Blog Tours – Page 3 – Carol's Notebook

After the Storm by Isabella Muir

May 20, 2021May 6, 2021 by Carol4 Comments

After the Storm is the second mystery starring Giuseppe Bianchi and his niece, Christina Rossi. Giuseppe has been in England visiting his cousin for several months now. He has been in England for several months, when a new friend, Edward Swain, dies during a storm. Edward owned a large rambling house. He lived in part and rented parts to two young adults. The lodging house is in poor condition, and the storm strikes down a tree that lands on and destroys a summer house in the back yard that lands on his Edward, killing him. Locals believe the death to be the result of a tragic accident, but Giuseppe thinks his friend was lured to the summer house, leading to his death. Giuseppe and Christina, a reporter, talk to Edward's tenants and look into their backgrounds. look into the backgrounds of Edward’s house guests. The mystery itself was fine, but the characters carried the book. We also get...

Christmas at the Cornish Confetti Agency by Daisy James

November 7, 2020November 6, 2020 by Carol4 Comments

Christmas at the Cornish Confetti Agency, was a sweet, fun book to read with a cup of hot chocolate or my favorite coffee, cinnamon sugar cookie, which just returned to store shelves for the season. I love a good holiday romance and this one hit all the right notes. We have a lovely, snowy setting, happy couples, Christmas trees, cookies, and mulled wine. This is the third in the series and starts right in with the lead-up to Phoebe and Sam’s Christmas wedding. This is first I've read and it did take me a little while to feel comfortable with who the characters are and their relationships to each other. Once I got to know them, though, it's a fabulous group, fun to spend time with. Lexie is, temporarily, a wedding planner, and she wants this wedding to be perfect. I loved all of the activities leading up to the wedding party, like decorating Christmas trees and making gingerbread creations....

The Forger and the Thief by Kirsten McKenzie

November 1, 2020October 26, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

The setting of The Forger and the Thief is fascinating in and of itself. In 1966 Florence was hit with the most devastating flood in centuries, and as a result 101people died and countless works of art and literature were destroyed. Five strangers are in Florence, each for their own reasons: an abused wife fleeing her husband, an aspiring artist looking for a family heirloom stolen during WWII, a disgraced man in town for the wedding of the woman he loves to another man, an easily overlooked museum cleaner warped by family tragedy, and a cop on the way out. Each is introduced in short chapters at the beginning of the book and it's a bit much all at one, lots of characters, lots of motivations. It was a bit confusing, especially when none of them were interacting with each other yet. And the river is a character too, vengeful and strong. The characters, for the most part, are not...

Killing the Story by Joan Livingston

September 1, 2020September 1, 2020 by CarolNo Comments

Isabel Long is a former journalist who now works as a private investigator. Both jobs play to her strengths; she's curious, tenacious, tough, and determined. This is the first of the series that I've read, but it worked fine as a stand alone. Isabel is hired to investigate the death of a local newspaper editor whose death was originally ruled an accident. I liked Isabel. She's older than most of the main characters in mysteries I read, especially the women. She's probably in her late 60s, has silver hair, but she's smart and funny and attractive. Her mom is her sidekick and the interactions between the two are well-done. They have a close relationship but they both realize the other is strong and smart and capable. Isabel doesn't have to hide anything from her. Isabel has a boyfriend who manages to worry about her without being over-protective. There are several reasons to believe that Estelle's death was not an accident...

Who Killed Patrick? by Syl Waters

August 25, 2020August 12, 2020 by Carol1 Comment

I will admit, I don't pay a lot of attention to authors' websites. I include links at the bottom of my posts, but really don't spend much time looking at them. I stopped by Syl Waters' as I was getting this post ready and her blog caught my attention. Who Killed Patrick? takes place on the island of Fuerteventura, a place I had never hear of but that Waters clearly loves. On her blog, she has several posts talking about the island, but she also has a funny one about a discussion she had with her mom. The sidekick in the book is a guinea pig, which her mom seemed to think made it a children's book until Waters told her about how many bones a guinea pig has. Apparently her mom decided that the guinea pig was not actually much smaller than a chihuahua, the critter companion in a mystery her mom had read recently so maybe it was...

Scampy Doodle and the Reindeer by G. J. Barnes

December 3, 2018December 3, 2018 by CarolNo Comments

Scampy Doodle is a happy dog who has helped his best friend Jemima get ready for Christmas. They decorated and set out treats for Santa and his reindeer and they went to bed, Jemima to her room and Scampy Doodle to his bed in the kitchen. Then, Scampy Doodle gets woken up by a strange sound. This is a fun little Christmas story. It's about helping and giving and the magic of Christmas. I do wish they had left hot chocolate for Santa instead of a whiskey, but that's just me. I liked when Scampy Doodle decided to be brave and pushed the door to the living room open to peer around and see there the noise came from. It reminded me of my dog, Scrappy, who is also bigger than a snowball and smaller than a snowman. The illustrations were bright and simple and cute but there were more words than pictures. The print was odd for me. It was bold, fun...