Cozy Mystery Book Tours: Final Sentence

Author: Daryl Wood Gerber
Title: Final Sentence
Publisher: Berkley
Publish Date:   July 2, 2013
Review Copy Provided By: Net Galley
Blurb:In need of a change, Jenna Hart leaves the high-pressure world of advertising to help her aunt, Vera, open a culinary bookshop and café. Back with her family in Crystal Cove, California, Jenna seems to have all the right ingredients for a fresh start—until someone adds a dash of murder.

As a marketing expert, Jenna wants to make sure the grand opening of the Cookbook Nook draws a crowd, and no one is better at getting attention than her old college roommate, celebrity chef Desiree Divine. But when Desiree arrives in quiet Crystal Cove to do a cookbook signing, the diva stirs up more trouble than business… especially when she turns up dead.

Known for stealing husbands and burning bridges, Desiree left behind plenty of suspects —including Jenna. Though the celebrity’s life always appeared to be an open book, Jenna will have to read between the lines in order to clear her name, and catch a killer before another body is served cold.

Review: Final Sentence is the first book in a new series by Daryl Wood Gerber and it is a great beginning. In fact, I can find very little about this book that isn't great! The cover is so adorable! And the story is fantastic.

I love Jenna and her aunt Vera who are running the Cookbook Nook bookshop and cafe. And all the other characters are just full of...well...character!

Some characters who will catch your eye are, Pepper...the chief of police's mother and a very nasty woman. Cinnamon, the police chief...who has ties to Jenna's dad, Katie...the chef at the bookshop...Rhett....can you say love interest...(we hope) and of course our dead person Desiree and her entourage!

The flow of this book is perfect. There's enough get to know you information about everyone to make you feel at home in Crystal Cove and the killing happened pretty early on so things stayed interesting.

I also loved all the celebrity chef's that were mentioned in the book as well as their cookbooks. It made me want to put on the Food Network and watch some of my favorite shows.

The best thing about the mystery is how Daryl keeps you guessing until the end about the killer's identity.

This is definitely a series I'm going to be keeping up with. Oh and the recipes look fab!

Rating: 5 flowers

DARYL WOOD GERBER aka AVERY AAMES pens the Agatha Award-winning, nationally bestselling Cheese Shop Mystery series. As Daryl, she writes A Cookbook Nook Mystery series, featuring a culinary bookshop and café owner. Daryl’s short stories have been nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, and other awards. As an actress, Daryl has appeared in “Murder, She Wrote” and more. Visit Daryl & Avery at www.darylwoodgerber.com. Check out her recipes on her blog www.mysteryloverskitchen.com And friend her on Facebook

Every year I go to a writers and fans’ conference called Malice Domestic, held in Maryland. Last year, at a dinner that our editor gave its authors (I have a very nice publishing house), we went to Ruth’s Chris restaurant. The steaks are fabulous, the desserts divine. We swooned so much over the dessert that I promised everyone at our table I would make it my mission to figure out how to make the flourless chocolate cake.

I tried a couple of recipes that I found on the Internet, tweaking until I got it right, but then I was lucky enough to go to Ruth’s Chris again, and I told them my plight. I needed my creation a little bit creamier, a little smoother. I begged the waitress to help me get the secret recipe. The chef was super lovely and sent out a recipe. For about 144 portions!!!  LOL

But I used to do chemistry and I can do math. I broke down that honker of a recipe into what should serve 8-10 comfortably, and this time, the consistency was perfect (if I do say so myself).

Like my protagonist in A Cookbook Nook Mystery who is learning to cook, there are times I feel like I’m out of my depth. This was one of them. But practice makes perfect, or nearly so.

Enjoy a bit of sinful chocolate decadence.  I’ve even provided a half-recipe (for a smaller springform pan).

