Audiobook – Page 29 – Carol's Notebook

A Good Day to Pie by Misha Popp

January 28, 2023January 30, 2023 by Carol4 Comments

I loved A Good Day to Pie. This is the second in the series featuring pie baker Daisy Ellery. I would suggest reading the first, Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies, before starting this one. Daisy has magic that she can bake into her pies and she most often uses that skill to kill abusive men. This time around Daisy has entered a baking contest, apparently like the Great British Bake Off which I've never seen - I've watched enough competitions on the Food Network to get the idea though. It turns out that one of the judges is a man she is supposed to deliver a murder pie to after the contest, which is a bit worrying. It becomes an even bigger problem when the man ends up dead before she can even give him the pie. Now she needs to find out who killed him and whether there is any way the cops might be able to connect Pies...

A Perilous Pal by Laura Bradford

January 27, 2023January 25, 2023 by Carol4 Comments

A Perilous Pal is the second in the Friend for Hire mystery series. Emma Westlake is the "friend for hire" and I think it's definitely better to read the first one before starting this. It will give you a much better feel for Emma and the returning characters. Emma barely has enough time to meet Kim Felder, her new client, when Kim gets arrested for her estranged husband’s murder. Kim didn’t see it coming when her husband left her for his secretary and she wrote in her journal her feelings about her husband’s betrayal. It was what she put in her journal, tons of ideas for how to kill Roger, that led to her arrest for Roger’s murder. Emma believes Kim is innocent, so she, Dottie, and Stephanie set out to prove it. Of course, Emma's love interest, Deputy Jack Riordan, is not thrilled with her interference. I'm not sure about Emma's business plan. I love the friend for hire idea,...

The Motion Picture Teller by Colin Cotterill

January 26, 2023February 9, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

The Motion Picture Teller is an odd book, enjoyable but meandering and soft around the edges. Does that make sense? It's being marketed as a mystery, but I think that's a little misleading. Yeah, there's kind of a mystery, but it's more about the people and the places. The book is set in Bangkok in 1996, when you could still go to video rental stores and browse the aisles. Supot, our main character, works for the Thai Royal Mail but isn't really dedicated to his job. His friend, Ali, owns a video store and the two of them spend hours in the back of the store watching classic Western movies. In a batch of old tapes they find a movie, Bangkok 2010. The two men love the movie, which is set in a slightly dystopian future, and they watch it several times before attempting to discover who made it and why it hasn’t been released to the public. The mystery...

Murder at Feathers & Flair by Lee Strauss

January 25, 2023January 25, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

Felicia, Ginger's sister-in-law, asks for Ginger's help in finding in hunting down a missing actor, but that is rather left to the side when someone is killed at an event Ginger is hosting at her dress shop, Feathers & Flair. There's a lot going on here, missing actors, a stolen necklace, a dead society lady, a coded message. Ginger is her usual clever, fashionable self. Once again, she's working with Chief Inspector Basil Reed -whose wife is back in the picture. I could do without the "will they - won't they" but looking ahead it seems like that situation will be resolved soon. It's a fun mystery with I enjoy the '20s details. I've been enjoying listening to the audio versions of this series. They're relatively short and lively....

Murder at Bray Manor by Lee Strauss

January 24, 2023January 20, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

Lady Ginger Gold is called back to her late husband's family home, Bray Manor. The Dowager Lady Gold, Ginger's grandmother through marriage is convinced there is a ghost in the house, moving items from room to room to frighten her. Ginger's relatives have opened the manor to host group events to bring in some much-needed income. The manor hosts a charity dance that goes quite well, but the next morning one of the guests is found dead at the edge of the pond. The local police are out of their depth, so Ginger suggests the services of Scotland Yard be brought in and has them call Detective Inspector Basil Reed. This time around there were a lot of people to keep track of - neighbors, the members of the knitting group, a man Ginger knew during the war. It was another fun entry though, even if I felt "meh" about the solution. I just finished listening to the 4th but...

Murder at Hartigan House by Lee Strauss

January 23, 2023January 20, 2023 by Carol2 Comments

Murder at Hartigan House picks up where Murder on the S.S. Rosa left off. Ginger has just arrived back at Hartigan House in London where she grew up, to take care of her deceased father's estate and decide what she wants to do with the house. The house has been shut up for the past 10 years and has just been readied for her return. There is some distressing news, however. Pippins, the family's long-time butler, has discovered the body of a woman. When circumstances and evidence begin to point towards her father, Ginger decides to investigate and once again finds herself "assisting" Chief Inspector Basil Reed. If I'm ever involved in a murder, remind me not to go the "party" where all the people who were at the event when the person was killed get together again. It never turns out well. Either somebody else gets killed, like in this story, or I'd end up getting accused of murder. The mystery...