Kate Carlisle – Carol's Notebook

The Knife Before Christmas by Kate Carlisle

December 10, 2024December 10, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

There are a lot of things I enjoyed about The Knife Before Christmas and a few things I didn't. Shannon and her crew are working on a Christmas carnival at the Cliffs Hotel that has a Victorian flair and a couple of surprises. It sounded fun, but it was hard to picture how it all fit together - the tent, Santa's stall, the carousel. We get introduce to the Garrisons, the family that owns and runs the hotel. There's a lot of family drama, with almost all of them working and living at the hotel, and it's not surprise when one of them ends up murdered. I won't say who because even though it's obvious, it takes the story a while to get there. The killer, once we get to the reveal, isn't much of a surprise either. We do get a lot of Christmas touched here, plenty of decorations and food and drinks. I like Shannon - she and Mac...

The Twelve Books of Christmas by Kate Carlisle

November 30, 2023December 14, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

I've read a couple of the previous Bibliophile Mysteries and enjoyed them well enough, so since I'm a sucker for Christmas cozy, I picked up The Twelve Books of Christmas. This time around Brooklyn gets a call on Christmas Eve from her good friend Claire, who is in Scotland. Claire is preparing to marry Cameron, a castle laird, on New Year's Day and wants Brooklyn and Derek to be there. So the couple, along with Brooklyn's parents, fly to Scotland. Claire also hopes that while she's there Brooklyn will help solve a mystery- a dozen Christmas-related books, some quite valuable, have gone missing from the castle library. Of course, there's trouble. Most of the women in town, including the castle's new librarian, seem to be anti-Claire. Then, Brooklyn and Derek find a dead body in one of the castle's closets. They, of course, have to investigate the murder in addition to the missing books - which may or may not be...

The Paper Caper by Kate Carlisle

July 19, 2022July 22, 2022 by Carol2 Comments

I assumed I would enjoy The Paper Caper. The main character, Brooklyn, restores books and does paper art and the story is set during a Mark Twain festival. This is the first I've read in the series and maybe that's the problem, maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I knew the characters better. I love that Brooklyn restores books but I couldn't quite get a hold of her character. This is #16, so presumably she's helped solve at least sixteen murders. But she seems really young and her husband seems to humor her more than take her thoughts on the case seriously. I'm assuming she's seen several dead bodies, but watching a video of a car crash is almost too much for her to handle? The whodunnit was a bit obvious and therefore disappointing. The twist I was assuming there would be regarding who the killer was just never happened. Overall, it was just a little too silly. Some...

Premeditated Mortar by Kate Carlisle

January 25, 2021December 3, 2021 by Carol4 Comments

I have not read any of the previous Fixer-Upper mysteries, but I have watched a couple of the Hallmark shows, so I kind of felt like I already knew the characters and town. Shannon owns a construction company, and she's been hired by a good friend to help renovate one wing of The Gables, a former institution. The entire property is being revitalized, and Rachel is overseeing the project. Rachel has convinced Shannon's boyfriend, Mac, a famous writer, to become one of the investors. When Shannon and Mac do some exploring, they find a mysterious stranger running around the abandoned property. Later on, he shows up as part of a group of protestors against the project. Even later on, one of those protestors ends up dead, the body found by Shannon of course. How are the secrets of The Gables past threatening people now? The Gables is an interesting location, and I enjoyed all the descriptions and scenes that took place...