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE CAKE

NO-FLOUR ALA RUTH’S CHRIS

Ingredients:

        2 cups half-and-half

        2/3 cup sugar

        ½ cup applesauce

        2 oz. flavored liquid of your choice (cordials, coffee, etc.) * I used espresso

        2 lbs. dark, milk or mixed chocolate, chopped (5 CUPS)  * I used half dark, half semi-sweet

        6 eggs (whisked)

Directions:                           Preheat the oven to 300º. Brush a 10" spring-form pan with butter, line the bottom with buttered parchment and wrap the pan in foil in case of any leaks. [MINE DIDN’T LEAK AT ALL BUT IT’S A GOOD PRECAUTION.]                           In a saucepan, bring the half-and-half, sugar, applesauce, and coffee JUST to a boil. Place the chocolate into a mixing bowl.  Pour the hot milk mixture over the chocolate.                           Let sit for a few minutes. [It will melt nicely.]                           Mix at low speed for two minutes.                           Add the eggs in all at once and mix thirty seconds, until incorporated.                           Pour batter into prepared spring-form pan. Bake until the cake is “set” - about 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours. The cake will still look wet and slightly loose in the very center, but the edges will be set, slightly puffed and have small cracks. [looks like a cheesecake – I cooked mine one hour then turned off the oven and let it set for another 20 minutes]                           Allow cake to cool on a rack (this takes about 2 full hours), then chill for 6 hours or overnight before removing pan sides.

***************

Half Recipe for 6” springform pan

Ingredients:

1 cup half and half

1/3 cup sugar

¼ cup applesauce

1 oz. espresso  (2 tablespoons)

1 lbs. dark chocolate chips (approx.. 2 ¾ cup chips)

3 eggs whisked

COOK ONLY 45 MINUTES FOR “MINI” CAKE, let rest 10 minutes in oven, remove cool as before.

TIP OF THE DAY: If you don’t happen to have half-and-half on hand, I found out you can use regular milk plus 1 tablespoon of butter to create half-and-half. I haven’t tried it, but it’s a good thing to know. J

         

QUESTION: Do you ever take risks in your life? Has anything been so risky that you are certain you’ll never try it?  Have you ever begged a chef for a recipe?  LOL

Giveaway:

1 random commenter will win a print copy of Final Sentence. Please leave your email in the comments so I can contact you.

Winner to be announced Monday July 15th

Cozy Mystery Book Tours Book Review: Yesterday's News

About Yesterday’s News: Antiques can be a dangerous business. Especially when you’re dealing with a desperate politician, a sexy ex-cop, and a couple of “spirited” companions.

Anna Yesterday owns Yesterday’s Antiques in small town USA. When she finds an old newspaper clipping lining the drawer of an antique dresser, she realizes she’s never heard the horrible story of rape and suicide detailed on the yellowed newsprint. So she starts to dig, and her sleuthing exposes an ugly cover-up that casts the residents of Crocker, Indiana into danger and intrigue, and leaves them with a corpse.


Review: This short cozy is the perfect read for someone looking for a little something different to pass the afternoon.

What I really loved about this book was how the cozy murder wasn't typical and the story was beyond fun to read. It isn't quite a cold case, but it is something that was hugely covered up. (So well the family involved didn't expect to hear about it again)

Not the case here. At least after Anna discovers a story on some old newspaper in her antique shop. Oh and while on the subject of her guest shop..there's two ghosts there too, and she's the only one that can see them...OK...there's an autistic young man who can see them too.

I love anything with ghosts and this was no exception; a barmaid and a cowboy no less!

So this book was really up my alley.

There's also a little bit of romance brewing between Anna and her assistant at the shop Pratt

This is the second book in the Yesterday Mysteries. Book 1 is Threads Of Yesterday, which I will be reviewing (Out of order, of course) in the next few days!

Rating:  5 flowers

About Sam Cheever: Award winning author Sam Cheever mixes in a little fun, a little magic, and a little real-life spice to create her sexy fictional characters. Sam’s fun-loving creations fight their way through a dizzying array of dangerous challenges without letting little things like dangerous bad guys, angry, manipulative gods, evil dark world denizens, or killing Furies dampen their zest for life and hot love!

