It’s time for another First Line Friday, hosted at Reading is my SuperPower. Grab the book closest to you and list the first line(s) then return to Reading is my SuperPower and visit other blogs to see everyone else’s posts.
The book I’m featuring today is:
The first line:
On the doorstep of Rose’s house, Annie smooths out her coat and straightens her scarf before gripping her cane again.
+ABOUT THE BOOK
Grannies, gangsters, murders—and a rollicking journey across France!
It’s January 4, 1961, and Marseilles housemaid Annie Malian is in love. It’s also the day her fiancé René takes his life under peculiar circumstances.
Many decades later, an old Christmas postcard addressed to Annie arrives, and all her doubts come flooding back.
At 84, there’s no time to waste!
Annie enlists the help of Rose Tassy, an eccentric retired teacher and amateur sleuth.
Thus begins an unforgettable journey from Provence to a quaint village in Picardie and then on to the sparkling Riviera, with a detour through wintry Paris.
Amid yuletide festivities, Annie and Rose navigate perilous terrain. Their list of suspects quickly grows. Was it Rene’s older brother? Maybe the ex-gangster turned chicken farmer? The powerful Monegasque tycoon?
Stumped, Rose begins to question her detective mettle when a new death compounds the plot…
This Christmas, will Annie receive the overdue truth as a gift?
332 pages St. Martin’s Paperbacks publisher August 22,2023 publish date
ABOUT THE BOOK
In Nine Lives and Alibis, the seventh in Cate Conte’s Cat Café beloved cozy mystery series, Daybreak Island is gearing up for Halloween—but this year it seems like it’ll be all tricks and no treats.
It’s October in Daybreak Harbor, which means everything Halloween. The town is going all out for the holiday, hoping to one-up the festivities in neighboring Salem, Massachusetts, and Maddie James is delighted to be part of the planning for the annual happenings.
But trouble brews when Maddie’s youngest sister, Sam, books a famous medium, Balfour Dempsey, to come to town for the celebrations and stay in the local haunted inn—along with his equally famous black cat. The town busybody books a secret reading with Balfour and doesn’t want anyone to know why. Maddie’s best friend Becky is hell-bent on getting Balfour to help her solve two 40-year-old mysteries—a murder and a missing maid. And the psychic has a stalker who’s followed him here to the island, demanding he connect with her dead husband.
When Balfour is pushed off the cliffs behind the inn to his death and his beloved cat goes missing, it throws the whole town into a frenzy. And Maddie and her family find themselves in the middle of a murder mystery straight out of a Halloween movie.
MY THOUGHTS
Nine Lives and Alabis finds us in Daybreak Island, Mass. The little island town is hoping to one up its neighbors in Salem, Mass who everyone goes to see for all their Halloween scares.
This year Daybreak Island is hosting a Halloween Festival better than any of the previous years. A famous medium, Balfour Dempsey has come to stay at the reportedly haunted hotel. While there he is being asked to try to solve two cold cases from forty years ago, a murder and a missing maid.
I enjoyed the New England setting, as we spent time there this Fall including Salem, Mass.
When another murder occurs, the whole town is in an uproar and Halloween festivities are the last thing on their minds. Past and present come to mingle in the case being solved.
Maddie runs a cat cafe and takes in strays and gives them the best care. She and her cat JJ also solve cases together and she’s on the job here finding the murderer and discovering what happened to his cat.
Surprising twists and turns I sure didn’t see coming. I enjoyed all the Halloween descriptions from the decorations and foods to the pet costume parade to all the festivities at the haunted hotel This is a series I’ll continue reading.
Pub Date: 22 Aug 2023 I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
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. Find out more here.
I am featuring a book in the Bakeshop Mystery series by Ellie Alexander. I’ve read most of the books in this fun series but do need to catch up on a few. I just love the covers as well. The covers on these cozy mysteries are so appealing and they have such clever titles.
336 pages February 24,2024 publication date St. Martin’s Press Paperbacks
ABOUT THE BOOK
Another delicious installment in the Bakeshop Series set in Ashland, OR!
