Book Reviews – Page 64 – Carol's Notebook

The Valentine Dine or Die by J.B. Michaels

February 15, 2022February 15, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

I love a good holiday-themed cozy and The Valentine Dine or Die is only 99¢ for Kindle. I did read the first in the series last year, but this one could work fine as a standalone. Mac and Millie, our ex-cop and witch, are back in another fun mystery. What could be better than an interactive mystery dinner experience, especially for Valentine's Day? Mac can't pass up free tickets to the dinner, especially since he hasn't bought a present yet. Of course, since this is a cozy mystery, when the lights go out at dinner, someone ends up well and truly dead. Maybe it's a suicide, probably not. Mac and Millie make a good team, they have some cute banter and they actually trust each other. Vance, Mac's brother, is handling the case for the cops, but he's hitting some dead ends, and Mac doesn't have to follow the rules, which makes his help useful. The characters, even the secondary ones,...

A Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette

February 11, 2022February 11, 2022 by Carol2 Comments

A Deadly Inside Scoop is the first book in the Ice Cream Parlor mystery series. Bronwyn "Win" has taken over the family ice cream shop, and she is off to a rocky start with the weather and then finding a body in the snow. It starts to look like her father is a suspect. Win and her friend Maisie team up and do some amateur sleuthing to find out who killed Stephen Bayard, a con man who has a past with Win's family. I love the ice cream shop and the flavors Win comes up with. I also like that it's set in my home state. I've never been to Chagrin Falls, but it sounds like a cute town. I liked Win and her family well enough, especially her grandfather. Win has two best friends, Riya and Maisie. Riya has quite a temper and Maisie is a little ditzy and maybe watches too many mystery tv shows. They are both mostly...

Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke

February 9, 2022February 8, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

Bluebird, Bluebird is not an easy read. It's packed with emotions, thick racial tensions, and family dramas. In Lark, Texas, the racial divisions go back decades, but so do the relationships and the secrets. There have been two recent murders: a black lawyer from Chicago who was found floating in a bayou after being beaten to death, and days later, a twenty-year-old married white woman who worked as a waitress at a roadhouse. Enter Darren Matthews, a black Texas Ranger, whose life is a bit of a mess. His suspension from the Rangers has been lifted, but only temporarily, pending a grand jury investigation for an unrelated, but not unconnected, event. His marriage is on the rocks and he's drinking too much. And of course, there's the independent streaks that so many fictional detectives have. The sheriff is not happy to have him around, does not want the Rangers or the Feds in his county. The characters on both sides of...

Diamond Geezer by Gillian Godden

February 8, 2022February 8, 2022 by CarolNo Comments

It took me several chapters to become invested in Diamond Geezer. It's a gangland novel and there are no characters to really like, which makes sense, they're almost all up to their necks in drugs and the crime world. That being said, it turned out to be an engrossing story. Nick is living a double life. He's a successful lawyer with all the privileges and tokens of upper-class life. At the same time, he's deeply involved in the Glasgow crime world. The book is mostly set on an estate in Glasgow, where Nick's grandma lives. The estate is more or less ruled by a mysterious character known as “The Undertaker,” who provides drugs, food, jobs. The people of the estate, most of whom are living in poverty and addicted to one thing or another, rely on him, even if they don't know who he is. It's interesting, though. They have to look out for themselves, but there is also a...

Hot and Sour Suspects by Vivien Chien

February 2, 2022April 27, 2022 by Carol6 Comments

Hot and Sour Suspects is the 8th in the Noodle House Mystery series and I've read them all. I like Lana. She's funny and sarcastic, a little reckless, and she loves donuts. She is surrounded by quirky friends and a warm, loving family who only nag her occasionally. She manages the family's Ho-Lee Noodle House in the Asian Village shopping center. This time around, after an evening of speed dating at the restaurant, a man is dead in his apartment, and Rina, one of Lana's friends from the mall, is clearly the prime suspect. Megan and Lana decide they need to prove Rina's innocence, even if Rina herself doesn't want them digging around. I love the characters in this series and the setting. It does always make me want to order Chinese takeout though. The mystery in this one was fine. Lana has help from both Megan and Kimmy and they do make a fun, mildly incompetent, team. Lana's detective...

The Maid by Nita Prose

February 1, 2022February 1, 2022 by Carol4 Comments

Molly Gray is a maid at the Regency Grand Hotel, a five-star boutique hotel. She loves her job, from her uniform to her daily tasks. She is efficient and detail-oriented. She does think a bit differently from the average person. She has trouble with social cues and tends to take things literally. When she discovers a hotel guest dead, her whole life is disrupted. She quickly becomes a suspect. The Maid is told from Molly's point of view. She's delightful and endearing, socially awkward, and honest to a fault. I liked her, mostly. I also wanted to shake some sense into her. She's clearly neurodiverse, but that is never explicitly mentioned. She's also inconsistent, which works well with the plot, but doesn't feel true to her character. To the reader, it seems absurd that anyone would consider Molly capable of murder. We've seen her be manipulated and misunderstanding situations. We're thankful that it turns out she has friends on her side. We...