In her real life, Sam lives on a hobby farm in Indiana with 11 dogs, 2 horses, 1 barn cat, and one husband. Not necessarily in that order. When asked why, why, why on the 11 dogs (yes, they all live in the house!), Sam simply shrugs and says she’s stupid. But what she really means to say is that she’s a dog-aholic. She of course can’t be blamed for her addiction. She is a victim. And along those lines, if anyone knows of a support group for this addiction please write Sam at samcheever@samcheever.com and fill her in.

Connect with Sam Cheever: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Cozy Mystery Book Tours Book Review: Mr Tea & the Traveling Tea Cup

About Mr Tea & the Travelling Tea Cup:
After the death of their mother, sisters Terry and Karen Sutter, turn their childhood home into a teahouse. It’s a dream come true, but the dream begins to resemble a nightmare when teacups start crashing to the floor in the middle of the night. Could the teahouse be haunted? There’s a list of possible ghostly candidates: the prior owner who is rumored to have left behind a buried treasure, two spinster neighbors who disappeared without a trace over forty years ago, or perhaps it’s Terry and Karen’s own mother trying to communicate with them. Karen, the older sister, thinks running a haunted teahouse might be fun, until the sisters come home one night to find the attic stairs covered in a trail of what appears to be blood. Is it a ghost or a warning? The teahouse’s new mascot, a psychic macaw, may provide some unexpected clues, but the sisters will encounter many more surprises before they solve this mystery.

Review: I'm always excited when I find a new cozy with a different twist to it. There are so many out there, so I was thrilled to be part of the tour for Mr. Tea and the Travelling Tea Cup.

Why?

First, a psychic macaw! (OK, he's really about as psychic  as Shawn Spencer from the tv show Psych, but you have to love this bird)

Most cozies are full of cats and dogs etc, but a bird! And this bird has quite a personality.

Then there are the teacups!

I love the ghostly air to the story, it definitely makes things a little different and a whole lot more interesting.

I also liked that their are two amateur sleuths here.  But they aren't really sleuths. But there is quite a mystery and it involves treasure. I also like the relationship between the two sisters. Terry and Karen are such fun, and I love Detective Greg, and how he's really working to find out what's going on in the Tea House!

Another really unique thing about this story is that they solve a cold case in a round a bout way.

This was a really fun cozy to read. The ending was a little to easy to figure out, but that didn't stop this from being a cute cozy. I look forward to seeing how this series turns out. I loved all the quirky characters in the story, especially Mr. Tea!

Rating: 4 flowers

About Leslie Matthews Stansfield:
LESLIE MATTHEWS STANSFIELD is the author of MR. TEA AND THE TRAVELING TEACUP, the first book in the Madeline’s Teahouse series. She is the author of a previous book, Windsor Locks, on the town she lives in. She grew up in Delmar, New York, and credits her friends with developing her imagination. Leslie is a graduate of University of Hartford and recently received her Masters’ degree from the University of Phoenix in Educational Leadership. She is a math tutor in a public school as well as the Christian Education Director of her church. She is currently working on her second book in the Madeline’s Teahouse series. She has four children and eight grandchildren and lives in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.

Purchase from Amazon.
Connect with Leslie Matthews Stansfield: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Cozy Mystery Book Tours Book Review: A Thyme To Die w/Giveaway!

About A Thyme to Die:
Peggy Lee and her gardening friends have managed to persuade the International Flower Show to move to Charlotte from Atlanta this year. Excited and enthusiastic, Peggy agrees to step into the role as director of the event, but on opening day, a good friend of hers is found dead in the middle of the show.
Dr. Aris Abbuto, an orchid grower from South Africa, has been shot and buried in a makeshift grave covered with pink thyme. Peggy is especially devastated since he came at her personal invitation. The presence of the pink thyme, a plant once used for ancient burial rites, tells her it’s possible one of the show’s growers may be involved in his death.
She plans to work with the Charlotte Police on this one, in her position of contract forensic botanist, and is surprised to learn of the Charlotte FBI’s interest in the case—which means her husband, Steve is involved too.

Peggy is focused on finding her friend’s killer and running the flower show with hundreds of sometimes disgruntled vendors. Her questions will find a devious plot with her friend and his young daughter, unwittingly, at the heart of it.