The mountains are calling in Ashland, Oregon, where pastry chef turned amateur sleuth, Jules Capshaw, is baking up a bevy of spiced curry buns and chai cookies for a moonlit snowshoe tour. Ramiro’s family is visiting from Spain and Jules can’t wait to take them up to her beloved Mount A with its charming and rustic lodge, backcountry trails, and star-filled skies that stretch for miles. Their winter wonderland adventure is nothing short of magical and the merry party opts to return to the slope the next day for the Downhill Dummy.
The annual competition is a favorite amongst snow lovers. Contestants strap makeshift dummies to skis and send them hurling down a death-defying ski jump in hopes of catching big air. The team at Torte is in the mix this year with their own replica of a tiered cake and a baker who closely resembles their fearless leader. It’s a fun and festive atmosphere as dummies sail past the crowd to huge cheers and applause. Until one of the dummies takes a deadly detour and lands atop Fitz Baskin.
Fitz is a guide on the mountain and his icy dealings have made for frosty relationships with everyone he encounters. Suddenly there are more suspects than snowdrifts as Jules dives into the investigation. She unearths a web of secrets and motives that threaten to shake the rustic mountain lodge to its core. Can she catch the killer before they strike again, or will the truth be buried forever under fluffy layers of fresh snow?
Have you read any books in this series yet? Thanks for stopping in. May your day be blessed with goodness.
Things are getting spooky in Catch Me If You Candy, the next delicious installment in the Bakeshop Series from author Ellie Alexander, set in Ashland, Oregon!
Halloween has arrived in picturesque Ashland, Oregon, and all of the ghouls and goblins have descended on Main Street for the annual parade. It’s a giant street party and Torte is right in the mix.
Jules Capshaw and her team have been baking up autumn delights and trick-or-Torte bags filled with sugar cookie cutouts, spiced cider, and mummy munch. It’s the end of the season at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which means that the costumes for the parade are going to be out of this world. The elaborate guises even extend to pets. The grand marshal of this year’s parade is no other than a regal pug aptly named King George. Jules is delighted to get to share the experience with Carlos and Ramiro, but things take a dark turn when she discovers a dragon slumped in front of the bakeshop.
Jules is distraught when she realizes the dragon is dead. She’s also shaken because a few days before the parade, her mother’s Mahjong partner Helen discovered a warning note about a dragon in an antique game set. Jules hopes it’s just a random coincidence, but as the clues begin to unfold it becomes evident that there’s been a murder on All Hallow’s Eve. Can Juliet sift out the truth before the killer comes after her?
MY THOUGHTS
Catch me if You Candy is the seventeenth book in the Bakeshop mystery series. I haven’t read all of them but have read quite a few.
Ashland, Oregon is the home of Torte, the bakeshop owned by Jules Capshaw. She and her bakers are busy firing up the ovens almost around the clock with all the Halloween treats everyone wants. Taking a break to run some goodies to her mother’s weekly mahjong party an ominous note is found in the ancient board game set bought at a thrift store.
As the end of the Shakespearean season settles upon Ashland, the town gathers around a Halloween parade costumed adults and children alike enjoy attending. When a slumped over dragon, the same one talked about in the mahjong game note is found dead in front of her bakeshop, Jules is devastated.
With clues piling up faster than the Halloween candy the trick or treaters are clutching in their grubby hands, who can you trust? Is anyone telling the truth or will this one be all tricks and no treats?
Cleverly written with a great plot and lots of descriptive Autumn cheer this is the perfect book to settle in with on a cold Fall night with your hot cup of coffee or tea.
Pub Date 22 Aug 2023 I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
THE AUTHOR
ELLIE ALEXANDER is a voracious storyteller, a lover of words and all things bookish. She believes that stories have the ability to transport and transform us. With over thirty published novels and counting, her goal is to tell stories that provide points of connection, escape, and understanding.
She loves inhabiting someone else’s skin through the pages of a book and is passionate about helping writers find their unique storytelling lens. As a writing teacher and coach, she guides writers in crafting the story they’ve always wanted to tell while navigating the path to publication that’s right for them.
Find out more about Ellie, her books, and writing courses by visiting her online:
Well, a few weeks ago we traveled to the New England states and Vermont was one of the states we went to. The book takes place in Fall and has vivid descriptions of the rural countryside and colorful leaves, just what we saw on our trip. I was able to perfectly visualize it.
