twelve and fourteen years old when they were surgically sterilized without their knowledge in a federally-funded Montgomery clinic. At age 29, Joseph Levin—co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center—filed a lawsuit on the sisters’ behalf, shining a spotlight on the 150,000 impoverished victims across the county. TAKE MY HAND is a fictionalized account of this significant event.

Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she hopes to help women shape their destinies, to make their own choices for their lives and bodies.

But when her first week on the job takes her along a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, Civil is shocked to learn that her new patients, Erica and India, are children—just eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black, and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits, that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica, and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.

Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace, and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten. That must not be forgotten. Because history repeats what we don’t remember.

Inspired by true events and brimming with hope, TAKE MY HAND is a stirring exploration of accountability and redemption. 

About The Author

Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of WENCH, BALM, and the forthcoming TAKE MY HAND. *USA Today* called WENCH “deeply moving” and “beautifully written.” *People* called it “a devastatingly beautiful account of a cruel past.” *O, The Oprah Magazine* chose it as a Top Ten Pick of the Month, and NPR named it a top 5 book club pick of 2010. Dolen’s fiction has appeared in The Kenyon Review, StoryQuarterly, StorySouth, and elsewhere. In 2011, she was a finalist for two NAACP Image Awards and the Hurston-Wright Legacy Award for fiction. She was also awarded the First Novelist Award by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Dolen received a DC Commission on the Arts Grant for her second novel BALM. Publishers Weekly writes “Her spare, lyrical voice is unsentimental yet compassionate.” Library Journal writes “No sophomore slump is in evidence here. Readers who were captivated by Perkins-Valdez’s first novel, Wench, will be intrigued by the post–Civil War lives of three Southern transplants to Chicago.” Dolen is an Associate Professor of Literature at American University. A graduate of Harvard and a former University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLA, Dolen lives in Washington, DC with her family.

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