Asking the wrong questions can be dangerous, however, as Peggy knows so well. If she isn't careful, finding her friend’s killer might also lead to a flower-covered grave for her.

Review: I read Pretty Poison last year and I really enjoyed it. It is a different sort of cozy, with our heroine being a botanist. Peggy Lee is more than just a lady who runs a garden shop!

I found that learned a lot while being entertained, reading these stories. Each chapter has a little blurb about a certain type of plant

With a lot of cozy series, you can jump in any time and enjoy the book without going back, and for the most part that's how A Thyme To Die was.

I read the novella that came before this one, Buried By Buttercups and I realized I missed a lot by not searching out the other books in the series. I definitely needed a refresher in Peggy Lee's life stat! because I was foundering...

When did she marry Steve? She just hooked up with him in the first book.

WTH is up with the way her house is passed down...

I have to say that part confused me...if her husband inherited...why didn't her son...

But those are little things and they don't really play a part in the mystery.

I love how she's actually working legitimately with the police now. That's a different twist with most Cozies. Peggy is the forensic botanist and when needed she's on the police payroll! Woo hoo! Which means she's more than the amateur sleuth that does silly things to solve the mystery. That's one thing I really like about Peggy, she's smart, and even though she has brushes with the bad guys, she doesn't come out as a foolish lady at all.

I really love how I couldn't figure out the who dun it and again the stuff about plants that I learned through reading this book!

Great mystery, story and series!

Oh and just to show you how off I was..I thought the guy that did it had the animal that kept escaping in the International Flower Show!


Rating: 5 flowers

Giveaway: $25 Gift Card @ Amazon or Paypal Cash!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1BoMMcSczl9NSKhTGWHY5HJgCCdfEIshid1_2Use8eio/viewform.

About Jim & Joyce Lavene:


Joyce Lavene and Jim Lavene are a wife and husband team who have written and published more than 60 books since 1999. They live in North Carolina with their family and enjoy cooking, photography and ghost hunting.
Connect with Joyce & Jim Lavene:

Website | Twitter | Facebook

Cozy Mystery Book Tours: Murder On The First Day Of Christmas

Synopsis:
Finding a severed hand at a client’s house might throw lesser decorators off their games. But Chloe Carstairs and her mother, Amanda, won’t let a little thing like murder keep them from decking the halls. With a body under the partridge’s pear tree and a dead Santa in a sleigh, they have to crack the case before the killer strikes again – this time much too close to home.

Filled with laugh-out-loud humor, romance and a delightfully difficult mother-daughter relationship, this new series from Billie Thomas offers a fast-paced caper as these two southern ladies try to keep their very merry Christmas from turning into the Noel from hell.

Review:  Murder on the First Day of Christmas is really the most unique cozy I've read in a long time. When the books starts out with Chloe and her mom Amanda decorating a house in the theme of "The Twelve Days Of Christmas" I knew the story was going to be a fun one.

Then a severed hand and a the party host dying at his Christmas party, well that's when things really start to heat up! And it seems like the whole town is at the party so the list of suspects for this murder is pretty large!

This book was simply fun and funny and the cast of characters! OMG! The super slutty Bunny was hilarious! So catty!

The best part was not being able to figure out who did it, especially when there are so many people in the book that could have done it, and probably should have. Saul and Oscar were not nice guys at all. Heck, half the people in town weren't nice. Robin, Bunny, Nancy and even Angela all had plenty of motive and things in their past to make you question whether or not they were the ones to silence these two guys.

This book is the start of a new series, and if it is any indication of what's to come, it is going to be a series you won't want to miss.

Rating: 4 flowers

Giveaway: Click here for all the details

Author Bio:
Billie Thomas is the pseudonym of a Birmingham-based author. After the real Billie passed away unexpectedly at the end of 2011, getting Murder on the First Day of Christmas, the first of a series, revised and published was her daughter’s top priority as a way to honor the mom who had given her a lifelong love of books.
In her real life, Ms. Thomas writes within the advertising industry and is a founding member of the writing collective, IndieVisible. Other publications include Bar Code: Your Personal Pocket Decoder to the Modern Dating Scene.
The author enjoys combining her interests in decorating and gourmet cooking with her writing. She is still trying to solve the mystery of her own love life.