Game hunting is very popular this time of year in such a rural area of Vermont. In fact, it’s such a big deal the locals even have an annual wild game supper at Guild Hall. Then the long-time organizer and taste tester of the event drops dead. He is the one who determines who can participate next year if he like’s your food or not.
As the suspects pile up like the fallen leaves no one can be ruled out at this point. In this continuing series Stella finds the victim has made many enemies over the years by shunning hunter’s game offerings and volunteers at the dinner find themselves run ragged to cater to the overwhelming number of guests.
Well plotted this was a solid mystery that pointed in the direction of a lot of suspects and a surprise twist ending.
Pub Date 14 Nov 2023 I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Author of the critically acclaimed Marjorie McClelland Mysteries, Amy Patricia Meade is a native of Long Island, NY where she cut her teeth on classic films and books featuring Nancy Drew and Encyclopedia Brown.
After stints as an Operations Manager for a document imaging company and a freelance technical writer, Amy left the bright lights of New York city and headed north to pursue her creative writing career amidst the idyllic beauty of Vermont’s Green Mountains.
Now residing in Bristol, England Amy spends her time writing mysteries with a humorous or historical bent. When not writing – which is rare these days – Amy enjoys traveling, testing out new recipes, classic films, and exploring her new home.
Amy is a member of Sisters in Crime and The Crime Writers Association.
296 pages October 26, 2021publish date St. Martins Paperbacks
ABOUT THE BOOK
Getaway With Murder is the first in a cozy series from Diane Kelly set in a lodge in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where secrets hide behind every hill.
As if hitting the half-century mark wasn’t enough, Misty Murphy celebrated her landmark birthday by amicably ending her marriage and investing her settlement in a dilapidated mountain lodge at the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains. With the old inn teetering on both a bluff and bankruptcy, she must have lost her ever-loving mind.
Luckily, handyman Rocky Crowder has a knack for rehabbing virtual ruins and for doing it on a dime, and to Misty’s delight, the lodge is fully booked on opening night, every room filled with flexible folks who’d slipped into spandex and ascended the peak for a yoga retreat with plans to namastay for a full week. Misty and her guests are feeling zen—at least until the yoga instructor is found dead.
With a killer on the loose and the lodge’s reputation hanging in the balance, Misty must put her detective-skills to the test. Only one thing is as clear as a sunny mountain morning—she must solve the crime before the lodge ends up, once again, on the brink.
After having just read A Trip with Trouble, the second book in the Mountain Lodge mystery series I was more than ready to read this one, the first in the series. Who says you have to read a series in order, right?
We once again find ourselves in the scenic Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina with middle aged Misty Murphy. She’s finally doing something for herself, she’s ended her marriage and bought a rundown lodge that’s slowly being repaired.
Excited that her first big group has come to stay at the lodge she’s doing all she can to make them comfy during their stay including having scrumptious meals brought in from the restaurant next door. The group staying is here for a whole week of relaxation on a yoga retreat. Sun salutations are part of their yoga and meditation but when the leader is unable to be found one bright and sunny morning to lead the class the others start to worry. When she is later found dead at the lodge, speculation starts to run rampant with no Zen moments here.
Could one of the yoga students have gotten tired of her bossy and stuck on herself behavior enough to kill her or was it a random outsider? As the clues start to collect, we see Misty working hard to get this solved along with the police, so her lodge won’t get a bad reputation.
What a great plot this is. I loved the characters and the setting. I am now on my way to read the last book in this series.
Pub Date 26 Oct 2021 I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A former tax advisor, Diane Kelly inadvertently worked with white-collar criminals. Not surprisingly, Diane decided self-employment would be a good idea. Her fingers hit the keyboard and thus began her Death and Taxes white-collar crime series. A graduate of her hometown’s Citizen Police Academy, Diane Kelly also writes the hilarious K-9 cop Paw Enforcement series, the Busted female motorcycle cop series, the House Flipper cozy mystery series, the Southern Homebrew moonshine series, and the Mountain Lodge Mysteries.
Find Diane online at http://www.DianeKelly.com, her Author Diane Kelly page on Facebook, and on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and TikTok at @dianekellybooks.
I wish you a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping in.
If you’re anything like me, you have lots of books in your reading pile that you haven’t read yet. Books that you’d love to get through, but you just keep adding more and more books to that pile and soon they are forgotten about. Books from the Backlog is a great way to feature those books and hopefully move them up on your reading list.
