Carol's Notebook

Dead in the Water by Agatha Frost and Evelyn Amber

August 28, 2026August 28, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

For the most part, I enjoyed Dead in the Water. Liz, a retired detective, has moved to a small fishing village to open an arts and crafts shop. When a local fisherman is discovered dead, Liz has some doubts when it's thought to be an accident. Of course, she's right and she can't help herself from poking around. I want to like Liz. She's taking a chance and starting over and doing a good job at it. The people in town are appropriately quirky, even though I wish some of them had been a bit more three-dimensional. Of course, the town is full of gossip and Liz, happily, meets several people she gets along with well. Then comes the end, and the competent, capable Liz almost just gives up. And then she's saved by a lucky coincidence. We had several suspects and clues throughout the book, but I wish the whole reveal had been rewritten. I will probably listen to the...

Death on the Lanai by Rachel Ekstrom Courage

August 27, 2026August 26, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

I definitely enjoyed Death on the Lanai more than I did the first in the series and I think this one could easily be read as a stand alone. The girls are invited to a fancy party on an island estate hosted by, it turns out, a famous artist who Blanche knew decades ago. Of course, the artist ends up dead and Blanche is one of the chief suspects. I listened to the audio and I thought both the author and narrator did a good job with the girls' voices, although I did get tired of Blanche's references to Big Daddy. The banter between the girls felt authentic to the show and the humor was well done. The story moved along at a good pace. I will admit that one thing I found annoying turned out to have a reason in the end. The whodunnit wasn't difficult to guess, but I read these for the Golden Girls, not necessarily the...

Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano

August 26, 2026August 26, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

I honestly thought I would enjoy Finlay Donovan Is Killing It. It's supposed to be clever and funny and I've heard the narrator does a great job. She does, but aside from that I thought the book was silly. Finlay is a writer who doesn't do much writing and the mother of two preschool children. Her house is a mess and her ex-husband just fired her nanny. So her life is running amok even before she's mistaken for a contract killer and ends up with a dead body in her garage. I think Finlay was supposed to be relatable and entertaining, but I found her mostly annoying. Yes, her cheating ex-husband was a jerk, but you have to take some responsibility for your own life. She made dumb decisions and yet everything worked out so well for her. And she has two attractive and intelligent men interested in her even though she seems to be permanently sticky and/or lying. I'm probably...

Split Screen by Lee Goldberg

August 25, 2026August 25, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

Split Screen is the 7th in the Eve Ronin series and I've read most of them. Eve is a homicide detective with the LASD. She's not universally like, to say the least. She got her promotion thanks to a video that went viral, uncovered some cops dirty secrets, and now has a tv show based loosely on her life. Her partner, Duncan, who she actually listens to and trusts is stuck behind a desk. There's a lot going on in this one. First, we've got a murdered doctor with an ex-wife whose new boyfriend swears he didn't do it and an actress dead of an overdose. Then, Erin, the actress playing Eve in the tv series, is shot in broad daylight, apparently mistaken for Eve. Add in a half-sister Eve didn't know she had who is in to something shady. And finally, we've got a crossover with Goldberg's Sharpe and Walker series, when a firearms training trailer explodes. It's fast-paced,...

Probable Caws by Donna Andrews

August 20, 2026August 20, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

The Meg Lanslow series is one I dip in and out of. I always enjoy them, but it never quite makes it to my must-read list. I think I actually liked this one more than the last couple, even if the solution was a little unbelievable. I actually thought we were going to get to see Meg doing some blacksmithing at the beginning of this one, but no. Hoof and Hearth, a horse rescue, has temporarily lost the pasture they'd been using for their horses due to a legal battle and have to move the whole herd to Ragnar's estate, so it's all hands on deck. The horses have barely got settled in on the first night, when a storm blows in. And Meg and her husband find a dead man in the barn. We've got several potential suspects and some good clues, but really it's the horses that stand out in this one. Several of them have clear personalities...

Pompeii, Paccheri, and Panic by Traci Andrighetti

August 7, 2026August 7, 2026 by CarolNo Comments

Pompeii, Paccheri, and Panic is a fun novella introducing a new series based around food tours in Italy. I guess it's a spin off of Andrighetti's Franki Amato series, but I've never read any of those, so can't make any comparisons. Giada Adair has taken a job as a tour guide and she and her assistant/friend, Moira, have gone to Pompeii to do some research before her first official tour. We know it's not going to be smooth sailing. First an ancient lamp just unearthed from a dig site the pair were visiting disappears. Then, a young woman dies after eating a pasta dish met for Giada. Giada is either going to be arrested for the crime or she was the intended victim - either way she's in trouble and needs to figure out who the killer is. The characters are fun and the plot worked well. We had several suspects and the clues fit well. I'm interested in learning...