Purchase Link:
Amazon

Cozy Mystery Book Tours Book Promo W/Giveaway: Victoria Hamilton - Bowled Over

Author: Victoria Hamilton

Series: Vintage Kitchen Mysteries

Title: Bowled Over

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Pub. Date: March 2013

Buy: Amazon

Excerpt from Bowled Over:

Jaymie Leighton, the protagonist of the Vintage Kitchen Mysteries, is in her local mom and pop store picking up a few things when her lifelong nemesis, her one-time friend turned enemy from high school, Kathy Cooper, enters.

This is the moment when everything begins to go bad…

~::~

Jaymie stiffened and riveted her gaze on her basket reservation book. Kathy Cooper, once Kathy Hofstadter, Jaymie’s only enemy, had just entered the store. The bad blood between them—mysterious to Jaymie, because she had never found out what caused it—was so deeply ingrained that Jaymie normally slunk out of the store when Kathy came in. She was a coward, she admitted it freely, but Kathy could be extremely unpleasant when she wanted, and it had caused rifts over the years, forcing mutual friends to choose sides in the mysterious conflict.

This time Jaymie straightened her back and took a deep breath. Turning, as Kathy made her way down the aisle, she spotted the little tow-headed boy hand-in-hand with her. This must be Connor, Kathy’s nephew. Jaymie had heard about the little boy, though she’d never seen him. Determined to mend their broken friendship from school days, she moved into the aisle in front of her once-upon-a-time friend and said, a forced smile on her lips,  “Hi, Kathy.”

Kathy turned away, as if she had not heard Jaymie, and said, “Mr. Klausner, (the store owner) did you ever get that Dinkle’s Herbal Products catalogue I ordered?”

Mr. Klausner looked up, his rheumy eye made huge by the magnifying glass, and held up a magazine. Kathy, her little nephew trotting behind her, advanced to the cashier’s desk and took it, then walked toward the back of the store.

It was as if Jaymie wasn’t there. Anger flared in her, but she calmed herself with a few deep breaths. She would not be defeated. She followed. “Kathy,” she said, gentling her voice so as not to frighten the little guy, who watched her with cautious attentiveness. “Kathy, I just wanted to say, I really hope someday we can be friends again. I don’t know what I ever did to make you mad, but it was so long ago, can’t you forgive and forget?” She’d said it all before, but some day the magic words might work.

Kathy turned, slowly, from looking at a display of herbal remedies along the pharmacy wall, and fixed her brown-eyed gaze on Jaymie. Ella Douglas (a wheelchair bound pharmacy customer) and Valetta (Jaymie’s friend and a pharmacist) were talking, their voices low, their attention taken by whatever it was they were saying. “The fact that you can stand there and claim not to know what you did just astounds me.”

“But I don’t know, Kathy, I’ve never known.”

Kathy turned away from her and moved on, apparently intent on the herbal remedies before her…

Jaymie turned away, pretending to look at the hair care products while she debated with herself what to do about Kathy.

Ella used the joystick on her wheelchair to turn and she examined the line of herbal remedies near Kathy, who had turned her shoulder and had her cell phone out.

“Crap!” Kathy said. “What the hell is this?” She tapped away at the tiny keyboard while Connor pivoted idly on his heel.

Jaymie considered trying to approach Kathy again, but decided against it. Her one-time friend was staring at her cell phone with an angry frown, while her nephew tugged at the hem of her t-shirt.

“Connor, let go!” Kathy said, swatting at his hand. “Can’t you see I’m busy right now?” The boy began running his hands along the vitamin bottles on the closest shelf, humming tunelessly as he did.

Giving it up as useless to try to sort things out with Kathy while her nephew was there, Jaymie turned away and was about to call out to Valetta that she’d see her later, when the little boy screeched and wailed. Ella Douglas cried out and moved her wheelchair rapidly, and the little boy hopped up and down, his face becoming red as tears trickled down his cheeks.