THIS WEEK’S NEGLECTED BOOK
Pub Date 28 Sep 2021
ABOUT THE BOOK
There’s nothing like autumn in picturesque Goosebush, Massachusetts, but beneath the season’s sun-dappled foliage, Lilly Jayne and her Garden Squad must investigate a shadowy murder mystery after a theater owner’s sudden death sows as much drama behind the scenes as on any stage…
Lilly Jayne typically spends the harvest season baking festive pies and crafting colorful wreaths to enter in the library’s annual fundraising contest. But this year, autumn opens on a somber note when beloved local theater owner, Leon Tompkin, dies unexpectedly. His memorial sets the scene for a mini reunion of The Goosebush Players’ best and brightest alumni, including Hollywood star, Jeremy Nolan…until someone plucks Jeremy from the spotlight, permanently.
Now, as dedicated theater volunteer, Scooter McGee, falls under suspicion, Lilly and her Garden Squad must spring into action. They quickly discover a cornucopia of potential suspects in Jeremy’s murder. Was it an embittered ex…or a jilted lover? A rival thespian…or an overly ambitious artist? Lilly rakes through the piles of clues, but if she doesn’t uncover the real killer soon, more than autumn leaves will be dropping in Goosebush…
WHY I ADDED IT TO MY LIST
2021 is the year I started reading cozy mysteries. You might say, I went a little crazy and requested too many from NetGalley. Never too many books though, right? Slowly working my way through my cozy pile.
What about you, have you read this one? Would you read it?
When the owner of a local candy store is murdered, librarian Minnie Hamilton and her rescue cat, Eddie, prepare to find the sweet spot to solve a crime.
The charming town of Chilson, Michigan, is beautiful in the spring, and the bookmobile is delivering great reads far and wide on one of the first warm days of the year. But a chill sweeps through when they discover that one of their favorite patrons, the owner of Henika’s Candy Emporium, has been found murdered. Although Minnie can’t understand who could have had a motive to murder such a kind man, she decides that the sticky problem isn’t hers to solve.
However, when rumors start flying around town and the police have no leads, Minnie decides to throw her investigative hat into the ring. The more Minnie investigates, the less certain she is that the victim’s past is as wholesome as his reputation. But Minnie has plenty of experience unearthing inconvenient truths, and she and Eddie won’t rest until they determine how the victim met his bitter end.
My Thoughts
I was so excited to see a new book in one of my favorite cozy mystery series, this is number 11 in the Bookmobile Cat series. If you love cozies, bookmobiles, libraries and cats this one is perfect for you.
A kindly older gentleman, owner of a candy shop in Chilson, Michigan is murdered. The police don’t seem to be solving it quickly enough so Bookmobile driver and librarian Minnie Hamilton and her rescue cat, Eddie, are once again on the case of another murder.
Giving his meow of approval or disapproval Eddie isn’t just the cutest library cat for children to cuddle he’s there in the middle of it all. The series is consistently interesting with its twists and turns and red herrings thrown in.
I was easily pulled into the story and could visualize it well. The characters are easy to follow and likable. Minnie and her fiancée don’t seem to be in a hurry to plan their wedding but I’m hoping we’ll see that in the next book.
Pub Date 01 Aug 2023 I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
About The Author
Laurie Cass grew up in Michigan and graduated from college in the 80’s with a (mostly unused) degree in geology. She turned to writing in the late nineties. After a number of years in management, she felt the need to move on and took a job with fewer responsibilities. A month later, she was dead bored and began to consider writing as a way to wake up her brain. She started reading a lot of books on writing and happened across a particular sentence: “What’s it going to be, reasons or results?”
The phrase practically stuck her in the eye. She printed it out, framed it, and put it next to her computer. “Reasons or results?” At the end of her life, was she going to have a pile of reasons for not having done anything? Or was she going to sit down and write a book? Once she started looking at it that way, the decision was easy. A short 13 years later, her first book was published.
Currently, Laurie and her husband share their house with two cats, the inestimable Eddie and the adorably cute Sinii. When Laurie isn’t writing, she’s working at her day job, reading, attempting to keep the flowerbeds free of weeds, or doing some variety of skiing. She also writes the PTA Mysteries under the name Laura Alden.