“Connor, Connor!” Kathy cried, whirling around. She knelt at his side, as he moaned and muttered. “What did you do to him?” Kathy said, looking up at first Jaymie, then at Ella.

“M-my footie!” the boy wailed, pointing to Ella’s wheelchair. “She wan o-o-over me!” he howled, his voice catching between sobs.

“Oh, no! I must not have seen him,” Ella cried, a look of distress on her wan face, sickly in the fluorescent lighting of the Emporium that glared off of her glasses. “Is he okay?”

Valetta came tearing out from the pharmacy just as old Mr. Klausner tapped down the wood aisle with his cane, his gait a thump-thump-tap counterpoint to Connor’s crying, Kathy’s shouted accusations, Ella’s thin, reedy denials and Valetta’s demands to know what happened.

“She ran over Connor!” Kathy yelled, jabbing a finger in Ella’s direction.

“Not on purpose,” Jaymie said.

“So you know what she’s thinking?” Kathy said, straightening. 

“Wan grampa! Wan grampa!” Connor shrilled.

“Connor, no!” Kathy said. “Your grandpa doesn’t want you!”

“How could you say that to him?” Jaymie cried, appalled.

“What do you know about anything?” Kathy said, thrusting her face in Jaymie’s.

“Ladies, cut it out!” Valetta said.

“I didn’t mean it, I didn’t… honest!” Ella shrilled, a sob in her voice. She covered her face with her pale, thin hands.

Connor was silent now, his tears drying as his gaze slewed between the adults, watching the brewing storm with interest on his thin, intelligent face.

“Ella wouldn’t have run over Connor’s toes on purpose!” Jaymie said, glancing at the wheelchair bound woman, who was sobbing into her hands. Valetta knelt by her side and tried to calm her.

“Are you calling my nephew a liar?”

“When did I call him a liar?” Jaymie asked.

“I didn’t see him, really!” Ella cried, her voice thick with tears. She put out her hands in an imploring gesture. “Please, is he all right?” She reached out to Connor, trying to grab his shoulder. “Are you all right, little boy?”

Kathy pulled him away and he clutched a hold of his aunt’s leg. “Professional victim, aren’t you, Eleanor? Why’d you change your name? Hoping people wouldn’t remember what a nasty piece of work you were?” She grabbed Connor’s hand and tugged him down the aisle. Connor didn’t appear to be limping as he trotted after his aunt.

After Kathy was gone, Valetta and Jaymie looked at each other over Ella’s head. “What was that all about?” Valetta asked, as Ella sniffled and blew her nose.

“I have no idea.”

Giveaway:  For all the details click here

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1wRNQWfMhr81HjiwZNXCuK4U6kNKomBW4PTgrYdZgeRY/viewform

~::~

Meet the author:

Victoria Hamilton writes the bestselling Vintage Kitchen Mystery series (Book 1 – A Deadly Grind – May 2012) and the upcoming Merry Muffin Mysteries, also from Berkley (Book 1 – Bran New Death – September 3^rd, 2013)  Victoria loves cooking and collecting vintage kitchen utensils, as well as reading and writing mysteries. Check out her webpage for all the latest: http://www.victoriahamiltonmysteries.com and find her on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorVictoriaHamilton  

Cozy Mystery Book Tours Book Review: Cliffhanger

Author: Amy Saunders
Title: Cliffhanger
Publisher: Createspace
Publish Date: Feb 16, 2013
Buy: Amazon
Review Copy Provided By: Cozy Mystery Book Tours & the publisher
Synopsis: Making her grand re-entry into Portside, Rhode Island, Belinda Kittridge expected fun, sun, and sugar cookies. Instead, she gets one jilted lover braced for round two, an old rival on the hunt, and the murder of a former classmate and friend. Even worse, Belinda must return to the events surrounding a tragic sailing accident to set things right. But new possibilities emerge in the form of security expert Bennett Tate. Between her connections and his know-how, they're bound to catch the killer - and kick the skeletons out of the closet for good.

Review: Cliffhanger is the first book in a new series of cozy mysteries by Amy Saunders.

Our reluctant sleuth is Belinda Kittridge and on the side of law enforcement is Bennett Tate, an ex-cop who is now a PI he's also going to be the love interest for Belinda.

You can't help but love Belinda who comes from a well to do family but isn't your typical rich girl. She's much to nice, as is her friend Veronica, but not everyone is sweet in this story.

The opening scenes where her neighbor's 18 year old son asks her out is hilarious. Got to give him credit for trying. I wonder if he'll do it again when he reaches 21! We can only hope the series is still going then! (Maybe give Bennett a run for his money)

The mystery involves the death of one of Belinda and her twin brother Kyle's friends, Jeff, who is party to the sailing accident that took the life of another member of their set, 10 years prior. If they find out who killed Jeff, they might get more closure on Mark's death as well.

There are a lot of surprises here and more than one person that could be the killer, until you realize someone is after Belinda, that's when the suspect list narrows down quite a bit.

All through this you see Belinda's relationship with Bennett growing. They are a kinda sorta couple. Nothing is formal yet, but we know it will be.


This was a great cozy with romantic elements and hopefully a start of a long fun series!

Rating: 5 flowers

Author Bio:
I've written two mystery novels so far. My first, Dead Locked, is about Imogen Bell who works for a team of underwater archaeologists and ends up embroiled in a deadly treasure hunt. My second mystery, The Jester's Apprentice, is about Philippa, a woman caught between her new husband Edric and his smoky past - and hers.

I've always loved mysteries, even in elementary school. My mother raised me on TV show reruns like Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, and Magnum, P.I, and later I picked up her Agatha Christie addiction.

However, sometimes I just want a hot (but intelligent) guy and a strong woman bantering for pages. Or a gripping action sequence. Or some fun sci-fi/fantasy elements. And sometimes I want it all in the same book. So with mystery as the backbone of my stories, I blend in romance, action, adventure, and soon sci-fi to keep it fresh and exciting.

Why should you take a chance on my books? Well, I write what I'm passionate about, and I'm passionate about people and mysteries. I make my characters passionate too: about each other, about what they're hunting, fixing, or piecing together. Above all, I want my readers to have fun, and leave happy!

Cozy Mystery Book Tours Book Review: A Murder At Rosamund's Gate

Author:Susanna Calkins
Title: A Murder At Rosamund's Gate
Publisher: Minatour Books
Publish Date: April 23, 2013
Buy: Amazon
Review Copy Provided By: Net Galley
Book Blurb: 
In Susanna Calkins's atmospheric debut novel, a chambermaid must uncover a murderer in seventeenth-century plague-ridden London For Lucy Campion, a seventeenth-century English chambermaid serving in the household of the local magistrate, life is an endless repetition of polishing pewter, emptying chamber pots, and dealing with other household chores until a fellow servant is ruthlessly killed, and someone she loves is wrongly arrested for the crime. In a time where the accused are presumed guilty until proven innocent, lawyers aren't permitted to defend their clients, and--if the plague doesn't kill them first--public executions draw a large crowd of spectators, Lucy knows she may never see this person alive again. Unless, that is, she can identify the true murderer.

Determined to do just that, Lucy finds herself venturing out of her expected station and into raucous printers' shops, secretive gypsy camps, the foul streets of London, and even the bowels of Newgate prison on a trail that might lead her straight into the arms of the killer.

In her debut novel, Susanna Calkins seamlessly blends historical detail, romance, and mystery into a moving and highly entertaining tale.

Review: A Murder At Rosamund's Gate is the first book in a great historical cozy mystery series. Lucy Champion is a chambermaid in Restoration England.

I fell in love instantly with this book, much like I did Sam Thomas's The Midwife's Tale. The attention to detail in this book is fantastic. The mystery almost takes a back burner to that detail, but don't let that keep you from reading this book. It is wonderful.

It paints a unique picture of the upstairs downstairs world of England at the time, in a household that is a little bit progressive. The plot is a little slow at the beginning, but I think perhaps it is the author's way of letting the reader get to know the characters and the household.

Lucy finds herself trying to solve the mystery of her friend Bessie's killer and clear her brother's name, as he's charged with her murder.