Have you read this author yet? What are your favorite types of cozy mysteries to read?
Have a peaceful day and thanks for stopping in today.
316 pages August 8, 2023 publication date Berkely publisher
About The Book
The murder of a political bigwig at a Honey Bee Tea sends Theodosia Browning buzzing for answers in this latest installment of the New York Times bestselling series.
Theodosia’s Honey Bee Tea was an elegant affair set in Charleston’s new Petigru Park amid newly planted native grasses and a community beekeeping project. But when a phony beekeeper shows up and sprays toxic smoke at the guests, the party erupts in chaos. Worse yet, a shot rings out and Osgood Claxton III, candidate for state legislature, falls to the ground—dead.
Holly Burns, the gallery owner who asked Theodosia to cater the tea, is understandably heartbroken. A man is dead, her guests are angry and injured, and the paintings that were on display are left in tatters. When the police don’t seem to have a clue, when old-line politicos don’t want questions asked, Holly begs Theodosia to run a shadow investigation and help restore her gallery’s good name.
Between hosting a Wind in the Willows Tea and a Glam Girl Tea, Theodosia questions everyone that had a bone to pick with Claxton. This includes Booker, an angry outsider artist; Lamar Lucket, Claxton’s political opponent; and Mignon Merriweather, the dead man’s soon-to-be ex-wife. But the investigation becomes a political hot potato following a second murder, the revelation of a messy affair, a chase through a swamp, and a vandalized shop.
I will have to say I’ve bought many books by this author, haven’t read them all yet but have read quite a few of them. I drink a lot of tea, iced and hot and love the setting of this cozy mystery series taking place in a teashop.
Theodosia Browning owns a quite popular teashop in Charleston, South Carolina. Aside from running a teashop she seems to call amateur sleuthing her second calling. Murder always seems to find her or perhaps she finds it. In any case there is a murder during a private tea party at her Indigo Tea Shop on Church Street.
It’s a honeybee themed tea party complete with yellow bumblebee decorations and honey filled foods. When a “beekeeper” shows up at the party the guests think it’s part of the entertainment, but this “beekeeper” has other things on his mind when he smokes out a guest with noxious gas and they wind up dead. You will be kept buzzing along as you piece together all the clues thrown at you, many which will throw you off track as you think you’ve solved it, but it turns out to be a dead end.
Very entertaining and well-paced cozy mystery. I’m satisfied with this book. Don’t forget to read to the end of the book as there are delicious sounding recipes, interesting facts about tea and a fun list of things to do when visiting Charleston, South Carolina.
Pub Date 08 Aug 2023 I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
About The Author
Laura Childs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Tea Shop Mysteries, Scrapbook Mysteries, and Cackleberry Club Mysteries. In her previous life she was CEO/Creative Director of her own marketing firm and authored several screenplays. She is married to a professor of Chinese art history, loves to travel, rides horses, enjoys fund raising for various non-profits, and has two Chinese Shar-Pei dogs.
Laura specializes in cozy mysteries that have the pace of a thriller (a thrillzy!) Her three series are:
The Tea Shop Mysteries – set in the historic district of Charleston and featuring Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop. Theodosia is a savvy entrepreneur, and pet mom to service dog Earl Grey. She’s also an intelligent, focused amateur sleuth who doesn’t rely on coincidences or inept police work to solve crimes. This charming series is highly atmospheric and rife with the history and mystery that is Charleston.
The Scrapbooking Mysteries – a slightly edgier series that take place in New Orleans. The main character, Carmela, owns Memory Mine scrapbooking shop in the French Quarter and is forever getting into trouble with her friend, Ava, who owns the Juju Voodoo shop. New Orleans’ spooky above-ground cemeteries, jazz clubs, bayous, and Mardi Gras madness make their presence known here!
The Cackleberry Club Mysteries – set in Kindred, a fictional town in the Midwest. In a rehabbed Spur station, Suzanne, Toni, and Petra, three semi-desperate, forty-plus women have launched the Cackleberry Club. Eggs are the morning specialty here and this cozy cafe even offers a book nook and yarn shop. Business is good but murder could lead to the cafe’s undoing! This series offers recipes, knitting, cake decorating, and a dash of spirituality.
Have a fabulous day and thanks for spending time here today.
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