While she does this there is a touch of romance that starts between her and the magistrate's son Adam. This is an unlikely romance as Adam is above her in station, but you really have to read to see how things develop there.

As for the mystery, I love how the author really led you to believe it was one of the other characters that was the killer, but when you reached the end, you found out that you were wrong.

I'm really eager to see how Susanna takes this series. Lucy is a very strong heroine, smarter than your average chambermaid/ladies maid from that period, which is 1665. I also want to see how her relationship with Adam progresses as the series continues.

Rating: 5 flowers

Cozy Mystery Book Tours Book Review: A Charming Wish

Author: Tonya Kappes
Title: A Charming Wish
Publisher: MagiCal Press
Publish Date: March 11, 2013
Buy: Amazon

Review Copy Provided By: Cozy Mystery Book Tours & the author

Book Blurb: 

Bubble, Bubble. . .

It seems shop owner and newly appointed Whispering Falls Village President June Heal has it all: Beauty, wits, bewitching powers...Sheriff Oscar Park. Life is good. Because life in Whispering Falls is magical.

Cures and Trouble. . .

But when a member of the community is found dead on the steps of A Charming Cure, June's homeopathic cure shop, and her fingerprints show up at the scenes of local robberies, she is kicked off the village council and her powers fall under scrutiny. Until it's uncovered who is wreaking havoc on the town...June's magic is suspended.

Magic Stirs. . .

With the help of a rather obnoxious genie and Mr. Prince Charming, June's Fairy-God cat, June is determined to figure out who is framing her. Time is of the essence when it becomes clear that the true villain is trying to get rid of her...permanently!

And Trouble Doubles. . .

Oscar Park will do anything to protect June even if that means giving up all of his magical powers. . .or worse, his life.

Review: This is the first book by Tonya Kappes that I've read and I can tell you in all honesty that it won't be my last.

A Charming Wish is the third book in the Magical Cures series, but thankfully you don't have to read them in order, or as usual I would be up the proverbial creek.

From the very start, this book grabs you. June and the cast of characters in Whispering Falls capture your heart. I loved Mr. Prince Charming her cat, and the genie in the bottle left by Kenny. They all have their little quirks and June is no exception. Her love for the now defunct Ding Dongs made me laugh. (With me its Ho Hos).

I have to give props to an author that used the death of Hostess as a huge part of a novel! I also like the name of the version made by the town bakery, June's Gems! How cute is that?

Now I'm hungry for Ding Dongs!

What really made this a great cozy is the whodunit itself.

Kenny, the Indian that delivers supplies to the town is murdered on June's doorstep just after she's been  named the Village President and the circumstantial evidence is pointing to her.

(OK, I have to admit several times through the book I kept thinking on a South Park vein. OMG they killed Kenny!)

You definitely will be on the edge of your seat waiting to find out who killed Kenny and stole the June's Gems and birdnapped an ostrich!

This book is a quick read at 143 pages. Most of the time, I'd say that's two short to really wrap up a mystery, but Tonya really gave most everything closure, except maybe the situation with June's BFF/boyfriend, Oscar, but that's getting there too.

If you like a cozy with a touch of magic/paranormal fun, you can't go wrong here. This book is a true delight!

Rating: 5 flowers

Author Bio:

Tonya is an Amazon Movers and Shakers, and self-published International bestselling author. She writes humorous cozy mystery and women’s fiction that involves quirky characters in quirky situations. Splitsville.com, the first novel in the Olivia Davis Mystery Series, is a double finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards in the Mystery and Humorous Categories. Carpe Bead ‘em is a the winner in Amazon’s eFestival of Words in the Women’s Fiction Category.

She travel to various writer's groups giving workshops on marketing and promoting no matter where you are in your career, and a self publishing. Become a member of Tonya’s STREET TEAM! It’s a gathering place of readers who love Tonya Kappes novels and Tonya gives away monthly prizes! To sign up for Tonya’s STREET TEAM, newsletter, view book trailer, and upcoming news, check out Tonya’s website,  Tonyakappes.blogspot.com.